Twisted Love

Alex carries a sleeping Ava upstairs, unwilling to leave her on the uncomfortable couch but not gentleman enough to sleep there himself. The rain is pouring too hard to carry her next door without getting drenched, so for tonight, they share the bed. Alex tries not to stare at Ava’s body, noticing things he never has before and musing, “something had shifted. I wasn’t sure when or how, but I’d started seeing Ava less as Josh’s baby sister and more as a woman. A beautiful, pure-hearted but feisty woman who might be the death of me one of these days” (74).

Alex lies beside Ava in bed and recalls his memories of November 27, 2013: his first Thanksgiving with the Chens, during which he met Ava for the first time. Suddenly yanked from his memory by the sound of Ava’s screams, he is out of the bed within seconds, with the lights on and a gun in his hand, prepared for an intruder. However, he soon realizes that Ava is suffering a night terror. Knowing that he cannot wake or restrain her for fear of making things worse, he waits for the episode to pass, feeling helpless. When it does, he continues to watch over her instead of falling asleep.

Ava wakes, cuddled to Alex and with her hand in a compromising position on his body. She remains frozen in shock until Alex bluntly demands she removes her hand from him “unless you plan on doing something with it” (80). Embarrassed and defensive, Ava eyes the evidence of his physical arousal and exclaims that Alex isn’t her type but that maybe she is his. He assures her that it’s a natural part of every man’s morning and has nothing to do with her. Their interactions dissolve into witty banter, and Ava is confused and perplexed by her own arousal in response to the conversation, chiding herself: “What the hell was happening? This was Alex, for Pete’s sake. The Antichrist. The asshole. The robot” (82). Unable to douse the fantasies that she is entertaining about Alex, she rushes home to take a cold shower.

At the pet shelter with Bridget later that day, Ava rehashes the morning with Alex without concealing any details. They discuss the next phase in Operation Emotion: disgust. Ava believes this phase will be much easier than the sadness phase, which failed.

The next few phases of Operation Emotion are all failures. To elicit disgust, Ava feeds Alex cookies flavored with asparagus, raisins, and garlic brittle. He shows no reaction after eating them, calling them “fine” (82). To elicit happiness, Ava attempts a picnic in the park, but the outing is ruined when a dog pees on Alex’s shoes. To elicit fear, Ava is unable to think of anything that Alex might be afraid of—even with the help of her friends and Josh—so the project is put on an indefinite hold.

Ava is prepared to proclaim the experiment a unanimous failure when Jules insists on the fifth and final phase: jealousy. Ava and her friends are at an off-campus bar and are interrupted mid-conversation by Liam, who is drunk and high and insists on speaking with Ava. Knowing that he will hover nearby for the rest of the night unless she speaks with him, Ava agrees to a conversation. She follows Liam outside the bar, where he begs for another chance. When Ava refuses, Liam verbally attacks her, assuming that she is seeing someone new and calling her a “slut” (95). She ends the conversation and turns to leave, and he grabs and pulls her in anger. When Liam refuses to let her go, Ava knees him in the groin and hurries to rejoin her friends. She remains uneasy for the rest of the night after the encounter.

Alex is attending Thayer University’s Annual Alumni Charity Gala to build connections and gain valuable information. He is listening to the prattling of an old classmate named Colton—whose FBI-affiliated father could prove useful—when Ava enters the gala and steals both men’s attention. Alex and Colton make a beeline for Ava, but Colton reaches Ava first; Alex’s progress, on the other hand, is cut short by his ex-fling, Madeline Hauss, who attempts to seduce him. He rejects her advances and jealously interrupts Ava’s dance with Colton. He warns Ava to stay away from Colton if she knows what’s best for her. Ava claims that Alex doesn’t know her at all, but he challenges that fact, and she asks him several questions about herself to test him, all of which he answers correctly. When she quizzes him by asking him what she wants most, he replies with “love” (103). Ava asks whether he is answering for her or for himself, and the question provokes Alex’s defense mechanisms. He demands that Ava go home, but she intends to stay for the remainder of the gala. The two part ways.

Throughout the rest of the gala, Alex attempts to ignore Ava, but when she disappears, he heads out to check if she made it home safely. As he passes the coatroom, he hears a commotion and barges in to find Ava pinned against the wall by Liam. Liam is berating her, convinced Ava has been seeing Alex since their breakup. Ava headbutts Liam seconds before Alex jumps in and lands several angry punches in her defense. As Ava and Alex leave the gala, Alex demands that she tell him about what has been going on with Liam.

Alex drives Ava home, barely containing his fury. The trauma of the evening unleashes one of Ava’s repressed memories. In the memory, nine-year-old Ava’s parents have split, and her father has moved out with Josh. Ava’s mother cries and shouts over the phone, or sometimes she just stares blankly into the distance. The young Ava is playing by the lake, avoiding the water because she never learned to swim, when her mother comes outside and pushes her in. Ava survives only because her father stops by to drop off some papers just in time to witness the incident.

Back in the present moment, Alex and Ava stop at a diner because she is craving greasy food. She opens up to Alex about the memories and admits that Alex was right earlier when he said that the thing she wants most is love. She has never received it from her parents, nor from Liam. Alex comforts her, reassuring her that her worth is not determined by the ability of others to love her. She agrees to his suggestion that she take Krav Maga lessons to learn self-defense, on the condition that he will allow her to photograph him.

Alex meets Ava in the studio that she has reserved for their photography session. Ava’s nervousness is made worse by the intimate dreams she had of Alex the night before. When Alex arrives, the room immediately fills with a type of tension that “[is not] overtly sexual, but everything about the man [is] sexual” (118). Ava’s attraction to Alex has multiplied overnight, and the tension between the two only intensifies throughout the session, peaking when Alex brushes a thumb against Ava’s breast once she admits to desiring him. The action elicits a moan from her, after which he withdraws and closes off. They complete the session in silence, and he hurries out immediately afterward. Ava reviews the photos that she took of him, and while many show his blatant irritation, the last shot reveals his expression of desire, meant for her.