Do people ever change?

wait...

*one month later*

                 It had been one month since Ava and jay had the rather bitter argument, or about 3 arguments in one day and they had become even more distanced from each other.  They play nicey nicey when hanks around but other then that they don't talk unless it's work related.  That's the only time they get on, even if it's just a little bit, at least it's something.

                 "You going to the reunion tonight?" Jay huffed as the pair sat in his car while on patrol.  Ava shrugged, "I don't know, I might" she spoke calmly.  Jay nodded, "I may have to reconsider going now" he sighed but there was a hint of amusement in his tone, Ava laughed a little, woah woah woah hang on, did they just joke around? Without getting mad at each other?

~

                 Funnily enough Ava found herself stood in front of the mirror staring at herself in her apartment bedroom.  She had a short black slim fit dress on which hugged her in all the right places, she hated it, with silver heels to match.  She rarely dresses up but when she does it's kinda nice to see herself in something other then gym clothes, work clothes or PJ's. She checked the time and shoot! She had about 3 minutes to get there, but no need to panic, it wasn't like she liked anyone from school anyways. She just wants to prove them all wrong.

Jay was stood in a nice suit around a table having a beer with his old friends who still live in Chicago, they were in some fancy banquet hall with their school year reunion in balloons across the back wall, how corny. He didn't even realise Ava wasn't there yet until she walked in through the double doors, "is that Ava? As in lardass Ava?" One of the guys from jays table gasped. Jay sighed, "yeah, yeah it is" he nodded and took a sip from his beer.  The boys all widened their eyes in shock, "well she had a glow up and I'm going for another drink, coz I'm gonna need one" one of the other boys laughed. 

                They all nodded as jay huffed, as if they were calling his partner attractive, "how'd she go from lardo to this?" A blonde haired man sighed, jay shook his head, "Luke, c'mon, you know she was never actually a lardass. You guys just started up that name to take the piss out of her" he sighed.  He maybe didn't like Ava but he never agreed with the nickname they used to call her since she was never chubby as a teenager, she was far from that, probably on the other end of the scale in fact.

                Ava looked around the room, oh my how times have changed, all the popular kids were now high school burnouts and the not so cocky kids weren't even here.  She spotted jay but decided to stay away from the boys since they were the ones who made her teenage years a living hell on top of what she already had to deal with.  "You can't just hang around all night waiting for an excuse to leave, come on, I'll walk around with you" Jess, the only girl who was nice to her, smiled and tilted her head.  Ava laughed and shook her head before grabbing another glass of champagne and walking by her side.

               The pair moved from table to table and talked to everyone even though they didn't want to until it came to the only table left, "what a bunch of assholes" Jess huffed quietly as they approached jays table full of boys.  Ava laughed and nodded, "look who it is..." Luke raised his eyebrows.  Ava and Jess stood opposite jay as Ava avoided eye contact with him even though jay was looking at her.  "So what're you doing with your miserable lives now?" Ava sighed. Tyler gasped, "ouch" he pretended to be offended.

Ava smiled a little, maybe they had improved their humour a little, "well I'm a plumber" Tyler added. Ava nodded, the one who wanted to play in the nba is now a plumber, great. Luke sighed, "electrician" he summed up. Ava nodded, she didn't expect anything different from him, the other guys just mumbled to let her know they hadn't really found anything yet.

Tyler huffed, "well then shitface, what are you up to nowadays" he looked at Ava. She rolled her eyes, "I'm a detective" she spoke humbly. They all widened their eyes, "so we have two cops now? Rightttt, you don't work together do you?" Aiden gasped. Ava looked at jay, "we're partners..." she sighed. The boys all chuckled, "so who's gonna shoot the other first?" Matt cooed. Ava raised her eyebrows and so did jay, it's not about killing people, although they would happily strangle each other, "shut up" jay scoffed.

"Well I think we can all agree on who's changed the most" Jess downed the last of her alcohol.  The boys all mumbled in agreement, "I don't know about that, do people ever change?" Ava looked at Jess then diverted her gaze towards jay as they locked eyes, jay knew she was aiming it at him but he couldn't do anything about it when they were surrounded by people.  The boys all shrugged since she had a fair point.

                 They all spread out throughout the night and talked to anyone and everyone, apart from Ava and jay, they saw each other more then enough.  By the end of the night Ava decided to head out first but jay caught on that she was leaving, "I'm gonna head out, I got an early shift tomorrow. Nice seeing you guys though" he nodded and tapped the table before jogging out since Ava was probably halfway down the street by now.

"wait..." jay sighed as he caught up to her. Ava kept walking but slowed down her pace so Jay could walk next to her side, "I don't know what you're playing at but whatever you've got against me, against them. Knock it off" he snapped as they stood in the dark. The streets were empty and the only source of light was the street light above them. Ava scoffed, "knock it off? Are you kidding me? Do you remember anything at all or can you just remember your version of it?" She stopped in front of him as the chilly Chicago air blew through her hair.

Jay narrowed his eyes at her, "that's the thing! I don't know what you've got against me! All I know is that you were a bitch back then, and you still are" he scoffed. Ava laughed, "do you need a reminder?" She practically yelled softly if that's even possible. Jay raised his eyebrows, "sure, go on, tell me. What happened all those years ago?" He yelled back. Good job the street was empty. Ava laughed and folded her arms, partly because she was angry but mainly because she was cold, "so you're telling me you don't remember anything? The name calling? The treating me like shit? The constant twittering down my ear? You don't remember any of that? Because I sure as hell do" she scoffed.

Jay sighed, "that was all a bunch of harmless humour, you just couldn't take a joke" he laughed. Ava shook her head, "harmless? that's your problem, you didn't think about what people could've been going through before speaking, and clearly you still don't!" She yelled. Jay huffed, "so you were going through something? Well so was everyone else, you're nothing special" he shook his head. Ava had heard enough, "kiss my ass Halstead" she turned and walked off. Jay bit his lip regretfully, he shouldn't have said that, she's just admitted that she was going through something and instead of taking the time to listen, he compared everyone else's problems to hers. He cursed himself before looking around and walking back over to his own car. Works gonna be awkward tomorrow...