Fireworks

“Okay, so, like.” Anika takes a sip from her glass and turns to face Audrey, tucking her legs up underneath herself. Audrey cocks an eyebrow. “What was up with this afternoon?”

Audrey sips her wine. She knows what Anika’s asking. But she’s just going to play dumb. “What are you talking about?”

Anika rolls her eyes and shoves Audrey softly. “You know exactly what I mean. Spill.”

“Pete called,” Audrey says. She turns her attention back to the TV.

The two of them were watching pretty much all the cheesy rom-coms they could find on Netflix, drinking a bottle of wine each (whoever finished theirs first got to pick what they’re doing tomorrow night), and gossiping. So, a typical Friday night.

Love, Actually is currently playing. They haven’t really been paying attention at all.

Audrey is actually surprised it’s halfway through.

“And?” Anika says, poking Audrey with her foot to get her attention. Audrey rolls her eyes and sips her wine. Anika groans. “Come on, Audrey!”

Audrey sighs and sets her glass down on the table. She then turns to Anika. “Alright, he wanted to do something after work, but I said no.”

Anika is about to open her mouth to protest, no doubt, when Audrey holds up a finger.

“But, I am seeing him on Sunday, so calm down.”

Anika rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out at Audrey, reminding Audrey of a five year old. “Why didn’t you want to see him tonight?”

“I saw him this morning! I don’t wanna see him every fuckin’ minute,” Audrey says with a huff. She throws herself back into the couch, crossing her arms over her chest. She’s acting like a five year old, too, now.

“Oh, boo!”

Yeah, the two of them are definitely almost drunk.

“I don’t even want to be talking about him right now,” Audrey mutters. “I just wanted tonight to be us. You know?”

Anika slides down to rest her head on Audrey’s lap. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Audrey smiles and pets Anika’s long hair back. They’re mostly silent the rest of the film, save for a comment here or there about what to do tomorrow, or how they want Andrew Lincoln to show up at their door with cue cards.

Audrey’s half asleep when the credits roll. Anika’s off her lap, now, and she’s pouring more wine into her glass. Audrey peers through half-lidded eyes at her.

“Seriously?” she asks, just a tad slurred. Her wine bottle was left abandoned on the table, a little less than a glass left. She had forgotten about her and Anika’s proposition until Anika grins and drinks the wine she just poured. She sets down the empty glass on the table, then places an empty bottle next to it.

Audrey sits up a bit, eyes now fully open, remembering. “Dammit!”

“So, about tomorrow night,” Anika says, with a shit-eating grin.

“Oh, no,” Audrey says, shaking her head.



Hey Pete this is Anika, Audreys friend you know lol. Was just wondering if youd wanna come out with us tonight?? Lemme know!

Audrey stares at the tiny screen, glaring. She turns her glare, then, on Anika. “Why? Did you really think this was a good idea?”

Anika holds her hands up in front of her. “Hey, my defense, I was drunk.”

Audrey sighs and shakes her head. She really shouldn’t have let Anika near her phone last night. She knew nothing good was going to come of it, yet she still let her. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t,” Anika says with a grin. When Audrey doesn’t grin, Anika sighs and shuffles over to her and wraps her arms awkwardly around her. “I’m sorry,” she mutters into her hair before placing a kiss on her head.

Audrey wraps her arms around Anika’s tiny frame after a moment. “It’s okay. He hasn’t even responded so he prob – ”

A ding fills the room.

God dammit.

Audrey pulls away from Anika so she can see what Pete said.

“Ha ha, hey! That sounds…good? What are you doing?” Audrey reads the text out loud. She looks up at Anika with a blank expression. Honestly, she doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry or straight up hit Anika with the empty wine bottle sitting on the counter next to them. She wants to do all three, but she’s going to settle for saying: “Fuck you.”

Anika tries to hold back her smile, covering her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry,” is the muffled response.

“I can’t believe you,” Audrey says. She hands Anika her phone as she leaves the kitchen. “Figure something out, ‘Nika!” she calls.

“Okay!” Anika calls back.

Audrey spots Anika’s phone lying on the coffee table and grins. If Anika wants to play, Audrey’s gonna play, too. She scoops up the phone and saunters back to her bedroom with it.

Ashwin! Me and Audrey are going out tonight. Wanna join us??

Ashwin responds almost immediately. Audrey is slightly offended. He never responds that fast to her. She stops herself from going through their other texts.

Haha hey you. Of course, sounds like fun. What time and where?

“Hey, ‘Nika, have you figured out tonight, yet?” Audrey calls from the doorway of her room.

Anika comes walking down the hallway, thumbs typing away on Audrey’s phone. “Yep,” she says, not bothering to look up. “We’re going to a bar. Pete says he can do a DJ thingy somewhere. He’s texting details now.” And she looks up. Her eyes go wide when she sees her phone in Audrey’s hands.

Audrey grins. “Great! I’ll just let Ashwin know.”

“Don’t!” Anika says, trying to swipe the phone out of Audrey’s hands. “Come on, Auds!”

“Karma’s a bitch.” Audrey laughs.

“I’m just trying to rekindle an old relationship! You’re just being a bitch,” Anika says, pouting. She snatches her phone out of Audrey’s hands.

Audrey snatches her phone from Anika, too. “No, you’re being a bitch, too. I was doing fine with Pete. I was moving at a nice pace, but you messed it up.”

Anika sighs. “I’m sorry. You just are so. Happy around him.”

Audrey looks down at her phone to hide her small blush and grin. She knows she’s happy around Pete, she knows she lights up, and she hates it. She wishes she didn’t.

“If you want, we can cancel?” Anika says after a second.

Audrey looks up and shakes her head. “No,” she says, almost too quickly. She laughs uncomfortably as Anika just raises her eyebrow at her. “I mean, he’s already set up a – you know what, fuck you. Bye.”

Anika laughs as Audrey backs up and slams the bedroom door shut.

Her phone dings and she immediately looks down at the small device in her hand. She rolls her eyes at herself for being so eager to read what Pete has to say.

sooo angels & kings at 11- see you guys there.

Audrey finds herself smiling at the simple text. She then stops herself, coughing awkwardly.

She then texts Anika, telling her the name of the place and the time, and telling her to tell Ashwin, and if she doesn’t, Audrey will.

Audrey hears a groan come from the room next door. She laughs obnoxiously loud. In response, Anika throws, presumably, a shoe at the wall, which just makes Audrey laugh more.



Audrey stands in front of her mirror, studying every minor detail about her outfit, trying to find any flaw in it. She’s been doing this for the past two hours. It’s almost ten-thirty and Anika is impatiently banging on her bedroom door.

“No!” Audrey yells, sighing as she takes off her blouse. It looked too…formal. She tosses it on her bed with the rest of her wardrobe. Half of her closet is currently on her bed, and she sighs, frustrated at that. She’s frustrated with herself, too. Frustrated at the fact she’s spending so much time and effort on impressing her ex-boyfriend.

“Fuck!” She lets out a huff and falls back on her pile of clothes.

“I’m coming in, fuck you,” Anika says as she picks the lock to Audrey’s room and storms in. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Audrey doesn’t respond, she just groans and covers her face with her hands.

Anika comes over and sits on the bed next to Audrey, patting her bare stomach. Audrey removes her hands from her face and looks at Anika, pouting. “I have nothing to wear.”

Anika laughs and looks at the clothes they’re sitting on. “I can see that.”

“I’m sorry. I just. I fell, Anika,” Audrey says. “I didn’t want to fall.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Anika says, pulling Audrey down to have her rest her head on her shoulder. She pets her hair back. “Just go for it tonight, okay? Just fucking go for it.”

“But I do – ”

“Don’t wanna lose him, I know,” Anika says with a laugh. “But, who knows, maybe you two will make it this time. Never know if you never try.”

Audrey sits up and looks at Anika, and nods. “Yeah. I can’t.”

Anika rolls her eyes and gets up. “You’re a lost cause. Get dressed, Ashwin is meeting us there at eleven, and I don’t wanna keep him waiting.” And with that, she’s out of the room.

Audrey groans and turns back to the mirror, staring at herself. “I can’t.”



Pete is outside the bar when Anika and Audrey arrive. He’s taking photos with fans, and it makes Audrey’s heart flutter a bit as she watches him smile and interact with these people. His happiness is infectious.

He glances over at them as they stand there, and his face changes. It lights up even more, as if that was possible, and he looks genuinely happy. He smiles and holds a finger up, signaling he’ll be over in a sec. He turns back to the fan, wraps an arm around them, and smiles for the camera. He rubs their back after the photo is taken and they say their goodbyes.

Audrey watches with a fond smile on her face. Anika looks over at Audrey and grins. She can tell she’s still in love. Anyone watching could.

Pete comes over to them after that and hugs Anika first. It’s quick and a little awkward, especially because Anika is a good two or three inches taller than him in the heels she’s wearing. Audrey chuckles as she watches Anika bend a bit to hug him.

He then turns to Audrey, unsure if he should hug her or not. Audrey rolls her eyes and pulls him in for a hug – something which surprises them both.

Audrey isn’t taller than Pete, even with the heels (she might’ve worn a smaller heel, but she won’t ever confess that), she’s his height, and she drapes her arms around his neck. He wraps his arms around her waist and it’s not even awkward like Audrey expected it to be. It’s…nice.

It’s when they break away that it’s awkward.

“Okay, so,” Anika says, clapping. They both look over at her. “Ashwin is inside. Let’s go get wasted.”

Pete laughs. “I like you.”

“Thanks!” Anika grins, bright and wide. “Now, let’s go!”

Audrey and Pete laugh and follow her in. Pete stuffs his hands in his pockets as he walks inside, side by side with Audrey. It disappoints her a little, for some reason. It’s not like she was hoping their hands would brush up against each other’s like they were in fucking high school. No, that’s ridiculous.

The music is fast and loud and people are on the floor dancing, and packed in the booths lining the wall. Audrey is a little surprised. She didn’t expect this place to be so packed. It looked like nothing outside.

“You like it?” Pete ask, leaning in close to be heard over the music. His breath ghosts along Audrey’s ear and she doesn’t shudder a bit, no, that’s stupid.

“Yeah, I guess,” she says, shrugging. Pete places a hand over his heart and she gives him a weird look.

And then she remembers. She remembers this is Pete’s bar. Angels & Kings is his.

“Oh,” she laughs, covering her mouth with her hands.

“I’ve heard worse,” Pete says with a grin. He hasn’t taken his eyes off of her and it makes her blood rush and her fingers tingle. She feels weightless under his gaze. “So…can I get you a drink?”

“Yeah,” Audrey says with a nod. She follows him to the end of the bar. The bartender comes over immediately at the sight of her boss. Pete orders a drink for himself, then turns to Audrey. “Oh, fuck. Um. Cosmo?”

The bartender nods and goes to make their drinks.

Pete and Audrey stand there in an awkward silence. Anika and Ashwin are at the other end of the bar, laughing about something. Audrey watches them and wishes she were over there. It’d be better than being awkward over here.

The bartender comes back over with both of their drinks. Pete nods a thanks and grabs his drink, then grabs Audrey’s hand to lead them somewhere else. Audrey flinches a bit, and Pete looks at their hands, then up at her.

“Shit, sorry,” he says, letting go of her hand.

“No, it’s, uh. It’s okay, it was just. I wasn’t expecting it,” Audrey says, staring down at her hand. She then grabs her drink and drinks a decent amount down. She fucked up.

Pete takes a sip of whatever it is he got to drink. It’s dark and Audrey figures it’s bourbon and something. She wants what he’s got, or something like it. The cosmo isn’t strong enough.

Audrey downs the rest of her drink before turning back to the bar and ordering herself a whiskey and coke. Alright.

She turns back to Pete, who’s cocked an eyebrow up at her. She feels her cheeks go warm a bit. “What?”

“Nothing,” he says and sips his drink. He then holds out his hand for her to take. She does and he smiles. He leads them over to an empty booth by the back. “So, something tells me this wasn’t your idea?”

Audrey laughs and nods, taking a sip of her drink. Yeah, this is definitely stronger, and definitely what she needs. “How’d you guess?”

Pete laughs and shrugs. “I’m just that good?”

“Okay.” Audrey snorts.

It’s silent and awkward as hell after that, the two of them just sipping their drinks and not looking at each other. Or trying, really. Audrey sneaks glances at Pete, and she can feel his eyes on her when she looks away.

When she looks at him, he’s looking at his phone. Smart.

She wonders what he’s doing, though. Twitter?

She pulls out her own phone and decides to lurk Twitter. She almost goes to search for Pete’s Twitter when Anika slides into the booth next to her.

“Jesus,” Audrey breathes out, pulling her phone close to her chest, hiding it from Anika. “Where’s Ashwin?”

“Outside,” Anika mutters, chewing on the straw of her drink.

Audrey looks at Pete, who raises an eyebrow and shrugs. She then turns to Anika. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. His girlfriend is being pissy,” Anika says and pulls out her own phone.

“Okay,” Audrey says, and stands, pulling Anika up with her. “I’ll be back, Pete.”

“Sure, yeah,” he says.

Audrey pulls Anika over to the bathrooms where they can actually have a conversation without shouting. Audrey locks the door behind her, she doesn’t care if someone has to pee or puke, she has to snap Anika out of this mess.

“What’s going on? I thought you and Ashwin weren’t…a thing?” Audrey says.

Anika sighs and folds her arms across her chest. “We’re not.”

“Okay, then, why are you acting like a jealous bitch?”

Anika’s eyes go wide. She looks angry as hell that Audrey even suggested she’s jealous. Audrey just rolls her eyes. She deflates a bit. “Ugh, I’m not jealous. She’s the jealous one! She calls Ashwin all the time when we’re together.”

“…How often are you two together?” Audrey asks.

“Not that often,” Anika mutters. “But whatever, we’re not fucking, so why does she have to be so damn clingy?”

“Anika, no,” Audrey says. And that’s all she can say, really.

Anika rolls her eyes and storms out of the bathroom, leaving Audrey standing there. “What the fuck just happened?” Audrey mumbles to herself.

She figures Anika just needs a little cooling off. Something else obviously happened between Ashwin, his girlfriend, and Anika, and Audrey’s sure Anika will tell her in a couple days. She hopes.

Audrey leaves the bathroom and heads back to the booth where she left Pete. To her surprise, he’s still there, phone in one hand, drink in the other. She smiles to herself.

“Hey,” she says as she sits down across from him.

He looks up and smiles. “Hey, so how’d it go with, uh, Anika?”

“As well as you’d think,” Audrey laughs. She grabs her drink off the table and drinks half of it. She needs to get drunk fast if she’s going to survive this night. Pete and her are awkward as hell, and Anika is throwing a bitch fit over something trivial.

Audrey feels the whiskey hit her almost immediately after downing it. Everything feels warm, from her throat to her fingers all the way down to her tummy. She grins at the feeling.

“You okay?” Pete asks, grinning.

“Yeah,” she breathes out. She finishes the rest of her drink. “I’m gonna get another. You want one?”

Pete throws back what’s left in his glass and nods, following her to the bar. Audrey gets two more whiskey and cokes. The bartender hands over the two glasses, and Pete’s about to take one, when Audrey picks up both. “Oh, awkward,” she says, staring down at the glasses. “Um. These are both mine.”

Pete laughs like yeah fuckin’ right, but when Audrey doesn’t laugh and hand him a glass, his face falls a bit. “Oh,” he says.

Audrey feels a little stupid, then. She probably looks like such an alcoholic. She almost hands one over and yells “kidding!” when Pete chuckles and orders himself two more drinks.

He grabs the two drinks the bartender gives him, and clinks one glass against Audrey’s. “Cheers,” he says before drinking more than half.

Audrey laughs. Okay, then. She drinks, too.

“Have you ever DJ’d?” Pete asks, leaning in close again to be heard.

“Nope,” Audrey says, just as close to him.

He grins and motions over to the small makeshift DJ booth. Audrey follows him to it, sipping her drink and feeling herself getting a nice buzz. She doesn’t even know where Anika and Ashwin are, nor does she care anymore.

Pete steps up to the booth and fist bumps the guy DJ’ing – well, as best he could with drinks in both his hands – and the DJ takes off the headphones and steps down. He waves at Audrey as he passes by. She smiles back at him.

Pete offers her a hand, to help get on the small platform, and she glances at both her hands, then his own. He laughs and takes one of her drinks, then her hand.

“Wanna learn?” he asks, placing the headphones around his neck.

“Is it really that hard?” Audrey asks, staring down at the set up. And, okay, yeah, it does look a little complicated. There’s a lot of stuff going on. Or maybe it’s the alcohol making her feel that way.

“Nah,” he says with a grin. He pulls something up on the laptop and hits a few buttons. New music is now coming from the speakers. Something faster, more upbeat. He moves to the other part of the set up. Knobs and everything. Audrey is lost. Pete twists one thing, and the music changes a bit.

Audrey grins. She watches as Pete gets into it, dancing a bit and nodding his head along with the music. The songs flow together pretty seamlessly. Audrey is impressed.

Audrey drinks a little more and starts to dance along with the music and Pete. Pete notices, and grins at her. His grin just makes the rush of blood and tingly fingers come back; she feels weightless again.

“Here,” he says, and he grabs one of her hands, placing it on the small board with all the buttons and knobs. “Twist it…now.”

Audrey does as she’s told and laughs when she hears it. Pete is still grinning at her, and it makes her laugh even more. She loves this feeling inside her. It’s very possible it’s just the alcohol, but she feels it’s something more. Something Pete related.

Pete presses a button and it fades a bit, then a new song comes on and he presses the button again. He twists the knob, with Audrey’s hand still on it, and Audrey is absolutely delighted by the contact.

Audrey looks up at Pete, and he’s grinning down at his laptop as he scrolls through a playlist. He glances up and locks eyes with her. Their smiles falter just a bit as they both glance at each other’s lips. Audrey licks hers, then grabs one of her drinks and finishes it off.

Pete watches her. He’s not even subtle about it. Audrey feels his eyes on her as she downs the rest of her drink.

When she looks back at him, he’s not grinning or smiling. He’s lost in thought, now. Audrey knows what he’s thinking, because she’s thinking it too.

Audrey feels her cheeks begin to heat up a bit. Just friends, remember?

“Where’s Anika?” she asks suddenly, scanning the crowd. She spots her by the bar with Ashwin, looking slightly miserable. Ashwin is on his phone. She pouts a bit. “I’ll be – I’ve gotta – ” she says, and she’s off the platform before she can finish her sentence.

She makes her way through the crowd, ignoring some of the glances and glares she gets from women as she passes by, and gets to the bar. “Hey, boo,” she says. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"Hey, it's okay," Anika says and smiles softly. “Having fun with Pete?”

“Eh.” Audrey shrugs. “You okay, though? You look bored.”

“It’s fine,” Anika says, waving her off. Audrey rolls her eyes and peers over Anika’s shoulder at Ashwin, who’s still on his phone. She looks back at Anika, who just shakes her head. “Like I said, it’s fine. Go back to Pete. You looked like you were having fun.”

Audrey glances back at the DJ booth, and catches Pete’s eye. He smiles softly at her and waves, before focusing again on the set up. “You wanna come?” Audrey asks as she turns back to Anika.

“You sure?” Anika asks.

“Yeah, come on,” Audrey says, pulling Anika up. She knows that if Anika is up there with her, she won’t try to do anything with Pete. It’ll be fine. “Hey, Ash, we’re gonna go DJ with Pete!”

Ashwin looks up from his phone at the two of them standing there and gives a half-hearted smile. “Alright,” he says as he stands. He waves his phone a bit. “I’m gonna head out. Katarina is…yeah. Sorry!”

“That’s fine,” Anika says. And, with that, she’s off and headed to the DJ booth.

Audrey watches her go, then turns back to Ashwin, her mouth skewed to the side a bit. “I’m sorry about her.”

Ashwin watches Anika over Audrey’s shoulder with a sad expression on his face. Audrey wonders what exactly happened earlier, and if there actually is anything going on between the two of them. She hopes to God there’s not. Anika shouldn’t be dragged down into a mess like that.

Ashwin then looks at Audrey. “Yeah, it’s okay. My fault anyway. I’ll see you on Monday?”

Audrey nods and hugs him.

When he’s gone, she turns to head over to the DJ booth. She notices Anika up there with Pete, laughing at something and pushing buttons on the set up. Pete’s grinning as he watches Anika.

Audrey wants to be happy her best friend and her ex are getting along, but something in her just doesn’t feel right. It’s not jealousy, no, it can’t be.

Audrey heads to the booth and Pete helps her up on it. It’s cramped with the three of them – it’s only a small makeshift platform, obviously this is a special event thing.

And then, Audrey realizes Pete must’ve set it up because of her and Anika. He wanted to impress them. No, her.

It makes her light up. Pete wanted to impress her.

So, it wasn’t just her trying to impress him.

The realization makes her smile. She watches with that dopey smile on her face as he DJs, and helps Anika to DJ. He points to something for Anika to hit, and she does, and when they hear the effect, they both smile.

He looks over at Audrey, a huge smile on his face. It falls just a bit. “What’re you smiling at?” he asks, all close again, his breath dancing across her ear.

“Nothin’,” she says, shaking her head.

“Okay,” he says with a laugh and goes back to his set up.

Standing there, staring at him, Audrey realizes what an amazing man he’s turned into. Well, he’d always been amazing, when she thinks about it. He went for an impossible dream, even with all Audrey’s nagging complaints of “get real” and “you’ll never make it”. He didn’t give up. He went for what he had his heart set on.

And he made it. He made it, and took it a step further. No, he took it ten steps further, because why the fuck not? When the whole world’s screaming you can’t do it, what’s better than showing you can, times ten?

She’s so incredibly proud of the man standing to the right of her. And she hates herself so much for telling him he’d become nothing. It makes her want to cry; either that or the booze, or a combination of both.

Pete looks at her, then, smiling so fondly, and she feels her heart tighten and her breath hitch in her throat. She swallows hard, and forces a smile back at him.

She needs another drink.



Anika leaves with the original DJ at two-thirty, after about four more drinks and a lot of heavy flirting. Audrey isn’t surprised, honestly. Anika had been muttering something about “getting over him” after her third drink of the night. She just figured Anika had to do what she had to do, and she wasn’t going to stop her.

The bar is nearly empty by then, too.

“Wanna get out of here?” Pete asks, completely abandoning the DJ set up.

Audrey laughs and follows him. “Sure.”

She only had a couple drinks and wasn’t completely plastered – just a little more than tipsy – like Anika. Pete was pretty much sober, which was nice. He could help Audrey if she started to stumble, which she felt like she was going to.

“You hungry?” he asks, grabbing a hold of her arm. He tucks it under his. And, there it is; keeping her steady. “There’s a good burger place that stays open ‘til five just right down the street.”

“Sure!” Audrey grins as they leave the bar. She could definitely go for a good burger right now. “We gonna walk?”

“If that’s okay?”

Audrey nods and then stops, startling Pete a bit. She takes off her heels, and shrinks smaller than Pete. It’s weird, having to look up a bit at him after being his height all night long. She giggles to herself.

“Are you sure you wanna walk without shoes?” Pete eyes the dirty LA sidewalk. “No, you know what, hop on.”

“What?” Audrey asks, giving him a weird look as he lets her go and crouches down a bit. She laughs when she realizes what he’s saying. “No! Come on, Pete.”

“I’m not letting you step on glass or something equally shitty,” he says. “Now, hop on.”

Audrey giggles and does as she’s told, hopping on his back. She wraps her arms loosely around his neck as he hooks his arms under her legs. “I’m not too heavy, right?”

“Shut up, you’re fine,” he laughs.

The rest of the walk is spent in silence. The two of them get weird looks, but hey, it’s LA, weirder things have happened, and are happening, around them. They don’t care either way. All that matters to them is each other.

Even if it’s “just friends”.

Pete doesn’t let Audrey down until they step foot inside the restaurant, despite Audrey’s protests. It’s sweet, yet obnoxious. Audrey thinks that’s Pete all summed up right there.

They’re seated near the back, which Audrey is pretty thankful for. It gives them a little privacy. (She saw how those teenagers glared at her when she came in with Pete).

“So, since you seem to have been to every restaurant in LA, I’m gonna let you decide on what I eat wherever we go,” Audrey says, not even bothering to look over the menu.

Pete laughs and sets his menu down. “So, does that mean we’re gonna hang out more?”

Audrey feels her cheeks heat up a bit and she glances down at her menu now. “I guess,” she mutters, trying to play it cool, but totally failing.

Pete is quiet, and Audrey looks up to see what he’s doing. He’s grinning like a fucking fool at her. It just makes her laugh and smile, too.

She likes this. She likes how easy they fit together.

Maybe, just maybe, Anika is right. Maybe she and Pete could make it work for real this time. Maybe they could be something serious. They know each other, they know their faults and what to say and what not to say. It’s very possible they could make it work.

It scares Audrey to think about.

“What’s up?” Pete asks softly.

Audrey snaps out of her daze and smiles slightly. “Nothing.”

Pete gives her a look, but shakes his head and looks down at the menu, grinning a bit.

Her heart wants so bad to give it another shot with Pete, but there’s something in the back of her mind, nagging away saying “don’t you fucking dare.” Every time she sees Pete, though, that voice gets smaller and quieter.

She doesn’t want to lose him. That’s all she knows for sure.