Keith came around some minutes later, sitting on the curb where Chris had dragged him off. He was nursing his busted lip, with a deadly glare on his visage. Everyone had stood around him. The tension still thick in the air and they all refused to talk because what was there to be said?
Two cars later showed up to take them home. Charlie had shown up with one and when she jumped out she was greeted with each of their sullen faces.
"Yo, who died?" She leans in to whisper into her bosses ear and Raye turns to face her with a strict expression. "No one,"
Frowning, she quietly gets back into the ride where she had been instructed to take Mia, Trish and Christopher home.
The other car's driver was asked to take Keith home, while Ava stayed with Brienna who was still consoling her.
"It's okay if you want to spend the night with us, in fact, you're coming either way," Raye says and the blonde nods.
"You guys don't have to do that though,"
"Well we're not going to send you home to that asshole, he needs to calm down first." Brie chimes in.
"You're not going home to him unless he can prove he's not a threat to you." Adds Raye.
"Guys, he's really not and even if he is his reason is justified. I'm a dick! I'm the one that's wrong here."
"Are you listening to yourself?"
Raye snaps and her tone shocked both the girls glaring at her.
"Just because you did some stuff doesn't give him the right to talk to you, or touch you like that—doesn't give anyone the right to do that."
Ava remains in silence. She knew she'd messed up but couldn't see herself fixing the issue before it escalated to this. How could she explain that she was in love with both Mia and her boyfriend? She couldn't let Keith go because he wasn't a bad guy, just angry. She couldn't break it off with Mia because she felt something and maybe a bit more and she wasn't expecting that at all.
Indeed she was the horrible person and how the night had turned out was no one's fault but hers.
"I can get you an apartment of your own as soon as tomorrow, you don't have to go back to him." Raye pitches and besides her Brie nods in agreement.
"Look, thanks and all but you guys don't get it. I'm the one that caused this."
"Yes, I understand but it doesn't make you less of anything nor do you have to accept being treated like that. This whole situation could've been handled way better than this.
Look, I understand alright. We all go through stuff and sometimes we're the villain in our own story but it doesn't mean we have to put up with abusive people who mask behind playing the role of the victims."
"Raye's right Ava, if he hated what you were doing so much he could've left, he could've broken it off but he wanted you to hurt just as much as he did and in whatever way that was."
"I know but I feel awful. I fucked up and now Keith hates me, Mia probably hates me too."
"Quite the contrary. I don't think Mia hates you at all. I think she's just as confused about this whole thing as you are." Says Brie, showing empathy for her friend in such an awful situation.
"You saw the way she looked at me just now, how could she not when I played with her feelings?"
"You'll just need to have this conversation with her because neither of us can answer on her part."
"Yeah, and you can't keep leading them both on Ava and I know that you know this but I just thought you should hear it from someone else's mouth."
"You're right, " Ava concedes, running her fingers through her hair.
