17 Nights

Waiting for the crowed to clear out before she could make her way out, Ava busied herself with texting a few of her friends. She smiled when one of her guy friends invited her to his family's vacation home in St. Barts. Ava didn't want to get recognized, she wasn't in the mood for anyone asking for her autograph or people wondering why she was watching hockey.

'What a sucker. Jason's always been willing to do anything for me,' Ava thought as she texted her rejection to him. Looking around, Ava started to make her way to the locker room when the rink was almost empty.

Showing her pass to the guard, Ava smirked at the girls waiting by the locker room just to annoy them. She heard a couple of the call her slut and a bitch. 'Oh the irony,' she thought pointing out in her head that they were the sluts for waiting pathetically by the locker room hoping to snag a hockey player.

Ava opened the door to the locker room, and to her surprise her mother and father was already there. She quietly made her way in and listened to her father say something about not letting their loss to the Penguins get them down.

She looked around for Marc but couldn't spot the redhead anywhere. She wanted to see him so badly, because as soon as the buzzer went off and the Penguins robbed them of their victory, she could see the crestfallen look on Marc's face. She wanted nothing more than to comfort him.

"Ava, I didn't see you there," her father said, breaking her out of her thoughts. "How long have you been here?"

"Huh? I just got here, like two seconds ago," she replied, still distracted as she searched for Marc.

Josephine walked over to her daughter and gave her a hug. "Marc's not here. He left awhile ago," she whispered and broke their hug. "I think he really needs a friend," she suggested.

Ava nodded and knew what her mother meant, but she couldn't figure out if he needed a friend for their defeat or for seeing his brother and his girlfriend. All she knew was if it was for the latter she wouldn't be able to handle it.

She began to wonder why Marc never called so much as texted her that he was leaving. Didn't he want her at the game? Wasn't he the one that asked her to be at his game? She set her mind to thinking that it was that Francesca girl that got him running.

She left the building as quickly as she could and hailed a cab, giving the driver directions to Marc's apartment. She sat in awkward silence as she looked out the window, unsure if he would be there or not.

Different scenarios played out in her mind. What if Francesca was there with him? What if they left together? Marc wouldn't really do that to his brother would he? He doesn't seem like an asshole, he seemed like someone that would put his family first before himself or anything else.

Walking slowly to his apartment, Ava hoped that she was wrong. She hoped that Francesca wasn't there with Marc, or at least Jordan was there too. Giving herself a moment to think, she laughed at how pathetic she had become.

She was never like this. No, she used to be a cynical bitch that strung guys for fun, but know she felt like she was being strung around and Marc didn't even know. He turned her into some lovesick teenage girl. And if she went to a normal school and lived a normal life she was sure this was what high school felt like.

Rounding the corner to Marc's apartment door, Ava stopped dead in her tracks. Her jaw dropping to the floor, heart sinking to her stomach. She kept telling herself she shouldn't be feeling this way, after all she'd only known Marc for two weeks and there really was nothing special about him. But seeing Francesca and Marc intimately hugging and how much it was affecting her, told her another story.

Ava felt like cursing her whoever invented the cell phone and killing the person who was calling her, when her phone started to ring. Both pairs of eyes instantly landed on her, Marc looked surprised while Francesca looked embarrassed to be caught in such a comprising position with her boyfriend's brother.

Unsure of what to do, Ava did the first time that came to mind, and that was to run. She ran as fast as she could to the elevator. Marc quickly bolted after her, feeling like he owed her an explanation and he called out her name. Thinking he was about to make it to the elevator fast enough he stuck his hand out to stop the closing door but it was too late.

The last thing he saw was Ava's eyes watering and her hugging herself, slightly shaking, and then a tear dropped. Marc felt a sinking feeling in his chest; with everything that was on his mind he completely forgot about Ava being at his game.

Francesca stood beside him and placed a comforting hand on his arm. "I'm guessing that was your girlfriend. I'm so sorry, if I had known you had a girlfriend, I would have never asked to talk to you," she apologized.

Marc shook his head and looked at Francesca. "No, she's not my girlfriend. Just the girl I really like," he explained sadly. "Now I don't have any chance with her whatsoever," he said miserably.

Francesca's blood began to boil and as if her hand had a mind its own they met Marc's face. "Don't," she began. "Don't you dare say that! Any girl would be insane not to want you. You're a great guy and it seems like she really likes you with the way she reacted, now go to her and explain to her what she saw!"

Marc stood there staring at his friend, a shocked look etched on his face. He gingerly placed his hand on his cheek and smiled. "Thank you," he said gaining back some courage.

Ava walked out of the apartment building frustrated and angry. Tears started spilling out of her blue eyes slowly, but she wasn't sure if they were of frustration or sadness. She reasoned that she had no right to be sad considering that she and Marc weren't even dating. So what if they went on a couple of dates? But it felt more like they were hanging out and than going on dates.

She couldn't understand why she felt an odd sinking feeling in her chest when she saw Marc and that girl together. And why she just stood there looking like an idiot. 'God they probably thought I was some sort of creeper,' she thought as she made her way to her condominium. 'Can't believe I embarrassed myself like that,' she thought bitterly and wiped away her tears.

Ava walked into her empty condo and fell to the floor the moment she leaned on the door. She hated that Marc could make her feel like such a weak person, she was never like that. Ava was usually the one that made boys cry, not the other way around.

Whimpering, she immediately covered her mouth to muffle her cries. Right about now, her mascara and eyeliner were probably running and her eyes were most likely red, but at that moment she hardly cared. Ava combed her hand through her long blonde hair and closed her eyes. She tried a number of breathing exercises to clam herself down, but nothing seemed to work.

A knock came to the door moments later making her slightly jump and quiet down her whimpering, but she remained on the floor.

"Ava?" Marc asked worried for her. He wanted to so desperately explain everything to her. He kicked himself over and over for forgetting about her and for not mentioning about Francesca. "Ava?" he called again and this time he heard a whimper.

Ava froze. She knew that Marc had heard her, just from the sound of his voice becoming more determined, she knew. Thinking about her options, she weighed which options would hurt less. Should she really answer the door? If she did, it would mean she was allowing him to see what he was capable of doing to her.

"Ava?" Marc's voice became more desperate. "Please open the door?" he begged, leaning on her door using his arm for support. "Please," his voice cracked.

Marc perked up ever so slightly when he heard her shuffling on the other side of the door. He hoped and prayed that she was making her way over to him and not further away. He stood up straight and anticipated for her to open the door.

Standing rather shocked, Marc wanted to just wrap his arm around the thin blonde and explain everything. She looked like a mess, her hair was sticking in every direction, her eyes were red and her clothes dishevelled.

"Ava," he said slowly and carefully.

Ava's face hardened and glared at him. "What do you want?" she asked rudely. She hated herself for feeling the way she was.

"I-I wanted to explain what happened," he replied. "It wasn't what you think. Frankie was just there to tell me about her and Jordan," he explained. He tried to place his hand on her face, but she moved closer inside her condo.

Ava sighed. "Doesn't really matter. Why should I care? I mean it's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything," she said grudgingly. "Please just leave. I'm not in the mood to deal with any of this," she begged and closed the door.

Every word that came out of Ava's mouth felt like a stab in the chest for Marc. He wondered if she really meant it. She seemed like she meant it. But then he reasoned that she would not have been crying so much if he really didn't mean anything.

Ava let go of more tears that were threatening to spill out earlier. Just as she was about walk away from the door, she heard a knock. Frustrated, she opened the door ready to yell and scream at Marc to leave her alone, but never got the chance to as she was silenced with Marc's lips.

Pushing her inside her home, Marc kept on kissing her fervently just in case she decided to wake from her daze and slap him. He savoured every moment in case she decided that she really didn't like him and kicked him out. He broke the kiss and smiled when he was Ava's eyes closed nibbling on her lips.

"W-what was that?" she asked out of breath. She opened her eyes and saw Marc smiling down at her.

"Answering why you should care," he said simply and began to kiss her again.

Ava led him to her bedroom, occasionally loosing an article of each other's clothing. As soon as she felt her back hit her soft bed, all reasoning flew out the window. All she could think about was how Marc was making her feel and how she wished it would always be like it was right now.