avanis pov.
anthony and i eventually finish making the cookies. we may be covered in flour but we had a fun time.
"these are so worth the mess" i say taking a bite of my warm cookie.
"we're very talented" anthony mumbles as his mouth is full.
we finish the cookies and leave our plates in the dishwasher. when we both walk back through to we notice charli and chase cuddling with amber on the large couch.
"awww" we both whisper at the same time.
"come on, we should let them sleep" i say dragging anthony to my room.
we both jump into bed and i climb into his arms drifting off to sleep with a smile spread across my face.
___
we both wake up suddenly as we hear my buildings fire alarm going off.
"shit" anthony mumbles with his eyes barley opened.
i slowly climb out of bed with him following close behind me. when we reach the living room i see a confused set of heads peaked over the couch at us.
"fire alarm" i say grabbing my phone of the table.
anthony picks amber up into his arms and carries her out the door whilst i hold it open. next come charli and chase still half asleep. then my sister comes from the guest room following everyone else out the door.
i watch as i see all my neighbours running down the stairs. it's not until i turned around i realised why.
"oh my fucking god!" i shout looking behind seeing flames racing towards us.
i snap back into reality and grab both charli and anthony dragging them along the hall. chase follows behind as charli still has a hold of his hand.
"SHANTI MOVE IT" i scream at her but it's to late. she's lost in the flames. tears fall down my face like a waterfall as i get dragged along by both charli and anthony.
i don't take my eyes off the fire. i have to do something. if this was me she would save me without even thinking about it. i get out of there grip and start running towards the fire but of course chase grabs me before i reach it.
"ave i know you love her but she'll be ok. she fights her way through everything" he says not letting go of me.
i look at him with swollen eyes and puffy cheeks as tears still race down them. he pulls me into a hug as i stand there balling my eyes out. i watch as anthony hands amber to charli before he proceeds to walk over, lifting me up bridal style. i cry into his chest as the moment keeps repeating in my head.
once we make it outside both me and amber are crying. i can see the tears in chases eyes but i can tell he's holding them back. he's like my brother so he's known my sister for awhile too, so it isn't surprising this also hurt him.
i feel my phone vibrate, i pick it up and read the caller id.
little sis is calling.
i answer immediately regretting it.
"hey pry" i say with my voice shaking.
"avani! thank god, i saw the fire on the news, are you guys ok?!" she asks and i can immediately tell she's stressed out and has definitely been pacing her room.
"uhm. most of us" i say allowing the tears to slip out.
"what do you mean?" she asks softening her voice when she hears ive been crying.
i look over at chase and he takes the phone for me. i snuggle back into anthony and my tears just keep coming.
chases pov.
"hey priya" i speak looking down as i kick rocks around.
"hi chase!, what's going on?" she asks me waiting to hear the news.
"pry... i have some news for you.." i say regretting it already. should i tell her or not. how do you even tell someone that their sister might've just died and you didn't even try to help.
i know i have to say something, if i don't then it's gonna come up at some point anyways.
"what do you mean news?" she asks and i can hear her nerves building up.
"i mean... shanti didn't make it out the building" i take a sigh, scared of what she's going to say in return.
"i gotta go" she says very blunt as she's about to hang up.
"i love you" i speak trying to imagine what my own siblings would say in this scenario.
i then hear her end of the phone go silent signalling she ended the call. i pass avanis phone back to her and receive a hug.
"she's strong ava. she'll be ok" i whisper to her as the crying continues.
charli anthony and amber all join the hug and we stand there for a while in each others arms, forgetting everything else happening and just enjoying eachothers company.
"i love you guys" charli says out of nowhere.
"we love you too char" anthony replies for all of us.
as we all pull away we notice an officer approaching us.
"do you mind if i have a quick chat with you?" the officer asks looking at us all. we nod, sitting down on the bench once again.
i feel charlis hand slip into mine, i look up at her giving a soft smile which she returns. the officer sits opposite of us with a clip board and pen in his hands.
"so who exactly owns the apartment and what number was it?" he asks.
"it's number 103 and i own it" avani speaks up.
"ok, does anyone officially live there with you?" the officer asks looking at us.
"yes, both me and this little one do" charli answers as she motions to amber who's sitting on her knee.
"ok and could i take everybodies names?" the officer then asks.
"avani gregg, anthony reeves, chase hudson, charli damelio and amber roselle" i speak this time pointing at each one of us.
"my sister, shanti. was also in there but got trapped by the flames" avani adds looking down.
"what age are you all?" he asks next, i could tell this was the question we all feared, he could easily send us all back to different states or possibly cps.
anthony then listed those of course that raised a red flag to the officer, he didn't seem to like no legal adults living there.
"where are your parents or legal guardians?" he then asks making us all go silent.
"mine are in indiana" avani says looking down the line at the rest of us.
"mine are in kentucky " anthony is next to reply.
"mine are here, in california" i say then all eyes fall on charli as she doesn't speak.
"miss i'm going to need you to tell me" the officer says but there's still no answer from her.
"my parents are also her legal guardians" avani says with the fear in her voice showing as she jumps into save charli from being put in the system.
"ok and what about the little one?" the officer asks as all our eyes go wide. shit. we're gonna get caught.
"anfony and avawi" amber speaks up realising what's happening. that smart child.
"ok and do you have the legal documents?" he asks us.
"uhm, they just kinda got burned" anthony says confused at the officers logic but thankful that this could save them.
"oh yeah forgot about that" the officer says with a slight chuckle but all of our faces stay emotionless.
who the hell makes a joke out of that, especially right after it just happened.
"anyways may i ask where you guys will live for now?" the officer asks scanning his eyes over each one of us.
"oh uh... we haven't quite thought about that yet" avani says looking down.
"they'll live with us" i speak up before the officer has time to reply, we're not about to be separated right now.
"ok. that'll be all i need. i hope you have a great day" the officer says standing up and walking away. we all let out a sigh of relief.
"amber you saved us" charli says wrapping her arms around the small girls body. amber let's out a giggle and places herself back on charlis lap.
"thank god you guys are ok!" i here coming from behind us. we all turn to see amelie, nessa, nick and mads standing in shock.
amelie and avani run into eachothers arms as nessa and charli do the same. i hug nick and anthony tries to stop mads from crying. she's a very emotional person, especially thinking that she just lost all of her best friends.
___
charlis pov.
i don't even know what's fucking happening anymore. so much is going on and it's hard to keep up but i think i've got it. it's been 5 minutes but nessa and i haven't let go of eachother yet. we're just standing there as tears drop off our cheeks.
"where are you gonna live?" she whispers in my ear softly.
"we're not too sure yet" i say back in the same tone.
"you know, you three could come live with me and mads" she says pulling away from the hug but keeping our hands attached.
my face instantly lights up with a huge smile as i yell "AVANI. HERE .QUICK!".
i watch as she comes running over looking worried.
"what's up?" she asks looking at us both.
"how would you feel about moving in with me and mads for now?" nessa asks.
avani also grows a huge smile and throws her arms around nessa. "you have no idea how much i love you right now" she says relived.
they pull away and we walk back over to where the others sat.
"so we're staying with nessa and mads until we find another place" i say with a giant smile. everyone else also looks happy for us.
"YAY" amber yells jumping up and down. we all let out a small laugh and make our way to the cars.
i'm pretty sure today has been one of the worst days of my life. i honestly don't know how avanis holding it together so well. if i even think of loosing dixie i break down for hours.
___
we're just pulling up to mads and nessas apartment after hours of sitting outside. they still have no sight of shanti as they haven't explored the building yet, i don't understand how it's still even standing with all the damage done. besides from that, we now get to explore mads and nessa's apartment. the two had a photo shoot so just dropped us off on their way.
"we're gonna need to go shopping today" avani says as she scans the keycard.
she opens the door leaving us all speechless at the size of the apartment. its very rare to find a well priced two story apartment in la, nevermind a four bedroom. as our eyes scan around amber runs off ready to go claim her temporary room.
"ave?" i speak gaining her attention as i take a seat at the kitchen island.
she grabs two waters out the fridge and slides one across.
"yes char?" she asks from the other side of the counter.
"why don't we just buy one of the apartments in this building?" i ask looking at her with a puzzled expression.
"because i did not think about that until now" she says opening up the website on her phone.
"look there's one right under here" i say pointing to the picture labeled number 24.
"perfect"
i watch as her eyes scan the documents and she heads to call someone. she clicks anthony's name and within two seconds he's on the other line.
"hey ant, me and char saw an apartment and were wondering if you could come help us figure this out?" she asks all in one breath.
i can only hear slight mumbles from his side but i'm assuming he said yes because she smiles and thanks him.
"anthony will be over here any minute" she says proving my thoughts.
"THIS PLACE IS SO COOL" we hear amber yell from the top of the stairs.
we both let out a giggle and she runs off again. after a few minutes of talking we hear a knock on the door, knowing who it is we just yell for them to come in. anthony walks in with chase following behind seconds later. as soon as i see chase my mood changes completely. i give him a soft smile which he returns where as avani and anthony hug along with a small head kiss, the same as their usual greeting.
"so what do you guys need help with?" chase asks walking over and taking a seat next to me.
"well.... let's see...."