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22
AVERY
Two days later,I arrive home from an evening class to disaster. Ben stands sheepishly in the tiny kitchen holding a mop in his hand. I peel my coat off. What's possessed him to start cleaning?
“Avery…” His pale face and wary look increase my suspicion.
“Ben?”
“There's been an accident.”
I freeze, further than I already did taking my coat off. “Accident? Ben?”
“The pipes burst in the attic and...”
And my room is under the attic.Crap. I charge up the damp stairs and stand in my bedroom doorway. A waterfall flows down the woodchip wall, across the carpet, and out of the open door, past my feet.
“Ben! Why didn't you turn the bloody water off?” I scream.
“I don't know where to!”
“For God's sake! You've flooded the whole house!” I run back downstairs to stop the supply to our new water feature. “Look!” I say when I return, pointing to the sagging ceiling in the lounge.
Ben continues to stand uselessly with the mop, like a bizarre modern art installation: 'Hipster Dude with Bucket'. “What do we do?” he asks.
“Wasn't somebody supposed to come and fix the heater today? I made an appointment and you were supposed to be home.”
Ben mumbles something.
“What?”
“I said I forgot.”
“Jesus!” I fight the desire to take the mop off Ben and smack him around the head with it. “We had to get the heating fixed before the temperatures dropped this week. This is what happens when pipes freeze, you idiot!”
“But if they froze, why are they leaking?”
For fuc…Refusing to give him a physics lesson, I stomp back into my room. My bed is soaked and now covered by parts of the ceiling. The bed I left my now-drowned laptop on. The drawers I keep most of my clothes in are buried beneath damp plaster.
I slump against the wall. Now what the hell do I do?
* * *
BRYN
The more I see Avery,the less I think about the past. The girl blows me away with her funny mix of sexy and cute, and the poor attempts not to look at me as if she wants to devour me. I love Avery’s company, her natural humour, and the way her mind-melting lips on mine clear Hannah from the corners of my mind she still lives in.
The ice skating was a demonstration I can’t keep my hands off Avery, and her fighting against the obvious attraction to me means I want Avery more. Somebody took pictures of the pair of us kissing, of course. When those appeared, I half-expected an email from Hannah, but when I check the account is still inactive. For the first time, my heart doesn’t sink. Avery is helping me move on.
This time I’m not waiting days to see Avery again, I’m leaving in a little over a week and I need to know what this is between us. Admittedly, I have issues with her ‘no sex’ clause. Sure, I understand Avery’s need for respect but how long to change her mind? If sex doesn’t happen before I go on tour, I don’t know if how I feel is enough to keep Avery in my life while I’m away.
No rehearsals today and I’m bored, home alone, and afraid the old thoughts of Hannah will sneak back in. I call Avery to see if she’s free this evening.
“I’m busy,” she says immediately and I’m offended; I hardly got two words out.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“No. Everything is not okay,” she snaps.
