Wrong Quarterback | ✓

22 | you and me, always

"And here I thought you told me not to keep you waiting."

Avery shakes her head, lips cracking into a small smile as she's met with Ethan's grin where he's leant against his car – lazily double parked at the corner of the street. "Sorry, that took longer than I thought," She holds her palm out expectantly. "Shall we?"

He drops his car keys into her hand. "We shall."

    Whipping his head to his sides, he surveys their surroundings as he rounds the car and slips into the passenger seat and she mirrors his movements, quickly scanning the street before getting the driver's door open and climbing into the SUV too. Adjusting the seat, she gets the engine going and then they're off.

Leaving the party had proven more difficult than she'd originally believed it to. It had taken a lot of convincing and assuring on her part upon announcing she wasn't feeling too well to her doting friends to get them off her case. Luke had wanted to drive her home. Callie had tried to convince her to come back to her place. Nic had offered her an aspirin. Lea had suggested adding onto the headache with a hangover. In retrospect – feigning the beginning symptoms of a cold might not have been the best trick to have them let her leave early but it was the best she'd come up with in the moment. She's not exactly sure what other card she could have played.

The one thing eventually getting them to leave her alone was telling them she'd already spoken to her mother who had, in her turn, already called Avery one of the few cabs circulating Acebridge's taxi service. It was an easily made up excuse, and realistic enough considering Sarah's away for the weekend and possibly couldn't come get her herself.

Veering through town, she pushes the nagging voice reprimanding her for lying to her friends to the back of her mind. This new turn of events with Ethan isn't even an hour old – the two of them need to talk it through before she even begins pondering the question that is her friends. Holy shit. She's really doing this.

    The events of the night begin to dawn on her as she's enveloped by the silence stretching between them, filling the vehicle. She's sneaking around with Ethan Taylor. He wants her. Only her. And she wants that too.

    She doesn't bother to flip through the radio stations, instead letting music tune into advertisement segments before holding back a sigh at a far too chipper radio host and then they're back to listening to yet another hit song sounding far too alike the one playing just minutes ago. Gripping the wheel, she makes another effort to push that warning voice to the back of her mind as it comes creeping back into the web of thoughts already tangling her head. She's not exactly sure if Ethan's mirroring silence is a good sign but she keeps her eyes on the road, not daring to glance his way incase she'll be met with regret sprawled over his features.

    Reprimanding herself, she whirls through her neighborhood – tapping the pads of her fingers against the wheel in beat to the music, the same way he usually does. He hasn't changed her mind. She's not about to change her mind either. And she better snap out of it before she says something that'll screw tonight up. He's not about to bolt as soon as they reach her house.

Sometimes people leave when you least expect them too.

No. She's not doing that. She's not going to scare herself out of this before it's even begun. These past weeks have been enough proof to how entangled they became this summer. How hard she fell for him. She fell for him. She glances over at him where he's sat in the passenger seat, a breath escaping her lips as she realizes he's already watching her and her heart stills, a calmness filling her chest as her lips pull into a faint smile.