Field of Dreams: Year 1

Us

Paige's POV:

"She..." she sobbed. "I said something I shouldn't have..." I started patting her back. "And now...' she sobbed again. "Now she is mad, and I..." another sob. "It's my fault," she stated as she looked me in the eyes with her gaze even more red than they were before.

"Nothing's your fault, Liv," I said, her head in my collarbone. "Things like this happen every day," I reassured her.

"You think?" she asked and looked up a bit, so I could meet her gaze, which was full of...sorrow.

"I'm sure," I said, and she made herself to sit up. I put my hands down.

"And what now?" she threw her hands, totally replacing the desperate and sad expression with a strange one I couldn't explain. "I mean, I can't just go to Blake, and-"

"Okay, okay, okay," I interrupted her and calmed her down by putting my hand on her shoulder. "Let's start with the situation we are in first," I said. "Okay?"

"Okay?" she kind of calmed down. "What do you mean by that?" Liv asked confused after a second of not being stressed about the matter.

"I mean..." I started, not sure if I should continue. Liv looked at me curiously and moved, so she could sit more comfortably against me. "Let's go to our previous table, shall we?" I finally let it go out of my mouth, feeling the wave of uncertainty go away. I can definitely say that I had missed Liv. Every. Single. Moment. And as I let that go out of my mouth, I was uncertain if she would take the proposal to come back to her old friends or go back to the friend she clearly had problems with.

Honestly, I didn't mention anything about Blake because I both didn't want to make her even sadder than she already was, and I also felt that inside me something told me it's not going to be okay if Liv went back with Blake. That it would end in an even worse way than this one. It just felt right to do this and not let Liv to go back.

"But..." she started and looked down. "Doesn't Ava hate me?" she said. "I mean...After the things I said to her and my attitude, and everything-" she sobbed again. "I don't know if I can do this," she opened.

"Of course you can," I hugged her again. "Look, Liv, everyone loves you on that table. Even Ava," I reassured her. "You're just going to explain to her the whole sister kind of situation, and everything will be fine," I concluded, and she looked up once again with a strange expression again. It reminded me of something, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"Are you sure she'll forgive me?" she asked. "After everything I've done?" I nodded, making her feel a bit more comfortable as her expression changed into a blank one. "Okay," she finally said. "I can do this," she stood up and wiped one tear away from her cheek.

***

"You can do this," I said almost to her ear. "You've done nothing wrong," I reassured her once again as we were walking to the group table once again.

"Okay," she took a deep breath and put her tray down on the table Ava, Mia, and Ivy were sitting on. Everyone looked up to her surprised to see her.

Liv turned her gaze to me, seemingly nervous, but I just nodded, giving her courage to continue what we talked about, and she finally made the things how they were right for me and the others.

Liv sat down, right across Ava, put her hands in her lap, and looked straight into her eyes. I sat next to her, facing Mia.

"Look, Ava," she started. "I'm really sorry-" she interrupted herself. "No, like," she stuttered. "I'm REALLY sorry," she said again with making a circle with her hands in the air to outline the importance of her words. "For everything," she started the true confession. "I was just so dumb not to explain the whole situation," she said. "My sister is a big football fan," she started the real confession. "And since she uses the same Instagram account as me, she wanted to text her friend about the world Cup, but accidentally messaged you because her friend is also named Ava," she gasped for air after letting out this off her shoulders. I used the moment to take my gaze off Liv to Ava, whose was growing from annoyed to...proud? "I'm really sorry..." Liv said and looked at her lap again. "For the whole...Thing," she finally concluded the apology she probably rehearsed and rehearsed for nights in her head.

As soon as the apology ended, the air filled with tension, but this time only in the space between Ava and Liv. She, on the other hand, had a few pairs of eyes on her, each expressing different reactions. Understanding from Ivy, who seemingly knew about the whole matter (probably Ava had told her), confusion from Mia, who I thought knew, but turned out that she didn't, and sympathy from me because I knew the whole story.

Ava's expression was still the same. With her eyes focused on Liv, expressing something strange I couldn't explain still, her two hands on the table, slowly pushing herself and her chair away from the table. In the next moment, the tension between them was crushed for just a second as Ava spoke up.

"I knew it!" she said, this time obviously in a proud way. "I knew you couldn't have liked football!" she clarified, Mia's expression turning to even more confused. Liv, however, looked at her lap again. "Why is she looking at her lap like that again? And with that sorrow look in her eyes?" I thought. "Stand up," she said, and Liv did as Ava ordered. "Welcome back," Ava finally said, leaving all of our problems behind. "To us," she pulled back a little and showed Liv that she is where she needed to be.

Back to her friends. Back to her loved ones. Back to the people she really needed. The people she probably cannot live without. Back to us.