Bittersweet

"So, how is life?" Latoya asked while pulling out the coffee pot from underneath the machine. Ava sat at the kitchen island across from her and watched Latoya pour the hot liquid into two mugs. The vile smell turned Ava's face into disgust that she had to stop her friend from pouring it out right in front of her.

"None for me thanks." Ava waved it off.

"Since when? You always drink coffee."

"Yeah, well suddenly the idea of drinking coffee makes me feel disgusted so I'll just stick to having tea instead." she said. Latoya looked at her friend with confusion before shaking her head.

"You're weird," she sighed. "Anyway, back to my question. How are things?" Latoya took a sip from her mug.

"Alright I guess." Ava shrugged and Latoya shook her head.

"Alright? Jesus Ava, you reunite with your parents after 12 years, you move to Italy with them, you ditched your designer clothes for this," Latoya commented, pointing at Ava's outfit. She wore grey jogging bottoms, a black buttoned blouse and a grey waistcoat. "Surely it's better than alright."

"How did you know about the clothes?" Ava took a deep sigh.

"Oh please, like I hadn't seen you in those magazines. They had quite a lot to say about you to be honest."

"Well that's not surprising," Ava rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I wouldn't know where to start or what to say. The move was exciting at first. First week in Venice was routine, we settled in, explored the area, met a few people and then...everything turned into a complete mess."

"What are you talking about?" Latoya frowned, taking a set across from Ava at the island. She didn't like where this was going. She had heard about the fight with Ava from an article she'd read in a magazine, but the girls had hardly been in contact since Ava left. The look of distress on Ava's face made Latoya quite concerned for her.

"For 16 years I've spent most my life with unfamiliar people, being in foster care. I moved around from family to family. A brand new location everytime. I grew up alongside strangers, solemnly hanging onto hope that one day, I would be reunited with my real parents. That day came and I was ecstatic beyond belief. I'd been waiting for this moment ever since I was a child, so when you fully reunite with your actual family and you move to a brand new place together, you think everything will be okay from now on. That it would be easy to move on, but I was wrong." Latoya watched her best friend speak intently, trying hard not to break down. Words couldn't describe how bad the brunette felt sorry for her. "It's funny you know, you spend so much time around strangers you hardly know, that you learn more off of them than you do with your real family."

"You don't mean that."

"I do." Ava exclaimed. "An entire month I questioned myself whether I was their daughter or not. Whether I actually belonged in that family after what we'd been through. I was pushed and pulled into things Latoya without a second chance and it was horrible. I felt lost, alone. For a second, I didn't even know who I was anymore. I still don't know." Ava bit her lip to stop it from trembling. "That life is not for me, it will never be me, it's just too much. I've spent my days with unfortunate people and I no longer want to be labelled as the wealthy rich girl who lost her parents Latoya, I hate that, I don't want that. Trust me when I say this that I'm glad I was reunited with my parents...,but it just wasn't the sort of reunion I was expecting." Ava finished off before turning quiet. She sat still in her seat while she peeled the nail varnish off from her nails. Latoya was at a loss for words herself. Even the coffee she had made suddenly turned cold. Latoya couldn't help but feet bad for not contacting her friend much sooner, she felt horrible now she understood how Ava actually felt. The brunette shot up from her seat and threw the liquid down the drain before looking down in guilt.

-

It was the morning of the court case and while Latoya was busy getting ready upstairs, Ava sat alone at the kitchen island waiting for her to come back down. Latoya never rushed with getting ready. She always took her time. Too long in fact. Ava glanced around the kitchen, taking in everything. Everything looked the same from the day she'd left. The walls painted the same deep red. Pots, dishes and cutlery hanging along the sides. The only thing that looked different now was the fridge door. There were plenty of photographs stuck on by bold neon magnets. Most of them being photos of Juan and Latoya. But what caught Ava's attention the most was the last photo right in the top right corner. She held her breath and somehow fount herself walking over to the fridge door. Ava took the photo in her hand and had a closer look. There were 3 familiar people huddled close together sitting on a large brown sofa while huge smiles were plastered over all their faces. Juan on the left, Latoya in the middle and Fernando being on the right. It looked pretty recent.

"That was taken a few days ago." said Juan who approached Ava from behind. He sent the woman a smile as she continued to stare down at the photo in her hand. "We were having a movie marathon day. It was meant to be only me and Latoya at first, but then Fernando came over so he joined in."

"How is he?" she questioned the short man. Juan shrugged and bit his lip.

"You know, same old Fernando...but," Juan hesitated and Ava immediately felt his alarm. Her head shot straight up to look at the Spaniard. "He's different now."

"Different how?"

"He hardly smiles anymore. Fernando isn't the man he was before Ava. He's barricaded himself up like on the outside he acts tough, but on the inside it's like he is screaming for help. Fernando thinks I haven't noticed though I have and I worry for him." Juan took the photo from Ava and glanced down at the photo himself. "This was the only day where he seemed like his normal self. He truly seemed happy that day and it was the happiest I'd seen him since." Ava looked down to the ground in shame and Juan knew the look she was giving off straight away. He sensed her sadness. Ava blamed herself. "Stop! I know what you're thinking, but please don't be the one to put yourself at fault here Ava, because you're not to blame."

"How can you say that? He's miserable because of me, I made him like this."

"No." Juan tried to reassure her, but it was no good. Ava shook her head.

"Yes, I chose to leave and I did."

"Ava, you left because you had to. You had a reason to leave."

"You said it yourself Juan, Fernando's barricaded himself away from everyone. He needed me the most and I left. So what does that say about me?" Juan didn't answer, but he sent her a solemn look.

"Like I also said. Don't be the one to blame Ava, you're not responsible for his actions." he said. The two remained silent after their much serious conversation. Latoya's heels could be heard coming nearer as she made her way down the stairs and Juan and Ava walked to meet her in the hallway. The blonde instantly smiled soon as she saw her friend. She grinned at the couple when Latoya started adjusting Juan's tie and he lent down for a kiss, but the brunette kissed his cheek instead. Ava thought it was nice to still see them together, to finally see her happy.

"Are we all ready?" the brunette asked. She glanced from Juan who nodded frantically to the blonde who had her arms wrapped tight around her front. Latoya knew she was frightened. She grabbed Ava's hand and held it in a soft grip.

"Let's just get this done OK?." to which they all nodded. Juan also provided his own comfort for the two girls.

"Don't worry, we're gonna do this together, we're both here for you Ava, always!"