"You're such an idiot." I shake my head while rubbing ice on Jason's jaw. Liam, in his anger, went upstairs, and I don't want to deal with talking to him, so here I am, trying to avoid it.

"You should be thanking me," Jason exclaims.

"Thanking you? Jason, what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking of helping you." His face contorts as I bring the ice to his face again. "You thought he didn't care about you, right?" I nod suspiciously, wondering how he'll spin this. "Well, now you know he cares."

"That's not how it works-" I start to explain.

"I know Liam, okay? He just needed a little push, and clearly you weren't gonna give him one." He smiles smugly as if he's done me some due diligence, but it's only made things worse.

"I didn't wanna talk to him about a relationship yet, Jason. He clearly isn't ready from the reaction he just had," I state, in my opinion, very reasonably.

"Well, then move on, Ava! You can't just wait around forever." He gets out of his chair. "I hope you know you deserve better than that." Do I? Is there any better than him?

Maybe a part of me still idolises Liam, and maybe a part of me has waited for him ever since I knew of his existence. Even before he ever knew of mine. Even when he liked Ivy...

And I always felt below him somehow, and below everyone, truly. Even though I've gotten more confident within myself, maybe a part of me still holds on to the past-Ava.

"Hey..." Jason nudges my shoulder. "You guys need to talk." And as much as I hate to admit it, I think he's right.

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