6 years ago, Caroline's 20th Birthday:

"Happy Birthday!"

Caroline was greeted with smiles from her closest college friends and even Tyson, her twin, was there! It was times like these that she was glad to have a close but small friend group. Though, one person came to her mind first after wondering who could have pulled this off without her realizing it.

She looked over at her friend, Avangeline, with wide eyes. The younger girl was the only option, after all. It was a holiday so all the students were on break. They actually only had an extra day off with the weekend but it was basically the same thing to a college student.

A family friend had asked Caroline to house sit and watch the dogs while they were gone and she happily agreed. When she told Ava about how she would be spending her break as well as her birthday, house sitting, Ava had said she would have to stay at the school for her break since she couldn't afford to fly home for such a small break. So, Caroline naturally invited her along. For some reason, it bothered her to think of the brunette spending her break alone in the dorms.

When the time finally came for the break, the two girls were packed and ready to head out. They made jokes and chatted as they always did on the ride there, but Caroline hadn't expected that Ava had already arranged for a surprise birthday party! While Caroline had left to go get groceries for the weekend, Ava was left to tend to the dogs. But apparently Ava had also taken the chance to sneak their friends in and set up a whole surprise in the brief hour she was gone! Well, she had probably planned it all out beforehand, but still!

Ava, Tyson, Drew, Cayna, Mari, and Taylor were all hiding when she walked in all to surprise her with shouts making her drop her groceries.

"Hey sis! Happy birthday to us! I'm glad I get to be the one to tease you about this later! You should see your FACE!" Tyson was cackling while pointing finger guns to the girl behind her, "Nice job, Ava!"

The others joined in, hugging, laughing, and wishing her birthday wishes. It was a day she would never forget. They had brought her presents, gotten cake and pizza, and even set up a good ol' camp fire in the back for marshmallows. The dogs seemed to enjoy the extra attention they were getting too.

Thankfully, before they left, everyone had helped to clean up. Something about it not being right to make the birthday girl clean up her own surprise party. Sure enough, cleaning a whole house would have been her least favorite 'present'.

But now, midnight had come and her friends had left. Except, Ava of course. Caroline didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt her heart speed up. Her mind couldn’t stop thinking about how they were alone. It seemed… scandalous. No, friends had sleep overs all the time!

Ava clearly wasn’t struggling with this as much as she was. The brunette came up and gave her a tight hug, smelling of cinnamon, before pushing away with a big smile, "Happy Birthday, one last time! You're officially older than me by two years again, ya know!"

"Are you calling me old?!"

"Well-"

"Don't finish that! But thanks… You dressed up, it's nice." It was a lot more than 'nice'. Her friend was gorgeous. Caroline's ears heated up slightly as she took note of how pretty Ava looked in her outfit. It was made up of a black leather jacket, a white dress shirt, and form fitting jeans. Her long, luscious brown hair cascaded down her back, curling only slightly at the tips.

She must have dressed up and put makeup on for the party. 'Or me specifically since it's my party?' She only noticed because Ava really hated dressing up and wearing makeup always saying it made her feel stuffy and awkward.

For some reason, Ava's gold-amber eyes flickered to the side. Caroline could have sworn she caught a glimpse of red of her cheeks but when she blinked, the flushed face she thought she had seen had disappeared.

"I'm glad you like it,” muttered Ava. Then a frustratingly familiar face crossed the girl’s face as she got entirely too close, teasingly took Caroline's hand, and lightly traced two fingers up the blonde's arm all the way to her shoulder, causing her to involuntarily shiver.

She was ticklish, ok?!

Well, maybe not ‘ticklish’ exactly. Whatever it was always made her squirm.

"Hehe!" Ava couldn't hold in her cheeky grin as she reveled in Caroline's response.

She was always playing games like this! The first time she did something like this was after Caroline said something about Drew liking her. She didn't know if she liked Drew the same way he obviously liked her. Even a child could tell he was interested in her. Looking back on it, Ava had seemed upset for the briefest of moments before she pulled that stunt of hers.

"Just imagine I'm Drew for a second," Ava had proceeded to lightly trace her fingers over Caroline's hand with a devilish glint in her eye. The sensual, ticklish feeling caused her to rip her hand away with a gasp as her heart rate spiked.

Ava had laughed for ages after that, "Even your hands are ticklish, Caroline?" In her confusion, Caroline believed what Ava said about her being a tad extra ticklish. It was an easy idea to accept.

What Caroline didn't know was that Ava was relishing in how cute her reaction had been. Ever since, she had been hooked on it. Because of that, it became a habit for Ava to 'tickle' Caroline when she was least expecting it… or times when they were alone. Like now.

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She gently pushed Ava away, glaring at the brunette. But it was just a ruse.

Ava stuck her tongue out playfully, "Not my fault you're ticklish, Care."

Caroline crossed her arms, and huffed, tossing her head to the side. She was trying to mask how flustered she actually felt. For some reason, the word to describe what she felt when her friend did that finally came to her. It wasn’t a tickle; it was pleasure. This baffled her. Why? Because no one else could do that to her!

For some reason, Ava's touch was different. Guys had held her hand before and even kissed her but all it did was make her feel embarrassed and a bit gross.

"Whatever…" Caroline let out a sigh and pushed her thoughts away for now, "Let's put the dogs up so we can go to bed." The fur balls were getting crate trained at the moment so they had to keep up their routine. Caroline whistled for them, Ava got their water, and into the crates they went.

When they had both taken their showers and gotten ready for bed, Caroline tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously. “We’ll have to share the bed. It’s, um, a king so it’s plenty big enough, not like that’s a problem I guess,” she rambled.

Thank goodness it was dark so at the very least Ava wouldn't see her blushing. She couldn't help it! They'd already shared a bed before, that too being a much smaller bed in the dorm, but this time they were alone. In a house. Just them. Completely and utterly and absolutely alone. Could she emphasize that anymore? To her, it felt a bit… dangerous. Dangerous for her heart.

These feelings that had been invading her were foreign. She didn’t know what to do with them nor what they really were. They both went to the same university which happened to be a very religious school. Both had been raised as such as well with her being presbyterian and Ava coming from a baptist family. Nothing could happen between them. At least, it never crossed her mind that something could. Even now she didn’t understand herself.

Before she could say anything else, Ava simply climbed into the bed while putting some of her own thoughts into words, "At least this one is bigger than the twins they give us in the dorms. But ya know, it's freezing! Is the heat not working up here?"

"Oh, damn it, sorry! I forgot they told me to use a heater for about an hour before the room would warm up enough." She tried to laugh it off but she was also rather cold. Well, she was always cold.

"At least there are a bunch of covers, right? And you’re, like, a natural heater. You’ll be fine at least."

”Aw, Care, calling me hot and all before bed, are we! But seriously, not the best pick up line.”

Heat rushed through her body making her forget about the cold momentarily, “Ava, you know what I meant.” Weird, her voice came out a bit squeaky.

“Am I not hot then?”

Caroline walked over to the heater and turned it on, disregarding the girl’s teasing in order to preserve her sanity, "There, it should warm up soon."

Her friend seemed to be grumbling about being ignored as the blonde carefully crawled into bed next to her. But Ava being Ava didn’t plan on letting Caroline go without some sort of reaction.

Caroline gasped in surprise as Ava's arms wrapped around her. Her warm hands traveled lightly under her night shirt and over her icy skin until they reached her rib cage. It was easy for her to pull Caroline flush against her own body.

"You're freeeeezing, Care! I guess it’s a good think I’m a ‘heater’ and not just ‘hot, hm?"

Badump

Badump

"Wh-what? Ava?" This girl was still in the mood to be mischievous? She was going to have a heart attack! This seemed to go beyond her normal teasing!

But Ava just pulled Caroline closer and whispered huskily in a way that made the blonde’s brain stop functioning, "Just lie still. I’ll be the big spoon, okay?"

Caroline froze when she felt Ava's hot breath against her ear, sending tingles down her spine. She wanted to just push her away—to stop whatever was happening. But she had to admit, this felt much better…It felt good.

Ugh, she still wanted to preserve some of her integrity! After snapping out of the initial shock, she moved her body to face the brunette, "I'll be the big spoon you dummy. Since, I am older ya know…” Her blush went up to her ears, “Geez you're impossible…"

Was that a look of shock on Ava's face? She didn't know because it left as quickly as it came and was now a small, impish grin. "Do you even know how to be the big spoon? I always took you for a little spoon."

"Of course I do!" Caroline hastily replied, "J-just turn away from me and I'll show you." She had cuddled with her sisters before so this was the same thing, right? Yea, this was just the same thing as with her sisters. Nothing else at all.

Ava turned over so that her back was now to her and Caroline scooted a little closer, drooping her arm over her friend's smaller body, "See?"

But instead of answering, Ava pushed herself so that her back was flush against Caroline's front. Taking advantage of her friend’s shock, Ava also took Caroline's arm so that it was placed above her own, their fingers brushing against each other. Her heart pitter-pattered out of control in the momentary silence before Ava spoke lowly in a tone that was hard to identify, "There, much warmer right?"

Well, she wasn't entirely correct but it was true that an unknown warmth had taken hold of her… Actually, it even seemed kind of hot now. Caroline didn't even realize she was biting her lip. Why was it that whenever their skin touched it felt so… satisfying? It was a simple thing, yet it left her wanting for more.

Soon, she was forced to leave those thoughts behind as Ava yawned while spreading her fingers up so they delicately played with her own, "Goodnight, Care. Let's have fun tomorrow."

Such a simple action caused her mouth to go dry.

If only Caroline knew that tomorrow, her best friend was going to disappear. Maybe, she would have held her tighter and threatened never to let her go…