Fortunately for my sleepless libido, it turned out that Ava was kind of a jerk.
It began the next morning. Sara had knocked on my door, waking me to announce that she was making breakfast. I ambled sleepily into the kitchen to sit with her as she poured pancake batter onto an old, cracked griddle.
"I don't think you've ever made me breakfast before." I yawned.
Sara smiled. "You've never cooked for me either." I opened my mouth to object, but she cut me off. "Heating up government MREs don't count."
We both laughed a bit. My diet definitely could be better.
"How was the drive down? In all the, uh, excitement last night I never asked." She blushed lightly. Why was it so hot that someone who would so enthusiastically suck my cock got bashful just
talking
about it?
"It was fine. The old truck does full auto on the highway, so I actually slept -"
I was interrupted by the sound of a door slamming, and there was Ava, again clad only in shorts and a sports bra, glistening with sweat from what seemed like it had been a very intense run.
"Oh - Ava - hi - I'd like you to meet my boyf-" Sara began.
"Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you." Ava waved dismissively in my general direction without so much as looking towards me. "What's for breakfast?"
"Actually, I was just cooking for me an-" Sara started, but was again cut off.
"Thanks sis - gonna start on the furniture upstairs. Don't bother me." And with that, Ava picked up the serving plate on which Sara had been mounding pancakes and made off with the lot, stuffing them in her mouth as she walked away.
I turned just in time to see a dark cloud descend over Sara's face. "Wow. You weren't kidding over the phone." I offered, lamely.
Sara stood in silence for a second before turning away from me to lean on the range. I slid off my chair, concerned, to put my arms around her waist from behind. She melted backward into me.
"I can make another batch of pancakes." I murmured into her ear.
"No, it's fine." Sara brought a hand up to her eyes and I realized she was wiping away a tear. "I like cooking for you. It's not about the food."
I laughed softly. "I figured it was about her being a dick, actually."
Sara gave me an teary chuckle in return. "You're very perceptive. Well, and she was so rude to you. You're my boyfriend, and she didn't even want to meet you."
I turned Sara around and drew her tight before giving her a light kiss on the nose. "She's not the reason I came down here. Let's make some more food."
------
Ava was not much seen the rest of the day, even if she did make loud thumping noises upstairs, drawing Sara's annoyed gaze upwards as we packed up the majority of the kitchen. It took surprisingly long - each piece of supposedly priceless china needing to be individually bubble wrapped and tucked away in padding.
It was late afternoon by the time we finished, and we settled into the patio in the backyard with some MREs and some flat beers we had found in the back of a cupboard while packing. I inspected mine suspiciously.
"How old are these? There's not even an expiration date."
Sara let out a little laugh. "My dad was really into making his own beer. Look at the label."
Sure enough, there was the old, balding man and the taut-faced woman I had seen in a few of the photographs around the house. In front of them was seated a somewhat shorter Ava, perhaps in her teens, reed thin and without her tattoos.
"He didn't put you on the label? That's kind of shitty." I blurted, before my brain could tell my mouth to shut. "Oh, fuck, I'm sorry, I don't mean to speak ill of the dead -"
"No - no, don't worry about it." Sara put her hand on mine. "Thanks for sticking up for me, I guess. Even if it is just to my dead dad. You're right, it was kind of shitty."
I squeezed her hand for a long moment, and she squeezed back before speaking up again, her eyes growing sadder.
"You know - I don't know how to start this, but I feel like you probably deserve to know -"
Whatever Sara had been about to confess was interrupted by a loud slam, and we both turned to see Ava, striding through the screen door.
"I'm headed out for the night. Back at maybe eleven-hundred. Oh - and loverboy, I'm borrowing your truck - cheaper than calling a ride. Don't wait up!"
"Hey, that's not really OK - " I felt my pocket for my keys, but they weren't there. I must have left them on a side table while packing. Before I could finish my objection, Ava had popped into the cab of my precious truck and backed out of the driveway.
I turned back to Sara, the moment we had been sharing ruined.
"I thought you said she didn't have a license."
"I don't think she does." Her face had a hint of amusement at my consternation. "I warned you, didn't I?"
"I will never doubt you again - Ava's a nightmare."
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