The beginning of the night is spent in the most relaxing way Avery could think of.
She has a bubble bath when she gets back to her room, and she reads some files that were slid her way by various Alphas.
"Avery?" Roman calls, knocking on the bathroom door.
"Shit," Avery mutters, groping around the tub for a towel.
"Yeah, I'm in here," she calls back, her voice higher than usual as she desperately looks for something to conserve her modesty with.
She finally grasps one of the towels off the rail a meter away, and stands up out of the bath, wrapping herself in the towel tightly.
Roman walks in just as she finishes covering herself, and she stares at him in silence, raising a brow when he just stares back.
"You needed me?" She sighs, leaning against the wall, some of her hair coming out of its topknot and falling into her face.
She blows at the hair, trying to keep it out of her eyes.
"I was just wondering if you were hungry, or if you wanted to go for a run," he scratches his neck awkwardly, suddenly looking everywhere but her.
She rolls her eyes at his embarrassment - she's the one practically naked.
"I'm a little hungry because you did interrupt my dinner," she smirks, and he lets out a light laugh.
"That's true. I'll see what I can get you, you enjoy your bath," he smiles, walking over to press a kiss to her forehead.
The scene feels oddly domesticated, and Avery wrinkles her nose up a little.
"Okay, knock when you come back," she responds after a pause, and when he closes the door, and she can hear the bedroom door close and lock, she sighs, flinging her towel onto the floor and sinking back into her bath.
She can't relax as much now, and she feels a little on edge, which is somewhat irritating, as her entire plan for the evening was to switch off and spend some time by herself.
She grumpily picks back up her files and continues to read them, her scowl a little more prominent now.
Roman, true to his word, returns with dinner, and they eat a little around their conversation about the day's events.
"So, you and Scott?" Roman chuckles out of the blue, shaking his head.
"What about Scott and me?" Avery asks, raising her eyebrows as she looks over at him.
She still feels tense since her bath was ruined earlier, and she's feeling slightly vengeful about it - it had been an excellent bath.
Literally, he could have just texted us to ask about dinner, or surprised us with it, Sonya grumbles. She had been napping when Avery had been relaxing, and she wasn't happy in the slightest to be awoken as she had been.
"It's just weird... I can't picture the two of you together at all," he shrugs, and Avery can hear a slightly disapproving tone in his voice.
She rolls her eyes and turns her body to face him, staring into his eyes.
"It's none of your business. It doesn't matter that you can't picture us together, I'm sure people say that about us, too," Avery retorts, her temper peaking slightly.
"I know that wasn't the whole story earlier," he shrugs, keeping a hold on his own temper, not looking at her, and continuing to stare at the television which is playing some reality television show he doesn't recognise.
"Then what do you think the whole story is?" She asks, forcing herself to breathe calmly to try to reduce some of her rage.
"I don't know, but I know it would have taken more than a minor disagreement for you to scratch up his face as you did," he responds in a monotone voice.
Avery doesn't like this side of him; she's used to the commanding side, and the playful side, but she hates when he brings out this cold side, and she doesn't cooperate with him when he uses it.
"I'm going to go on a walk because I don't want to lash out at you for assuming things. I am also afraid you're going to say something that you can't take back, so I'm going to get out of here for a while. Ring me when you're prepared to talk about this like two adults," she calmly states, picking up her phone and walking out of the room with her shoulders stiff.
Releasing a breath as soon as she walks out of the room, she rolls the sleeves of her sweatshirt down and looks down at her slippers.
Well, the second night is always more casual, Sonya weakly defends, and Avery cringes.
She walks down the stairs, and finds the bar with ease, following the noise.
Somehow, it's only 10 pm, which she refuses to believe - it seems so much later, and so much has happened in the last few hours.
Spotting some Lunas she knows, she slides into a seat beside them.
They greet her in confusion, one or two raising brows to each other.
"We hear you're banging Alpha Roman now, what's that like?" One giggles and Avery rolls her eyes.
"I wouldn't know," she responds, knocking back three shots in quick succession.
Meredith spots her friend across the room and hurries over, cursing under her breath.
"Where are you going, babe?" Mike calls after her, and she quickly mindlinks him.
Avery looks ready to kill, she shoots back to him and arrives at Avery's side in no time.
"Hello, ladies, I have to steal Ave for a few minutes," she beams, hauling Avery out of her seat and dragging her into a corner.
"What the hell happened?" She questions, shaking her friend gently.
"Louisa is pregnant and she of course just had to ask me when I would be, so that hurt a teeny bit, but then Roman got irritated about the fact I used to date Scott, so then he had a little icy tone on, so I got annoyed because it isn't any of his business! It was six years ago, way before I met him," Avery blubbers, her eyes starting to fill with tears.
"Oh for fuck sake," Meredith whispers, putting Avery's head on her shoulder and stroking her hair gently.
"Ignore your sister, she's always been a bitch," she murmurs, "and we can find you a different room to stay in tonight to get away from Roman, I'll sort it all out."
Avery lets out a little wail, but she can't be heard by anyone else over the loud music blaring from the speakers.
"I know love, it's okay," Meredith murmurs, "do you want me to find Lilith, and we can get you your own room? Or will I get York? Or do you want to stay with me?"
Avery is so confused by the sentences that Meredith said that she momentarily stops crying.
"I don't mind, I want to stay with you for a little while if Mike doesn't mind," she sniffles, shaking a little bit.
Meredith hates seeing her friend like this, and she has multiple times before when Avery gets overwhelmed.
She leads her out of the bar, taking her to her and Mike's room for some peace and quiet.
"What lead up to this?" Meredith croons, letting Avery cuddle into her side.
"I feel bad, Roman's mate is dead, and I feel like I'm taking him from her," she whispers, tears running down her cheeks.
"If she's dead, you can't take him from her," Meredith points out, shrugging a little.
"I feel like I'm disrespecting her, and I wouldn't like to be disrespected like that," Avery mumbles, "I feel terrible about it."
Meredith runs a hand through her hair, pitying her friend more than ever.
"If I had been given a mate, none of this would be a problem," she whispers, and Meredith can hear the pain in her voice.
It makes her tear up, and she looks up at the ceiling, clenching her jaw and blinking rapidly.
"You weren't given a mate for a reason. You are the strongest person I know, and you shouldn't let yourself be defined by being mateless," Meredith hisses fiercely after a moment of silence to steady herself.
If she had started crying, nothing would be solved, and they'd both just get overly upset and distressed until Mike came and fixed Meredith, and York came to haul Avery away.
Avery can feel her mood sink, and she sighs, biting her lips to try to stop herself crying and wailing.
"Tomorrow is going to be a really bad day," she whispers, staring blankly at the wall ahead of her.