Past Taboo

Roy sat behind the wheel with the engine idling low beneath him, headlights off, fingers drumming once against the steering wheel before forcing themselves still again.

Two houses down. That had been Ava's idea. Not directly in front of her mother's place. Not where somebody could glance through a window and ask questions. A few houses down gave her enough distance to sneak out unnoticed while still being close enough to claim she was "just going for a run." The whole thing made Roy feel like a criminal.

Eighteen.

The number kept circling in his head like a trapped moth battering itself against a lightbulb. Michelle was only a little older, technically. Barely enough time between them to matter on paper. Somehow this felt completely different anyway.

Maybe it was the timing. Maybe it was because Ava had still been seventeen the previous day, and yet somehow Roy had come with a pre-existing relationship. Maybe it was the way she talked about her high school boyfriend Ricky like she'd already emotionally outgrown him before the candles on her cake had cooled, leaving a relationship that made sense for one that was way past taboo.

Or maybe Roy just hated the role he'd been shoved into. Older man parked on a suburban street after dark waiting for a teenage girl to sneak out of her mother's house. If somebody walked by and saw him sitting there, they wouldn't see magical wish fallout or cosmic manipulation. They'd see exactly what Roy was terrified he looked like.

A creep.

A deep sigh filled the car.

Still, the solution remained the same. End it quickly. Get through the intimacy. Let the wish move on. Give Ava her life back before this got any uglier. She deserved that much.

From what little he'd seen, she actually seemed sweet. Energetic. A little impulsive, maybe, but what eighteen-year-old wasn't? Their entire interaction so far barely amounted to one conversation outside a community centre and a handful of messages arranging this meeting. Not enough time to truly know somebody.

Then again, Agnes had revealed herself as a nightmare inside of five minutes.

First impressions probably counted for something.

The dashboard clock ticked forward another minute. Roy leaned his head back against the seat. Michelle's overnight bag sat in the trunk. The thought softened him immediately. Before he'd left, she'd practically marched him to the door with it hooked over her shoulder, looking so proud of herself for thinking ahead that Roy hadn't even tried to protest.

"I don't want your girlfriends thinking you don't know how to take care of yourself," she'd said while pressing the bag into his hands. "You're a very handsome man, but you are extremely disorganized."

The memory tugged a smile out of him despite everything else.

Michelle.

God.

Somehow she'd turned his apartment into a home in just a few days. Her shoes by the door. Her shampoo in the shower. Her uniforms hanging beside his work clothes. Tiny traces of another person woven through his life until imagining the apartment without her started feeling strange.

Elaine too. His first girlfriend. The woman who had taught him how to be loved. They'd been together just a week, but already he could feel his heart tied to hers in ways he could never have explained before he met her.

And now Zara.

A warmth settled into Roy's chest as he thought about Zara rambling excitedly about painted miniatures while trying desperately to sound seductive at the same time. The contrast had been weirdly adorable. She'd wanted so badly to become this confident sexy woman for him, yet every few minutes her genuine self burst through anyway. Nerdy. enthusiastic. utterly incapable of pretending to be cooler than she actually was.

He liked that about her. No, if he was honest, more than liked. Much more.

Ava, though...

No.

Different category entirely. Too young. Too new to adulthood. Too much life ahead of her for Roy to be wedging himself into the middle of it like some bizarre midlife crisis.

Movement outside the passenger window pulled him from his thoughts. Then the door opened. Ava slipped inside in a rush of cool evening air and perfume, immediately shutting the door behind her before leaning over to kiss his cheek.

"There you are," she said softly, smiling like she'd been waiting all day for this exact moment. "Oh my God, thank you for coming."

Roy managed a small smile. "Of course."

"No seriously, I felt horrible about the party." Words spilled out of her quickly, energized and breathless in that distinctly teenage way. "Like actually horrible. You should've been there. Every time a relative asked where my boyfriend was I had to introduce Ricky. God. It was so awkward. I felt like I was lying."

Boyfriend.

The word made Roy grimace. Ava either didn't notice or didn't care.

"The party itself was okay though," she continued, tucking one braid behind her shoulder. "Dad and Mum didn't fight, which honestly deserves its own national holiday. Sophia cried because Zoe got more ice cream than her. Ricky kept trying to impress my uncles for some reason." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "It was exhausting."

Roy huffed out a quiet laugh despite himself.

"And I missed you," she added more quietly.

Streetlights painted soft gold across her face as she looked at him. She really was beautiful. Young, yes, but beautiful in that overwhelming effortless way only youth seemed capable of producing. Clear skin. Bright eyes. Energy practically vibrating out of her.

Roy hated that part of him noticed all of it instantly.

"I'm sorry I missed it," he said carefully. "But birthdays are family things. It was good that you were there with them."

"I know." Ava waved a hand dismissively. "Still would've been better with you."

Silence settled briefly between them. Then she grinned suddenly.

"Oh, and I'm done with Ricky."

Roy blinked. "What?"

"Tomorrow officially," she clarified. "But mentally? Completely done."

"Ava..."

"No, seriously." Her expression scrunched with frustration. "He's such a boy. Like, every conversation is hockey or protein powder or whether somebody looked at him weird at school. I can't do it anymore."

Roy shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"You don't have to break up with him because of me."

Her eyebrows lifted like the suggestion itself was ridiculous.

"I'm breaking up with him because I don't want him anymore." A small smile curled onto her lips. "I want you."

The honesty of it made Roy's chest tighten. Poor Ricky. Poor everyone caught in this stupid magical disaster.

Ava leaned back against the seat for a moment, studying him with open affection.

"Besides," she continued, voice dropping slightly, "I still need to make it up to you."

Roy already didn't like where this was heading.

"You don't owe me anything."

"I kinda do." Her grin turned playful. "I never told you, but a few weeks ago, Ricky and I parked behind the movie theatre after a date and I..." She bit her lip briefly. "Well. Let's just say he had a really good night."

Oh no.

"Ava..."

"You missed my birthday party." Slowly, deliberately, she shifted closer across the seat. "Seems fair that I do something special for my boyfriend. My actual, real boyfriend."

Every muscle in Roy's body tightened at once. This was the goal. This was exactly what he wanted. Quick intimacy. Wish activates. Ava gets her life back.

Done.

So why did guilt feel like wet cement in his stomach?

Ava leaned down toward him, one hand settling lightly against his thigh as her voice softened into something conspiratorial and teasing.

"Relax," she murmured. "I know what I'm doing."

Relief arrived first. Sharp. Immediate. Almost dizzying. This would be over soon. Ava would be free. No more sneaking around suburban streets waiting for teenagers to climb into his car.

Then came the second feeling. Arousal. Because despite everything else, Roy was still a man sitting alone in a parked car with a gorgeous eighteen-year-old girl bending toward his lap.

And finally came the shame. Hot. Heavy. Impossible to ignore.

Because despite how things looked, despite how inappropriate it all was, some part of him was excited about it anyway.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

100 Chapters! Didn't realize it until just now! (hours after posting)

Thanks for sticking with the story!