Ava and Blair decided to meet up at a local café to finally talk things out between each other. Ava wanted to take this nice and slow – no rushing things – so she could get out everything she wanted to say to Blair. Hopefully by the end of everything they could even be friend again.

“Ok, you got this Ava. Don’t fuck this up”

Ava tried pumping herself up and entered the café. She found – once she opened the door – Blair sitting there in the corner with a stoic face. Ava was relieved that Blair at least did not look irritated or mad, so that was a start. She headed over to where Blair was and sat down in a seat.

“Hello Blair thank you for coming today”

“It’s whatever, I’m tired of always being angry all the time. So, I thought that maybe if we talked and sorted out our emotions it would help in some way or another.”

“If you don’t want to that’s fine as well Blair. I’m just happy you’ve allowed me back into your life at all. I wanted to ask you though, and by means it’s not an interrogation, about Oliva and how it went on your outing. Honestly seeing you interact with anyone again is nice.”

Blair didn’t know how to feel at being asked about Liv, but she saw in Ava’s eyes that she trying to be genuine.

“I don’t know. It just happened, I guess. She’s easy to talk to and she takes the initiative, so its easier for me to relax and not overthink so much.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear. I’m glad you’ve made a friend in Olivia even if she is a troublemaker.”

“So? With the idle chitchat out of the way. You want to get down to business?”

 Blair said her face more serious than before.

 This unnerved Ava a little bit, but it seemed Blair was done with casual conversation. Ava straightened her back and sat up to focus more on what Blair had to say.

“First things first: Why? We were closer than anyone and we knew all about the bad gossip. We decided to ignore it and not let our decisions be swayed, but when it really mattered you betrayed me, left me there like I was a total stranger. I’ll never forget your eyes on that day. It felt like you were looking down on me, like I was some ant. Just as fast as I saw you, you were gone just as fast. And I was left alone by myself with everyone laughing at me. I felt humiliated, degraded, and depressed.”

Blair stopped for a second to catch her breath and to see if Ava would answer.

Ava sat there in utter disbelief at the retelling of events as Blair saw them. She knew she was in the wrong, but hearing Blair talk about it like this was awful. It felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest and being stepped on repeatedly. At this point she was crying and trying to fumble out words to respond to Blair. All she could fumble out was:

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Ava said as her tears streamed down her face.

She thought she hardened her resolve and could take whatever Blair threw at her but knowing how much she hurt Blair – she couldn’t take it. It broke her now just as it did back when she first made that horrid choice.

“Ava I’m not here to ridicule you or burn you at the stake. I just wanted to know if those were your real feelings and intentions. If us being best friends was all just for show.”

“OF COURSE NOT!” Ava yelled jumping up from her seat

Now everyone’s eyes were on them in this public café and Ava felt embarrassed for causing a commotion. She sat back down and calmed herself so she could continue.

“Sorry. No, of course it wasn’t. I was just so paralyzed with fear that I didn’t want to stand out and make a scene. I knew that was the wrong decision and I’m sorry for treating you like that. I’ve agonized over that for all these years and wanted nothing more than to make up with you. You were one of the best things that ever happened to me Blair and it was the biggest mistake of my life to throw all of that away.”

“Ugh…goddamnit. You know what Ava? How about we just start over? It’s been a long time since that happened, and I held onto these feelings so I could one day to scream at the top of my lungs to the person who I thought you were. You’re nothing like what I had imagined. So, there’s no point in keeping this cycle going. Let’s start over Ava.”

After listening to those last words now the waterworks were even harder for Ava to control. It was hard for her to even imagine a situation like this happening in her dream but now it really was happening in real life. She thanked whatever higher power made this possible so that the two of them could meet again.

Blair felt a little uncomfortable at this turn of events, but she was a little happy that Ava had real emotions just like her.

“Hey Ava, since this has turned more into something private do you want to just go back to the dorms? Maybe have a reconciliation party or something. Or whatever you want to do.”

“Yeah, that’s sounds great let’s do that” Ava said smiling with a renewed sense of self

The two of them both left the café and headed for a convenience store to pick up some items for their party. After they got everything, they headed back to the dorms and by then it was the perfect time to start the festivities. Both were a little awkward after everything that happened at the café, but it took no time at all for them to relax and start watching a movie.

To Blair it almost seemed like they went back in time to before the incident. It was a surreal and odd feeling. She still didn’t know if this was the right choice or not, but she knew her feelings on wanting to change were real.

As the movie continued playing Blair got a text from Olivia asking if she was alright. Blair forgot but she was there when her and Ava had their heated conversation in the middle of class. She responded with:

“Yeah, I’m ok Liv thanks for worrying about me”

Then texted saying: “How about you? Everything ok?”

This was Blairs first step in trying to reciprocate someone’s kindness and she found it very fucking difficult, but she wanted to put in the work for Olivia’s sake. She saw that Olivia responded right away and she blushed at the surprise message she sent her.

“I’m good sunshine. The only thing wrong is that you aren’t here right beside me” with a picture attached of her in bed.

Blair’s brain could no longer focus on the movie and all about exploded into pieces. When did she get so bold Blair thought. She realized Olivia has always been bold but now she was turning up the heat after the successful date. Blair wondered if she would be able to handle Olivia’s flirting, but she decided to leave that for future her and just try to focus on the movie.

After the movie Ava decided to ask who she was texting because she had seen her blush, but she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

“Sooooo Blair……Who were you texting that got you looking like that?”

“What?!” Blair was shocked Ava even noticed her face with them watching the movie. Blair tended to be oblivious of her surroundings and she would never admit that herself.

“Oh…I-I-It was no one really” Blair said as she looked away from Ava.

Ava wondered if this was the same person that she knew. The cold and reserved Blair Reeve was acting like a shy maiden.

“I know its Olivia, Blair. You don’t need to hide it from me. Honestly you having another friend is amazing. You never did open up easily to others.”

“Friend……yeah, right it was her, but she was just asking about something stupid. No big deal.”

For some reason Ava saying Olivia was Blair's friend left her with a complicated feeling inside her chest. What was Olivia to her? Olivia mentioned that she was serious about her, but nothing has happened beyond that. This was all very new to Blair so maybe this was the norm, but she still couldn’t help having mixed feelings on the matter.

Ava seemed content enough with her answer, so they moved on to watch more movies. They passed out after having satiated their movie quota and awoke to knocking on Blair’s door. Blair couldn’t think for the life of her who would be at her door since she literally had no friends. She got up from her dreary stupor and opened the door only to be surprised at who was there right in front of her. It was non other than Olivia in the flesh. Blair was confused as to why she was at her door until Olivia explained without moment’s notice.