She Saved Me | Tom Riddle

The Idea of Progress

Hello again! Well I'm back on my bullsh*t with the emotional turmoil. But, I'm also closing a chapter in Tom and Ava's story in this one. So...it's not too bad this time right? Promise it'll be worth it lol

Listen: Perfect Day by Scala & Kolacny Brothers

47| the idea of progress

The situation between Mia and Liam continued with little improvement following her outburst with their group. The entire weekend was spent with each person sticking to themselves and avoiding bringing the topic up. Allison, being from a different house, couldn't help but ask Ava for updates during classes since she wasn't always around them. Unfortunately for her, nothing happened either way. Their friend group was in a stalemate. The only one who managed to be unaffected by the entire thing was Tom.

In a way Tom knew he should feel slightly responsible for Liam digging a bigger hole, and subsequently causing Mia's minor meltdown. But he couldn't bring himself to. It was Liam who decided to act like a dunce and ignore the obvious signs from Mia. They liked each other and yet neither one of them could figure out how to handle it. Because of this, Tom looked forward to studying for exams simply for a distraction. Ava even seemed to grow annoyed.

As they were walking to the Great Hall for breakfast that Tuesday morning, Ava moved closer to Mia so they could drift off to the side. Mia had an idea what was going to be said and braced herself. "Can you please sort this out with Liam," Ava begged softly, "it's getting very hard to eat around you two."

Mia sighed, "why do I have to be the one to fold?"

"It's not a competition," Ava groaned out as she crossed her arms. "You two need to have an open conversation about what happened and what it means," she insisted.

"He's the one that started this whole mess."

Ava frowned at that. "Then you need to be the one to finish it." Mia just shrugged in response. "Just grab him after breakfast and get it over with. Then we can all move on." Ava didn't give her chance to say anything else before turning around to enter the hall.

Mia reluctantly followed her friend, mindful of the strange looks being thrown her way. She gingerly sat down next to Ava at their table, Liam diagonal from her. Thankfully he was busy talking to another student and didn't see her arrive. That encouraged her to take a deep breath and grab her breakfast. But as she reached for a butter roll, Liam happened to reach for one as well. Their hands hit and he shifted his focus to the platter to see the other belonged to her. They both withdrew their hands as if they were stung, wide-eyed and frozen in place.

Ava paused as she was taking a bite of her own roll at the awkward display. She looked between the two to see which one of them would react first. Finally after a solid minute of the three staring at each other, Liam grabbed the roll he reached for and turned back to continue his conversation. Mia slumped forward before abandoning her initial choice for food. Apparently that minor incident completely changed her mood, causing Ava to sigh in frustration.

"Will you at least try?"

Mia shrugged a shoulder, "think it will make a difference?"

Ava hummed and patted Mia's shoulder comfortably. "You won't know until you talk to him." She let go to grab the roll Mia reached for and placed it on her plate for her. "Now eat up," she demanded softly.

Rolling her eyes, Mia kept quiet and did as told. But the entire time her stomach was in knots as she thought over the different ways she could start a conversation with Liam. It didn't help when she accidentally caught Liam's eye towards the end of breakfast, causing her to avert her gaze quickly. When he got up to leave the hall, Ava nudged her out of her thoughts. She quirked her head in his direction to tell her to go. Now was the time. So Mia took a deep breath before shooting up from the bench and going after Liam.