Chapter 4

After a long day, the paparazzi was the last thing she wanted to deal with. Her words came out before she could think but Ava really didn't care. After they paused for a second, she made her great escape and pushed through the crowd to get to the door of her apartment. The guards by the door came to her rescue and prevented them from getting inside the building.

"Thanks," she said to them and walked away to the elevator.

Her apartment required a special key card to activate the elevator and so she pulled that out of her purse and tapped it against the button before pressing the up button.

Ava looked back at the doors and saw the paparazzi was finally leaving. If there was something she could do about the paparazzi was make them illegal. She didn't understand their deal and why they were so invasive all the time. Yes., they provided some interesting pictures of celebrities sometimes but that was it. They should hold a camera and shut their mouths.

It would definitely be a thing that she cursed at the paparazzi but Ava really didn't care. They deserved it.

Ava's apartment was white and grey. It was always bright because of the large windows and although she hated the sun and sunlight was really annoying it woke her up and kept her awake throughout that day. If she had gotten a dark apartment like she wanted in the beginning then she would not be nearly as productive as she was every day.

She didn't like to think of herself as that stereotypical L.A. girl who had a nice car and apartment, but in a sense she was. The only difference was that she wasn't any sort of influencer or whatnot. She was a psychologist who just happened to get famous after dealing with a famous couple many years ago.

Everyone thinks about being famous at one point in their life and so did she, but that was never her goal. Ava just wanted to help people and that was it.

The door to her apartment made its little tune and she opened the door, and that was always a sign to her cat, Penelope that she was home.

The cat strolled around the corner and waked up to her. She was a grey little kitten that she had found outside her apartment one day. She took her to the vet, made sure she was fine and by then Ava was already attached so she decided to keep her. She never regretted the decision since. Penelope was a sweet caring cat who really liked to sit on her.

"Hi, baby," she cooed as she kicked off her shoes.

Penelope came and purred against her leg, Ava picked her up and held her in her arms.

"Look at you being all sweet,"

She licked Ava's arm as she carried them both inside. The late afternoon sun illuminated her house. Ava sighed contented as she entered the kitchen and rested Penelope down. Grabbing a juice box and a muffin, she made her way to her room and fell on her bed. As much as she tried to not eat in her room she could not do it. It was the most perfect feeling when she was in her bed with some pizza or ice cream watching a good show on tv.

The rest of her day was spent lounging around. She already knew what to do about her clients and so she put those thoughts on pause and focused on herself. While she was scrolling on Twitter, she saw news about Klaire and Casey, it looked recent so she clicked on it and when she did, she saw that the two were caught arguing in their car as they drove into their house. There was another picture of them going out of her office but only Klaire looked to be agitated. She saw a glimpse of Casey's face and he looked tired.

Not wanting to get back into the work mindset, she crossed off the app and did something else. She would be seeing them the day after tomorrow so she would have those thoughts for then.

Her I*******m was already blowing up with people messaging her about the couple. It was honestly plain foolish. Did they think that she would actually message back and answer them. She went and created a story asking them to stop and that she could not tell anyone anything.

"I should have denied them. I should have. These two are going to bring nothing but trouble."

The next day, she had an appointment with the college students. Ava was trying to convince the father to stay with them but he seemed to be very reluctant.

"Mr. Brian, it seems that you are not willing to want to stay with Ms. Fredrickson but I do implore that you reconsider. You have been coming to the meetings so it must mean something right?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I just want to see you know? Nothing else."

Ava sighed. "Let me tell you something. I don't know if you're avoiding this responsibility because you're scared or if you just don't care but taking care of this child with Ms. Fredrickson could really help you turn your life around. Focusing on parenting and building a relationship could be a really good thing for you so I really must insist that you at least try."

"Please try with me." Marrissa pleaded.

He places his elbows on his knees and placed his head in his hands. There was silence and they waited for his response.

"I just- it's a lot to deal with. I don't think I can. I'm sorry." he got up abruptly and then walked out of the door.

Oh, dear. Ava sucked in her breath and looked over at Marrissa. She was staring at the door with shock on her face. Her eyes were wide and a couple of tears fell down her face.

"Oh no, sweetheart, it's going to be okay." Ava got up from her position and gently sat next to her. She placed her hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently.

Marrissa slowly turned to her and then she looked back at the door. There was a second of nothing before she got up from the couch quickly as well, She stumbled a bit and then rushed towards the door.

"Don't chase after him," she called out and got up herself, running after her.

She disappeared down the corridor and she completely missed the elevator and headed towards the stairs. Ava whined a bit and then ran after her.

"What is up with people doing this to me," she said.

Marrissa basically flew down the stairs but there was only so much she could do in her heels. Frustrated, she took them off and dropped them on the stairs before picking up the pace. She could not take off her skirt so she was left with it.

They ran down a few flights of stairs with Ava shouting at Marrissa to stop but she didn't listen. Once she reached the ground floor she flung the stairs door open and raced outside, passed her confused receptionists, and into the parking garage, barefoot.

Frantically she looked around for Marrissa and saw that she was running up the ramp to go outside.

"Don't do that!" she shouted at her and then looked over at her security guards. "Stop her!"

They both took off running and Ava ran behind them as they came out onto the street. The street had a few people and so she was able to see Marrissa and then Eric trying to get away from her. Marrissa was screaming at him and Ava was trying to catch up with her.

And just to make the situation worse, out of nowhere there was the flash of a camera. Horrified, Ava looked to the left and saw a handful of people with cameras that were pointed at her.

"Block the cameras! Protect them!"

She shouted at her security. She did not want their identities to get blasted on the internet and do with them gone it was up to her to try and get to Marrissa. It was not anything uncommon for one person to run out, the other follows, and then Ava worrying about both of their safety.

Ava picked up her pace. The soles of her feet were crying for mercy against the hot asphalt, but there was nothing she could do to help them. It would surely be an interesting headline to hear about her running after a couple barefoot in the street.

After running for a while, it seemed like Marrissa tired herself out and stopped. Relived she went up and grasped her shoulders. Her body was shaking from sobbing and her face was wet and red. They were getting looks from people but Ava was unbothered and she pulled Marrissa into the shade under the eaves of a restaurant.

She rested her head on her shoulder and cried into it.

"It's alright. It's alright," she repeated as she stroked her back. "You'll be alright. You'll be alright."