Player of Hearts

"Bret," Avalee cried as she looked up at him, he leaned down and picked her up in his arms, she hid her face in his neck as she cried harder. "Tess why don't you take the car home, you'll catch a cold."

"I'm not leaving her," Tessa said firmly. "I caused this."

"No Tessa, you did the right thing by telling me, she could have been killed," Bret argued as he and Tessa made their way down the street.

"Maybe so, but she loves him Bret," Tessa whispered as she see n Avalee had cried herself to sleep. “Whoa, sleepy?” Tessa couldn’t help but laugh, Bret giving her a look. “Sorry, didn’t mean to laugh.”

“It’s fine,” Bret shook his head and kissed Avalee on the temple.

“Okay,” Tessa nodded.

“Tess?”

“Yeah?”

“What did you do with the guys?”

“Well,” Tessa sighed. “I did hang out with them, more than Ava knew. We all walked around a lot on the Brooklyn Bridge and hung out at Vic’s house. And Avalee didn’t do any drugs.”

“Did you?” Bret looked over to Tessa, who nodded solemnly. “Oh, Tess.”

"Just once Bret, then I realized that we didn't need to be around that," she whispered as she opened the door for Bret.

-----Next Day------

"Tess," Avalee said as she saw her friend sitting on the bed beside her, Tessa smiled and laid back in the bed beside Avalee. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it, I'm just happy that you came back," she smiled as she played with her hair while staring at Avalee. "Did he hurt you Ava?"

"No Tessa, I think I hurt him," she whispered sitting up as her eyes began to sting. "I don't want to hurt him."

"He hurt you, why sho-"

"He never hurt me," Avalee snapped narrowing her eyes to Tessa. "I hurt him, he has never hurt me, put me in danger, yelled at me, he has been a real gentleman and…" she couldn't finish.

"You're not going to see him are you?" Tessa asked wide eyed.

"No I'm not," she lied. "But I need to go for a walk, I need to think."

"Do you want me to come?"

"No Tess," she sighed scooting off the bed. "I need to be by myself, I need to…think."

"Alright," Tessa whispered as Avalee left the room, after ten minutes of walking down the sidewalk, Avalee heard the distinct rumbled of a mustang engine, looking to her side, Avalee gasped to see Victor riding up the road, as he seen Avalee he slowed up and peered over at her.

"Lee? Are you alright?" he asked softly, keeping his distance, nearly stopping his car, he was alone, Avalee bit her lip and walked in the street, to his door, she leaned in the window and pulled Victor's lips to hers.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she pulled away and walked back to the sidewalk.

“Wait!” He called out.

“Victor,” Avalee turned around to face him. “Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

“What? What are you talking about, Ava?” Victor became worried.

“Victor, we can’t see each other anymore,” Ava said softly. “I’m sorry.”

“But-but-“

“Victor,” Ava turned around and began walking away, looking over her shoulder for only a second. “I love you.”

“I-I love you, too,” He stuttered, eyes welling up. “But what does all this mean?”

“It’s over,” Ava frowned and walked back over to Tessa, who was glaring at a Trigonometry book.

"Avalee, please," Victor whispered as he grabbed her hand, running after her, leaving his car in the street. "You can't do this."

"I have too Victor, my brother is mad enough and so is Tessa, she can't see you," Avalee whispered as she tried to pull away. "Please go, it hurts enough to say goodbye."

"We can still be with each other, when they don't know, you just can't leave me Avalee I love you, I've never loved anyone like this," he pleaded as he placed both hands at the sides of her face. "Avalee Jones I love you more than life itself, I have since I first met you, we might only be a week into dating but I can't lose you."

"I don't want to lose you, but it's for the best Victor, you are bad news and I can't get in with that like my brother said, as much as I love you I can't see past what you do."

"Forget that, just our love, let us just love and I'll stop it all," he promised. "I'll talk to the boys and say I'm done with it, I'll grow my hair out, I'll wear long sleeve shirts to covered the tattoos, just don't leave me."

"You don't have to do that," she whispered looking in his eyes. "I fell in love with you, not someone you'll pretend to be, but the person you are…"

"Please…"

She looked up into his eyes at the same moment they began to spill over with tears; it was heartbreaking to see someone who was so tough on the outside, crumble in her hands. "I love you," she whispered pilling him into a kiss. "Meet me in the park at twelve tonight," she whispered in his ear as she hugged him and walked away.

She planned to not give up on love, the only good advice her mother ever gave her was to love with everything she had and never look back, because sometimes love that makes your heart weep is never found in a lifetime, she found her love and she sure as hell wasn't going to stop because of material things in the way.

Ava shook her head to clear her thoughts and walked back over to Tessa. “Hey, so is the deed done?” Tess looked up from the math book to glance at Ava, who nodded softly.

“Yeah, it’s done,” Ava lied.

“Well, I’m just glad we can get back to our normal lives,” Tessa smiled at Ava, then held out her book. “Speaking of normal lives, we have a Trig test next period. Help me study!”

“Ha-ha, alright.”

"I hate trig," Tessa whined not five minutes into studying, Avalee laughed slightly as she looked around her, everyone was suddenly heading for the school.

"Come on, time for the test," Avalee grinned as she grabbed half of Tessa's books from the school steps as she walked up them waiting for Tessa.

"Aw man," Tessa whined as she ran after Avalee. "I hate school man; I don't see why we have to put up with twelve years of school, why can't it be five years with four hour days?"

"Because people are cruel," Avalee laughed