Passion & Ponies

“I HATE WORKING AT YOUR FUCKING COMPANY AND I QUIT!”

The room goes silent after my outburst and I take a step away from my mom when she glares at me.

“That f**king company has kept a roof over your head and put you in designer clothes since birth,” she says in a low, menacing voice.

It’s never good when my mom lowers her voice. Never.

“Mom, I didn’t mean-”

She cuts me off. “Without that f**king company, you wouldn’t know the difference between a Coach purse and a pile of shit.”

I continue backing away from her until I bump up against my Aunt Claire. She wraps her arms around me in a comforting hug and leans down to whisper in my ear. “I’ll distract her with a dildo to the face. When she’s down, RUN!”

My mom continues walking until we’re toe-to-toe and I swallow nervously. “Your Aunt Claire and I worked our f**king fingers to the bone to make this company what it is today. People would KILL for the job you have and you want to just throw it away because you’re bored? You should be ashamed of yourself.”

I choke back tears as my mom stares at me in disappointment. I should be ashamed. This is a job opportunity that anyone would be thankful for and I am throwing it all away. I just want her to understand that I’m not throwing my job away because I’m ungrateful or because I’m bored. I’m doing it because I have different dreams. Why the hell is it so hard to say that to her?

“Hey, ease up, Liz. Not everyone is cut out to work at Seduction and Snacks,” Aunt Claire says softly from behind me, giving me a reassuring squeeze on the arm.

“Not everyone should be cut out to work there, but my kids damn well should be! This is my dream, this is what I’ve worked my entire life for and is it so wrong I want my family to benefit from the good fortune we’ve had?” my mom asks her.

Her dream, her dream, her dream… I wish she would listen to herself.

“It’s not wrong, hon. I’m not going to lie about the fact that I love having Gavin here. I love it even more that working here has always been his dream. That’s just it, though. It’s what he’s always wanted to do,” Aunt Claire tells her.

My mom rolls her eyes and turns away from both of us, stalking to the other side of the room to angrily dig into a box of furry handcuffs. “Ava has no idea what she wants to do aside from shop. If she wants to quit, fine, but she better not ever come crying to me about how she made a mistake.”

She won’t even look at me now and she’s talking about me like I’m not standing right here. This went just as well as I imagined.

So much for taking Tyler’s advice.

I shrug out of Aunt Claire’s hold, grab my purse from the desk and leave before anyone can see me cry.

“Hey, Ava, I just posted on my wall that you quit. I already got one ‘like’!” Aunt Jenny shouts as I walk out the door.

“It doesn’t count if you just say you liked it,” Aunt Claire tells her with a sigh.

Screw everyone. I don’t need my mother’s approval and I certainly don’t need Tyler. I’ll be just fine on my own.

Chapter 26 – When You Wish Upon a Dildo

I pace back and forth nervously outside of Liz’s office, waiting for her to finish her conference call. I don’t know what the f**k I’m doing, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to regret it.

Ava went back home to her parent’s house Christmas night and we haven’t spoken since. As much as I want to be pissed at her for the things she said, I can’t. The more I thought about it, the more I realized she was probably right. I was delusional for thinking my dad could be some famous Brony and that I would be able to pick him out in a room filled with thousands of people. I wanted it to be true so badly that I didn’t even stop to think about how far-fetched it sounds. I’m also in love with her and love makes you do asinine things.

After our fight in her parents’ backyard, we stayed on opposite sides of the room for the rest of the night. We spent the remainder of the evening celebrating the holiday and toasting Gavin and Charlotte on their engagement before I walked out of there without even a wave good-bye from her.

That was a week ago. I was determined to walk away from her and chalk it up to us just not being meant for each other, but I know it’s not true. Regardless of what I said to her, she’s the strongest person I know. She’s sweet and funny when she wants to be and I like being around her. No, f**k that. I love being around her. She gets my crazy fetishes even if she doesn’t want to and she puts up with my childish behavior. I’m not about to let her wallow in her own misery.

“Come on in, Tyler,” Liz shouts from inside the office.

I take a deep breath and walk through the doors, sitting down in one of the chairs on the other side of Liz’s desk.

“If you came in here to demand I tell you where our mast***ation room is, I’m going to stop you right there,” she begins.

“Liz, one of these days you’re going to be honest with me. I know this room exists and, as an employee of Seduction and Snacks, I think it’s only right that you lead me to heaven.”

She puts her elbows on her desk and her head in her hands.

“Actually, I’m here on a more important matter,” I tell her.

She looks up and her eyes widen. “Wait, you actually want to talk about something other than the mast***ation room that may or may not exist?”

I can’t believe I’m doing this. Ava better appreciate this shit because I’m pretty sure I can get Liz to crack.