Free A Beautiful Fate by Unknown Page B

I laughed and carried on conversation much more than I normally would and tried to make obvious the fact that he didn’t bother me. There was an entirely different story going on inside my head. I wanted to hide in a hole and fill it with tears. I was miserable and I hated the fact that I had let a guy make me feel this way. I had always considered myself a strong and independent person, but Ari had proven me wrong in one night.
    After our group dinner, we arrived back at the dorms and our floor got more and more crowded. Indy pop music was blaring from someone’s speakers. People played drinking games with cards, games with cups and games with Ping-Pong balls. The party was loud but definitely fun. I think the entire school was there at some point.
    “He’s staring at you.”
    “Mia, stop looking at him!”
    “Oh! He is talking to some girl. You’re safe to peek; he isn’t looking.”
    I spun my head around really quick and spied Ari talking to Julia. “That’s his ex-girlfriend.”
    “Oh wow, she’s beautiful.”
    “Yes, and unbelievably nice, too, so stop it!!”
    “Don’t worry, Ava; you are a thousand times prettier than she is.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Mia, just drop it.”
    “Oh, oh! She’s yelling at him.”
    “Mia!” I yelled and grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Stop it; I can’t stand to think about him any longer.”
    “I’m sorry. You’re right. Why don’t you just focus on Rory; it’s obvious he likes you!”
    “We aren’t like that, Mia...he just isn’t my type.”
    “What? Good looking, nice and funny isn’t your type? He even makes a point of talking to you in front of people. Actually, he can’t take his eyes off you either.”
    She zoned in on Rory and then he came up and draped his arms around our shoulders.
    We hung around the rest of the night with no more talk of Ari. Not talking of him didn’t stop my mind from going back to him every ten seconds, though. He was so incredibly nice when we were alone. Why couldn’t he just be like that all the time?
    We slept in on Sunday. Mia started to pack her bags a little after nine. We were going to L.A. to shop then she had to catch a flight home in the evening. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when I heard a knock at my door.
    “What?” Mia snapped.
    “Uh… may I speak to Ava?”
    “No.”
    “No?”
    “She doesn’t want to talk to you.”
    “Seriously?”
    I don’t think Ari was used to being told no.
    I pulled my dorm door all the way open and took out my toothbrush. “What?”
    “Can I talk to you?” I gave Ari a look like I was waiting for him to tell me whatever he needed to tell me. His eyes bounced from me to Mia.
    “Ok…” he said after Mia refused to leave. “I wanted to tell you I was sorry for yesterday. Actually, I wanted to tell you I was sorry for everything. I haven’t been treating you right and you deserve much, much better than me. What can I do to make it up to you, Ava?”
    “I don’t want you to make it up to me, Ari; I just don’t want you in my life anymore.”
    “You can’t mean that.”
    “I do.”
    “Please, Ava; let me make it up to you… please.”
    “Do you like me Ari?”
    He stood in the hallway outside my room and his eyes burned in to mine “Yes. I more than like you, Ava.”
    “Then maybe you should have acted like it when you had a chance.” I closed the door and turned around to see Mia speechless with her jaw on the ground.
    “That’s right, Ava! Make him work for it.”
    Saying goodbye to Mia was hard. I didn’t want her to leave. We both cried and hugged for an hour before her plane was called. I promised to visit over Christmas and we were already making plans for somewhere far away for spring break.
    “You only have nine months left, Ava. Then you will be eighteen you can come home and we will get an apartment together.”
    I nodded my head, “nine months. I can do this.”
    “You can do anything. Good luck with Ari, I know you really like