"Is there any way I can persuade you to take this cake off my hands?"
Avery lifts her gaze from the screen in front of her at the sound of Anna's voice, seeing her boss stood in the office kitchenette across the room, door to the fridge wide open before her.
"We have all this cake left from the book club meeting – they're all on a diet together or something," She continues, lifting the two paper boxes that's taken up half of the fridge for three consecutive days out and placing them on top the marble counter. "I doubt they'll last through the weekend. Do you want to take one home? Really, you'd be doing me a favor."
"Oh," Avery mindlessly grabs the pen lying in front of her on the desk, tapping it against her leg. It's only her first week of interning at T.H Publishing but if the past five days have been any indication of what's to come it's definitely looking to be even better than she could've imagined. Especially if she's about to be sent off with left over book club sweets every Friday. Smiling, she nods, "Yeah, okay. I'll survive some cake."
Twenty minutes – and having made sure at least four times that all documents have been properly saved and backed up before shutting the computer off – later Avery bids Anna goodbye and leaves the office behind.
Running down the three flights of stairs turns out to be a bit more of a struggle while also carrying a box of Carrot Cake in her hands but she eventually reaches the ground floor and manages to balance her hold on the box long enough to twist the lock and push the door open. She digs through her tote as she steps out into the early summer afternoon, skin already growing sticky from the warmth in the air and pauses just a few steps out of the door as she searches for her sunglasses.
She glances up momentarily as a car sidles up next to her on the street, double parking without even caring to try and fit it into the open parking space by the curb.
Readjusting her grip on the box she feels her fingers clasp around her sunglasses at the bottom of the bag and with a breath of relief she pulls them out as something about the Volvo SUV pursues her to lift her gaze again. She recognizes it.
As soon as the car door swings open and the driver steps out, removing his own sunglasses and pulling a hand through his dark brown hair in the process, she realizes why.
Holding back a sigh she watches as he shuts the door behind him, wondering if it's too late to make a run for it – Carrot Cake, tote bag and all. Just as she casts a glance down the block as to survey her chances, he spots her. Ugh.
Rounding the car, locking it with a nonchalant flick of his hand as he does, his brows raise slightly as he shoots her a look of recognition. "Waters."
She's sure there's a scowl on her face as she puts her sunglasses on, casting everything in a orange-like glow, and she's not making any effort to wipe it away. "Taylor."
He continues on without another word, walking past her and into the very same building she's just come from.
She's stood there for a moment, seeing her own reflection in the window before lifting her hand to her hair, releasing the blonde thickness from the hair clip keeping it up in a loose bun. She pulls her fingers through it to shake it out before turning on her heel, her lips pulling into a small smile as the sun hits her face. Taking a new firm hold of the cake box, she steers her steps towards the City Circle, thinking that she'll have time to get herself an iced chai at Beans & Bagels before she's supposed to meet up with her mother.
♡♡♡
"Are you chewing gum? It sounds like you're chewing gum."
Avery pops the bubble of pink gum she's in the process of blowing. "No."
"You know I hate it when you do that!" Lea exhales the words in an exasperated breath. "I cannot stand it."
Using her free hand to push herself around in circles where she's sat cross legged on her wheeled desk chair in her bedroom, Avery adjusts the position of the phone between her shoulder and ear. She knows all too well how Lea hates chewing sounds – any sounds she finds uncomfortable really – and she bites down her lip as she pictures her friend clenching her hands together in an effort to not let it get to her.
"You left me all alone in Acebridge for the entire summer Leandra Camila," Avery reminds her while throwing her gum out. "So I will do whatever I please, thank you."
"Wait, you're going on speaker," Lea says, her voice being exchanged for a crackling sound before she's back on the line, seeming further away now than before as she speaks again. "Cal? Would you be my guest and tell Avery what gum does to her body?"
Avery rolls her eyes. "No need Callie, I've heard the lecture several times already."
Callie's chirping voice booms through the phone. "So then I don't have to tell you you're chewing on a piece of plastic right now?"
She eyes the trashcan beneath her desk, nose scrunching up. "No."
"How's the internship?"
Avery perks up at the mention of one of the few good things about the summer ahead of her. "Up until now it's mostly paperwork, but it's fun! And Anna said I'll get to read manuscripts and sit in on meetings soon enough so I'm really looking forward to it."
"Anything else happening in Acebridge?"
"Not that I know of. All I do is work, eat and stare at a spot on the wall," Avery sighs back against her chair, letting it come to a slow stop from the spinning. "How's D.C?"
"It's really fun!" Lea says. "Everyone's really cool."
"To you," Callie adds. "Try being Senator Montgomery's granddaughter – not as cool."
Avery grimaces, knowing that when her two friends left for the National Student Leadership camp in Washington D.C. Callie had absolutely no plans on letting anyone know of her connection to the man. Not because of his politics – those are vastly popular, but rather because of wanting to create her own path without the direct association being made.
"At least they like him, no?"
"The most of them, yes."
"Hey," Avery says then as a thought comes fleeting through her mind. "You'll never guess who I ran into today."
"Who?"
"Ethan Taylor."
She snorts when Lea makes a mock-gagging sound at the same time as Callie utters an "Ugh,". It makes her miss them even more and a small ounce of bitterness creeps over her at the thought of the two of them sat together in front of the phone while she's here all by herself. It passes as soon as it comes and soon she lets a small laugh escape her lips.
"My reaction exactly."
"Hope you punched him in the jaw." Callie jokes.
The corners of Avery's mouth twist up. "Didn't have the pleasure unfortunately."
"Hey Avery?" Lea's voice is barely an echo as it comes through the phone. "I'm really sorry but we have to head out for a sightseeing tour."
"Okay," Avery sinks further into her seat. "You have fun."
"You too."
She scoffs. "As if."
"Well, at least try not to decompose over there – okay? It's summer! Live a little."
She throws her phone onto the bed as soon as they've hung up and gets to her feet. Shooting a glance her closet's way she wonders if she should go for a run. Nodding to herself, she crosses the room with a silent sigh to get some athletic wear out.
If she'd known a few months earlier that Callie and Lea were to disappear for the entire summer she wouldn't have bothered to campaign for them to make student body-and vice president. Or well, yes, she probably would've, but it wouldn't have hurt if instead of her friends spending their first four weeks of summer break over in D.C. they'd been here with her. In Acebridge. Heading home from a day at the beach in this very second.
♡♡♡
She's reminded of her loneliness once again as she runs past Nic's house on the way home – only a stones' throw away from her own – and she makes a mental note to call him later to see how he's doing.
Taking the last turn before sprinting up her own street, she pushes herself to resist the urge to come to a stop and walk the last short distance, her legs protesting the slight uphill slope. She's panting heavily as she finally lets herself topple onto the patch of front lawn outside their two story house, her arms flung to her side where she lies on her back, staring up into the blue sky.
The internship at the indie book publisher is more than she could have ever wished for and she still has a hard time believing Anna actually hired her. T.H Publishing is a small enterprise and the application she sent in had been a complete gamble considering they don't usually do internships. But not only did Anna respond to the email holding her cover letter, she'd also called her in for an interview.
It had been less of an interview and more of a conversation and upon leaving she already held the title of summer intern – which was quite a relief considering every other application she'd sent out for a summer job had come back denied.
Apparently the standard is that experience is needed for a job which will ultimately give you the experience.
She could've probably have landed a spot down at the ice cream parlor by the beach with Luke's help but having to willingly stare at those hideous blue walls several hours of every day truly would've been taking a last resort.
So here she is, on the fifth day of the internship of her dreams, and aside from the one week she's asked for leave in July she'll spend the following nine surrounded by the love of her life – books. Not to mention how great it'll be to put on her résumé for future reference.
She really couldn't have asked for a better summer experience than to work with Anna Harrison, who's turning out to be an even more impressive woman than Avery – though they instantly clicked – originally realized upon meeting her for the first time. Anna literally built the small publishing house from the ground up from the living room of her house and now it sits in an office just a couple of blocks off of Main Street with four full-time employees. Not to speak of how incredibly kind she is. Avery's determined to spend the next nine weeks soaking up whatever wisdom the thirty-something has to share.
Nevertheless, when picturing her working for the publisher she hadn't counted on being the only one of her group of five friends left in town.
She'd imagined her summer days alternating between work and wasting the hours away at the beach running along Acebridge's coast with her friends. Tormenting Luke at the ice cream parlor, per usual. Lounge in the shade of the trees in the park across from the City Library. Movie nights and summer adventures to suppress the knowledge of their looming senior year. Instead, for the first time in years, the five friends are set to spend the entirety of summer apart – well, except for Callie and Lea who are spending the first four weeks of it together in D.C. And she's left to her own devices, the summer days she once knew a distant memory.
Behind her she hears the squeaking sound of the kitchen window being propped open, interrupting her trail of thought, and she sits up. Turning her head over her shoulder she sees her mother beam back at her.
Sarah Waters's blonde bob sways forward as she leans out through the window, calling, "What's your opinion on pizza?"
Avery gets to her feet, thinking it's time she heads inside to shower. She stretches her neck to one side and then the other, "Depends – are we getting them from the Neapolitan place?"
"We could."
"Then my opinion is that pizzas are great."
♡♡♡
For once, they decide to dine at the restaurant instead of ordering take out, figuring they might as well in the name of it being a Friday night and a nice summer night at that. They're sat across from one another at a petite checkered clothed table for two in the fenced open air cafe on the sidewalk, the large windows allowing them to see the inside interior of the restaurant.
"That dress is so wonderful," Sarah notes as she lifts her glass of red wine to her lips. She nods towards Avery who glances down at the white linen sundress, embroidered with tiny colorful flowers at it's skirt. "You're growing into such a beautiful woman."
"Mom."
"You are!" Sarah sets the glass down, grabbing her knife and fork to cut into the pizza in front of her.
Avery doesn't say anything, simply shaking her head with a smile – knowing from the warmth on her cheeks that there's a tint of a blush on them – as she mimics her mother's motions. They slice the pizzas in half, placing the halves on each other's plates.
Just as they've dug in, their attention is caught by a woman – older than Avery, younger than Sarah – placing her hand on Avery's shoulder.
"Hi there!" She says.
Avery wipes at her mouth with her napkin, smiling. "Oh, hello. Mom this is Anna, who's founded T.H Publishing. Anna, this is my mother."
"So you are the one who's raised this impeccable young woman," Anna says upon the two women greeting one another with a handshake. "I can only hope I'll do as well of a job with my daughter."
Avery presses her lips together, willing herself to not look like she wants the sidewalk to open up and swallow her whole as she hears the compliment, fidgeting a bit with the napkin in her lap.
"Oh, gee thanks," Sarah says, lips curling into a smile as a small blush creeps onto her cheeks. "And with how Avery raves about you, I think I can say with certainty that your daughter is in good hands."
"Mom."
"One can only hope," Anna chirps and glances around the crowded open air cafe – eyes casting over the checkered tablecloths and the propped open door to the restaurant. "This sure looks nice."
"Are you here for dinner?" Avery asks.
"Just picking some pizzas up," Anna says. "Though now I wish we'd sat down to eat here. Oh well, I won't disturb you. I should go and fetch those pizzas before my kids are ready to kill me for keeping them away."
Sarah laughs. "You do that. It was nice to finally put a face to the name."
"Likewise."
As they've bid their goodbyes, Avery cuts herself an attempted slice and lifts the thin bread with her hands, pressing her teeth into the soft cheese.
She sighs with a flutter of her eyes as the taste spreads over her tongue. "Heaven."
"Your boss seems nice."
"She's magic."
Sarah taps her fingers against her wine glass, a big smile on her lips as she regards her daughter. "I think this summer is going to be really great for you honey."
. . .
note: and we're off!
okay, so here's the thing – I have very poor impulse control, meaning I wasn't supposed to post this until I had at least half of the story pre-written but I got bored of only writing and not sharing so here I am, sharing the first chapter with you guys!
eventually, I'll hopefully have more of an update schedule to refer to but as of right now I'll just post whenever I deem it right to do so.
I decided I truly wanted to start fresh this time around and so I got brave and deleted all previous chapter-parts, meaning I also lost the comments and votes but this way I get to really see the process of this version without having the other looming over it so I'm very excited about that!
much love, L.