Chapter 5
AVERY
When I saw the storm heading our way, I was pretty bummed out.
Obviously, there's no way I'll be able to spend Christmas with my folks.
Once the snow starts dumping, we'll be stuck where ever we are, and I'd much rather be stuck in the warm, comfy hotel room than freezing cold in Booker's truck on the side of the road somewhere.
Booker, on the other hand, looks unsure. That's when I remember he's from the desert.
"Come on," I laugh, grabbing him by the arm and hauling him out the door of the lobby with the man at the counter talking after us like he doesn't notice we've left the building.
"I looked everything up, there's a coffee shop with great reviews, then we can check out the bakery, and I'm hoping some of the little shops are staying open for last minute holiday shoppers because I'd really like to find some cute stuff, maybe something made by local artists or something."
It's early when we get to town, and the seasonal latte from Perfect Brews really is perfect and the face Booker makes when he tastes the syrupy treat is priceless.
"Hang on--" I reach up to wipe a drop of whipped cream of his upper lip but my laughter dies in my throat when Booker turns into my touch, pressing his lips against my fingertips.
It feels like the air around us is charged. I'm completely frozen in place as Booker's hazel eyes zero in on me.
His hand catches mine and he steps further into my space, his gaze locked on my lips.
If I didn't know better, I'd think Booker was about to kiss me and I have point zero zero two nanoseconds to admit to myself how much I want him to before the whole moment is wrecked by my cell phone going off with a new text.
"Who the fuck keeps texting, Ave?"
Whatever moment we might have been about to share splinters under his sharp tone when he sees me check the message.
"No one," I insist. "Just someone back home that wants to reconnect when I'm in town."
I start to put the phone back into my pocket but Booker takes it from my hand.
"Who?" He asks, huffing in frustration that my screen lock has re-engaged and holding it out with an unspoken demand for me to enter my pin.
"I don't know." I admit in a whisper as I tap the numbers and show him the texts that have been showing up since last night.
Darkness clouds Booker's features, turning them into something hard that makes him look dangerous.
"You don't know who this is?" He scrolls through the texts, the scowl that had finally lifted returning to his face. "Why didn't you tell me about these?"
I start to reach to take my phone back from him, but he pulls it away from me as he looks through notifications that I haven't cleared yet.
"What the fuck, Avery. You're posting on social media?"
I don't mind him looking in my phone, there's nothing there that I'd want to hide from him, but getting scolded for having a life is a hard limit.
Snatching the phone back from him, I close the apps he had open and stuff it back in my coat pocket.
"All my accounts are set to private, Booker. It's not a big deal."
You'd think I just told him I put my social security number on a billboard.
Booker
Except that it is a big deal...because despite her accounts being private, it's still possible for other people to tag her in their posts.
All it takes is a quick search and I get enough hits to be able to track our entire road trip right up to the peppermint huckleberry mocha abomination she just had me taste.
Complete with the Hope Peak Perfect Brews logo on the cardboard sleeve of the cup in the picture.
"Give me your phone back." I hold out my hand for the device. Instead of handing it back to me, Avery glares.
"I just want to change some of your settings... but no more posting. I'm serious. Based on those texts, we're lucky this guy seems to be waiting on you to come to him, but he could have just as easily traced your steps and intercepted us at any point along the way."
Avery hands her phone over after unlocking the screen again, only now her face has gone pale and I don't like the shadows that haunt her eyes.
"You really think it's him?" She keeps her voice low, as if any of the townspeople going about their last minute holiday errands around us might overhear. "I thought it was probably just someone I went to school with that I never added to my contacts."
After a few adjustments to tighten her security settings, I hand the phone back to her.
"But you didn't reply to any of them."
I saw the text history, whoever she thought might have been sending those messages, she didn't answer any of them. Not even a "who this" when they started.
"I don't respond to any one I don't know," she explains. "I thought I was being careful."
It guts me to hear her voice sound so dull. I'm suddenly overwhelmed by the need to put the smile back on her face-- hell, I'd even drink one of those sugary drinks she keeps calling coffee if it'd bring back my sunshine girl.
My brain doesn't even trip over thinking of Avery as mine, but realizing that's how I think of her does make my heart stutter slightly.
"Come on, the guy at the hotel said we need to try someplace called Tee's Drive-In while we're stuck in town."
Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I pull Avery into my side and steer her toward the diner that apparently has the best burgers in town.
We sit in my truck, eating burgers that really are pretty damn good, while the staff rushes back and forth between cars, taking and delivering orders in the retro uniforms. A few of the workers have Santa hats or reindeer antler head bands on.
Seems like everyone in Hope Peak is stopping by Tee's for Christmas Eve lunch before the place closes down for the holiday.
"You got in just in time," our waitress says with a smile as she waits while I pay our ticket. "We were already planning on closing up early for Christmas Eve, but now with the snow coming in, we probably won't stay open much past the lunch rush."
"Thank you, it was so good!" Avery leans across my lap to talk to the woman in the pink waitress uniform standing by the driver's side of the truck, pushing between my chest and the steering wheel in a way that has her pressed against me.
"Is there a place in town that might still be open where I can get some souvenirs? Stocking stuffer type things?"
Avery and the waitress are busy talking through the open window, the local woman giving Avy a few suggestions for some places while the scent of Avery's shampoo fills my lungs and the warmth of her body has mine reacting without my permission.
"Oh, sorry, babe."
Ave narrowly misses bashing in my nose with the back of her head as she wiggles away from the window.
There's mischief in her eyes when she drops the endearment, reminding me this was my idea and testing to see my reaction.
She's so close, hovering in my space so we're face to face.
Without thinking, I drop a quick peck to her lips.
"No worries, cupcake," I assure her, loving the blush that immediately colors her face and the way her lips fall open in shock as she scrambles off my lap, back to her seat.
"Awww, you two are too cute," our waitress coos at us as I wave away her offer of my change.