Chapter Twenty: Dearest Buddy 

Avery’s POV

The doorlock clinks, like someone is tampering with it.

Oh, my god!

My eyes widen in the realization that the door is open! I bet Thane has changed his mind and most certainly, he's back from work.

After long hours of being trapped in here, my freedom is no longer exciting. I might as well just pass the whole day here, I'm damn well sure that he would be delighted.

Common, Avery, you can't possibly mean that.

I say to myself, making a funny face like I'm having a conversation with someone else. Ever since I moved in with Thane, my mind has been my companion, and so far, it has prevented me from going insane.

The voices of two people having a discussion, have my ears standing up to listen further. Their voices are indistinctive. Curious to know more, I stand up from the place I had crumbled on and fall asleep a hundred times, slowly tip-toe to the door.

“No!”

That voice sounds quite familiar… Wait… Have the social workers finally decided to free me from this shark? Maybe Rufus laid a complaint. May the universe reward him.

“No! We need our privacy… You can guard your damn doors, but you have to stay the hell away!”

Piper?

“You'd hate messing with me if she goes missing again!”

That, I'm so sure is Thane.

The oddly familiar laughter erupts, filling my soul blissfully, and as expected, she stops abruptly.

“Oh, I can see why she ran off, anyone in their right senses would…”

Piper!

Without listening further, now sure of who is out there, I open the door with full force, revealing my best friend’s angry gaze, and Thane’s, as they are engaged in a heated conversation.

“Piper!”

I pull her in a warm hug, disrupting whatever conversation they have going on. Seeing me after a while, she reciprocates, wrapping me up like a gentle parcel.

“You leave in an hour…”

“Oh, hello.” Piper, who's always confrontational, stops hugging me to face Thane, and the energy with which she does it, makes me so scared on her behalf.

“You can't possibly throw me out.” She dares him, more like double… triple dare.

Thane chuckles.

“I won't darling,” he starts walking away, which is odd. “You'll just keep her company till I have mercy on your stubborn soul.”

“What?!”

Piper scoffs in disbelief. I'm not surprised, Thane just has the best comebacks, arguing with him is suicidal.

“Is that a threat?”

“Three days, does that work for you?” He cackles. “Oh, it doesn't, maybe a month,” he stops at the extreme of the hallway, about to descend down the stairs. “Probably forever.”

With that, he disappears, leaving Piper in a furious state. Knowing Piper for a long time, I'm aware that she hates losing in an argument, but if she wants to visit me often, she has to get used to it, which is the sad truth.

“Is he always this silly?”

She looks at me in rage, I can see the raw emotions in her eyes, and I feel bad for roping her into my mess.

“Ouch,” I grimace, trying to hide my smile. “Language, Piper.”

“What's that for?” She scolds me immediately. “I should be careful about what I say to that punk. That douchebag?”

“We're in his house. And you can't go about raining abuses on people like that…”

“What?!” She widens her eyes to glare at me. “Don't tell me you just pick sides with him… Are you in love with him?”

Oops!

I pull her in, almost ripping her arms off from the impact.

“Ouch!”

She cries, pulling away from my grip and saving her limb from an amputation.

“That hurts.” She grimaces.

I close the door, plastering my back to it and taking deep breaths. Sincerely, I don't know why I'm reacting this way or scared that he heard those ridiculous words.

“Avery?”

She keeps her eyes locked on my frame, almost going wild.

“What?”

“Are you…”

“No.” I stop her from proceeding with her weird accusation. “Nothing of such, I'm just being cautious.”

“Indeed.” She sighs. “You look horrible.” She says, looking at me fully, paying attention to every detail.

Horrible?

I knit my brows, trying to get what she means by that.

“Not horrible, horrible.” She corrects. “You look good, just not happy.” She discloses what she meant.

Like she changes the atmosphere, my tone changes alongside. Perhaps, I'm that unhappy. Like I needed her shoulders, she unexpectedly hugged me, patting my back gently.

“I'm sorry, Avery.”

She whispers to my hearing and hugs me tighter to herself, smoothly caressing the length of my back in an up-and-down fashion.

I sob uncontrollably, letting down my guard. For the first time in a long while, I feel so relieved.

“What happened to you?” I say, finally pulling away and drying my tears. “You got me worried sick.” I scold her.

“My phone gave up on me, fixing it took forever.” She pouts, looking apologetic. “I'm sorry, darling.”

“Come here,” I hug her, pecking her cheeks. “What would you want me to offer you?”

“Hmm,” she looks around my room with interest for the first time. “Not looking bad.” She acknowledges.

“Still a living hell.”

I open the double-door refrigerator and pull out a child pack of fruit juice.

“I can't begin to imagine.” She sighs softly. “He said something about you getting missing, love to share?”

Thane will never let that go.

“It wasn't intentional,” I say in my defense.

“Still, start spilling.” She demands keenly.

“This and this and this.” I point toward the bags of chocolates and weird junk.

“What? That bad?” She laughs, not forgetting how my hormones drive me wild. I lived with her for three whole months during the surrogacy trial.

“Yeah,” I nod and offer her the pack and a glass.

“He shouldn't be so silly and understand it's the hormones of his damn kid.”

Right. I don't know if I'm quite offended at her bashing Thane, or my child. My mood just seems to shift a whole lot, lately.

“About Orion,” I swallow hard, needing a change of topic, but this changes my life every freaking time.

“Avery,” she pulls me closer and helps me sit comfortably. “It's happened, we just have to move on, regardless.”

“He can't just be locked in there… No proper burial or whatnot.” I lament, tears rolling down my cheeks.

“If it will make you feel any better, I spoke with his best friend, and he told of Orion’s sudden death.”

I gasp.

Even though I know he did, this came as a shocker. Like, deep down, I was hoping for a miracle.

“Oh, no.”

I break down, burying my face in my palms and crying. I'm so hurt that I'm the bane and boon of his existence. This isn't the eternal love I promised him.

A cute family, maybe two boys and a girl, or probably more. Living happily in the countryside, contented with what we have, and just enjoying nature. Hopefully, my bakery will boom, and we name it after our cute family. That's the plan we had for each other, not one dying and the other being the killer.

Piper draws closer, rubbing my arms and gently squeezing it, giving me silent words of reassurance. But sadly, I need more… More than she can give.

It will never be enough to plead his forgiveness.

“I'm sorry,” she doesn't try to stop me, fully aware of how much I loved Orion and the weird sacrifices I've made to push this further.

“If it helps, I can sneak you out to his graveside,” she says out of the blue. “Maybe you'll find closure.”

I look at her in bewilderment, blinking nonstop. “You'll do that?”

She nods, suppressing a sob. “I'll do anything to make it up to you, Avery,” she pauses, a teardrop streaking down her cheek, unable to keep fighting it. “I'll do anything to put a smile on your face.”

“Thank you,” I whisper, latching onto her as we sob together.

I could get him flowers and his favorite things, maybe write on his gravestone, hoping to earn his forgiveness in the afterlife.

“When do we leave?” I ask, worried about Thane and his bunch of rigid rules.

“Next week, not entirely sure of the day.” She pulls away and sits upright. I watch the top of her lips twitch.

“And how?” I finally ask what's bugging my mind.

“About that…”

The banging on the door stops her before she can proceed. She looks at the locks, more anxious than I am. Thane sometimes acts crazy, I'm forced to agree with her.

“Time’s up.” He calls out, dangling the keys.

“Damn you!” Piper yells back.

She sighs and looks at me nonchalantly, as if to continue our conversation.

“He can go to hell for all I care.” She scoffs.

The doorknob twists, getting us more worried. Acting on reflex, I jump down from the bed and hold her by the wrist, like a mother going to fight her child’s bully.

“Really, Piper, you have to go,” I tell her the bitter truth.

“What's the worst that he can do?” She groans, reluctant.

“I'm sure you don't want to find out in here.” I try to persuade her further.

Finally giving up, she goes to the door and pauses to look at me. It's pitiful and sad and apologetic.

It's not her fault that I'm in here, I just flash an obviously fake smile, giving her false assurance that I'm good.

“I'll come get you.” She assures me, before going for the door.