Chapter 16 #2
I draw in a breath and almost choke on it.
Avery’s hair is loose around her shoulders, the light from the door behind her making her look like an angel walking toward me.
Her ripped jeans and checkered print shoes, paired with the classic over-sized band tee falling off one shoulder, bring a smile to my face.
This is the look I remember on her most.
“Hey, Ave, Morgan!” Grayson calls out as Marcus stands up to greet them.
He gives Avery a hug, which sends a pang through my heart at how much I miss the familiar touch of her.
They whisper something to each other, and Avery looks pissed, but Marcus has a shit-eating grin stretched across his face.
She slaps him in the stomach, making him fold over.
Grayson slides over and pulls another bar stool up until they’re all gathered around in front of me.
It’s been so long since the five of us have been like this.
Fifty-eight days to be exact. I try not to stare at her too hard.
She is clearly still suffering from her hangover, those effervescent blue eyes that always shine as brightly as the sun dimmed and slightly puffy.
She sits on the stool, back straight and arms on the counter as she grabs Marcus’s Coke and takes a heavy sip.
I set the one I started when I saw her walking in—with extra lemon—down in front of her.
She rewards me with a small smile when she glances at it, her eyes turning slightly watery.
She mouths a quick thanks and my heart skips a beat, unable to calm down when she’s around.
The irregular rhythm would be concerning if I wasn’t staring at the whole reason it beats at all.
An angel sent just for me, the penance for a shitty childhood, the gift I was given for still being here.
The urge to fix what’s wrong between us is strong, so I make myself grab a new glass and dry it off before setting it with the back stock. Then I grab another and start making Morgan her drink to keep myself from launching over this countertop and demanding to know what happened and how to fix it.
“What have you guys been talking about?” Morgan asks as I slide over her drink. She beams at me and takes a drink, giving me a thumbs-up.
“Oh, Kane was just telling us—” Marcus starts. I whip a towel at his hands on the counter—a sign for him to keep his big mouth shut. He looks over at me with a quiet ow and a shake of his head. My glare is cutting enough that he mimes zipping his lips, mirth shining back at me.
“Kane was just telling us about dinner at his parents’ house,” Grayson finishes for him.
I turn my glare on him, but he purposely looks away from me toward Avery, too cowardly to face me as he reveals my greatest secret at the moment—aside from being desperately and hopelessly in love with the goddess sitting across from me.
The faint whiff of her lemon perfume crosses the space between us and has a groan coming up to the seam of my lips, threatening to spill over. The scent triggers memories I have no business thinking about while clocked in at work.
“Your mom’s birthday?” Avery asks me, causing my brain to short-circuit because she’s talking directly to me, something I’ve missed so much over this past month and a half.
Her eyes twinkle in the light—my North Star trying to guide me home.
Her pouty lips glisten under the neon lights, a small frown in the corner of her mouth that I want to kiss away.
“Yeah, and Big K here hasn’t told them you guys broke up,” Marcus jumps in for me, my cheeks heating.
I groan. “Please do not try to make Big K a thing again.”
“Agreed. That was terrible the first time, Marcus,” Morgan says with a swing of her long blonde ponytail.
“Hey, Ave, why don’t you go with him?” Grayson, my former best friend, says. I turn my head toward him so fast I’m not sure how I don’t get whiplash. He better start running the second I can get out from behind this bar.
“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 me to 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 I want her 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 the door, 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.