I sighed as I knocked on the door to Ava's penthouse. I was sick of staying home alone with my thoughts' continuous torment so I immediately gathered up and drove to Ava's. I waited for approximately 5 minutes before the door was finally opened for me.

"Ava-" I paused when I saw that it was in fact her boyfriend, Mark, who unlocked the door for me.

"Hello there, Beauty," he winked. I ignored him and walked further into the house.

"Who's at the door?" came Ava's voice from the kitchen.

"It's me," I responded. My mind was in a haywire and I had a hard time determining whether it would be best for me to stay or just turn around and leave. However, it was her place and I had absolutely no right in ruining what looked like a date between the two so I ended up settling on saying, "I needed to talk to you but I guess it can wait. I will make sure to call you up later, okay?"

"No, that's okay, you can stay with us," said Mark from behind me.

"No really, I don't want to be a hindrance."

"He was just about to leave anyway," Ava added.

"I was?"

"Yes?" Ava shot Mark a confused look.

"Yeah, I was," he rubbed the nape of his neck. He gave Ava a kiss before murmuring a "goodbye" and leaving.

"So," Ava started as she finished drying the last dish, "what brings you here at this time of the day?"

I looked at the clock reading 11 pm. I have tried doing anything to distract my brain from replaying the events that occurred earlier today but to no avail. Without thinking, I found my legs dragging me to my number one moral support, Ava. Now that I think about it, I feel like it was very selfish of me to turn up here without asking her. Regardless of the fact that I don't approve of Mark, she deserves to have the alone time she desires with her boyfriend.

I sighed.

"I'm sorry for ruining your date."

"It's okay, he genuinely was about to leave before you arrived. You really didn't disrupt anything."

Yet when I came here he didn't seem like he was willing to leave. Putting all my problems behind, I decided to instead confront her about Mark and all the red flags I've been getting from him. I don't trust him enough to feel safe with him around my best friend who is as close to me as a sister would be. I was not about to watch her get her heart broken and do nothing about it.

"Forget why I came here. I don't trust him," I said.

"Excuse me?" She jolted back in offense.

"I don't trust Mark. And before you get worked up about it and start defending him, listen to me. He keeps hitting on me, your best friend. If he has no shame in doing that, what makes you think he wouldn't go around hitting on other girls too? You must talk to him about this or better yet, leave him."

She scoffed.

"Are you kidding me? Did you come all the way here at 11 pm to warn me about my boyfriend?"

"No, but I will prioritize your happiness in the long run over my current distress. I get that you love him and I'm not going to force you to leave him. You can just talk to him about it if you want. Just don't let it go,"

Ava rolled her eyes.

"I already told you he likes kidding around. Just because he flirted with you jokingly doesn't mean he's willing to cheat on me with you."

"Ava, you're being in denial once again. He will leave you heartbroken."

She scoffed again, "so I'm supposed to be taking relationship advice from you now?"

"Well yeah, I'm your friend and I should always be here by your side to give you advice," I responded.

"What do you know about relationships? Your marriage barely even lasted," she took a jab at me. My breath hitched at that statement. Ava never judged me for my past. If anything, I trusted her the most in this world because of the fact that she would never bring it up and try to bring me down because of it. However, she did not hesitate in using it to defend her boyfriend.

"That has nothing to do with your situation. I am saying this as your friend who cares about you-"

"Or maybe you're just jealous that I have a boyfriend while no body bothers to glance at you twice because everybody knows you're a cheater."

Everybody knows you're a cheater.

Her words felt like a slap in the face and I had to use up all of my energy to utter out the next few words without my voice cracking.

"I thought you knew better but I guess I was wrong. Thank you so much for thinking so highly of me, my dear best friend. Do whatever you want if it makes you happy, I won't get involved in your business anymore," I said as I turned around in an attempt to leave.

Because running away from my problems is the only thing I'm good at doing.

"Wait, Val-"

"No, I need some time to myself. Think about what I said," I mumbled as I walked out of the house, letting the door close behind me.

Ironic, how I went to her because I needed someone to talk to but left wanting nothing more than to be alone.

But this moment was something I needed to see. No one in the world is by my side. Not even the person I trusted with my whole being.

—-