“I think that’s a great idea!” Morgan chirps from her seat next to my other traitorous best friend. A bright smile spread across her face, full of mock innocence.
“Oh yeah, Morgan?” I say, my voice dripping in sarcasm. “You seem to be really agreeable tonight.”
“I just know a good idea when I hear one. You need your parents to think you and Avery are still together, so why doesn’t Avery just go with you? I mean, you two can handle being in the same room for a couple of hours, right?” She feigns innocence, slurping her drink as if nothing interesting has caught her attention, as she avoids Avery’s gaze.
The group is quiet for a moment, a song by The 1975 blaring over the speakers and the soft murmuring of other conversations filling the silence between us.
“It’s okay, guys. Really, I can handle—” I start to say before I’m cut off by a soft voice that will always stop me in my tracks.
“No, I’ll go,” Avery says, quiet but certain. Her shoulders are set defiantly, as if she’s gearing up for meto fight her on this. The gleam in her eye tells me she’s sure, a look of determination shining back at me.
The only reason I don’t argue that I should go alone is because Iwanther to come with me. Not even to protect me against them—though she will save me from fielding the women my father will throw my way if I show up alone—but because it’ll give me an excuse to be near her, to touch her like the breakup never happened. I want to feel her again, even if it’ll be fake.
“You really want to go?” I look at her, knowing I can read the truth from her better than anyone else. Her baby blues suck me into their orbit, and I grip the counter for something to keep me afloat while we stay in this limbo.
“I do. It could be fun. Elena always has the best food anyway. Where else can I get a free Wagyu steak?” she says with a laugh—the best music my ears have heard since she kicked me off her playlist months ago. The past two months drowning in silence has been deafening when her laughter was my favorite music, the loss of it cutting me worse than any pain I’ve felt.
“Okay. Great. Yeah, that’s great. Okay,” I stammer, the words coming out faster than my mouth can keep up. The thought of spending time with her again in just a few short days has rewired my system.
“Smooth, buddy. You’re doing great,” Marcus whispers, finally piping up from his suspicious silence in the conversation. There’s never been an opinion he hasn’t shared, so I squint at him, trying to figure out what he’s up to.
You would never guess that he has a genius-level IQ with his carefree playboy attitude. He graduated with a double major yet shrugs off any recognition. The dumb look of ignorance on his face is some sort of ploy, but I’m too tired to figure it out.
I stare at Avery, cataloging her features. The freckles dotting her cheeks are out today, free from any makeup, and my breathing quickens with the need to trace them with my fingers, drawing a map of my favorite place to be.
“Okay.” I huff a nervous laugh. “I’ll text you the details and I can come pick you up, or we can meet, whatever is easier… I mean, carpooling is better for the environment, you know. But we can totally meet there. It’s Thursday.” My words spill out in a ramble, trying to bridge the gap and keep her here, looking at me like she might still feel the pull I’ve always felt toward her.
“Was he always this fucking bad with women?” Marcus turns to Grayson, talking about me as if I’m not a couple of feet away.
“I think when you meet the love of your life at eighteen, it limits your capacity for flirting,” Grayson replies, finishing his drink and standing up. “I need to run, you guys. We have weight training later and I need to catch a nap before.” Grayson gives the girls another hug before making his way to the door.
“We have to go too,” Morgan says, standing and pulling Avery toward the door from where we were stuck staring at each other.
“We do?” I hear Avery whisper to Morgan, a look of confusion crossing her features before she straightens. “Oh, yeah, we do.”
We say goodbye and I watch as Morgan and Avery leave the bar, my eyes following her the entire way to the door. She turns around just slightly, giving me the most beautiful smile before heading out into the rapidly fading daylight. My eyes linger, hoping for just one more glimpse after being deprived for so long.
I finally pull my attention from thedoor, finding Marcus smiling at me, his dimples shining and a goofy fucking grin stretched across his face.
“Well, don’t you want to say thank you?” he teases. I throw the towel I used to dry the glasses at his face, his laughter filling the space around me as I turn around and head toward the back, leaving him out there alone.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
kane
Leaving – Zach Bryan
Monday morning comes far too quickly, but somehow I’m awake before my alarm. I even have time to go grab a coffee instead of drinking the shitty stuff in the teacher’s lounge, the brown sludge that barely passes for coffee most days. I’ve started bringing in more high-quality stuff just to be able to make it through the day.
There’s an extra pep in my step, courtesy of the little brunette I get to see again in just a few days. The prospect of spending some actual time together has done more for me than any type of caffeine ever could.
I spent the whole drive to work laughing my ass off, because somehow, over the span of the past twelve hours, all of the shoelaces in my apartment vanished. I spent a good chunk of time this morning looking at all my shoes and trying not to burst out laughing. I have no idea when she did it, but every one of my shoes was cleared of the laces, leaving me with one option this morning: the slip-on Vans Avery got us two years ago so we would match.
She must have come in when I was still at work last night, and the fact that the shoes I was wearing last nightalsovanished overnight tells me they got to Marcus before I could get him on my side. He always was the easiest to break.
I sit in my chair and boot up my computer, taking a long drink of my coffee. My gaze snags on the picture of me and Avery, and the grin that tugs at the corner of my mouth from looking at that alone tells me how much trouble I’m in.
I check my calendar for this morning, grateful to see that Trevor is coming in at ten. I haven’t seen him since early last week, not even in the halls.
