the bittersweet damage | ben plunkett

4 | it's a long shot

After that night of playing for Kayla's party, Avery had to sleep late at night. Avery's body clock wasn't the best, so she slept in---too much.

She woke up to her phone ringing. When she opened her eyes to the sound, she thought it was still early in the morning.

She answered the call which was from Mandy and muttered, "dude, it's so early, why are you calling?"

"Early... wh--did you just wake up?," Mandy questioned the tone of her voice.

"Uh, yeah."

"Ave, it's three PM. Why the hell are you still sleeping?!"

Avery's eyes widened as she took the phone off her ear and checked the time on the screen. "Holy shit. It's three already? Oh my god."

"Well, good morning... afternoon to you, I guess. Okay, anyway. I have something to ask you," She asked through the phone.

Avery got up and walked to her vanity, putting Mandy on FaceTime. She began to brush her hair as she answered, "ask away."

"What the hell happened?"

"Oh, my hair? I just woke up, obviou---"

"No, idiot. What happened between you and Ben?" Avery was shocked that she knew about their fight. "How'd you know? Did he tell you?," she said, defensive.

"No, It's just... obvious. Now, tell me."

Avery sighed as she looked at her phone, "It's... stupid."

"I get to decide that," Mandy pushed her, which Avery gave in to. The girl was first hesitant to tell Mandy, but she was her best friend, she had to tell her.

"Okay, so, um... I may or may not have overreacted a bit when he said that the old me was gone."

"I... don't get it."

"Basically, we were in the car a little while after we dropped you off last Friday, and, um... he said something like "the old anti-romantic Avery is gone" because it was possible for me to actually fall in love with Vinny."

"Oh, it's because of your mom, isn't it?," Mandy replied, seriously, while staring at her in awe through the video chat.

"Y--yeah. I stopped believing in love when I was eleven, b--because after she died, it was like... it was like love died too. And... I just, kind of... got a flashback when he said that. And I--I get it! I should apologize. but I'm just not ready," she explained, while being on the verge of tears. Mandy could tell, which made her think.

"You know, Ave, if you can't apologize yet, it isn't your fault. And if you can't make it to our Friday night today I understand."

She wiped her tears, "really? Thank you." She sniffed. "But---enough about me. What about you? I heard from Charles and Zen that you were on some Harvard mission, or something."

Mandy chuckled, and explained the whole thing. Mandy got an idea from the counselor that she had to get a letter of recommendation  from a Harvard senator---Graham Lansing's dad.

Avery almost gagged from her story, considering her hatred for the Lansing boy. The two spent their call with laughters and giggles and other stories. Eventually, they finished and had to hang up.

The girl charged her smartphone then went downstairs because she was starving and wanted a snack.

She sights her older brother, Sam, sitting on the couch watching TV as she takes a cold leftover sandwich from the refrigerator, eating it as it is.

Curious of what's on her brother's mind, Avery took a seat beside him, in slight disgust of the bread upon her hands.

"So..."