~Ava~

I pushed hurriedly through the revolving doors of the building, keeping my head down and hoping to pass the front desk quickly and swiftly. The whole trip here, I’d been hoping that I could slip past Rebecca at the front desk and avoid what would most likely be an awful and awkward confrontation.

It was safe to say that I felt like shit. And I was scared that my position and my outfit would reflect that. I wore a simple pair of black jeans and a beige sweater thrown over a plain white tank top. I’d quickly dabbed on a bit of mascara before leaving, and had thrown my hair up into an extremely messy ponytail, not wanting to worry about it and not wanting to miss the bus.

I was almost at the elevators and about to rejoice in my victory before a cheery voice called, “Ava! Wait a sec!”

“Fuck,” I whined quietly, but not loud enough for anyone to hear—thank God.

I pursed my lips and tried for a small smile as I turned around slowly, watching none other than Rebecca herself finishing sauntering up to me, a bright smile placed on her face.

And of course she had to look exceptionally great today, because the universe wanted to spite me. Her hair was clipped back with a silver pin, and she wore a cute sundress with dark brown boots with a heel. Her green eyes were bright, and her teeth were white, her skin flawless, and I hadn’t put on concealer, so I knew that I looked completely horrible standing next to her.

“Hey,” I said meekly, hoping for a small smile to adorn my face. She stopped in front of me, her breathing slightly laboured.

“Wow,” she laughed—and the sound was beautiful, of course, “I’m breathless from just walking over. I need to get into shape.”

I couldn’t help but to laugh lightly, but I knew that she was as thin as a stick and didn’t need to go to the gym more than she already did.

“Maybe,” I just agreed jokingly, to which she laughed.

I didn’t hate her at all. Rebecca was one of those people that it was impossible to hate, purely because she was just so nice and amazing you couldn’t find anything wrong with her.

She was literally flawless.

And I was jealous.

“I just wanted to ask you about a couple of weeks ago,” she suddenly became nervous, chewing on her lip, “About that night, at the club? I’m sorry—I didn’t know you and Luke were a thing.”

My jaw dropped, and it took me a moment to process her words. When I did, I should my head so vigorously I thought it was fall off my shoulders, “Luke and I are not a thing. Trust me.”

To lighten the mood, I let out a small, forced laugh—hopefully she couldn’t tell.

“Are you sure?” she asked me worriedly, “He knew your name.”

“Well, I mean—,” I sighed, figuring that I’d have to tell her the truth. I looked at her with a skeptical face, “Can you keep a secret?”

“Duh,” she giggled lightly, and I trusted her. She’d never given me a reason not to. And even though she wasn’t my best friend—on a Jay-level—she was still a pretty good friend, and oddly enough, I felt as though I could confide in her. There wasn’t a mean bone in Rebecca’s body—and I knew that.

“Okay,” I nodded, and then I glanced at her sheepishly, “I used to live in Australia, right? And I was actually best friends with Luke for as long as I can remember.”

A few executives in skirts and suits bustled by us, chatting rapidly on the phone or glancing at their watches, all of them carrying black or dark brown briefcases. “Hold on,” Rebecca grabbed my wrist and tugged me towards the front desk, where she sat, looking up at me expectantly.

“And for a while, we—,” I hesitated, not really wanting to tell her about the other part of mine and Luke’s relationship. I just shrugged, “Yeah, we were really good friends. And when I left them for this internship, I kind of lost touch with them.”

“Oh,” Rebecca nodded, as though it was finally dawning on her, “And now they’re back.”

“And now they’re back,” I confirmed.

Thankfully, she didn’t ask any more questions, for which I was grateful. I didn’t feel like telling her this whole plan that Jay and I had devised—I was using them, making them think I was their friend again. I felt a pang of guilt echo in my stomach when the thought occurred.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and glanced at it, biting my lip nervously, “I should really go,” I admitted, trying to look apologetic.

Rebecca nodded, her face lighting up, once again cheerful, “Of course! Sorry, I’m keeping you.”

“It’s alright,” I said, and then I shot her a small wave, beginning to turn on my heel, “Bye Becks.”

“Bye Aves,” she replied teasingly, and I stiffened, shocked that someone would call me that.

No one really called me that—except Luke.

And the last time he’d called me that had been at the restaurant a few days ago, when we’d had our little fight. I still remembered what the name had felt like, sounded like, rolling off his tongue, so exotic and sensual, something unusual yet completely familiar at the same time.

But he’d scared me, and I hadn’t been thinking straight.

I felt bad now.

Getting off-topic, Ava.

I sighed, pushing the elevator button and waiting for the pair of doors to open. When it did, I walked inside, pressing another button and waiting, all alone in the small space. I couldn’t help but to feel slightly wary whenever I stepped into the elevator, always a bit worried that something would happen, but so far, nothing ever had, and I simply blamed it on my hyperactive anxiety.

Once the doors opened again, I stepped out quickly and pushed through the pretty glass doors leading into the main office. Men and women were bustling around, the scene being a bit busier since it was the day before our next issue would be released.

Adrian passed me with his mail cart, greeting me, and I smiled at him, “Hey.”

“How’s your article coming along?” he questioned, grinning—I swear, he was just like Rebecca, always happy. I sighed and shrugged, “It’s a lot more stressful than I thought it’d be.”

He just nodded like he knew all about it, then gestured to his mailing cart, “Perks of being the mail boy: all I’ve got to do is walk around and give people envelopes.”

I laughed softly before he and I said our goodbyes, and I wove through a crowd of people to reach the adjoined cubicle that Jay and I shared.

When I got to the cubicle, however, Jay was nowhere to be seen. I scowled lightly, but just shrugged—maybe she was sick, maybe she’d taken the day off. I plopped down onto my chair, setting my purse down on the desk beside me, and booted up my computer, waiting for it to load and grabbing a pencil, tapping it against my desk absentmindedly.

“Miss Summers,” a voice snapped me out of my daze.

My head snapped up, only to find Elise Camp staring down at me over the square-framed glasses that rested low on her nose. I sat up straight, shooting her a watery smile, “Oh, hello.”

“Hi,” Elise said curtly. Her short brown hair was clipped back by several bobby pins, the lined features of her face stern and tight. She wore all dark clothing and when her hand came up to lower her glasses even further so that she could scrutinise me, I noticed a few rings on her fingers, including a wedding band.

I pity the poor bastard that married her.

Shut up Ava!

“I take it things are going well with the article?” she questioned me stonily.

I nodded quickly, gulping, and pushed back from my desk a bit, pulling out a drawer as I went, “Of course. I have a drawer full of recordings right here.”

Elise studied the small compartment that housed around six or seven different gray recording devices at the moment. I definitely planned on obtaining more.

“Good, good,” she murmured, almost to herself. She looked at me pointedly, “Have you had any trouble with anything at all?”

Oh, you mean besides the fact that my interviewees are my ex-best friends, and one of them also happens to be the boy I lost my virginity to?

“No, not at all,” I shot her a fake smile instead, hoping that she couldn’t see through the façade I’d been putting up ever since I’d found out who the breakout artist would be, “Everything’s going smoothly. They’re a great bunch.” I added, referring to Ashton, Calum, Michael and Luke.

“Good,” Elise repeated, before she sighed and pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose—finally, she was starting to make me even more nervous than usual.

“Elise,” a man dressed in a dark blue button-up ran up to her, waving papers in her face, “This is the last copy we have about the Ariana Grande interview. Should I give it to Alan?”

“Of course, Will,” Elise practically bit the poor man’s head off. He nodded quickly and stumbled away, clearly frightened. I didn’t blame him.

“Well, I’ll be checking up with you soon, Miss Summers,” Elise stated, and then she was gone.

~*~

“No Mum,” I laughed lightly, cradling my cell phone in the space between my shoulder and my ear, trying to balance it while I gripped plastic grocery bags in both of my hands. I stepped out of the elevator and turned left, walking down the hall to the apartment numbered 701, on the seventh floor of my building.

“Are you sure, honey?” Mum asked me teasingly, “I mean, I still chat with Liz every once in a while—Luke’s grown up quite nicely.”

“Mum!” I gasped, and she simply giggled like a schoolgirl.

I rolled my eyes playfully and set down a few of my grocery bags, fishing my house key out of my pocket while explaining, “There’s nothing going on between us anymore. I’m simply interviewing them, okay?” I stressed the last word, making sure she understood completely.

“Fine, fine,” my mum admitted dejectedly as I finally unlocked my door, slipping my key back into my pocket and bringing all of the groceries inside.

I set them down on a small, shiny mahogany table right next to the door, and finally plucked my phone from its resting place in the crook of my neck, just as my mum said, “Luke is attractive though.”

“Yeah,” I conceded—almost longingly, “He really is.”

“I knew it!” Mum declared from the other end of the line. I laughed and protested, trying for the next ten minutes to convince her that I no longer had feelings for Luke.

“Honestly though, Ava,” Mum stated, her voice serious, “Whatever happened with you two?”

“It’s a long story,” I simply said, shrugging. I really didn’t want to spend the next hour explaining to her why everything went downhill—and why it may or may not have been my fault.

“I’ve got time,” my mum offered, and suddenly, next to my ear, my phone vibrated with a text.

I sighed sadly, “Well, I don’t at the moment. I’ll just call you later, alright? I love you.”

“Alright, sweetheart,” Mum was so understanding, I didn’t get it, “I love you too. Give Luke a kiss for me.” I merely scoffed while she laughed, and we both hung up.

I pulled my phone away from my ear and stared at the screen for a moment, reflecting on the things she’d said. But before I could go too in-depth, I remembered that I’d received a text, and I quickly tapped into my messages. There, I saw a text from Michael.

Michelangelo: Avaaa…

I couldn’t help but to smile faintly, and I quickly typed back: Michaeeel…

His next reply was almost instantaneous. I almost laughed at how desperate Michael seemed for a friend. He really was an amazing person, and the fact that I was simply lying to him ate at me until I even questioned why I was doing this.

But then that little voice came back, the one that knew better and that persuaded me into thinking that this was the only way to succeed—which it was. I may not have liked it, but it was necessary in order to get a full-time job at Beeline, which was something I’d been wanting since forever.

I couldn’t backtrack now and let all my hard work go to waste.

Michelangelo: I may have done something you won’t like…

Me: Shit, Michael, what did you do? You’re scaring me now.

Michael’s next response took my breath away yet made it speed up at the exact same time, if that was even possible. I really hoped that he was joking, but something told me he wasn’t—instinct or gut feeling or whatever the hell it was.

All I knew was that I wanted to wring his neck.

Michelangelo: Let’s just say that Luke’s got your number now.

Notes

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~Amazing, all of you~