"Thank you,"
Avery takes the cup of iced chai from the barista before crisscrossing through the crowd in the air conditioned coffee shop, swinging the door open and stepping out into the rather cloudy, but still warm, day.
She adjusts her grasp of her phone, again getting annoyed at herself for forgetting her earphones. "Sorry, you were saying?"
"Oh I was just complaining about Caia and Benjamin ditching me," Luke says, referring to his siblings. "And don't get me started on how they left me alone with my cousins. They're cute but they doesn't want to do anything other than play every second of every day. There are too many people in this house."
Avery's lips pull into a small smile – knowing how the Colorado house is on the brink of being overcrowded when she and her mother join the Adams family every year for Christmas she can only imagine how it feels to share it between two families made up of five and seven members each.
"Maybe you should've thought about that before leaving me here," She says, taking a turn off of Main Street onto a small alleyway path to one of the city circle's pedestrian streets, steering her steps towards the two story bookstore. She has some time to spare before meeting up with her mother, who's spent the day at the New York offices, when she arrives from the airport in a few hours. In the meantime she might as well wander some stores and it's only sane to start with her favorite one. "Think of all the fun we could've had."
"What are you up to right now?"
Avery stops, drawing in a deep breath as the corners of her mouth twist up. "Just entered paradise."
"You're buying books aren't you?"
"No one said anything about buying," She points out, walking up the stairs to start from the top and work her way down. "But yes, probably."
She rolls her eyes at the sound of Luke yawning. "Boring."
"Says the person spending his days playing hide and seek," Avery pauses by a shelf, balancing the cup of iced chai in the crook of her elbow to free her hand and lets her fingers graze against the spines. She pulls a paperback out, turning it over in her hand with a small smile on her lips – she's already read it but it doesn't hurt to say hello. Putting it back in its place, she sips the iced chai and continues down the aisle. "Have you heard anything from Nic lately?"
"Only that his reception sucks and he barely has any time to use his phone anyways."
Avery nods to herself. "Same."
It's about the gist of her own FaceTime call with their friend a mere week before – Nic had been propped up against a wall of pillows in the top bunk of a bed, the screen freezing every five seconds as they spoke. They'd grazed the subject of their respective summer jobs – him as a camp counselor, hers the internship at T.H Publishing – before losing themselves in a conversation of nothings spanning on over an hour or two.
"I was thinking the other day...," Luke begins and Avery smiles to herself as she mindlessly lets her fingers dance over the spines of the books on a shelf.
"Well that's a first."
"Ha ha. Very funny," Luke drawls. "Anyways, I realized this is the first time we've all properly been away from each other for an entire summer."
"Uh, yeah. I'm very much aware thank you."
"You should come here for a while!"
Avery changes hands – one of them too cold from the iced drink and the other cramping from having to hold the phone. "Didn't you just say the house is too crowded?"
"We'll make room. It'll be fun!" Luke's voice picks up pace. "We'd make it fun – like go play adventure golf at the place where Caia works. Embarrass her and the lot."
"Because playing games with you is fun," Avery jokes, stopping again to pick another book up. She skims the back before putting it back. Then, quite pointedly, she says. "I have a job."
"Right," Luke stays silent for a bit and she hears a collective murmur of voices on his end of the line, followed by the sound of what could be a door closing. His voice is more distant, as if picked up by the wind when he speaks again, "How's that going?"
"It's really fun! I get to read a lot."
"And yet you spend your free afternoon in a bookstore."
"Not just a bookstore, I've been to Beans & Bagels and I'm–" Upon spotting a familiar face Avery smiles in passing. "Hi."
"Who was that?"
"Just Chase."
"Lea's Chase?"
Her brows knit together. She's not sure the best way to refer to Lea's latest ex boyfriend – or well, ex-fling might be more suitable – is by still putting her name before his, especially when Luke could've easily referred to the fact that he goes to their school. Even more so Chase plays on the same team as Luke but knowing there are probably several underlying reasons as to why he mentioned the girl she goes with it anyways.
"Uh huh."
"How are they anyway?"
"Who? Lea and Callie?" Avery continues over to the next section, met with the sight of Hillary Rodham Clinton's latest biography stood on a small easel in the center of a table. How ironic. "Busy. Learning the ropes to become the leaders of tomorrow or something like that. Why, haven't you heard from them?"
"Not much besides the group chat. As you said – busy."
"Yeah," She hears a loud echoing sound, as if someone just dropped an armful of pots to the floor, followed by someone exclaiming a row of swear words on his end of the call. "What was that?"
"Honestly, I don't even want to know," Luke's tone is tired but picks up beat with his next words. "Tell me you're doing something other than spending all your time around books."
"What's wrong with books?"
"Ave."
"No i do not spend all my time around books. I'm spending plenty of time with mom. And my colleagues – though it's just Anna and Violet right now. They're both really nice. I run a lot," On second thought she adds, "And I've gone swimming!"
Not that she would count the one time she's been into the ocean the past weeks as swimming but it's close enough.
"Ave."
She pauses, holding her phone between her shoulder and ear while reaching her hand out for another paperback. "It's not my fault you left me all alone here! I thought we'd been over this already."
"Have you interacted with anyone you're not on the same payroll as?" Luke asks. "Sarah doesn't count."
She pauses. Ethan Taylor, actually. Yeah, as if she'd ever unleash that hell. "Not really, no."
It takes a moment or two before Luke answers her and before he does she hers him mumble – or rather grunt – something to someone on his end. "I have to go."
"Oh, okay."
"Go out. Talk to people."
"I do talk to people!" Avery whips her head over her shoulder to make sure no one's around – not having meant the words to come out quite as loud as they did.
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, yeah I will," She says, though she has no plan to do so. Talk to what people? It seems the only other person her age left in this town is Ethan Taylor. Which, obviously isn't true but she's not about to make an effort to go out and find them. She has her four friends – that's how she likes it and it's not her fault they've all left her behind. Besides, she's beginning to feel perfectly satisfied spending her days at the office and her nights crawled up on the couch watching romantic comedies. "Tell everyone I said hi."
"Hey," Luke says as if on afterthought. "When are you leaving for the trip?"
"A couple of weeks."
Following another string of sentences bidding their goodbyes, both coming up with something else to say just as they're about to hang up, they actually do hang up and Avery glances around the top floor as an idea makes it way through her mind.
She sips the iced chai – which, really, isn't much more than melted ice cubes at this point – and beelines for the stairs, headed for the travel section on the ground floor. She's not leaving without a guide on what to do in Orlando.
♡♡♡
They're in the middle of watching a movie as Avery's phone rings. She slides the device out from where it lies beneath one of the decorative pillows.
"It's Robert."
Her mother doesn't offer up a comment but she might as well have – Avery doesn't miss the way her eyes flicker to the watch on her wrist, lips settling into a thin line at the late hour. Sarah reaches for the remote, putting the film on pause and gets to her feet.
"I'll get the dishes out of the way." She says softly, her footsteps barely audible as she leaves the living room behind.
Avery slides her finger over the screen, putting the phone to her ear. "Hi."
"Hi sweetheart, how are things?"
"Good!" She shifts in her seat, folding her legs underneath her and leans against the backrest of their forest green couch. She's about to tell him of their nice night – the fairly rare occasion of a home cooked meal and that they're in the middle of watching a romantic comedy – but cuts herself short before she's even begun talking.
Realizing it could be ground for her father to launch into one of his monologues of how he always manages to call at the wrong time, burdening them, so instead she reaches for the Lonely Planet Pocket that lies on top of the coffee table.
She opens it with her index finger, riffling the pages.
"I got myself a guide book on Orlando today actually!" She chirps. "I know we already have quite an itinerary but you know..., I thought it'd be nice."
"We're so glad you're coming with," Robert says, causing Avery's smile to widen distinctly. "Amelia's been going on and on about it to her friends at tennis camp. She's really excited you're going to be there."
Avery can't really see how the girl could be so excited to have her around considering she hasn't seen the girl since she was a toddler but warmth spreads through her chest at the words either way. She's surprised the girl even knows who she is.
Most she's slightly taken aback over the fact that Amelia plays tennis. The last time Avery interacted with her younger sister they spent time fitting Duplo Bricks together.
Still, the words have her heart fluttering, the thought of her father talking about her over there keeping her smile in place, and she sinks further back into the cushion, listening to what he has to say next.
♡♡♡
They never did end up finishing the movie considering both she and her mom had been too tired once Avery ended the call with her father, deciding to continue on with it tomorrow night instead but though she headed to bed two hours ago Avery's still wide awake
It's just past one a.m, her bedroom bathes in darkness except for the blue-ish light radiating from the phone in her hand where she's halfway propped up on her pillows.
She's not exactly sure how she ended up scrolling through Ethan Taylor's Instagram but here she is – very carefully treading through the pictures as to not accidentally like anything.
She's not exactly unfamiliar to the phenomenon of social media lurking – it just so happens it's one of Callie, Lea and hers favorite pastimes. She admits the curiosity has overcome her to have a look at the Ace East students profiles before, including Ethan's, but it's never been in the dead of night when she should be sound asleep. Especially since she has work in the morning but she can't seem to tear herself away.
This time though, she has no idea what triggered her to open up the app in the first place.
Though they haven't run into one another anywhere outside work since the night at the pizzeria, she's come to grow accustomed to stumbling over him in the publishing offices where he's seemingly always around. Some days he brings them lunch, always scowling at his mother about being used to run her errands – though Avery's caught onto the way the scowl always slips off his lips mere seconds afterwards, not being able to mock his annoyance for long.
Other days he's there do drop Ella off, or pick her up. Avery's come to know the girl as an extremely extroverted eight year old and she sometimes catches herself wondering if she carries any resemblance to her own sister. Despite the plenty calls with her father it seems she never gets much insight into Amelia's life. Or her two brothers' either for that matter.
Every now and then Ethan comes running in with a folder or a stack of papers Anna has forgotten behind. And most days he seems to find time to tread on Avery's nerves, even if just for two minutes, a smirk on his lips as he pushes her buttons before leaving with a 'See you around Waters'. Not that she doesn't offer up her own share of remarks – always with Anna out of earshot, of course.
He left for a week-long football training camp out of state during the end of her third week at T.H Publishing and now that it's been six days, which of four workdays with him gone Avery finds herself more or less appalled noticing the lack of his presence.
She's had a busy few days at the publishing house – mostly helping Anna organize an upcoming book launch but despite having her hands full, there is a wistfulness that's come over her. A feeling in her gut she would very much like to make disappear.
It's not that she misses him exactly.
However, she can't deny these past few days have been evidently more dull in comparison to the ones when he's there. The daily conversations, the remarks, the banter have all nestled their way into her day-to-day life. She's gotten used to it and there's a strangeness to not having it there – not having him there.
The entirety of whatever comradeship that's forming between them has her feeling queasy, especially since she decided that day almost two weeks ago at the pizzeria there'd be no more. No more being almost-friends. No more interaction other than the one forced upon her at the offices. No more thinking of Ethan Taylor as an actual human being instead of as an obnoxious brat. And she's done good so far.
But now here she is, thumb hovering over his latest Instagram post from only a couple of days ago – himself and two other guys on what seems to be a dorm party somewhere in Atlanta.
Her throat goes dry only thinking about it. Firstly, because he's Ethan Taylor. Second, because she doesn't like one thing about Ethan Taylor.
She doesn't like one thing about Ethan Taylor.
Except maybe the way the left corner of his mouth twitches when he calls her "Waters,".
. . .
a small note from me: we're four chapters in and i'm having so fun writing this! <3 i hope you're enjoying it too and i want to thank each and everyone of you for your incredible support – i see it all! (esp. a special few – i think, and hope, you know who you are!)
much love, L