Until You Met Me

Eighty

Smoothing out the material of his shirt, Gerard spared a glance towards the clock on the wall, watching as the seconds ticked by as he waited for Ava to stride through her office door. He knew that it wouldn’t be long before she arrived. When he had stopped by the receptionist’s desk downstairs, the receptionist had been quick to insist that her last meeting was almost over and that she would send Ava to meet him as soon as it was, but as he sat in her office, waiting, he grew less and less sure that going to visit her was a good idea.

He wanted to try and make things better. As much as Molly had tried to play off how upset she had been by what Ava had said, in the few days that had passed since she had said it, it had been obvious to Gerard that it was still bothering her, and he wanted to do something to try and make it better, something that had led to him deciding to visit Ava at work, an idea which was appearing less and less like a good one the longer he sat, waiting for her to arrive.

Exhaling a quiet sigh, he shifted in his seat slightly so that he could slip his phone out of his pocket before he tapped the screen, sighing again when he realised that he had missed a call from Molly, almost certainly asking if he was around to give her a lift home. She didn’t really need him to. Their new home was within walking distance of the school she worked at, and Molly enjoyed the walk home, but they both liked it when he picked her up. It was comfortable, a little routine that had grown as their relationship had changed, and it meant that he was disappointed that he couldn’t make it.

“Gerard?”

Gerard, who’d been preparing a text to send to Molly, startled slightly at the sound of Ava’s surprised voice before he turned in his seat, looking up towards where she stood in the doorway, hesitating on the threshold. “Sorry for the surprise visit” he quipped “But I figured that if you knew I was coming, you’d not even show up” he added.

Ava looked between him and the hallway a couple of times, clearly trying to decide whether or not to just walk away, before she finally stepped out of the doorway, pushing the door closed after her. Stepping towards her desk, she stopped in front of it, resting against it ahead of where Gerard sat. “Was this your idea or Molly’s?” she asked quietly.

“Molly doesn’t know that I am here” Gerard replied “She’d have convinced me not to come if I had told her. She tells me I have a habit for making things worse without meaning to” he added, smiling half-heartedly.

Ava returned his smile with a small, pained one of her own.

Gerard exhaled a quiet sigh, breaking the silence that had settled over them. “Ava...”

“What am I supposed to do, Gerard?” Ava interrupted defensively “Do you remember the last time you were here? You sat in front of me, blatantly lying to my face about not having ‘those’ feelings for Molly. How am I supposed to be all team Gerard only a year after that? I am just trying to be realistic, and if that sometimes means telling Molly things that she doesn’t want to hear, then that’s what it means. I won’t let her walk into something I don’t trust without thinking it through” she added.

For a long moment, Gerard didn’t know how to respond. It wasn’t news to him that Ava didn’t have much faith in him, but how little faith she had in what he and Molly had built surprised him. He had thought that, as one of Molly’s closest friends, the fact that Molly was happy would have been enough to cause her to relax a little. “You’re supposed to be her friend” he muttered.

“I am just trying to be realistic” Ava replied, her voice softening a little.

“I don’t care what you think about me” Gerard said, pushing himself up to his feet “But you keep hurting Molly. She’s not looking for someone to tell her all the ways this could go wrong, because I know that she would have already thought of them all. She is just looking for someone to support her. Is that really that difficult for you to do?” he pressed.

Ava’s expression faltered for a moment, but she didn’t say anything, something which caused Gerard to scoff. “You are her best friend” he said “All she wants is for you to be on her side, even if you have to fake it. You can still think that I am unreliable, or that the fact that we have very little in common means that we’re doomed, but all Molly wants is for you and Sofia to trust her. Is that really too much to ask?” he added, the bitterness fading from his voice to be replaced by a softer, pleading tone.

Ava ducked her head, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Ava, please” Gerard continued “Your opinion means so much to her. Can you please just...”

“Did you ever wonder why I didn’t set you two up?” Ava spoke over him.

Gerard blinked a couple of times, surprised by the question, before he shrugged his shoulders. “Ava...”

“I set her up with every single guy I knew” Ava continued “But not you” she added.

“Ava...” Gerard trailed off when Ava pushed herself up onto her toes, pressing her lips to his.

For a second, he couldn’t think. He could feel her lips against his, he could hear the blood rushing through his ears, but he couldn’t react quickly enough. It took a beat or two for him to react. Slowly, too slowly, he placed his hands on Ava’s shoulders and pushed her a couple of paces backwards before he looked down at her, his eyes wide. Opening and closing his mouth, he tried to say something, but it didn’t come immediately, leaving him staring down at Ava who looked back up at him, her own eyes wide with surprise. Closing his eyes, her drew in a deep breath before he let it out slowly, his eyes opening to meet Ava’s again. “What the hell did you just do?” he murmured.
♠ ♠ ♠
Thanks to Twisted;;Symphony for the comment :)