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Kavi had wandered around the ballroom, avoiding the dancefloor, avoiding the crowds of people that split for Ryland and Julie like they both were Moses and they were the Red Sea. He remembered shaking his head at how ridiculous it was that Ryland Aspen, the guy who the queen regent had pinned against someone’s locker not three weeks ago (give or take) and now she was dancing with him.

And that made Kavi think back to a time that was a hell of a lot simpler than right now.

In his mind and in the minutes that followed him slowly keeping to the walls, hands in his white jacket pocket, his legs going directly in front of each other in the slowest walk he’s ever been on, Kavi remembered way back at the beginning of the year when Santiago had his party and when he had his first real exposure to Ariel. 

Well, not his first exposure to her but since then, they were pulled in to each other’s sphere like they were the unstoppable force and the relationship that blossomed was the immovable object. No matter what happened between them, whether him two-timing her and Nadia or kissing April or the whole shitfest that happened with Rye and how Kavi’s poor choice of words made Ariel doubt him again, there was always something between them. 

[color=teal][i]And I even told her straight up: I love you, but that wasn’t enough.[/i][/color]

Or maybe he gave up too easily.

[center][b][i]buzz! Buzz![/i][/b][/center]

The vibrations of his cell phone from inside his jacket pocket brought Kavi out of the deep thought he had found himself in. He quickly checked it and saw that it was Nikki calling him. He answered and made his way back through the entrance and outside so he could hear her. [color=teal]“Nik, what’s up? Everything okay?”[/color]

[color=fdc68a]“You mean aside from my utter boredom at home?”[/color] Her usual attitude was, as he knew it to be, in fine form. [color=fdc68a]“Yeah, I’m just peachy!”[/color]

[color=teal]“Well, that’s great. So what’s up?”[/color] 

[color=fdc68a]“What’s up? You know what’s up, Kav! Did you talk to her yet?”[/color]

[color=teal]“Her who?”[/color] He asked, feigning not knowing who she meant.

[color=fdc68a]“You know who her who! Your fiery ex is her who!”[/color]

Kavi leaned against the wall in the entrance to the country club and let out a sigh. [color=teal]“Yeah, I talked to her,”[/color] his voice was flat and he knew what was coming next.

[color=fdc68a]“So, can I assume by your cheery reaction that you didn’t tell her what you said you would?”[/color]

If Nikki was here, he would nod. [color=teal]“Correct!”[/color] Kavi confirmed, hearing his sister sigh from her end of the call. [color=teal]“Don’t give me that. Listen, I tried. I told her I love her but--”[/color]

[color=fdc68a]“--But ‘it’s not enough. I hurt you and I can’t undo that’--"[/color]

Kavi laughed. [color=teal]“--is that supposed to be me?”[/color]

[color=fdc68a]“Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. The bottom line is you chickened out and let her walk away without you telling her how you [i]really[/i] feel.”[/color]

There wasn’t any hiding it from Nikki. Where everyone else didn’t see his bullshit, she not only called him out on it, but she felt a sense of pride when she exposed it to him. And he couldn’t be angry at her for that, not when he knew that she was absolutely right. She knew what he wanted to tell her because Kavi had confided in her. Their bond had been closer than ever and especially after things between their parents only became less hidden. It was out in the open that their parents had separated and there was nothing Kavi or Nik could do but be there for each other. And they were. So much so that Kavi told Nikki that he still loved Ariel and he wished he didn’t fuck up for the millionth time.

[color=fdc68a]“Hello!? Did you hear me,[i] tulala[/i]?”[/color]

He shook his head, snapping himself out of his own thoughts. [color=teal]“Sorry,”[/color] he apologized, [color=teal]“what did you say?”[/color]

Nikki's response came with a loud sigh. [color=fdc68a]“What I said is you need to find her and make her see you for the first time since you first fell for her. Make her see that it’s not a mistake to give you one more chance. For god sake, Kavi!”[/color] She yelled, causing Kavi to remove the phone from his ear for a few seconds. [color=fdc68a]“Man the fuck up, bro! You’re Kavi fucking Salvador and you aren’t you without Ariel fucking Grey by your side. So stop being a pussy and get your girlfriend back!”[/color]

Kavi’s end of the call fell silent for nearly a minute. He heard his sister’s voice from her end, but he blocked it out by focusing on what she had told him to do. Of course, he knew she was right, there was no disputing that - but there was more than just what he wanted to do to consider. His relationship with Ariel, while being the most consistent thing in his life since his senior year began, has been toxic. It wasn’t just him that made it like that. When they got together, it was like adding a torch with the opposite end of the stick dipped in oil to a fast-spreading flame. It was like they had something in them that added a temporary relief from pain, but when the drugs wore off, history repeated itself. Kavi knew this and Ariel knew it. They both understood that regardless of anything when they were together, it was more of the same.

[color=teal][i]And yet…[/i][/color] 

[color=fdc68a]“Hellooooo!”[/color] Nikki called out to Kavi.

[color=teal]“Yeah,”[/color] he responded as quickly as her voice went quiet, [color=teal]“I gotta go. Thanks for everything.”[/color]

Before she could get another word in, Kavi hung up and leaned back against the wall behind him, sighing out heavily. As he closed his eyes and contemplated what he should do, he caught the sight of Julie and Ryland Aspen walk pass him, arms hooked. He blinked repeatedly, thoroughly confused. [color=teal]“Well, that just happened,”[/color] he muttered to himself, ignoring the happy couple.

As he began his walk back into the ballroom, he still hadn’t decided what he was gonna do. There was a mountain of choices with just as many outcomes but Kavi was a little more sure of the how it was going to play out. He just had to find Ariel.

A few minutes later that were spent keeping to the wall, Kavi saw some of his classmates in their natural habitats but none caught his eye by the sight of red hair he couldn’t stop himself from smirking at. No matter how many times they went through it and definitely no matter how toxic they were to each other, at the end of it all, the universe put them together for a reason and even his kid sister knew that reason. Nikki knew things he didn’t and he thought that was brilliantly scary. Clearly something she got from their mother.

So he followed the fiery path she left. 

Every step he took brought the limited break in his confidence back up. The things he left unsaid because he saw how much it tore her apart to talk to him kept swirling around in his head, aligning in the order of how he would say it: first, he would list the reasons why they shouldn’t work, the reasons why she’s justified in wanting to move on. He’ll tell her understands, that he didn’t blame her one bit, that he knows who and what he is and that nothing could change that. Then he’d tell her all of the reasons why he loves her and why she made him a better person, why she made him to [i]want[/i] to be a better person. He’ll beg, get on his knees and beg for one last chance. He’ll do it in front of anyone who wanted to see him grovel. He’ll do it no matter the amount of laughs that leave his classmates’ lips or if he was recorded doing it, which he knew he absolutely would be. He’d tell her that she has every right to deny her, but that he loves her for who she is on the inside.

And all of that would never happen because Kavi saw her with Sawyer. And in that moment, he didn’t know what to think or feel. Kavi wasn’t sure if he should give Sawyer a right hook and tell him to stay away from Ariel or if he should laugh. Of all the people who could be given her time of day right now, the brother of someone who was one of Kavi’s victims. This had to be his karmic justice. First, it was Elijah’s justice, to which the universe rewarded him with a stern slap to the face from the crimson queen and now it was [I]his[/i] crimson queen with Gavin Lockwood's brother.

[color=teal]“Figures.”[/color] His voice was low and Kavi locked his gaze on Ariel and Sawyer for a solid seven seconds. She had fallen over and was getting up. Sawyer was a good guy, so Kavi knew he would be a gentleman to her, probably apologize and say it was his fault for not looking. If there was anything he was to take away from this, it was that she might actually have some chance of being with someone she deserved. [color=teal]“Yeah, that’s cool.”[/color] 

Probably in the biggest shock for him, Kavi wasn't angry or upset. He didn't feel the usual urge he had been overcome with in the past to rush over and beat someone's face in. Could he? Sure. It wouldn't take much. Sawyer was bigger than Gavin and Kavi had no doubt that he could get his licks in before any real damage could be inflicted. No, that wasn't it. Kavi was, for the first time, understanding something about himself and about how things were going to be for him from here on out. Call it an epiphany or personal growth, but Kavi understood that he no matter how badly he wanted to be with Ariel, which was a lot, he had his own shit to figure out before anything could happen between them again. That in itself provided him with some peace of mind. [/indent][/indent][/indent][/color]