Chapter 26
"At least I still have Isabella. She'll be happy when I tell her that she can have her family back." Avery said as he turned to leave.
"Have fun." I said, turning my head, "Don't get her pregnant..." I whispered to myself.
I walked over to Julia's house later that night. I waited on her doorstep for her to open the door with her arms open wide, but no one answered. "Come in!" She yelled from the other side of the door.
Hey, Rach. How's it going?" Julia asked as soon as I walked in.
"I'm back with my parents. Avery said it wasn't a good idea that we live together. Isabella, his ex, texted me and told me they slept together, again." I said.
"When did she text you?"
"Right after they 'finished'." I said, the thought of it gave me chills.
"Well, that's gross." Julia said.
My cell phone interrupted our conversation, I looked at it.
"Can I come over later? I want to talk to u." The text was from Avery.
"Who is that?" Julia asked me.
"Avery." I said, as I typed in, "Why do u all the sudden want to talk? It's been almost two weeks, Avery."
My phone buzzed, "I was wrong, okay? I don't want Izzie. I want u."
"Fine. Come over at 9."
"What did he want?" Julia said, enunciating the word 'he'.
"He wanted to come over tonight."
"Why did you give in, Rach? You know what he did to you! How do you know this won't happen again?" Julia said, flooding me with questions.
"I never said I'd get back together with him. I'm going to leave now, and go see him. I'll call you later." I said, giving Julia a quick hug and leaving.
Avery walked into my room about twenty minutes after I got home. He opened the door slowly and looked in, I'm guessing to make sure I was here. "Hey." Avery said.
"Hey." I said, “Why are you opening the door so slowly?” I asked.
“Well, I wanted to make sure you were here, and dressed. I’m sure you didn’t want me opening the door while you were half naked. Or…Did you want me to?” Avery asked, starting to joke. A grin formed on his face.
“Don’t joke like that.” I said, giving him a dirty look.
“Okay, okay, sorry.”
"Why did you want to come over?" I asked.
"I wanted to say that I was sorry. And what I said, a few weeks ago, about Isabella, it's not true." He told me.
"Why did it take you almost two weeks to realize this?" I asked, worried for his answer. "Did you get back together with her?"
"Yes. Only for a few days, she's so controlling. She's not the one for me. You are. I want you to come back to me, Ray." Avery said, starting to get closer to me.
"Well, I'm not just going to jump back into a relationship with you. I'm going to have to give it time." I told him, backing away.
"I'm sorry. But I came over here to tell you that tomorrow is my birthday, and I wanted to take you out to dinner. If you wanted to, that is." Avery said, looking down at the floor.
I took a deep breath in, "Only because it's your birthday." I said.
"Great. I'm really happy you said yes."
"Okay, but Avery?" I said, knowing where this could end up.
"Yeah?"
"Since we're not together, there will be no flirting, or kissing, or anything of that nature." I told him, laying down the law.
"Ah, that's sad. Oh well, I'll get over it."
"Well, maybe a little." I said, already falling through on what I had just said.
"We'll just go along with it. Whatever happens happens." Avery said, whispering in my ear softly.
"Okay." I said, swallowing hard, I suddenly felt the urge to pull him close to me and kiss him, but I couldn't, I had to be strong.
"I better get going. I'll see you tomorrow." Avery said, kissing me on the cheek.
That next day, I got all ready to go out to dinner with Avery. I put on a short red dress, and I pulled my hair back into a bun. To go with the necklace, I put on a pearl necklace and red earrings. Finally, I looked in the mirror to make sure I looked alright. When I confirmed everything was okay, I left my house and went to Avery's.
I got a table outside at the restaurant. I sat there for about five minutes before I saw someone coming towards me, I didn't recognize them at first, but as they got closer to me, I realized it was Avery. He was wearing black pants, a white tee-shirt and a blazer. That was the one first time I had seen Avery wearing a shirt with sleeves.
"Hey." He said, pulling me out of my seat and into his arms.
"Hey." I said, blushing. He planted a small kiss on my lips as we hugged. I blushed again.
"Too far?" He asked.
"No, that was fine." I said, smiling and taking my seat again.
"Happy Birthday." I said, smiling.
"Thanks. How have you been?" He responded.
"Fine, I guess. But, why did you leave like that? A few weeks ago. You said you 'still have Isabella', that hurt, Avery. I don't want to feel that I have to compete with another girl to be in your life." I went ahead and told him everything on my mind.
"I'm sorry. I know, I shouldn't have said that. I realized that after I left what a jerk I had been. The thing with me and Izzie, it should have never happened." Avery said, looking me dead in the eye.
"Okay, I forgive you. But, I want to let you know, if it happens again, I'm not going to want any contact with you. I can't get hurt like that again, Avery." I said, I meant what I said, too.
"Okay. It won't happen again."
He leaned over and kissed me, it wasn't meant to be anything but a small kiss. I pulled away and looked at him, "What was that for?"
"No reason, I missed you, Ray." Avery said to me.
"I missed you too." I said back.
Our kiss turned into something longer and passionate we both got into it more, it wasn't just a goodbye kiss, it was more, it meant more. I enjoyed it, even though we weren't officially 'together'.
"Does this mean we're official again?" I asked him softly.
"I don't know, do you want to be?" Avery asked me.
"Yes." I said without hesitation.
We broke away and Avery stood up, "What are you doing?" I asked, giggling.
"Getting up so I can ask you formally. I'm the guy, aren't I supposed to ask you?"
"Yes, that's usually how it works." I said, still laughing.
"Okay then, get up." Avery said, grabbing my hand and helping me up, even though I didn't need it.
"Rachel Dixon, will you be my girlfriend?" Avery asked, looking into my eyes.
"Yes." I whispered to him. He kissed me quickly, and we went back to his house.
Once we got back to Avery's house, the sun was starting to rise, "I'm going to go home, I'll see you later." I told him.
"Okay, I'll see you later." He said, kissing me goodbye.
Julia came over to my house later on that day; after I had gotten a little bit of sleep and a shower, "So, tell me everything that happened!" Julia said eager for details.
"He took me out to dinner." I said, giggling at her excitement.
"That's it? Did he ask you...Like are you back together?" She asked me, still eager.
"Yeah, we're together again." I told her.
"Rachel?" Avery called as he walked into my house.
"Oh, hey." I turned around to see him there.
"Well, Rach, I'm going to leave, you guys have fun." She said, winking at me and heading to the door.
"Jules..." I started, but before I could finish she was out the door.
"Why did she leave when I got here?" Avery asked me slowly.
"She's crazy. You changed your shirt. I like it, it's different. But, it's still black. You never wear any color." I told him, taking his hand.
"Well next time I see you, I'll be sure to wear a shirt with a giant rainbow on it, just for you." He said, jokingly.
"But why do you only wear black?" I asked him.
"I dunno, I've always worn mostly black. It blends, I don't usually stand out."
"Well okay, then." I said.
We got upstairs and laid down on my bed. Not two seconds after we laid down, Avery pulled me on top of him. He began to kiss me, and all I could think, was that I was happy I was with him again. These past few weeks had been rough, but it was worth it.
After a few minutes we sat back up, and Avery took me in his arms. I felt safe with him, and would stay like that forever if I could.
"I love you, I'm glad we're back together." He said to me as he cuddled up closer.
"I love you too, and I'm glad too." I said, and I meant every word of it.