[Avni: Yesterday's conversation with EJ still has me giggling to myself (not in public, of course). He was sitting way too close and saying things he actually meant, and not fronting, and he trusted me. And honestly, it's been a while since I've been that real with anyone. Would it be selfish if I tried getting Nini and Ricky together so that EJ would be single again? It would, right?]
"This is not good," Ricky complained. "This is really not good."
"But it's not news either. You broke her heart, you crashed her play, you bugged her a little bit and then you sent her an extra sad voicemail," Big Red said.
"You think it's time to move on?"
"I have to say this is one of the first times you guys have arrived at the right conclusion without my intervention. It is absolutely time to move on," Avni said.
"I mean, I wouldn't, but you have that other thing," Big Red said.
"What?"
"Pride."
Avni snorted. "I think pride left the building when he did jazz hands for her."
Ricky rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but she said the voicemail was 'not hot'."
Technically, her phone was in the lost and found so she probably didn't hear the voicemail, but he doesn't need to know that.
"You need to be the bigger man. You're the lead in the play, dude, it's time to act like it," Big Red said.
"This is why I was friends with you first," Avni told Big Red. Which was true- Avni and Big Red were friends first because their parents owned restaurants right next to each other's, Ricky and Avni met through Big Red.
"Ouch," came Ricky's voice.
♡♡♡♡♡
"What are you doing here?" Avni exclaimed when she saw her brother leaning against her car in the school parking lot.
Aryan shrugged, "Came down for the weekend."
"Doesn't your college give like homework or something? How are you always here?"
"I'm doing a hotel management course. Baba 1 owns a restaurant- works itself out."
Avni rolled her eyes. "Can we get ice cream?" She asked, smiling sweetly.
Aryan dead-panned, "Gaadit bas gap chup. 2"
She was about to get inside when- "Avni!" came EJ's voice.
"I need your help to write a song," he said when he reached where she was standing.
"A song?"
"Yeah, Ashlyn sent me a track and now I need the wor-"
"Woah, slow your roll. Why do you need a song?"
"I have to apologise to Nini."
"For-?"
"For stealing her phone."
Avni's eyes widened, "You stole her phone?"
He nodded, "Yeah and I deleted a voicemail on her phone."
"Wait what?" Avni asked, eyes wide. Something dawned on her- "Was it from Ricky?"
EJ didn't say anything, but his silence spoke volumes.
"Oh my God," Avni breathed. "That's going to be a hard secret to keep." And then- "I can't believe you did that."
"I know," he nodded. "And I need to write a song-"
"Because you saw that she wrote one for Ricky? EJ-" Avni shook her head.
"C'mon, please."
"It has to come from you, EJ. If I wrote it, it won't be you apologising."
"That's what Ashlyn said."
"Well, she's right-"
"Guys, can you hurry it up?" Aryan's voice came.
Avni huffed. "EJ, this is my brother Aryan. Dada 3, this is EJ."
They shook hands.
"How about you just give me a few lines to start off with?"
Avni nodded, "Okay you want to say sorry- what rhymes with sorry- starry- shine like a diamond- no, that's Rihanna. Shine like a star- light- bright. Okay how about, you shine like a star and I'm not even a night light, because what I did wasn't so bright-" she cringed at the end of that.
"That was corny," Aryan said.
"Yeah-"
"No, that was perfect," EJ said, eyes bright. "Thanks, Avni," he yelled over his shoulder as he started walking away.
"No wait, EJ, it's not-" But it was of no use as he went out of earshot.
"He's going to use that isn't he?"
♡♡♡♡♡
"Okay, ready?" EJ asked, perched on the table in Ashlyn's kitchen.
"I'm just impressed you wrote a whole song," Ashlyn said.
"Yeah, it's got metaphors and everything," EJ replied, and he looked real excited about it.
"Well, I'm proud of you. Sing from the heart," Ashlyn said. EJ glanced at Avni and she offered him an encouraging smile. He nodded and cued up the music.
"Before you go and make that face you make when you're mad at me, so mad at me..."
EJ's voice filled the space.
Let's be honest, EJ had a beautiful voice and he was a brilliant performer, very engaging. But- the lyrics were just not it. Ashlyn and Avni kept glancing at each other, secretly laughing as he twirled about the house.
As the music died down, "Did you like it?" EJ asked, green eyes hopeful.
"There's a lot to admire," Ashlyn replied.
He nodded to himself, "It's too much."
"I hadn't heard the track before- but I was hoping it would be a little less boy band and a little more heartfelt. Maybe you could tweak some of the lyrics, there are words that rhyme with sorry," Avni said.
EJ deflated at her words. "You know what, I can't do this. You're right, this is her thing with Ricky, she'll see right through it. I'll just apologise to her after rehearsal."
"She might forgive you," Avni offered.
"Would you?" he asked, his eyes piercing. When she didn't say anything, he took a step back, "That's what I thought."
♡♡♡♡♡
"Hey Avni, have you seen my shoes? They're pink and shiny," Gina asked Avni at rehearsal.
"No, why?"
Gina huffed, "I think someone's stealing all my stuff. My headphones are missing and my laptop's gone- I don't know. There's no way I misplaced all that stuff in one go."
"I don't know of anyone here who would steal except for you, well- and EJ," Avni said.
"Oh, EJ told you about the phone?"
Avni narrowed her eyes, "How do you know about the phone?"
"Oh, I- um," she paused. "I stole the phone and put it in EJ's bag. I heard him talk about it with Ashlyn and I thought- well I don't know what I thought. I'm out of ideas on how to make this work honestly."
Avni took a minute to process the information. "It sort of worked, I guess. EJ and Nini are probably breaking up."
"Oh," came Gina's reply.
_______________________________________________________________
A/n
1- Dad
2- Shut up and get in the car
3- Older brother
Okay but Gina and Avni's friendship is everything.