Our floor had arranged a big dinner together at a restaurant in town for Saturday evening. Half the people piled up in my car and the other half in Ari’s. When we got there, I sat between Mia and Rory. Ari sat across from me and down a seat. I refused to look at him. I laughed and carried on conversation much more than I normally would and tried to make obvious the fact that he didn’t bother me.
There was an entirely different story going on inside my head. I wanted to hide in a hole and fill it with tears. I was miserable and I hated the fact that I had let a guy make me feel this way. Strength and independence – these had been my defenses. But Ari had tumbled the walls down in a single night.
After our group dinner, we arrived back at the dorms for the Homecoming party and our floor got more and more crowded. Indy pop music was blaring from someone’s speakers. People played drinking games with cards, games with cups and games with Ping-Pong balls. The party was loud but definitely fun. I think the entire school showed up at one point or another during the evening.
“He’s staring at you.”
“Mia, stop looking at him!”
“Oh! He's talking to some girl. You’re safe to peek; he isn’t looking.”
I spun my head around really quick and spied Ari talking to Julia.
“That’s his ex-girlfriend.”
“Oh, wow, she’s beautiful.”
“Yes, and unbelievably nice, too, so stop it!”
“Don’t worry, Ava; you are a thousand times prettier than she is.”
I rolled my eyes. “Mia, just drop it.”
“Oh, oh! She’s yelling at him.”
“Mia!” I whispered fiercely as I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face me.
“Stop it; I can’t stand to think about him any longer!”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. Why don’t you just focus on Rory; it’s obvious he likes you!”
“We aren’t like that, Mia … he just isn’t my type.”
“What? Good looking, nice and funny isn’t your type? He even makes a point of talking to you in front of people. Actually, he can’t take his eyes off you either.”
She focused her attention in Rory's direction and he came over to drape his arms around our shoulders.
We hung around the rest of the night with no more talk of Ari. Not talking of him didn’t stop my mind from going back to him every ten seconds, though. He was so incredibly nice when we were alone. Why couldn’t he just be like that all the time?
We slept in on Sunday. Mia started to pack her bags a little after nine. We were going to L.A. to shop and she had to catch a flight home in the evening. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when I heard a knock at my door.
“What?” Mia snapped.
“Uh … may I speak to Ava?”
“No.”
“No?”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“Seriously?”
I don’t think Ari was used to being told no.
I pulled my dorm door all the way open and took the foamy toothbrush out of my mouth.
“What?”
“Can I talk to you?”
I gave Ari a slightly impatient look as though I were waiting for him to tell me whatever he had on his mind. His eyes bounced from me to Mia.
“Ok …” he said after Mia refused to leave. “I wanted to tell you I am sorry for yesterday. Actually, I wanted to tell you I am sorry for everything. I haven’t been treating you right and you deserve much, much better than me. What can I do to make it up to you, Ava?”
“I don’t want you to make it up to me, Ari; I just don’t want you in my life anymore.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“I do.”
“Please, Ava; let me make it up to you… please.”
“Do you like me Ari?”
He stood in the hallway outside my room and his eyes burned into mine.
“Yes. I more than like you, Ava.”
“Then maybe you should have acted like it when you had a chance,” I said and closed the door. Behind me, Mia was speechless with her jaw on the ground.
“That’s right, Ava! Make him work for it.”
Saying goodbye to Mia was hard. I didn’t want her to leave. We both cried and hugged for an hour before her plane was called. I promised to visit over Christmas and we were already making plans for somewhere far away for spring break.
“You have only nine months left, Ava. Then you'll be eighteen and you can come home. We'll get an apartment together.”
I nodded my head.
“Nine months. I can do that.”
“You can do anything. Good luck with Ari, I know you really like him. I have never seen you like this before. Just please don’t get hurt.”