#p26

Against the dull gray of the winter he was the only bright thing.

Andrew was not looking forward to telling his mother that he and Ava were engaged. It wasn’t that he knew his mother would be happy, but he didn’t like it when other people made a big deal out of things, especially things that involved him and he knew his mother would make a big deal out of this. It was part of the reason he wasn’t big into celebrating his birthday. He just preferred it went by without incident. “You know, have you told your mom? We should really tell your mom first,” he said to Ava as they stopped in front of his mother’s apartment building, the same one he grew up in. It was still shabby looking on the outside and not in the best part of town. He could already see people on the corner who seemed to be eyeing them and he pressed the button to buzz up to his mother, pressing it repeatedly and leaning against the building to shield Ava from the suspicious characters on the corner. He sighed then looked up when he could hear her voice crackling through. “It’s us,” he said, before he heard the distinct buzzer. “Well, let’s go.” @avaxhawthorne