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avery was laying in her bed with her covers pulled up to her chin as she stared blankly at the wall in front of her. she had only gotten sicker since that night and now she was running a high fever and she felt like she was dying. she didn't move until her phone buzzed with a notification and it was a text from colby asking if she was coming to the party tonight.
she debated on texting back and telling him no, but she only slid her finger to the left so he knew that she read it. he would've already known the answer if he was listening to her on facetime earlier instead of laughing at some stupid joke that brennen had made that wasn't even close to funny.
she went back to watching the ugly beige wall that she wasn't allowed to paint even though she wanted to. her eyes were about to shut from how exhausted she was, but then her phone began to buzz repeatedly and she picked up the call without looking.
"hello?" she croaked, holding it away from her face so she could cough. colby's worried voice flowed through the speaker, but it faded away when someone asked him a question and she could tell that he was the one with his phone away now.
"you there?" colby questioned after everything had fallen silent and his attention was back on her. avery nodded and even though he couldn't see her, he heard the rustling of her hair. "are you coming? it starts soon, but if you drive to brennen's we can give you a ride."
"i'm sick, colby," she told him, her voice monotone but it hinted that she was irritated. he was quiet as he thought of what to say. "so to answer your question: no."
"are you that sick?" he chuckled, but it came to a halt when she didn't return it and he realized she didn't find it amusing.
"maybe if you'd have stopped by recently you would know," she shot back and she set her phone down as she ran to her bathroom just in time to throw up. she gagged to herself as she wiped her mouth and took in her appearance. she fell back onto her bed and colby was surprisingly still on the line and he began to talk as soon as she picked up the phone again.
"we don't have to be together all the time," he sighed into the phone and she could picture him running a hand through his hair. "i've been catching up with my friends, i'm sure you understand."
"for four days?" she mumbled. she bit her lip and she was scared to continue. her and colby had only ever fought over stupid things when they were friends and she didn't want their first real one to be right now. "i've barely moved for that time and you haven't even checked up on me- it just would've been nice to see you."
"i want to see you tonight," he informed her, "so come."
"colby," she deadpanned, ready to hang up on him and go to sleep. "if you wanted to see me that badly you'd come to my apartment instead."
she didn't care for his response and she didn't need to because the line was dead and he had hung up on her. she frowned to herself before she felt her bottom lip quivering, but she stopped herself because she didn't want to cry.
it didn't take long for the girls to text in the groupchat and let her know that he was an asshole and not worth her time. they even offered to ditch the party and come over, but at this point avery wanted to be miserable by herself.
her front door still creaked open around twenty minutes later and she lifted her head just enough to see tara's small frame entering her dimly lit room.
"i brought you some soup," she held it up, along with some brightly colored flowers and a card. she whispered, "he's so stupid."
"you could say that again," avery let out a soft giggle because she was scared if she laughed any harder she'd throw up again. "i feel clingy, but it just would've been nice for him to come over at least once."
"he had no reason not to," tara's lips curved downwards as she informed avery that colby had only gone out tonight and that every other night he was home.
"what," avery's voice cracked and it could've been from how sick she was, but it was probably due to sadness.
"don't tell anyone, but i think someone told colby that he was whipped and it got to him," tara said quietly, not wanting to upset avery any further.
"oh," avery mumbled, "and he really cared?"
"boys care about that stuff for some reason," tara rolled her eyes and crawled into bed beside avery as she handed her the warm soup that was in a styrofoam cup. "you should call him and ask him to come over later."
avery nodded and pulled her phone out, going to colby's contact and putting it on speaker and the two waited as the line trilled.
"can you come over after the party?" avery asked innocently as soon as she heard him pick up. it was quiet for a few seconds before she heard him tell his friends he'd be right back.
"what about tomorrow?" avery sighed at his words and glanced over at tara who was mouthing things that she should say.
"why?" she pressed and then colby's name was being called and he said that he had to go. avery's mouth dropped open as he hung up on her again and tara was ready to drive back to the party and scream at him, but when avery's bottom lip began to tremble she pulled her into her grip.
she began to question if he even cared about her like that and if maybe they were better off as friends who pushed their feelings down.
