"Avery, you have to understand that-"

"Did you or did you not?" I cut him off, a sad frown drawn deeply onto my lips. I just needed the confirmation from him. I needed some sort of closure. After what I did to him, yes, I deserved to rot in sadness but him coming back? I couldn't take that.

James but the inside of his cheek, looking away from me to the window afar off. "Yes," he admitted in a defeated tone. "Yes, I did."

Closure. That was it. I sucked in a sharp breath and grabbed onto the sides of the table because it felt like I was going to faint. All over again, I was suffering through that night again. Almost six months. Almost half a year. Still not enough to get through the pain.

I suddenly felt nauseous.

Was this it? What James wanted? For me to feel what he'd felt. Heartbreak all over again. To some it wouldn't seen like a big deal but God did it hurt. It hurt like hell. I just couldn't look at his face anymore. I needed him out of my life. I needed to get out of here.

The chair made a scraping sound as I pushed it back and stood up. Another tear escaped my eye but I sucked in my stomach and sniffled. He would not get the pleasure of seeing be break in public.

"We're done, James." Another humorless laugh left me and I wiped the back of my hand against my cheek to swipe away the tears. I nodded. "Revenge must feel really good. Pat was right though. I did get hurt. I let myself believe that..." That we could be fixed. That we were fine.

James hurriedly got up and walked to me, grabbing my wrist but not hard enough that it hurt. When he spoke, he sounded dangerous, his voice low. "What did Pat tell you?"

I completely ignored him.

"What I don't understand is how she'd think that someone as conniving and selfish as you could get hurt through any of this." I was shouting now, beckoning on the attention of everyone in the restaurant. Gritting my teeth as I spat venom. Heads turned my way and people froze to watch the scene unfold.

James took my hand and yanked me to him. And as much as I pulled back, my form stumbled into him. "Listen to me, Avery."

"No." My voice was thick with emotion. Raspy even. I placed my hands flat on his chest and pushed, stepping away from him with a scowl and a tear stained face. Mascara was probably dripping down my face by now but I didn't care. "You listen to me, Jameson Grant. This," I pointed between the both of us. "I am done with this. I'm done with your games. I am done with your stupid revenge plan for something you never even talked to me about."

"That's why I came back," offered James. Taking a step towards me. I stepped back, putting up a hand to stop him. His gaze softened drastically. "I wanted us to finally talk about it. But not like this."

"Was that before or after your revenge plan?"

I watched him struggle with his words, unable to find the right ones to use. Finally, he settled for an exhausted exhale and drawn eyebrows. Like he was in physical pain.

I shook my head, stepping away from him. And taking another step. "Stay away from me, James. You've gotten what you want. You could as well celebrate with some white wine."

"Avery, I'm..."

But I wasn't listening. I was already heading towards-running towards the door and out onto the road.

This time, I was in a huge t-shirt-one of James' old ones that I'd stolen when we were together. It was white and had the image of melting ice cream printed in front of it. Nothing described my mood better. As well as the ice cream tub between my crisscrossed legs.

I dug my spoon into the tub and took a huge scoop of ice cream into my mouth. At this point, I'd already had two brain freezes and both times, Kong had sprung out of his chair to check on me. He sat there now, watching me cautiously. As if expecting all my body parts to fall out.

The thought made me want to laugh but I couldn't. I felt miserable and I was sure I looked the part as well. Pink stains of red velvet ice cream stood out out on the shirt I was wearing and my hair was held up in a ridiculously messy bun. I probably even had ice cream stains on my face as well.

It'd been two weeks since the entire James fiasco and in two weeks I'd gone to school thrice and the breakfast cafe four times. The rest of my shifts were covered by Kong but Roy still said my job was hanging off the edge. I didn't care.

I took another ice cream scoop and moaned when the cold sugar hit my already numb tongue.

"Er... Avery, you have to stop."

I ignored Kong and took another scoop. Why was this hitting me so hard? I was the one that wanted James out of the picture. And his stupid games. Oh why did he have to have revenge.

Another scoop.

"Okay," Kong said. Hopping off the chair and marching towards me.

I growled under my breath when he snatched my tub of ice cream out of my reach and-surprise-filled it up with tap water.

He turned the tap off when the tub was full and came back to where I sat, squatting next to me. His eyebrows drew together in thick concern.

"You shouldn't be like this."

"But I am," I said dryly.

He bit his lip and shook his head. "You still love James."

Did I though? I hated that he'd even consider hurting my feelings that way. I hated that I'd let him affect me. I hated that everything I did was for him and he couldn't see that. I hated that Long was probably right.

I sighed. "It doesn't matter. If all he wants to do with me is exact revenge."

Kong looked me dead in the eye. "You can't see it, can you?" When I didn't reply, he continued. "He came back to you for you. There was always something missing with the two of you. Even if he returned under the pretext of revenge, he might not have known it himself but he wanted to find out why."

"Why what?"

"Why you broke up with him. The real reason. The fact that you felt so guilty about his best friend hitting on you that you felt you had to tell him. And that was enough to break you." Even though king was staring at me tenderly, apologetically, I couldn't help but groan. Because he was wrong. He was only buying more and more into my lie and it sucked.

Should I tell him? I mean, I'd lost a whole damn lot already. My pride, James-for good this time-my grades, probably even my job.

"Kong?" He hummed in response,. urging me to continue. I bit down on my lip. "There's something you should kno-"

The sound of the doorbell going off interrupted me and almost made me jump out of my skin. Staying indoors for so long had me all jumpy. When Kong made to answer the door, I grabbed his hand and tugged on it lightly, getting up and staring at him.

"I'll get it."

Kong studied me. "You sure? You should probably go inside and rest."

I knew that stare. It wasn't urging me to just rest, it was urging me to not answer the door because it could be someone I didn't want to see. James. I couldn't let him back in.

And I wouldn't.

"I'm sure." I nodded and made my way to the door, taking a deep breath before throwing it open.

Both my parents stood before me, my mum looking more devastated than my dad. Her cheeks which were normally tinted with a healthy blush now had tears staining them as she tried to hide behind my father's looming figure. He straightened his suit and cleared his throat.

I blinked in surprise but stepped out of the way for them to come in, only casting a small glance to the room opposite mine to see if it was still inhibited. Nothing.

I shut the door and turned to my parents who were still standing. Kong came out of the kitchen area.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Camden."

While my mum squeezed out a small almost painful smile at him, my dad didn't move. Kong came to me and whispered in my ear. "I'll give you guys some privacy. Pat wants to meet up. She needs help finding an apartment."

Yeah. My best friend was living his day dream while I was living a nightmare.

While I was here moping around because of James, Kong and Pat were getting closer and closer. After the issue with James, Kong had told me everything. They're were rebuilding what they once had.

I was happy for him though. It was the least I could do after how supportive he always was with me. But a tiny part of me couldn't help wondering why it couldn't be that simple with James and I.

I smiled at him. It hurt my cheeks. "Sure. I'll see you later then."

Kong smiled back and squeezed my shoulder before saying a small "goodbye" and leaving, shutting the door behind him. The second he was gone, Dad's straight face fell into a strict frown and I knew something terrible had happened before he even said the words.