Chapter Text
I reached for the book, hardly containing the smile on my face, for the very first time I was seeing my own book on a shelf, nothing could have made me happier than physically finding my writing in a bookstore, especially here in my favorite one in Sunny Bay. But another hand bumped into mine, I turned to face the most beautiful woman I had ever encountered.
"Here you go, " I smiled as I handed her the book, hardly believing that someone was buying my story.
"Are you sure ? My friend recommended it to me, she said it was one of the best books she'd ever read. » Replied the woman, asking more out of politeness than as an actual question.
I nodded and gave it to her : « Of course, I already have a copy of it, I quite liked it. Are you new here, or passing by ? I've never seen you in SunnyBay ? »
She accepted the book and thanked me : " I just moved here yesterday , I'm Ava.”
I shook her hand and introduced myself in return, hoping she wouldn't open the
book while I was here, my picture was inside and for some reason I was feeling really
embarrassed about her knowing that she was holding my book. Her friend said it was
one of the best she'd read, but what if she didn't like it ?
I agreed to show her around town tomorrow and she walked out, leaving me stunned as I recalled her face. She was exactly how I portrayed my character Ava in my next story, they had the same name, and the same look.
* * *
I met Ava in front of the bookstore around two, she was waiting for me with a huge smile on her face : “Hi! You didn't tell me it was your book.” She exclaimed as she waved, I instantly felt my cheeks burning up and I looked at the ground: " Did you- did you like it ?” I shyly looked at her, hoping she wouldn't try to lie because she hated it.
"Are you kidding? I absolutely loved it! I stayed up most of the night to finish it, it was amazing, really. I'm sorry, I'm fangirling a bit over here, I really loved it." She replied with a smile, a huge, flashing smile, making me even happier than yesterday when she picked the book.
"Oh ... Well thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it, it means a lot. " I said as I offered to sign it, which she gladly accepted.
We went to the cliff, the trail was beautiful, bordered by wild flowers and bushes, it
offered the most breathtaking sights all year round.
"This is beautiful Beatrice, is it the place Rebecca describes at the end of the story ? " whispered Ava as to not trouble the peace emanating from the place.
I nodded and sat down on the flat stone : " yeah it is, I've always loved this place, and I know Rebecca would too.”
"I know you must be tired of questions about your book but can I ask one more please ?”
“Of course, I don't think I could be tired of it." I replied with a smile.
" Is there anything real? some anecdotes just felt so real."
“Most of them are so that would be why," I smiled and continued, " most people don't know that but Rebecca is widely inspired by myself. The story between Rebecca, Dawson and Julia actually happened, although not identically.”
Ava looked at me wide-eyed: "Really? And you're Rebecca in this story? How did it end ? Rebecca never said.”
I gave her a slight smile: "That's because I didn't know the end when I wrote it, but I do now and it's not book worthy . "
She looked at me but didn't ask out loud what I knew she wanted to ask.
“Would you like to know anyway ? "
Ava nodded and turned to me awaiting the story .
" As you know, Rebecca, Julia and Dawson all went to school together and later in life worked together. Julia was close friend with both of them, yet Rebecca and Dawson hated each other, especially Dawson. Despite being younger by a couple years, Rebecca was undoubtedly better at everything, Dawson was a close second and it was never enough for him, now Rebecca wasn't one to brag or anything but still he just couldn't stand her. Although there was one thing he had that Rebecca didn't, Julia. As these two dated Dawson finally felt superior to his nemesis, it didn't last though, Julia left him to date Rebecca and Dawson went on hating her even more than before, once again she had surpassed him.”
I stopped for a bit to think, did I really want to tell Ava, whom for some reason I admired, the miserable end to this story.
" This is where you stopped in the book, what happens next ?”
I sighed and looked at the horizon "Julia added water to the grease fire between Dawson and Rebecca and then, she got tired of me and broke my heart. Now Sawyer, well Dawson, hates me even more because I stole her for no reason since I didn't want her. The truth is that
she's a manipulative bitch and has made my life hell whenever she or Sawer is around.”
I laughed a little and turned to Ava : "see ? It's not book worthy.”
" I'm sorry, she does sound like a bitch " she smiled and we went on to talk about other
things, I invited Ava to the beach end of summer party this Saturday, not as my date but simply because she's my friend and doesn't know anyone in SunnyBay, although I did hope she'd dance with me at some point. She agreed to come and we went on about our walk,
chatting about nothing and everything, I found myself quite fond of her company.
" How old are you ? " Asked Ava out of the blue, "I'm pretty sure you're older than me but it felt wrong to google you .”
" Thanks, I'm twenty-eight, I will turn twenty-nine in January, what about you ? " I asked in return, praying that she wouldn't answer twenty like Ava. But she did.
“When's your birthday ? "
"May the twenty-fourth. " She replied, stopping me dead in my tracks, she had the same birthday I had given Ava, my Ava .
"Are you okay ?”
I shook my head, "yes, sorry, I just remembered about a work thing."
It must be a coincidence, another one, but it was one too many, what else could they have in
common ? How did I summon such a resembling character ?
"Ava? Is your favorite color lilac ?”
She gave me a puzzling look: "It is actually, how did you know that ?"
I tried to stay calm, yet it was once again another thing in common between Ava and Ava.
I turned to her, " you're kidding right ? "
She looked at me confused: "no i'm not, why would I be? Is everything okay?”
How could she be so close to my character? Both are named Ava, they have the same birthday and favorite color, I could swear they are the same person. Except it's not possible, they cannot be the same person, because I invented Ava. But as I've been taught, two is coincidence but three is a pattern.
I felt her shoulder nudging mine: "Beatrice what's going on? Is Ava a name so ugly that it got you all quiet ? "
She laughed a little but I could tell she was uncomfortable.
“No of course not, Ava is actually one of my favorite names. No, Sorry I just lost myself in my thoughts a little, work has been quite busy these past few weeks that's all.” I shrugged, knowing my explanation wasn’t so great, but Ava and I weren’t close enough for her to question it.
“Oh, alright, I'm sorry to be bothering you today”. Replied Ava, seemingly sad and embarrassed.
"oh no, not at all ! I'm sorry if I gave you this impression, I invited you Ava, because I wanted to. I'm glad you're here, and it's nice to have a break." I gave her a smile to which she blushed a little.
"you're right, this is nice. What's wrong then ?"
I couldn't tell her the truth, she'd think I'm crazy and would immediately stop being my friend. Were we even friends ? But she wouldn't take no for an answer so instead I told her something about the pressure they put on me at work, which wasn't a lie either .
" What do you do for work ? "
" I'm a scientist, I work in medical research and development, and you ? " I asked in return, although part of me already knew the answer before the words left her lips.
"I'm a bartender .”
Here it was, just as Ava. I couldn't explain it just yet but somehow I hadn't written about an invented character, I had written about a real person. My character, Ava, was Ava Silva, the woman I had met yesterday. The very real woman, walking right beside me.
"Alright, spill it, " Said Ava as she stopped on the trail, "you get quiet whenever I tell you something about myself, and you question every single one of my answers as if they were wrong or something. So what is it Beatrice? Am I too young or too much of an unaccomplished loser to be your friend ?" She asked, very upset as she turned back and left.
I didn't stop her, what would I say? "sorry I'm freaked out because you're my next book character.” she'd definitely think I've lost it.
So I went home. I called Camila, my assistant, to tell her she could take the evening off as I wouldn't go to work today.
Instead I sat on the floor in my room and took all the papers and notes related to my next book, I wanted to make a lot of everything I knew about my Ava :
- She's twenty years old and born on May twenty four.
- Her favorite color is lilac but not to wear.
- She's a bartender who makes a spectacular cuba libre.
-She let her friends call her Aves.
- She doesn't label herself but tends to lean more towards women.
-She hates math and science because she's always been bad at it, but she doesn't mind hearing about it as long as the person is passionate.
- She loves to read, and every genre, except biographies, although autobiographies are alright but definitely not a favorite.
-She loves to watch Christmas movies with Juliet, the main character.
-She loves her job despite what people might think about it.
And that was pretty much all I had, the book wasn't finished yet, but so far Ava checked all the boxes. Although I wasn't sure about the movies, she seemed like she wouldn't mind watching some while cuddling and drinking wine or tea regarding the hour. God it took me barely more than an hour to mess it all up with her, good job me.
Let's hope she still comes to the party on Saturday so that maybe I can apologize, I definitely needed to do so. But what could I say ? I didn't know what to tell her without lying or her freaking out completely.
After an entire night of deliberation I did reach a conclusion, I needed to show her my book, I wasn't sure how just yet but I had to, I hated knowing she was upset and that I had hurt her feelings. She thought I had called her a loser, that I had looked down on her and thought I was so much better. It wasn't true, not even remotely, truth is I had been scared by all she said, because I knew in my heart every answer before she said it, because I felt so drawn to her, so connected. I immediately felt it, as soon as our hands touched in the bookstore, before I even looked at Ava, I knew.
Somehow I hadn't invented Ava, I had channeled her .
***
It's completely exhausted that I drove myself to work, the book in my bag, I needed
advice and I needed to figure it out and understand.
"Can you get some coffee please ? " I asked Camila as I sat down at my desk , "I pulled an all nighter and I need your opinion on something.”
“You want my opinion ? Are you sure ? " Asked Camila with a huge grin on her face.
I sighed, "no, but I need to ask someone and you're here so …”
She sat down and handed me a cup, gesturing for me to go on.
"I met a girl, and I'm freaking out.”
“That's it, a girl ? Do you like her ?”
I nodded and took the unachieved manuscript out of my bag, "I do, although I can't explain why just yet. But it's more complicated than this, Camila. You've seen me write this book right? It's my next one, I'm supposed to send a final draft to Lilith after the new year’s eve. "
"Yeah, “Lemon drops”, right? I'm not sure where you're going with this though."
"I'm getting to it, just keep an open mind okay? So one of my main characters in Lemon drops is named Ava Silva, she's a bartender and I can't explain how but she's the woman I met the other day .”
" You're kidding right ?”
"Do I look like it ? Listen, they have the same name, the same birthdate, the same nickname, same job and favorite color, they look the exact same, Camila. I know it's crazy, I do. But I'm sure I'm right, I can feel it. I felt it when we met and again when I saw her yesterday.”
“Oh, well you know everything has a scientific explanation so we'll figure it out, or we might not, maybe it's not the time to unravel such a mystery, every science has its time. It's not because we can't explain or understand something that it's not real or that it's crazy.” Explained Camila, very wisely.
I knew she was right but it didn't keep me from freaking out right now.
"Although in your case there's an explanation I can think of, you're not going to like it, but it does make some sense when you think about it."
“What is it then ? "
“Soulmates, she's your soulmate Beatrice”
“Nope, " I stood up to go into the lab, "I'm gonna stop you right there. I don't have time for this, some of us have actual work to do.”
“Told you you wouldn't like it." Called out my assistant, still sitting at my desk instead of actually assisting me.
" I should go see Ava and apologize, I can't explain but I should try to make it right, I really hurt her feelings and I don't like that .”
"Maybe just try to hide everything you know about her so far. Do you even know where she
lives ?”
“South Beach cottage, it has to be, it was the only empty house in town and was sold a month ago, but I can always check real quick.”
“She's already mad at you, hacking her personal records might not be best."
“Smart, I 'll just go and see.”