Unexpected (Avi Kaplan)

Confident

Avi's POV

"Dude, what's going on with you? You've been staring at Ivy's chair since we started," Kevin said, bringing me out of my thoughts for the fourth time that day. I shook my head without a word and looked down at my hands, my mind still reeling from what I had said to her the day before. "You know you can tell us. No judgement here."

"Well..." I trailed off, looking around at the group a bit nervously. Their eyes were all on me expectantly. "I may or may not have called Ivy Catherine last night and told her to leave and not come back," I said, immediately bracing myself for the scolding of my friends. I couldn't blame them, I deserved it. But it never came.

I slowly looked up and noticed them talking among themselves and finally nodding in unison. "That's it," Scott said. "I'm having a party tonight at mine and Mitch's house and you're coming whether you like it or not. You need to get your mind off her before you make it any worse than it already is," he added, leaning back on the couch.

"I'm not in the mood to party, especially when your throwing it."

"I don't care. You're going and that's final," Mitch said, making it obvious they weren't budging.

"Kevin...you gonna help me out?"

"Sorry man. I agree with them. You need to get out and get her off your mind." Kevin said with a shrug. I didn't have a choice, so there was no point in arguing.

"Fine. Now can we please get back to work."

Ivy's POV

I jumped at the vibrations of someone beating on my door shot through my back. What the hell? When did I fall asleep? Regardless, there was someone knocking on my door and I was on the floor in front of it. I reluctantly got up and checked myself in the mirror. My hair was frizzed slightly and my makeup was smudged, making me look kind of like a panda. My eyes were red and puffy from crying and looked dull in general. "Perfect."

Opening the door, I froze when I saw Kirstie, Scott, and Mitch standing there, their smiles fading at my appearance. "Don't say a damn word about it," I said bitterly, though I moved to the side and let them in.

"I didn't realize it was this bad," Kirstie whispered quietly, but I still picked it up. I kept silent, throwing myself on the couch and burying my face into the back of it.

"Go away. I don't want to socialize," I mumbled, but from the sounds of it, they didn't move.

"Come on. You need to shower and look presentable. We're going shopping for a dress for you to wear to the party we're having tonight," Mitch spoke up, walking over and pulling on my legs, effectively pulling me off the couch and onto the floor.

"I'm not going."

"Yes you are because Avi's going to be there and you need to show him just how confident you are," Scott added, crossing his arms as Kirstie nodded.

"In that case, I'm really not going. I don't want to see him and he made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with me."

"You really like him, don't you?" Mitch asked, still working on getting me up with no luck.

"No. I hate him."

"Please, give me a break. You, me, Scott, Kirstie, and the crickets that chirp at night can see that you like him."

I kept silent, finally deciding to sit up, though I didn't get up yet. "No choice?"

"Nope because you owe me a shopping trip. You said so yesterday," Kirstie said and helped Mitch pull me to my feet. "Go shower and get changed."