After finishing the coffee, the four of them sat back down at the table. Ava sat right next to Giselle and watched her. This time, she wasn't confused anymore; instead, she felt guilty. For a long time, she had thought someone was playing a prank on her by claiming to be Sharon's daughter, so her initial plan had been to mess with them. However, over time, they had actually become friends and chatted until last year when Ava bought a new smartphone.
"So, you're really Aunt Sharon's daughter?" Ava asked, trying to shake her uneasy feelings.
"I am. Why would I lie? Just look at my face," Giselle answered casually, pointing to herself.
"I guess so... you do look like the photos of Aunt Sharon when she was young... so... all this time I've been talking to my own cousin?" Ava asked once more.
"Yep. I'm glad I finally got to meet you," Giselle replied, giving Ava a hug.
"How come you never told me about this?" Luke asked.
"You never asked," Ava answered curtly.
"Good grief, this kid. Does Noel know?" Luke asked Ava.
"No... I'm the only one who knows. It's not that I didn't want to tell anyone; I just thought it wasn't important at first, and once we became friends, well, why bother bringing it up? Right?" Ava replied.
"Hahaha... exactly. I'm with you on that one, Ava. Oh, by the way... speaking of which, why isn't Noel back yet? Don't you two usually come home together?" Lorna asked Ava.
"Huh? Is he really not home yet?" Ava asked, startled.
The atmosphere went quiet for a moment. Luke leaned forward, looking directly at Ava who was sitting right across from him.
"You mean Noel was supposed to be home already?" Luke asked, confused.
"Yeah. He said he was going to go with Vanessa to do something... so I ended up asking Caleb to give me a ride home on his bike," Ava answered.
"Caleb? Oh, the guy who dropped you off and kissed you earlier," Lorna said, as if a lightbulb had gone off.
Luke immediately turned to look at Lorna. She flinched, caught off guard by his sudden movement.
"Whoa, I thought you were going to pounce on me... though I wouldn't mind if you did," Lorna joked.
"What do you mean, a kiss?" Luke asked, pointing toward Ava.
"Take it easy, Luke. It was just on the cheek, right, Ava?" Giselle chimed in.
"You heard her. Back off a bit, or I'll be the one kissing you," Lorna said, pushing Luke's face away with her hand.
Luke turned his gaze back to Ava, who flinched, afraid of getting scolded by her brother.
"Who is Caleb?" Luke asked, getting straight to the point.
"Here," Ava said, sliding her smartphone toward Luke with the screen lit up.
Luke looked at the background photo on Ava's phone. It showed Ava kissing the cheek of a young man with blue eyes and short brownish-blonde hair; he was handsome and wearing a wide smile. It was the same photo Luke had caught a glimpse of when he peeked at Ava's phone before. Lorna and Giselle leaned in to study the photo seriously, then both turned to look at Ava.
"This is Caleb? Is he your boyfriend?" Giselle asked.
"Hmm... he looks a bit older than you, doesn't he?" Lorna asked, examining Caleb's face.
Ava nodded. "He's a year older, an upperclassman. He gave me a ride on his bike because he was heading to the shop; he works at a mechanic shop near here helping his uncle," Ava answered slowly.
"Oh, I see. No wonder he was wearing mechanic's clothes and carrying a helmet... alright, you have my support," Giselle said.
"Yep, he looks pretty decent and seems nice. I support it too," Lorna added.
Giselle and Lorna turned to look at Luke, who seemed to be in a trance, staring at Ava's smartphone screen until the coffee in front of him went lukewarm.
"Hey... why are you so quiet all of a sudden?" Lorna asked, patting Luke on the back.
"Yeah, why are you just spacing out like that?" Giselle asked, confused.
"He feels like he's losing to his younger siblings, Lorna, Giselle. Just leave him be for a minute," Ava teased.
The three of them looked at Luke with mocking smiles, but Luke remained silent. His mind was elsewhere. Now that he was seeing Caleb clearly in the photo—not just a glimpse like that night—he felt like he had seen the guy somewhere before.
"Hey... why are you staring into space?" Lorna asked, patting his back again.
"No... it's just, I feel like I've seen this kid before," Luke said, studying the photo of Caleb and Ava.
"Well of course you have, Luke. He's the one who helps service our bike at the garage, and he's also the one who takes care of our truck there. How could you forget?" Ava answered.
"Oh... so that's Caleb. I guess I never really paid attention," Luke replied.
"Seriously, I already introduced him to you back then," Ava retorted.
"So that's him, your boyfriend... alright, you have my blessing. He's a good guy, I know him," Luke said, sliding the smartphone back toward her.
"Hehe... nice, I got the green light. Now you better hurry up and find someone too. If I marry him, I'm definitely moving out to be with him," Ava teased.
"You're only fifteen, don't even think about marriage," Luke snapped back.
"The right way to say it is I'm already fifteen... not only fifteen. Get it right," Ava replied curtly.
"It's pretty impressive, though. Being a mechanic at sixteen? Usually, kids that age are just interested in hanging out and partying," Giselle mused.
"He learned everything from helping his dad with vintage car restoration projects in their home garage since he was a kid. Whenever I go there, he always takes me to the garage to see his projects. Sometimes I stay and help him out with his work when I have some free time. He often says he wants to open his own shop, and of course, I support him," Ava said, looking truly proud.
"Wow... that's actually really great," Giselle replied.
"Hmm... I see. He's just like this guy, then—fifteen and running a whole cafe all by himself, to the point where he doesn't think about anything else hehe," Lorna said, resting a hand on Luke's shoulder.
"Well, that's exactly it. Otherwise, I wouldn't want to be with him, hehe," Ava replied, glancing at Luke.
"Be quiet, Lorna. (Turning to look at Ava) So, where does he live anyway?" Luke asked.
"Right near here... he lives with his mom. His dad passed away while serving overseas," Ava answered.
"Oh... his dad was in the military? No wonder he works; is he the one supporting his mom?" Giselle asked.
"Yep. His mom isn't strong enough to work anymore because she pushed herself way too hard at first to pay for his education and daily expenses. He told me once that his mom used to work three jobs, putting in up to 80 hours a week. It's horrible," Ava replied.
"Wait, didn't they get military benefits?" Luke asked.
"They did... but he says it's not enough. He has four younger siblings, after all," Ava answered.
"Well, that explains it. I mean, even you get overwhelmed with just two siblings, right, Luke?" Lorna teased.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Ava shouted.
Everyone burst into cheerful laughter and continued their casual conversation when suddenly, "click," the locker room door opened. The atmosphere instantly went silent as Luke, Lorna, Ava, and Giselle all turned toward the locker room.
They were stunned to see Noel and Vanessa emerging, looking a bit disheveled and clearly having just been up to something alone together. The two of them froze upon seeing Luke and the others. The silence became deafening as they all just stared at each other.
"Whoa... quite a crowd... come on, Vanessa, let's go back inside," Noel said, sounding a bit flustered.
"Oh... yeah... let's," Vanessa replied, also flustered.
"Hey... what were you two just doing? Don't even try to run," Luke demanded, standing up and eyeing the disheveled pair. Meanwhile, Ava just looked down, holding her forehead. Lorna shook her head and shrugged, while Giselle simply sat there, frozen, staring at the disheveled pair. Of course, they all understood exactly what Noel and Vanessa had just been doing in there.