Recovery

Chapter 26

"No need to get all defensive. It's just, I've been worrying about her. I think I saw- nevermind. See you in a few?"

"Yeah," Avery replies.

Finally, Claire leaves the room.

Avery crouches on the floor and looks down at me.

"You can come out now," he chuckles.

I crawl out from under the bed, and then sit on top of it.

I look up at him, and sigh.

"What are we going to do Avery?"

He sits at the desk chair a few feet away from me and shakes his head.

"I don't know."

I'm afraid to say too much. I don't even know if he's serious about me, or if he's just playing around with my feelings.

Hell, I don't even know if I'm serious about this.

"Are we just being totally stupid here?"

"Maybe," he replies. "I don't know."

I sigh and shake my head.

"Should we just- forget about it?" I ask.

"We tried that- it didn't work," he laughs. I crack a smile, a blush creeping up to my face.

"Well- what should we do?"

He smirks at me and takes a few steps towards me. He uses his thumb and forefinger to tilt my chin up towards him, and leans close to my face.

"We should go tack up," he whispers teasingly, before dropping my chin.

I huff and cross my arms.

"Ass," I mutter, before turning to leave his room.

-----------------------

"Okay everyone, you can mount your horses," Claire says, after doing a quick head count to make sure we're all here.

I hook my left foot into Diesel's stirrup and start to bounce on my right foot to get enough momentum to hoist myself onto his back.

"God, why are you so tall boy?" I chuckle, finally swinging myself up.

"I'll lead the group, everyone else walk in pairs. Piper, you go with your brother. Ivy and Laurel. Chrissie you can go with Jessie," Claire says thoughtfully, looking around to see who's left. "And Grace, you can bring up the back with Avery."

Avery rides up beside me and chuckles.

"Well, look how that turned out?"

I shake my head, unable to think of a witty reply.

"Um, Claire?" Piper calls. "Can Grace and Aaron switch? Cause my brother smells!"

"Sorry Piper, everyone's already in order. Maybe next time," Claire replies. "Everyone ready? Okay, let's go."

The horses start to move one after the other, like a game of follow the leader. Knowing Diesel is fairly easy going, I let him take the lead, even when everyone starts trotting.

Besides, it gives me a chance to let my mind wander.

What am I going to do about Avery?

I mean, I obviously have some sort of feelings for him. I just don't really know what those feeling are.

Even if I like him though, what's the point? I'm leaving in a few weeks to go back to Cali. If anyone found out, we'd both be in trouble. If we want anything to happen, we'd have to sneak around.

The best options seems to be ending it.

I just don't know if I can.

It's probably for the best though.

It's not like we'd be losing anything- we kissed once. Well, twice. Ish. Any feelings we have for each other can't be that serious, right?

I pull on Diesel's reigns a little, slowing him down to a walk. Besides Avery, who slows Feather down, too, no one notices.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"Nothing," I sigh, shaking my head. "I'm just- thinking."

"About?"

I lower my voice. "About us- about what happened."

He sighs and shakes his head. "Yeah, me too."

"What do you think we should do?" I ask. "And don't be a smart ass and avoid the question this time."

"Honestly? I don't know," he replies quietly. "I know I like you. I also know you're going home in about 5 weeks. And that- if we were to continue like this- we'd have to sneak around. A lot."

I blush and stare at the ground. "Yeah. It's like there are two voices in my head right now. One of them is saying to get out of this, because it won't end well for anyone. To forget that it happened. But the other part-"

I stop talking and look up at him

"The other part really wants to kiss you right now," I whisper, my voice soft and alluring.

"Avery! Grace! You guys are falling behind, get your horses up here," Claire yells.

"Yes ma'am," I call back, digging my heels into Diesel's side. I push him past his trot and into a lope to clear the distance between us and the herd.

I get there first, and Avery is beside me in a few moments.

"Grey?" he quietly says.

"Yeah?"

"I know which voice I want to listen to-" he says, looking deeply into my eyes. "Do you?"

A/N

I don't have much to say! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Oh I started watching heartland. It's the greatest tv show in the universe. I finished season one in less than 24 hours. I'm in the middle of season 2 now!

Good night my lovelies!

(I know it's not actually night, but I don't care lol)