Ava’s POV
Odelia had just reached the door when she heard Eleanor’s familiar voice coming from outside.
"Ava! I know you’re in there! If you don’t open this door, I’m totally calling the firefighters to break it down! And I’ll tell them it’s an ergency!"
Then ca Ruby’s voice, "Eleanor, you can’t threaten her like that..."
"Of course I can!" Eleanor’s voice got louder. "Ava Flynn, you’ve got ten seconds to open this door, or I’m dialing 911! Ten, nine, eight..."
Odelia couldn’t help but smile as she reached for the door handle.
"Seven, six, five..." Eleanor kept counting down.
When Mom pulled open the door, my friends were standing outside with Eleanor holding up her phone like she was actually going to make the call.
"Well then, make sure you send the hottest ones, preferably the guys from Chicago Fire," Odelia said with a playful smirk.
Eleanor froze, then laughed awkwardly. "Mrs. Odelia, I forgot you were ho."
"Co on in, girls," Mom stepped aside. "I’ve been practically living at the company lab lately, so you probably thought I moved in there."
My friends filed in like so kind of ergency rescue squad, each carrying different "weapons" - ice cream, wine, tissue boxes, and Eleanor clutching a huge bag of junk food.
"Ava, we’ve always got your back, and we always will," Eleanor rushed over and hugged tight. "We figured we shouldn’t call Caroline today, we’ll catch her up tomorrow."
I held onto Eleanor, tears flowing nonstop. Soon I felt the other girls joining the group hug.
"What are you crazy girls doing here?" I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, trying to force a smile.
"That playboy called and told us what happened, said you needed your friends. So here we are. He was right," Eleanor explained.
"We ca prepared for everything - pizza for anger, burgers and fries for hatred, ice cream for sadness, chocolate to heal broken hearts, gummy bears for anxiety, and wine to completely forget about jerks. Plus other stuff," Ruby listed off.
"And skincare products, because we might fall apart, but the whole world doesn’t need to know, especially those idiots. Tomorrow we’ll still look gorgeous as always." I smiled, agreeing with Kyle.
"You guys are the best! Best friends in the world!" I said through my tears.
"So babe, today we fall apart, tomorrow we look stunning and ready for the next battle," Eleanor said, flopping down hard on the couch.
The doorbell rang again. Odelia opened it and Nina burst in dragging her little suitcase. She gave a quick hug and asked,
"I’m here, guys! Did I miss anything?"
"Chill, we just got here too," Eleanor called from the couch. "But you’ve got so serious explaining to do!"
Mom smiled at us and said, "Well, I’ll leave my daughter in your hands. I won’t crash your girls’ night."
My friends waved goodbye to Mom as she headed to her bedroom.
Nina made a face at like she’d done sothing wrong and needed backup. Ruby and Kyle had already turned my coffee table into a food court.
"Listen, Nina, I want to know what you’ve been hiding from us while Ava’s been dealing with all this drama," Eleanor started interrogating her.
"Elle, she made promise not to tell Caroline and Alpha Draven what was going on at the ti, but thank Goddess they’ve sorted out their issues now and we can help Ava," Nina answered, sitting on the floor.
"Ava, you better explain yourself! I can’t believe you think I’m such a crappy friend that I wouldn’t care about you or help you just because another friend was having problems," Eleanor complained, her angry expression making a little scared.
"Eleanor, you guys are the best friends ever. I just didn’t want to be a burden," I tried to explain.
"No, you just think Nina’s your only real friend and the rest of us are nothing," Ruby said, sounding hurt.
"That’s not it at all." I started crying again. "I’ve never had friends like you before. You’re all so amazing and willing to do anything for . I didn’t want you to think I was competing with Caroline for attention, and..."
"Oh, Ava..." I was sobbing now as Eleanor cut off. "We get it, but you can’t shut us out anymore! Friends go through the good tis and bad tis together. Sotis everyone’s got their own ss, but we face it together."
"Exactly! No matter how bad any of us has it, if soone else is in trouble, we’ll always be there to support and help!" Kyle hugged . "Caroline feels terrible that you’ve been dealing with this alone."
"Yes, we’ll always have your back. Don’t do this again," Ruby pleaded.
"I promise I won’t."
I nodded and asked, "How did Caroline’s move go?"
"Smooth as anything! Though I’m bumd Caroline ditched for Draven." Eleanor pouted dramatically, making us all laugh.
"Eleanor, Nate just moved into your apartnt. It’s your own little love nest. Haven’t you thought about... doing so steamy stuff with your prince? Like hot tub action?" Ruby burst into hysterical laughter.
"Maybe I will..." Eleanor said thoughtfully, making us laugh even harder. "Actually, my prince gives sothing Caroline doesn’t."
"Can you tell us what that is?" Nina asked innocently.
"Nina, you’re adorable!" At Eleanor’s response, Nina’s face turned red as a tomato, sending us into fits of laughter.
"Girls, only you could pull out of this funk," I said after the laughter died down.
"See? Friends are the best! And here you were being all secretive with us," Kyle teased.
"I promise I won’t do it again!"
"Are you going to forgive Joseph, that player?" Eleanor asked.
"Eleanor, I’m really hurt. He jumped to conclusions and didn’t even give a chance to explain," I said, looking down at my hands.
"Ava, Joseph already told us everything, so we won’t make you repeat it. But I have to say, the situation between Joseph and his father is seriously ssed up. There are things only Alpha Draven, Beta Ryan, and my dummy mate Luke know about, and it’s totally screwed up!" Kyle’s words made realize things were worse than I thought.
"Can’t you tell us?" I asked.
"I can’t. Please understand. I found out so stuff by accident, and Luke made swear not to tell anyone. This isn’t my secret to spill," Kyle said seriously.
"I get it," I sighed.
"Listen, Ava, from what I’ve seen at the office, that old bastard Steward has both Joseph and Flora seriously damaged. Maybe, just maybe, this one ti you could cut that idiot so slack?" Eleanor actually defending Joseph? This was totally unexpected and got thinking.
Maybe Eleanor was right. I’d seen how Joseph was around his father, witnessed firsthand how that man could make Joseph and even poor Antonio completely unstable. But even so, he still betrayed , and I’d been betrayed before.
Betrayal doesn’t just destroy trust, the very foundation of any relationship. It also tears at your self-worth. Makes you question whether you’re good enough, whether you deserve better.
I was spiraling again into thoughts, doubts, and emotions, but a voice pulled back to reality.
"Ava, there’s a lot to think about, but right now I really want to know what’s going on with you and Theo!" Ruby snapped out of my thoughts.
The room quickly filled with excitent and curiosity about my afternoon activities. I told them every detail about how sweet and thoughtful Theo was, and about our movie plans for tomorrow. The girls got all excited and started chattering away.
That night we watched music videos together, laughing and dancing and singing in front of the TV.
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