A Beautiful Fate (21 page)

Finals followed, and then Christmas break. My homework had piled up. I had an etude that I had been composing for piano, but I changed it around whenever the mood came upon me and grew increasingly frustrated. I felt confident about most of my classes, but still spent the majority of my time in the library. Ari and I were neck and neck for the top of our graduating class and I really wanted to beat him. Most evenings I was joined in the library by Ari, Rory and Emily, and I was starting to see a lot more of Julia as well. I didn’t know if she just needed to study or if she was using studying as an excuse to hang out with Rory, but I noticed the two of them together a lot more than usual. Julia was laid back around Ari and me. Ari said Julia had told him a while back that she didn’t know how to act around him anymore. She is flirty by nature and maybe she thought it best not to say anything at all for fear of upsetting me. But Julia is sweet and I couldn’t imagine her saying something that would ever anger me.

Chapter 12

Ari and I began spending every weekend at his family’s house on the beach. There was never a dull moment. People argued, yelled, and placed ridiculous bets with one another over the most inane issues. They teamed up against each other and pulled pranks and jokes. I laughed constantly at their antics. Nothing was private and there wasn’t one subject for conversation that was taboo. They discussed politics, sex, money and religion at the dinner table. It wasn’t rare for someone to get angry and leave before the main course...and it wasn’t rare for that same person to get over the difference of opinion that had driven them away and be back in time for dessert. The Alexanders were the closest group of people I had ever been around and they all had the unusual ability to make me feel as though I belonged.

I sat in the kitchen early one morning after a bout of nightmares. The sun had just peeked over the east side of the lawn and I had already read all three of the papers delivered each morning and had finished off more coffee than I really should drink.

“Morning, Ava Baby.”

“Hi, Aggie.”

“Couldn’t sleep?”

I shook my head no and paused for a moment, hesitating.

“Aggie, who are you?” My voice was a mere whisper. I hadn’t had the nerve to ask that question of anyone yet. I am a very private person and have always hated to infringe on someone else’s privacy. But Aggie smiled. She took a seat next to me at the kitchen island.

“Ava, I am Agatha Eleni Paris Alexander, descended from Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty and sexuality.” Aggie winked at me and I blushed.

“My mother’s parents moved to America right after they married,” Aggie continued. They had my mom, Eleni, shortly after. Eleni met her husband, Aristotle, in school and they married young. She had complications at birth and died. My father raised me.”

Aggie smiled again as she mentioned her father. “When I met Andy, I was crazy in love with him. He owned me body and soul. My Father forbade that I see him. He said I was too young and that Andy was a fool. He was worried about me. He was scared he would lose me the way he lost my mother. I disobeyed my father and ran off. Andy’s family took me in, just as they have taken in any of us who has been in need. Theirs was a very full home. They barely had enough room for me or the money to feed an extra mouth. They had Andy, Adrian, Thais, Troy, who was Julia’s father, and now me. I made some money with my photos and put myself through school and helped pay bills. I also helped put Andy though school and we were able to get a house of our own once we married. My father refused to come to my wedding. He said I was dishonorable and I had given him shame.

“Your father came to me one night. Adrian pounded on our door so hard he nearly knocked it down. My dad had been in his dreams; it was his time to die. Adrian urged me to go to him in his final hours to make amends. I was eight months pregnant with Ari at the time and Andy was away on business. I somehow managed to drive seven hours straight to be at my father’s side. I was so scared. I thought he was going to turn me away and I loved him so much.”

Tears formed in Aggie’s eyes and she looked off to a faraway place as she described how her father had put his hands on her swollen belly.

He had asked her if she was healthy. He was still worried about her and she was still his little girl. She told him she was healthy, that she had had a perfect pregnancy and that she and Andy were expecting a strong, Greek, baby boy very shortly.

“He asked me, and Ava, his voice was strong with emotion, what we planned to name our ‘strong Greek’ child.

“My hands were shaking. Andy and I had not yet chosen a name, though we had argued about a couple for some time. But I couldn’t bear the thought of my father dying and not knowing his grandson’s name so, with barely any thought given to my action I told him we would name our son Ari.

Aggie giggled. “It just popped right out of my mouth. ‘Ari,’ I said, ‘after his grandfather.’

“My dad looked me in the eyes for the first time in ten years. ‘That is a good name Agatha; you are a beautiful and smart woman. I am the one who has shamed you. I am sorry.’ I held him to me and cried. He died in my arms.”

I sat speechless for a few moments. Aggie’s story was not at all what I had expected it to be. “So was Andy okay with the name Ari?”

“Yes, he thought it was perfect and it was. Ari came in to our lives and made everything perfect.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling.” My words slipped out and I flushed a little bit. It was true though; Ari had come into my life and made everything perfect.

****

I finished my finals on a Wednesday afternoon, a day before Ari. He had an all-day physics exam on Thursday.

I felt confident about my grades. Not that there was anything I could do to change them now. I had nailed down my piano piece, and for independent gym all I had to do was run five miles, so that was a breeze. Viola, Sophie and Emily left Wednesday night after we had a little Christmas dinner and gift exchange. They had loved the clothes at
baio
, making my shopping for them extremely easy. Since Ari had his exam on Thursday, we weren’t planning to leave for his house until Thursday night.

On Thursday morning, I found myself with nothing to do. My friends had all gone home, my boyfriend was in class and I had no homework worrying me. I plopped down on the couch in the commons next to Rory and started watching
The Today Show
; Matt Lauer was carrying on about all of the great new gifts available for the holiday season. Christmas was only five days away and I had hardly made a dent in my Christmas shopping.

“Oh, man, I have to do some shopping,” Rory said, nearly reading my mind.

“Yeah, me too.”

“Well, c’mon, Ava Baby,” he said, pulling me up off the couch. “You drive and I’ll buy lunch.”

After grabbing my small, vintage, black-and-white striped clutch, my keys, phone and cash, we made our way down to my car.

Our first stop was
Tiffany’s
, which was unbelievably packed with last-minute shoppers like ourselves. After a few deep breaths and some mental preparation, I made my way through the crowd to peer down at the glass cases displaying shiny and polished pieces of jewelry. I managed to find something Margaux might appreciate and I fell in love with a necklace that I knew would be perfect for Aggie. Rory kept drooling over an incredibly nice watch, so I quietly asked the sales woman to ring it up for me as well.

Recalling that Andy’s study had caught fire earlier in the fall and that he had lost several books from his collection, I wandered into a bookstore to stock him up on some of the classics; classics including Zorba
the Greek
, his favorite. Then I went excessively overboard for Lauren and got her three pairs of shoes, some cute boots, a pair of flats and an awesome pair of running shoes that I really loved and was considering keeping for myself. Next, Rory and I decided to hit up H&M and I bought Lauren some new clothes too.

I had no idea what to get for Ari. As Rory and I sat down for lunch, I attempted to pick his brain for good gift ideas. He was no help at all.

“I got him a sweater; you can go halvsies on it with me if you want,” he shrugged.

Rory held up the sweater. It was nice, Burberry, but about three sizes too big. I had a sudden suspicion that he bought it too big on purpose so Ari would just give it back to him.

“Uh, no thanks,” I said with a disbelieving laugh.

The restaurant was packed with holiday shoppers, tables were pushed close together and people shoved nearly one on top of another. I was, to say the least, uncomfortable. Out of the din came a voice, from the guy next to me as it turned out, complaining to some friend I could see only the back of, about how he had spent all of his cash on front-row tickets for the New Year’s Eve
Vampire Weekend
,
Ra Ra Riot
show. And about how he had no money left to buy Christmas presents with. He added that he would like to sell the tickets quick for some ready cash.

Ari and I are both huge fans of
Vampire Weekend
and
Ra Ra Riot
. I actually had tried to get tickets for the show a while back but they had been sold out since the day they went on sale. I couldn’t help myself; I had to have those tickets.

“I’m sorry,” I said, interrupting their conversation, “I don’t mean to eavesdrop but you actually have front-row tickets for the New Year’s Eve show?”

“Yep, best seats in the house. I had four but I sold two of them a week ago.”

“How much are you asking for the two of them?”

“Five hundred.”

I bit down on my lip.

“Do you have the tickets on you?” I asked and he pulled two concert tickets out of his wallet and handed them to me.

“I’ll give you three hundred cash right now,” I offered.

He sighed in thought, “I can do four hundred,” he countered.

I shook my head, “No dice. Three fifty -- that’s my final offer.”

He hesitated for a moment and I thought I was going to lose the deal. I flashed a brilliant smile.

“Deal.”

Yes!

I took out the cash, handed it to him, took my front-row
Vampire Weekend
tickets, and slid them into my clutch.

“Oh, my gosh, Ava, I cannot believe you did that,” Rory laughed and rolled his eyes.

“When it’s
Vampire Weekend
AND
Ra Ra Riot
, our two favorite bands, the tickets are totally worth the price.”

“And so is Ari I hope,” Rory said with an easy smile.

“Of course he is!”

“You know Ava, he really likes you. You should have seen him that day when he came to talk to me about you. I’ve never seen him like that before. I’m not gonna lie Ava, I did kind of have a thing for you, but when Ari told me that he loved you, I knew I couldn’t stand in the way of that.”

My jaw hit the table, and I had to remind myself to breathe.

“Oh man, I shouldn’t have said that. I just assumed that you two were there already...he’s going to kill me. Please don’t say anything.”

All I could do was nod, smile and muster up a “sure” to put Rory at ease. Then a thought popped into my head. This is Rory; I can get anything out of him.

“What did he say exactly?” I leaned in close on my elbows.

“Oh come on, Ava, don’t do this to me.”

“Please,” I smiled a toothy smile and batted my eyelashes playfully.

“Ah, Ava, if he finds out, I’m dead.”

“How will Ari ever find out?” I made my voice soft and sweet with perhaps just a bit too much inflection.

Apparently, this is all the convincing Rory needed. He is more gossipy than a blue-haired lady after church. Rory scooted his chair closer and leaned in on his elbows.

“Ari was nervous Ava, I’m not going lie. I have never seen him like that before. Ari is always so collected and sure of himself. I had no idea why he wanted to talk to me. When he said he needed to talk about you, I was confused. I had never even really seen you guys talk together. I later found out that he had been sneaking behind my back at night, but whatever, I forgive him for that. Anyway, he told me that he loved you from the minute he first laid eyes on you. He told me he was sorry and that he had tried to ignore his feelings but he couldn’t manage to any longer. He said that he thought there might be a chance that you felt the same about him and he had to find out if that was the case. And he wanted my permission.”

This statement took my breath away. “Oh, pure wow.”

“So… do you love him, Ava?”

“Yes, very much.” My cheeks flushed and my voice was small.

After lunch, we finished our shopping. Rory got Julia a very nice gift, which surprised me, but I didn’t say anything about it. We stopped by
baio
and I picked out some things for Ari, not really for Christmas but because I felt a little guilt about having pushed Rory to talk with me. I let Rory stock up on a few things, too. The greatest thing about Margaux and
baio
is that she sells the best pair of aviator sunglasses I have ever found. Ari was always borrowing mine and losing them, so I grabbed a handful for both of us. We went up to Margaux’s office, which was on the twenty-second floor of a building in downtown L.A., but she was too busy to talk with me so I left her gift with her assistant, Delia.