Chapter Text
Ava groaned and opened one eye before closing it again and burying her head deeper into her pillow. Her head was throbbing and she had a nasty taste in her mouth and it’s then she remembers the amount of wine she drank last night during the Netflix watch with Nora and Ray. Nora had insisted they do this at least once a week since they were all stuck in quarantine due to the pandemic that was currently happening and they couldn’t meet up for their weekly drinks. It had been Ava’s turn to choose the movie but on one condition. She couldn’t choose any show or movie that had her favorite actress, Sara Lance, in it.
Her phone started ringing and she groaned again, feeling around for the offending item. As soon as she found it she just shut it off without even opening her eyes and stuffed the phone under one of her pillows. She pulled her blanket up and over her throbbing head as she remembered last night.
*****
‘Ugh fine, let’s watch The Half of It then.’ Ava said. If she couldn’t watch something with Sara Lance in it she might as well pick a movie with two cute actresses and a proper storyline.
‘Yes I hoped you’d choose that one.’ Nora said and Ava couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
‘Are you ladies ready?’ She heard Ray over the video chat.
‘Yeah I’m ready babe.’ Nora said then asked, ‘Aves?’
‘I’m ready.’ She told her friends as she wrapped the blanket tighter around herself and filled up her glass of wine.
They were halfway through the movie when Ava’s phone lit up in her lap. She checked the device and noticed it was a notification for an instagram post by Sara Lance. Her heart skipped a beat, which it usually did and she scolded herself for her silly celebrity crush but quickly unlocked her phone to check the post.
‘Put the phone away!’ Nora scolded her. She had almost forgotten the fact the video chat was still on.
‘I’m just quickly checking something.’ Ava told her best friend while reading the post.
She frowned at what she was reading. The woman she was looking up to so much obviously had a hard time during this quarantine and wasn’t afraid to let people know. Ava didn’t know how to feel about that, hell she couldn’t even understand how someone like Sara Lance could feel so alone as she apparently felt.
‘Yes the woman of your dreams posted on instagram and twitter.’ Nora broke her out of her thoughts and Ava couldn’t help but roll her eyes before looking at her laptop.
‘It looks like she’s having a hard time with all that’s happening.’ Ava replied and poured herself another glass of wine before checking the bottle which was halfway through.
‘Either grow a pair and actually reply to her or put the phone away Ava.’ Nora told her and she grumbled something but put her phone aside.
The movie had ended, she had finished her bottle of wine and she was clearly drunk enough to accept a dare from Nora.
Apparently drunk Ava wouldn’t shut up about Sara Lance and Nora decided to see if she could make her friend do something she knew she’d regret tomorrow and would never do if she were sober.
‘I dare you to tweet her.’ Nora said with a grin.
‘You know what Nora, fine I’ll tweet her!’ The blonde replied her words slightly slurring.
Nora watched her amusedly as she furiously started typing away on her phone.
‘Ha there! Take that Darhk.’ Ava stated with a crooked smile after a good ten minutes.
‘Ava Sharpe! I didn’t think you had it in you!’ Nora told her, impressed by what her friend had just tweeted. However, she knew sober Ava would never have tweeted that and she knew Ava was going to regret it in the morning. But if they were lucky, Sara would never even read it and neither would any of her other fans.
‘I’m gonna go to bed.’ Ava said and got up from her couch, wobbling slightly.
Before Nora even had the chance to tell her friend goodnight Ava slammed her laptop shut and made her way to bed. She tucked her phone away under one of her pillows then settled underneath her covers without changing out of her sweatpants. She was fast asleep within seconds.
*****
Ava had fallen asleep again and about an hour later she woke up, forced by her bladder this time. Her head was still throbbing so she decided to use the bathroom then get some water from the fridge to take some Advil for her headache. She let herself fall back onto her bed and felt around for her phone. Once she found it she tapped the screen but nothing happened. She frowned before remembering she had turned it off as it had kept ringing before. She quickly turned her phone back on and pinched the bridge of her nose while she waited.
‘I’m never drinking that much again.’ She thought to herself before she checked her phone.
Ava groaned. She had seven missed calls from Nora and a bunch of twitter notifications.
She decided to dial Nora first.
‘Ava! Fucking finally!’ Her friend answered her call.
‘Shit Nora no need for you to yell.’ Ava replied and closed her eyes.
Nora couldn’t help but laugh at her blonde friend. ‘You’re not hungover are you?’
‘Fuck you.’ Ava told her friend.
‘Ouch Ava. It’s not like we forced that bottle of wine down your throat you know.’ Nora replied in mock hurt.
‘I know, but next time please stop me from drinking it completely.’ The blonde replied.
‘Remember when Ray tried that at Gary’s birthday party?’ Nora asked. And Ava did. She was so drunk already that when Ray had tried to stop her from drinking even more she had started crying and asked him why he didn’t love her anymore.
‘Ugh don’t remind me.’ She answered before asking, ‘Why did you call me so early anyway?’
‘Sweetie, it’s noon already.’ Nora laughed. Ava must be really out of if it she didn’t even know the time.
‘Are you for real?’ Ava asked as she pulled her phone away from her ear and looked at her screen to check the time.
‘It’s not like you have work today Ava! Anyway have you checked twitter?’ Nora asked and Ava could hear the tentative tone in her voice.
‘No I turned off the phone as it kept ringing this morning. Why? Did I sleep through the zombie apocalypse or something.’ She asked.
‘Ha if only.’ Nora stated. ‘But no. How much do you remember from last night?’
‘I didn’t drink that much Nora!’ Ava exclaimed.
‘Sorry just checking. So like the tweet you sent-‘ Nora trailed off.
‘Don’t fucking remind me.’ Ava groaned.
Nora chuckled. She was having too much fun with this. ‘Okay well just remember that there’s a lot of trolls on twitter and younger people who-‘
‘Nora what are you talking about?’ The blonde asked her friend. She wasn’t in the mood for this.
‘Well maybe you should check twitter.’ Nora replied. ‘Oh and I’m here for you if you need to talk or rant or drink another bottle of wine okay.’ She told her friend but before Ava could answer Nora had hung up on her.
Ava groaned. The fact that Nora hung up on her and mentioned she might need another bottle of wine made her anxious. But she decided to bite the bullet and check her twitter.
She wished she hadn’t.
*****
Ava had been able to keep herself busy all afternoon. She had ignored another call from Nora but texted her she was fine. From there on out she had done her at home workout routine, taken a shower, she had cleaned up her apartment and had started re-reading one of her favorite books. But her phone wouldn’t stop lighting up with replies to her tweet. And they weren’t always the nicest replies either. She had thought about deleting her tweet but it was already out there so it wouldn’t make a difference.
Ava sighed and decided to order some food. She would decide over dinner what she was gonna do about twitter. She hadn’t realized she was hungry until her pizza was delivered and just the smell of it made her stomach growl. She turned on the tv just to have some background noise while her phone kept lighting up. She groaned. She knew what she was gonna do.
She grabbed her phone and opened up the twitter app. She was about to delete her account when she got the notification that Sara Lance had tweeted.
‘No Ava delete your account now.’ Ava told herself but hesitated, her finger hovering over de delete option.
‘Sara Lance is now following you.’
Ava nearly dropped her phone at this notification. She stared at her phone until the screen turned dark.
‘This is a joke.’ She mumbled but before she could unlock her phone she got a new notification.
‘Sara Lance.’ A private message.
This time Ava did drop her phone. Luckily it just fell onto her couch.
‘Shit.’ She cursed herself and reached for the device. She tapped the screen and stared at it. Her heart skipped a beat and her stomach fluttered.
‘Ugh get a grip Ava, it’s probably some troll pretending to be her.’ Ava scolded herself.
She put her phone on her coffee table and decided to ignore it. But after a couple minutes her curiosity got the best of her. She could always still delete twitter if it was some troll account.
Tentatively she opened up twitter. She ignored all of her notifications and went straight to the private message option. There it was. For some reason her heart started beating faster as she opened the message.
‘Dear Ava, thank you for your sweet message last night. I’m sorry you’re getting so much shit for it though. Please ignore all that and know I really do appreciate you reaching out to me. I hope you are doing well. Sara.’
Ava kept reading the message over and over again. ‘This must be fake.’ She thought and tapped Sara’s icon. She was brought to her twitter account. It all seemed real. ‘But even fake accounts could look real right?’ She was torn between replying or just letting it go. Before she even knew what she was doing she was typing a reply.
‘Hi Sara. No problem, I just hope you are doing okay. I’m doing well, thank you. I’m just finding it hard to believe you would actually reply. So pardon me if I come off as rude.’
Ava send the message before she could stop herself. Sara or whoever it was must have been waiting for her reply because it indicated the message was seen and then the three dots popped up indicating the other person was replying.
‘Would you like to FaceTime so I can prove it’s me?’ Sara asked her.
Ava scoffed. ‘No offense but I’m not just going to give out my number.’
‘Understandable. Well here is my number. I trust you won’t post this online if it is me?’ Sara replied.
Ava scoffed again. As if Sara Lance would just give her number to a random stranger. She was going to call this person and tell her how she felt about them. She quickly typed in the number on her phone and pressed the FaceTime button.
‘Holy fuck.’ Ava said, her eyes going wide when the call was being answered.
‘Hi.’ Sara replied with a playful smile on her face.
‘It’s really you!’ Ava exclaimed. She could facepalm herself for her reaction.
‘It’s really me.’ Sara replied and couldn’t help but laugh at the blonde’s reaction.
Ava looked down at herself as she suddenly realized she was in sweats and a t-shirt and when she looked back at her screen she noticed her hair was messy so she tried to nonchalantly move her hand through her hair.
‘I’m sorry.’ She told Sara. ‘I really didn’t think it would be you.’
‘That’s okay. I just really wanted to reach out to you after you were so nice to reach out to me.’ Sara said and then shrugged. ‘Plus after what I read-’ She trailed off. ‘I’m sorry about that.’
‘Don’t be. It’s not your fault.’ Ava quickly replied. ‘To be honest I only read a couple replies. I was about to delete my account when you messaged me.’
‘I’m glad you didn’t.’ Sara replied honestly and Ava couldn’t help but blush.
‘So-’ Ava started. ‘How are you doing today?’
‘I’m doing better, thank you.’ Sara replied. ‘Your message really helped-’ She continued but was cut off.
‘Sara honey, your dad and sister are gonna make some s’mores. Would you like some?’ An older woman could be heard and suddenly appeared behind Sara.
‘Mom! I’m on the phone.’ Sara groaned and Ava couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
‘Oh I’m sorry. Hello!’ Sara’s mom waved at the camera.
Ava waved back. ‘Hello ma’am.’ She greeted the older woman.
‘Mom! Just tell dad and Laurel to save me some okay.’ Sara told her mom and the older woman waved at the camera again before she walked away.
‘Ugh, I’m sorry about that.’ Sara apologized and tried to hide her face in her free hand.
Ava chuckled. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘As you can tell I went to visit my parents. My sister had the same idea apparently.’ Sara said and rolled her eyes playfully.
‘That’s great though.’ Ava said and switched the camera so Sara could see her empty apartment. ‘Better then having to be stuck inside an apartment by yourself.’ She switched the camera again.
‘I guess.’ Sara said and did the same to show Ava a little bit of her parents’ yard. ‘There’s my dad and sister.’ She said and her finger appeared on screen to point in the direction of two people near a fire pit.
‘They look like they are having fun.’ Ava said and smiled as Sara appeared on her screen again.
‘They are.’ The blonde said and smiled lovingly at her family.
‘I’m really glad you’re doing better Sara.’ Ava said truthfully and couldn’t help but blush when Sara shyly smiled at her.
‘Yeah me too.’ Sara said quietly.
‘If you ever need to talk, you have my number.’ Ava said without thinking how that might sound.
‘I do.’ Sara replied and looked down before looking up and straight at Ava. ‘Is it okay if I text you later?’ She asked and Ava thought she could see Sara blushing though she wasn’t sure as it was getting dark outside and there were no lights in that part of the yard apparently.
‘Absolutely.’ Ava replied quietly. ‘Now go and enjoy some s’mores with your dad and sister.’
Sara couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Okay. I’ll talk to you later.’
‘Talk to you later.’ Ava replied and waved at Sara who waved back before they ended the call.
Ava couldn’t suppress the smile that appeared on her face as she realized what had just happened. She’d never say this out loud but she thanked the internet bullies and trolls cause without them she probably would have never been able to talk to Sara.