I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. As my eyes fluttered open, my heart jumped when the room I was in didn't belong to me. I looked over to find the nameless boy still sound asleep. Oh yeah! I spent the night. I thought about waking him up, but he looked so peaceful and I didn't want to disturb him. Since it was Saturday, I was in no hurry to leave or get up, so I let myself fall back into a nice slumber.
"Arabella." He said walking towards me.
"Please don't leave me," I said.
"Leave you? You're the one going to the other side of the United States." He said angrily.
"I know, but we can make it work. Is there any way you could come with me?"
"It's all about you, isn't it? You don't care about anyone around you. You don't even have the guts to tell your parents that you've accepted the letter and approved it. And your friends, you turned down Avery just for him to go with that terrible ex of his just so you could go with me, after I explained that proms weren't my thing. You don't even care to hear your sister out when she feels alone and needs you most."
"Don't, please. That's not true, I-"
"You're selfish, Arabella. That's all you are. You may be smart and pretty but at the end of the day, the only person you care about is yourself. That's all you are, Arabella."
"Please, please don't say that!" I cried.
"Arabella."
The tears fell from my face as I felt my world crashing down around me.
"Arabella!"
"Arabella!"
"What?" I jumped. His hands were on my shoulders and he had a concerned expression upon his face.
"Were you having a nightmare?" He asked.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess I was. It felt real though." I said catching my breath.
"Story of my life." He scoffed.
"What time is it?"
"About eleven." He said after glancing at his radio.
"How did you sleep?"
"That was the first good night of sleep I've gotten in ages." He smiled.
"Really?" I asked as my eyes lit up.
"Yeah. I didn't have one nightmare at all. I slept like a rock."
"Maybe it's because you've been lonely. Sleeping alone every single night can do that to you, you know." I said as nicely as possible.
"Or maybe the fact that you were in my arms. I felt...comfort."
"Me too." I smiled.
"Too bad this can never happen again." He sighed.
"Why not? You can tell me anything. I don't understand what could be such a secret. Are you in the FBI or something?"
He laughed. "No, no. I just can't. Besides, you don't need someone messed up like me getting into your life. You've got your future set up and ready. I'll find my way. I have things to do."
"What kind of things?" I asked.
"Again, I can't say."
"Dude, you're killing me here," I complained.
"I know, I'm sorry." He looked down.
"Can we at least still go to prom together?" I asked hopefully for a sympathetic 'yes'.
"I don't know." He said scratching his head.
"Think about it. Okay? It's senior year. We don't get another chance at prom after this." It was true. As cheesy as prom is, it's something special that we should attend simply for the hell of it and because we can. I have a theory that it's not lame unless you make it lame. With the right people and music, it could be great.
"Okay, I will."
"Well, I guess I should get going now," I said getting up from the comfy bed.
"Arabella." He said taking ahold of my hand.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry it has to be like this."
"It doesn't have to be, but you've made your choice," I said making my way towards the door and picking up my bags. As I walked away, I could feel a sting in my chest and my stomach knot, but I didn't dare look behind me. It would've been too hard to leave.
I guess this was it.
"Daniela, please come over."
"I can't! I'm at my grandma's today. She's making enchiladas for my family."
"Oh, that sounds amazing. I guess it wouldn't have made sense anyway...I kind of told my parents that I spent the night at your place."
"What? Why? Where were you!" She asked frantically.
"At His cabin. I spent the night, but NOTHING happened."
"Oh my goodness! You guys did it, didn't you?" She squealed. "Arabella you need to chill!"
"No! God, no. Nothing like that happened! It was late and he let me spend the night, because apparently now we can't even be friends anymore. He didn't make any sense. Now that I think about it, maybe it was just his schizophrenia acting up."
"Yeah, that's probably why! Or just an excuse to sleep with you."
"That's all we did! Literally just slept!" I yelled. "The weird thing is how normal he seemed though. He was acting as if we were a couple...so I can't imagine that it would be acting up."
"Hmm." She hummed in thought.
"I'll ask Avery what he thinks. Surely he'll have an opinion."
"Yeah!"
"I'll talk to you later. Tell your grandma hi for me."
I hung up and immediately asked Avery to come over. My sister walked into my room, the stench of her bath and body works perfume surrounding my room in a cloud.
"Could you lay off the perfume?" I coughed.
"No, it wears off after like an hour, so I have to put on a lot." She explained.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"None of your business."
"Jamie."
"Arabella." She mocked my tone.
"Fine, be like that. I'm just trying to be a caring sister who actually cares about her little sister's life and plans for the day."
"Worry about yourself. You need the help." She crossed her arms.
"Last time I checked, you're the one who came into my room. What do you want?"
She rolled her eyes. "I need to borrow a shirt."
"Again? No way, go. You have plenty. I've seen the number of clothes scattered on your floor."
"They're on the floor because they're dirty. Duh."
"Then do laundry. Duh."
"Whatever, you suck." She said walking out.
"Love you too."
To waste some time, I worked on an essay due next Thursday and some college algebra worksheets. Sorting out math problems always calmed me down for some reason. It was soothing. Probably because I was working out problems that weren't my own.
"Honey! Avery is here!" My mom yelled an hour later.
"Come up!" I yelled.
Avery came in with his usual messy hair and denim jacket. "Hey!"
"Hey! How's it going?"
"So good. I slept in until one today."
"So you woke up...an hour and a half ago."
"Yep!"
"Nice." I laughed.
"What have you done all day?" He asked plopping down onto my bean bag.
"I was at the nameless boy's cabin."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I spent the night there last night."
His face became pale and he cleared his throat. "What?"
"Nothing happened, in fact, he said it was the last time we could spend time together. He officially wants nothing to do with me or even attempt a relationship."
He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
"It's cool. It was doomed from the start. I was so dumb to actually get feelings."
"It's not like you did it on purpose...feelings just happen and there's nothing you can do. Once they're there, you can't just ignore them. You're stuck. No matter what, nothing can change it."
I looked up at Avery and realized what he was hinting at. He was talking about his feelings for me. Great, just great.
"Avery-"
"It's okay. You don't have to explain. I know how it is."
I felt a punch of guilt in my gut. What was I supposed to say now? "So...him and I were a bad idea from the start, right? I shouldn't keep fighting for him."
"From experience, you never end up winning the fight, so why try?"
"I'm sorry for coming to you with this. I honestly thought you didn't have any more feelings for me."
"I pretended not to because I knew it would make your life easier."
"Thank you, but don't lie to me okay? We're too close to lie."
"Deal."
"Come here, kid," I said standing up and holding my arms out. He smiled as he gave me a tight hug.
"I'm going to miss you so much once fall rolls back around."
"That's still a whole other year away, let's not think about that right now," I said.
"Good idea."
"So...I found out why Daniela has been keeping a leash on Kade," I said raising one eyebrow.
"Do tell."
"Ever since Kade started rehearsing for that play, he started hanging out with one of the girls in it and it became more than just rehearsing. He was blowing Dani off to spend time with her instead."
"Woah, really? You know, I have seen him talking with some chick from theatre a lot around school and in between classes."
"Yeah! It might be innocent and he may just be strictly friends with this girl, but he's choosing her over Daniela at times, which isn't cool. So I don't know. She told me she'd talk to him today, but she's at her grandma's.
"They'll work it out. Kade's not one to cheat. He'd never do that to her. Plus, he wouldn't complain about her to us if he were. My guess; he's oblivious to the fact of how much time he's been spending with his friend over Daniela."
"Definitely." I nodded.
There was an awkward silence that filled the air, which doesn't ever happen with Avery and I. We just stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something.
"So...do you want to make out now?" Avery asked bluntly.
"Excuse me?"
"Well I mean you're here and I'm here. There's nothing to do. We both have no love life whatsoever now that the mystery man is out of the picture."
"Avery, I can't just make out with you because it's convenient. I respect you too much. It'd be weird."
"See, but by not kissing me and thinking it's weird is actually the opposite of respecting me." He smirked.
"Shut up." I smacked his arm.
"I had to try." He laughed.
"You failed!" I said tackling him down to the ground. "Even after all these years, I can still pin you down."
"Oh really?" He said before using a huge force of strength that I couldn't overpower. Before I knew it, he was now on top of me with my arms pinned on both sides of my head. "The tables have turned Adams."
"What the...where did this secret strength come from?" I said catching my breath. I was still trying to free myself from his grip, but it was no use.
"Aww, you didn't actually think you won all those wrestle wars all these years, did you?"
"I did! You were a weakling!"
"No darling, I would let you win as an excuse for you to be on top of me." He winked.
I gasped before getting one of my hands-free to shove him off. "You're sick! That's terrible!"
He laughed heartedly. "Sorry, it's true."
"All this time I thought I was strong but you were just being a little hormonal teenager."
"Well, when you say it like that it sounds disturbing." He continued laughing.
"It is!"
"Doo, you're great." He smiled.
"Shut up, I'm mad at you now."
"Don't be like that." He said poking my side. "Come on, you can't stay mad at me."
"I am!"
Poke. Poke. Poke.
"Stop, Avery!"
Poke. Poke.
"You're childish. We're seniors!"
Poke.
"If I treat us to frozen yogurt will you stop?"
"Yes!" He exclaimed like a little kid.
"Awesome. Let's get going." I giggled.
We drove off to the yogurt place while ACDC blasted from the car stereo. If you couldn't tell by now, Avery is really into classic rock.
"I've been looking at the sky 'cause it's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die
I got nine lives
Cat's eyes!"
As the wind from outside made my hair dance, I looked over at him. He was screaming the lyrics like a complete dork and his messy dark hair flipped perfectly in sync with his head banging. I realized Avery is truly one of the greatest friends I'll ever have, and I couldn't be more grateful.
* * *
Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! You got to see a little more of Avery and Arabella's friendship, which I personally love. I've wished for a friend like him forever! I'll be updating as soon as possible! Keep on the look out for updates and thank you so much for reading!
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