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She would be alone that night at home.
The men of the family were all supposed to be somewhere else: Lune was in Italy for work and Corin had fine out not long ago with Sarah, his date for the night. He had met her some weeks ago, but still, Aravis was sure, he was falling deep for the girl. The only one still in the house, except for her, was Cor. He was getting ready for the dinner with Cherry. She and Cor had been together for five months (and 25 days, Aravis found out remembering) and with their highs and lows they had managed to make it to that day. With some pain, Aravis still remembered the day they had first met: she was the new girl in school and she just looked so beautiful. Aravis had disliked her the moment their eyes met. She later found out that the feeling was mutual. It wasn’t anything in particular about the girl, they just didn’t get along. Well, if she had to be completely honest with herself, she thought that maybe it was the way Cor had looked at the new girl that made Aravis hate her so much. He had looked so dumb-struck and for days, weeks even , he had only talked about Cherry. He seemed to have forgotten about her and, with all they had been through, Aravis had taken it as a personal offense. They hadn’t talked for days, if not for quarreling, and it wasn’t until she had half-whispered, half-screamed in his face that “we are supposed to be best friends, for Aslan mane, you can’t just forget about me when you meet a beautiful girl!” that things had gone back to normal. He has apologized to her, had apologized so much and when Cherry became his girlfriend, it was with Aravis’ help that had happened. Nevertheless, their relationship hadn’t been simple. She had tried to be good to the other girl for Cor’s sake, because he loved her and Aravis only wanted him to be happy, but it was easier to avoid Cherry than got the two of them to get along. When he was with his girlfriend, most of the time she wouldn’t be there and the girl did the other way around when he spent time with his best friend. However, it wasn’t so easy for Aravis to accept her in the picture of their group (she liked very much Corin’s girlfriend, so much that they had become best friend, her actual first female friend ) and she was sure it was for the other girl’s fault. To her, Cherry didn’t seem as in love with him as Cor was with her and later on they had started to have a lot of arguments and while she knew her friend suffered a lot (she had found him one night weeping alone on their balcony because of a split up they had had) his girlfriend didn’t seem to mind that much . Of course, everyone was allowed to feel things in their own way, but still. Cor was the most important person to her and Aravis couldn’t bear seeing him suffering.
She heard him coming out from his room and that took her back from her thoughts. She had previously decided to watch a movie and eat a salad (because with Lune away, they were low on anything and that was the only thing still edible in the house. She couldn’t understand how the boys could eat just so much and still be in shape) and so she followed that path.
She had just sat down on the sofa in front of the TV and grabbed the remoter, when someone unceremoniously sat down next to her.
“Ouch! You oaf!”
“Ow, come on, I merely hit you!” but Aravis saw the grin pestered on his face and she knew that he had almost
crashed
her on purpose.
Rolling her eyes, she turned to the TV and started looking for a good show. Then she saw what time it was and quickly turned towards her friend, who now had his left arm around her shoulder on the pillows. And then it hit her. He was staring at the TV, but she could see the hard lines of his face and the almost teary eyes. It hurt her.
“Ow, Cor. What happened?”
He swiftly looked away, facing the wall and shrugged his shoulder.
“It’s no matter”
But she knew it mattered, so she just moved closer to him on the sofa, as close as she could get, brought her knees up to her chin and leaned her head on his shoulder.
He brought his arm closer around her and she let him decide which movie they would see while she talked about stupid things to make him happier (at least she hoped) and at one particular moment, when they were laughing so hard Aravis thought she couldn’t breathe, he just whispered : “We broke up.” They were now facing each other on the sofa and she couldn’t bear the look on his face. She was going to say something, anything at all, when he adds: “ I mean, I k now you didn’t like her very much, if not at all, but I did and—“
She catches him off guard and she hugs him, holds him tight to her, and in a moment his arms are around her and he holds her even tighter, as if afraid she would let go. He buries his face in her hair and she swears she can see the silent tears falling down his cheeks. So she hides her face in the crook of his neck and kisses him lightly on the jawline all the while rubbing his back and saying soothing words into his ears. They stay like that for some time, until he releases her and smiles gratefully at her. She smiles back and then she gets up to get some popcorn—there is no movie without popcorn she declares. She starts humming a song she can’t remember and Cor watches her form the sofa, his features more relaxed now and Aravis finds out that she is not able to tell him it’s only good they broke up; she just waits for the popcorn to get ready and when they are she settle down again next to him, still humming that song.
He says “ Thank you, ‘Ravis” and by the look on his face, she doesn’t know what he is referring to. She just answers something like “ anything for you” and as they proceed to watch the film with their hands intertwined she realizes that it’s true, she would do anything for him. Because they are Aravis and Shasta, it’s written in the stars they are going together. But she doesn’t say that aloud to him, prefers to keep it for herself.
In the end, she isn’t going to be alone that night.