"You must come with me!" Ava begged.

I shook my head without even considering it. It was typical of Ava to try to get me to "make the best of my life", as she liked to put it. It's not like I had anything against parties, I just couldn't bring myself to show my face in business events knowing the looks I'm going to receive.

"If it's because of him then relax, this is basically a reunion between my family and their closest friends. I doubt they even know about what happened 3 years ago. Not to mention, you know how much my parents love you and will do anything to protect you and your oh-so-perfect image," she blabbered on and on about how I'm overthinking things. I wanted to stop her and tell her that no one doesn't know about what happened 3 years ago, but I bit back my tongue.

"Ava please, you know I'm not comfortable with this," I pleaded. I could tell she did not appreciate my answer when her mood suddenly darkened.

"Okay, fine. It's my fault for thinking about your well-being," she said passively before she turned around to leave. I sat still, stunned and taken aback by her word choice.

"My well-being? How does me making it to a party equate to my well-being?" I asked in exasperation making Ava turn back around with a glare.

"Are you kidding me? It's been 3 damn years and you haven't gone anywhere besides your job and back home! You're not okay, Valerie."

I was about to retaliate when Ava opened my drawer and pulled out the pile of magazines I had hidden in there. All of them were talking about him still growing and thriving; the most recent one of him and his new rumored girlfriend.

"I can see you're still sulking over him. You're never going to get over him and move on if you keep yourself locked inside this house!" she lectured me which made me flinch. It was the first time she ever showed frustration at the way I was acting. The weight of her words pierced through my heart knowing how true her words were.

She rumbled out all her pent up frustration that her breathing was erratic by the time she was finished. The look in her eyes made my chest tighten as I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"I'm so sorry for not being the way you want me to be. I'm sorry," I apologized.

She sighed and her eyes softened after they met my gaze. She walked over to me and hugged me before apologizing back.

"I overdid it. I'm sorry," she responded.

I shook my head. "I think it's about time I move on too. I'll come with you," I said making her pause in shock.

"No, you don't have to do this. I didn't mean anything I said. Don't feel pressured to do this because of me-"

"No," I cut her off, "This really opened my eyes. We were ought to have this chat one day or another. I'm coming with and it's final," I declared in eminence.