But at some point, she’s going to have to stand up for herself and end the suffering. If she just spoke to everyone else like she does to me, she wouldn’t have a problem anymore.
“That’s not the worst of it, by the way,” she continues. “I messed up big-time when Callie insinuated that I would be attending our reunion by myself.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told Callie to put me down for two. Two super-in-love, coupletastic people, of which I am one.”
“I’m sorry…what?” I question on a shocked laugh. “You told Callie you’re in a relationship?”
She nods.
“You do realize you’re not in a relationship, right?”
“Don’t judge me, you jerk.” Ava pokes me in the chest with one pointed index finger. “Help me.” She sighs and stares up at me with big puppy-dog eyes. “I have sixty days to find my freaking boyfriend and no prospects on where to start.”
A weird pain tightens in my chest, but other than lifting a hand to rub at it, I don’t pay it much mind.
“Actually, less than sixty days,” I add instead.
“Ugh. Shut up,” she retorts. Then, like lightning, an idea strikes her. “Maybe you could do it!”
“Be your boyfriend?”
“Pretend to be my boyfriend,” she emphasizes.
“No,” I decline with a shake of my head. “No thank you.”
“What? Why not? You’re single right now, just like me. It’s not like you have to worry about a girlfriend getting mad.”
“True,” I agree. “Actually, I’m pretty sure this is the first time in forever that we’ve both been single.”
“Are you sure about that?” She tilts her head to the side. “What about when you broke up with Sarah?”
“You were already dating that douchebag Blake.”
“He wasn’t that bad.” She snorts, and I give her a pointed stare. “Okay, fine, he was a dick.”
“And when you broke up with douchebag-dickwad, I was dating Dana.”
“Gah. Dana.”
“What was wrong with Dana?”
“She was clingier than dog hair on a wool sweater.”
I laugh at that. She’s not wrong. Dana was so clingy, I found myself getting excited about dentist appointments because it was about the only time I could be alone.
“Wait…when did you break up with Mandy?”
“Two years ago,” I answer. “Not too long after you ended things with Matt.”
“I guess this really is the first time we’re both single,” Ava responds with a shrug, but then quickly reverts back to freaking out. “But hell’s bells, I need to break that cycle stat.”
“Going to your high school reunion without a boyfriend isn’t that big of a deal, Ace.”
“First of all, you need to stop calling me Ace. Your name is Luke. Not Logan. It makes zero sense.”
I shrug. “Well, after you made me watch all seven fucking seasons of Gilmore Girls, I think I have a right to use whatever I want from that awful show.”
“You loved that show, you big liar.”
“I tolerated it because you love that show,” I correct her. “Now, stop avoiding the subject at hand. Why the hell do you think you need to take some random guy home with you to feel validated?”
“Actually, I was trying to take you home to feel validated.”
“Ava.”
“Luke, if you knew Callie Camden and the crap she put me through when we were teenagers—” her voice rises with each word “—you’d one-hundred-percent understand that it’s a big deal. A big fat fucking deal.”
My face softens a little as I think of all the stories Ava shared with me throughout college about Callie. I know she put my girl through the wringer. It’s not out of the ordinary for someone to have a little PTSD.
I move from the kitchen to the living room and wrap my arm around her shoulders, tucking her close to my side. “How about, instead of standing in my apartment and drowning your sorrows in alcohol you don’t even like, we go to the Halloween party and try to enjoy ourselves? Forget about fake boyfriends for a while.”
She groans, and I gently squeeze her petite shoulder.
“C’mon, Ava, it’ll be fun. I mean, you didn’t get all dressed up for nothing, right? And who knows, maybe you’ll meet a hot Frankenstein and fall in love, and your whole find a boyfriend in less than sixty days debacle will be solved.”
“You’re the worst best friend ever.” She snorts, and I grin down at her.
“Let’s go, yellow Fantina. It’s time to go have some fun and get you some kind of fruity drink you can actually enjoy.”
“Fantana.”
“Yeah. That’s what I said.”
She rolls her eyes. “Ugh. You’re such a guy.”
I smirk down at her. “If you don’t pull yourself out of this sassy mood right quick, I will have to resort to musical violence.”
She full on pouts. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, but I would. Don’t try me, Ava. I’ll have Lykki Li blaring from my speakers in no time. And I won’t hesitate to pull out my best robot dance moves.”