AVERY
Chapter Four
I regretted it.
Around four in the morning, my phone dinged. I had been sleeping lightly. Sawyer was staying with Noah, so the room was all mine, and I had drifted to sleep with a lamp on. I glanced at my phone. I didn’t need to have his number memorized to know it was Grayson Reed.
Serious question: if aliens invaded the Earth and you were the first human they encountered, what would be your intergalactic icebreaker?
I stared at the message for a hot minute.
Was he serious? At four in the morning? Sighing, I switched my phone to silent.
It wasn’t a bulletproof solution, but I slept for another couple of hours.
My phone vibrated only once more in the time I dozed.
And when I carried it downstairs with me for breakfast, I discovered another text from the same number.
Bear with me, Collins. If you could have dinner with any celebrity, dead or alive, who would it be? And more importantly, what are we ordering for takeout tonight?
I didn’t have much time to think about Grayson Reed. Whatever his plans were, they wouldn’t come true. We were natural foes. That was simply our fate. Besides, I was desperately bored of sleeping around. In all the years of college, I had learned that much at least.
Days seemed to race by one after the other. Practice, lectures, practice, and lectures again. I didn’t see Reed, although I kept getting a steady volume of text messages throughout the week. One time, after practice, I grabbed my phone to check the time and found a new level of weirdness.
If you were a dance move, which one would you be? I’m feeling like an awkward penguin waddle. Wanna practice on the dance floor tonight?
The night before we left for our out-of-state game, I was skimming through a textbook at the library, and my phone dinged, causing a few annoyed exhales nearby.
Not even kidding. If you were a pizza topping, would you be a classic pepperoni or a fun pineapple? More to the point, care to come by and help me make the perfect flavor?
I shook my head and gritted my teeth. I would have to block this number. And burn this phone. And fake my death. And start a new life overseas as a Flamenco dancer. Yet I couldn’t deny it; the relentlessness was amusing. For now.
The morning of our departure for the game in Milwaukee, it finally looked like he was about to lose interest in me.
How do you expect us to get to know each other if you never fill out any of my surveys? Apply yourself, Collins.
Part of me was fine with putting this whole thing to rest. It wasn’t going to go anywhere. Why drag it out? Another part had gotten used to the constant flow of texts.
I wanted to let it go. Truly. I knew that the best thing I could do was keep silent and hope for it to blow over.
He would lose interest — they all did — and move on.
Then, I could go back to my peaceful existence.
Even so, I kept glancing at my phone every so often, but he had stopped the avalanche.
So we went to Milwaukee and something strange happened that took my mind off Grayson Reed.
We won the game. It was a struggle, but we were victorious on our second night there.
And the strangest part was the fact that our victory was squarely earned by Caden and Beckett’s cooperation.
Something passed between them in the moment of the highest tension that I filed into a separate compartment of my mind, like one of those unsolvable mysteries, and I decided to just be glad of the win.
I was ridiculously happy afterward when we found a bar a couple of streets away from the hotel room.
Caden, who had gotten a rough treatment on the ice, had disappeared for a short time, then showed up and talked to Beckett like they had truly been friends for ages.
Sawyer was on the phone with Noah, and I was fiddling with my phone, wondering if Grayson was playing a game tonight.
Not that it mattered.
But he usually texted by eight in the evening.
I scrolled through his silly texts, sniffing at a few and almost chuckling at one. Guys around me talked, joked, and laughed, but I drummed my fingers against the table and reminded myself over and over again that it was safer not to engage.
Even I was a little surprised when I realized I was typing.
Bert, I suppose.
It was short and crisp, and it didn’t invite a reply, exactly, but I had to bite down my grin because Grayson’s message came almost instantly after.
Figures. That would make me Ernie. You do realize they are a couple, right? Should I pop the champagne?
Nope. We’re not doing that.
Fair enough. You can’t blame a guy for trying, though.
When my ears hurt, I realized they were perking so hard that my face was stretching and my lips were…oh god. Am I smiling? Damn him.
If you were a fruit, you know, just hanging out on a tree, which one would you be? I'm personally feeling like a rebellious banana today.
What kind of a question is that?
Duh. Silly me. It’s obvious. You’re a coconut.
I don’t get it. How am I a coconut?
See, if you weren’t a coconut, you would totally understand. But this way, you’re just proving my point. I propose you prove it some more in person. Over a Sauvignon. With the view of downtown Detroit.
I didn’t agree to a date, Reed. And I knew replying was gonna be a mistake.
You wound me. Anyway, what will be the theme song for our date next week?
No.
Oh, I got it. ABBA’s ‘Lay All Your Love On Me.’
Nope. ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You.’
No fucking way!!! Dude. You know ABBA songs? Dude! Also, that’s a fucked up choice. Very pessimistic.
I chuckled under my breath and looked around, trying to think of a response. He beat me to it, quick and witty as he was.
Hold on. You picked our theme song. So, we’re going on a date?
Why do you even want to go on a date with me, Reed?
He wasn’t coming near my bed, I was sure of that. No matter how handsome, I wasn’t going to sleep with him. Or anyone, for that matter. I had to take a step back and figure myself out.
Do I need a secret agenda? It’s a date, Avery. I think I’ll wear a bowtie to impress you.
I bit my lip and closed my eyes. Grayson Reed wearing a bowtie was not something I had expected to be daydreaming about. Yet here I was, imagining him straightening it. My heart clenched and I swallowed the knot in my throat.
“Earth to Avery,” Sawyer was saying. “Are we ordering another one or not?”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sure,” I said, my mind still swirling around the monolithic idea of Grayson Reed in a bowtie, arriving for our date.
There had been some commotion around me and Beckett and Caden weren’t around.
I didn’t think about them for too long, though, because my thoughts quickly returned to Grayson.
If his mission had been to confuse me or distract me the next time we faced each other in the rink, I was afraid he nearly succeeded.
I wouldn’t let him, but it was hard to keep this weird, tickling sensation out of my fingertips.
“You’re awfully cheerful, buddy,” Sawyer said.
“Last I checked, it was still legal,” I pointed out.
Sawyer opened his mouth and widened his slanted, hazel eyes. “Are you getting cheeky with me?” He shook his head playfully. “I like it.”
Our drinks arrived and thankfully interrupted my friend’s curiosity. We toasted to our victory and I set my phone aside despite the excruciating itch to check if Grayson had texted some more. It wouldn’t hurt him if I left him hanging for a while longer.
After Sawyer and I returned to our room, we were fairly quiet.
Our room had two single beds with nightstands between them.
There was a small flat-screen TV mounted to the wall and a coffee table below it.
Two chairs were placed around the table.
A dresser, a closet, and a mirror made up the rest of the furniture.
A small private bathroom was attached to our room.
I expected Sawyer to call Noah for their goodnight chat, but he didn’t.
I lay still, my fingers twined on my stomach, my gaze glued to the ceiling.
Sawyer tapped at his screen while I resisted the urge to do the same. He could wait until I figured out what to do with him. This sudden desire to go on a date with me wasn’t sinking in.
“You didn’t stay out,” Sawyer said casually as he tossed his phone on the nightstand.
I turned my head right to look at him. His legs were tangled in the twisted comforter. He wore a white T-shirt and boxer briefs, ready for sleeping. I hadn’t undressed yet. “Did you want the room?”
“What? No.” His voice cracked a little. It wouldn’t have been the first time we were out of town and Sawyer missed Noah so much that they needed to “chat privately.” I resolutely did not think of what Sawyer did in our shared room on such occasions.
“I’m just asking,” he explained. “You never miss an opportunity when we’re away. That’s all.”
“Oh,” I said. That wasn’t entirely true. It wasn’t completely false, either. “I’m tired.” It was a lame excuse. I held my breath for a time, then exhaled with a new sense of determination. “I gotta tell you something…” And the determination rocked.
“Shoot,” Sawyer said.
I was silent for a long while, looking at the ceiling again.
“You’re starting to spook me, Avery,” Sawyer said in a darker tone. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. It’s not like that.” I drummed my fingers against my chest. “It’s just…I don’t…” Why was this so hard to get over my lips? “I don’t actually screw around.”
Sawyer might have laughed had I said this outright.
Instead, he looked at me worriedly. Probably because he could see that I was having a hard time talking.
We had always been close, but neither of us was particularly chatty.
Our friendship was built on mutual understanding and respect rather than long-winded conversations.
I sat up abruptly, set my feet on the floor between our beds, and rested my elbows on my knees. “I mean, I was, but not as much as you think.”