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13.2. Valentine's Day, Part 2

[Avni: So, true to the general vibe of my kind-of-New Year's resolution, I tried to take charge of my life and not let anyone stand in the way of my goals. And my goals maybe include telling EJ how I feel? So I sort of asked him out, and he actually agreed, and now I'm in his room, which is kind of amazing, and I feel really proud of myself.]

"Where can I get some nice chocolate?" Ricky texted Avni.

"Try the shop on Minty's Avenue."

"Thanks."

"There's something I need to tell you," EJ said, making Avni look up from her phone.

"Finally," Avni said. "You've been on edge the whole time."

"Umm," he swallowed. "You know how you got sick last summer, at camp, before opening night?"

Avni frowned at the direction the conversation was taking. "Yeah?"

"Did you ever figure out how?"

"I guessed I just ate something bad."

EJ winced, "You did. I slipped you a bad devilled egg."

There was a pause. "You what?"

"I wanted to play the lead with Nini."

"So you poisoned me?"

"I- I guess I did," he paused. "Nini's really talented but she lacked confidence. I just wanted her to see what I saw."

Avni scoffed, "As glad as I am that Nini got to take that journey, I don't love that it was at my expense! I get that you feel like Nini's more talented than me or whatever, but I earned that role, fair and square and-"

"I don't think Nini's more talented than you. I just wanted to-"

"You had no right!"

"I know," he deflated. "I'm sorry."

Avni shook her head, getting off the floor. "What the fuck did you think was going to happen once you played the lead with her? This is real life, not some Disney movie where you fall in love off one opening night! And you're right, Nini is talented, she could've figured herself out without you sabotaging me."

"I felt like I was on a clock! Summer was ending and school would be complicated- school was complicated and I- look, I know I messed up, but I was looking out for her-"

"No you weren't. This isn't about Nini. At least not as much as it is about you and the fact that your spoiled ass can't handle things not going your way."

That got him on his feet too. "You act like you're above it. That's exactly what you did last semester."

"I've had a moment of clarity," Avni said. "And my manipulation and meddling didn't come before friendship and the people that I cared about. I thought we were friends," her voice broke by the end.

"We are friends. That's why I'm telling you all this. I'm sorry," he said softly.

"You're sorry because it didn't work out," Avni said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You wouldn't be here saying all these things to me if Nini and you were still dating. You're not sorry for me, you're sorry for yourself."

Leaving the words hanging in the air, Avni picked up her stuff and walked out.

Right by the door, she paused. "Did Nini know about this?"

EJ looked away, "She did."

Avni nodded, and walked away.

♡♡♡♡♡

Avni rang Ashlyn's doorbell, sniffling slightly in the cold.

Gina opened the door half a minute later, and she looked surprised to see Avni there. "Hey, what's going-"

Avni didn't let her finish, just wrapped her arms around the girl's torso, pulling her in for a hug.

When she sniffled into the hug, Gina pulled apart, "What happened?"

"Can I come inside? It's cold."

Gina nodded, leading Avni to her room.

Avni plopped down on a fluffy bean bag, "So-" she paused to collect her thoughts. Gina sat down beside her, on a slightly smaller but fluffier bean bag.

"Last summer at camp, EJ gave me food poisoning so that Nini, who was my understudy, could play the lead with him on opening night," Avni said, struggling to keep her voice steady.

"What?"

Avni nodded, "And- oh god, I feel so stupid- because I'm not even hurt over the fact that he literally removed me to get his way- I just hate that he did this for Nini. I really want to like her, because everyone else seems to- but she just keeps screwing me over," a sob escaped her lips. "I thought he could actually like me back, Gina. I was trying to put myself out there- but he's stooped so low-" and she descended into a full-on cry.

Gina leaned over to hug the girl, tears in her eyes as well. "You liked him?" She asked quietly.

When Avni nodded into the hug, she said, "Yeah, I figured as much." She pulled apart, "What do you want me to say? Do you want me to hate on EJ? That's easy. Or do you want me to tell you that his heart was probably in the right place, because he's a good guy? Because it for sure was. Do you want me to hate on Nini? Because I got material there too."

"What do you mean?"

Gina sighed, "Last semester, after curtain call, I thought I was leaving again, so I told Ricky that I liked him, because why not? But now, I'm here, and every time Ricky and Nini are like being all couple-y, it just- hurts."

"Oh my God."

"And he just keeps pretending like we didn't have that conversation. Like everything's just normal between us. And I went over to his place today because I knew he couldn't really spend Valentine's with Nini, and I was sort of alone too, and I told him about how my mom sends me a teddy bear ever year, but this year she forgot. And then someone sent me chocolates and I thought it was him and I sent him a thank you message, but it turns out it was just my mom."

"Oh no," Avni said, horrified for her. Wait a minute. Chocolates?

"Yeah," Gina nodded.

Avni held her hand. "We've had terrific Valentine's Days, haven't we?"

"Hmm, this is why we're friends."

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A/n

:'( I love this chapter

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