Wrong Quarterback | ✓

28 | the art of co-existence

"Nic? Would you do me a favor and ask Luke to stop hogging all the napkins?"

Callie groans at Avery's request, flickering her gaze between her four friends where all five of them are sat beneath the grand oak stood a stone's throw away from the football field.

Speaking through a mouthful of her bagel she says, "I thought we were over and done with this thing."

"No, they started all over again this morning," Lea folds her legs to the side, reaching for the orange paper up holding her tea. "I've stopped responding to it, I suggest you do the same."

"But everything was fine yesterday! They were laughing!"

Avery shoots the two girls a sideways glare as she drinks from her iced chai. "We're sat right here."

"Yeah, don't talk about us like we're not."

Avery's glare darkens as she whips her head towards Luke where he's sat leant against the tree. "Did I ask you to agree with me?"

    She glances over at Nic next, taking another sip of her chai as she raises a brow. Her friend sighs, twisting in his seat to look at Luke. "Avery needs you to–"

"Here," Luke pushes the stack of Beans & Bagels napkins into Nic's hand. "While you're at it ask her to stop slurping that drink so fucking loud."

"Well, maybe Luke should worry less about what I'm doing and more about how he's turning into a certified jerk."

    A tired expression passes over Nic's features as he takes a bite of his bagel, a soft sigh escaping him as he falls back against the grass.

"I'm sorry I couldn't hear you over your slurping."

Avery's eyes snap back to Luke. "Go somewhere else if it bothers you so much."

Quick to cut in, Callie flickers her gaze between the two friends. There's a firmness to her soft tone of voice as she says, "No one's going anywhere."

"I am," Lea gets to her feet, clutching her bagel in one hand and her tea in the other. "Figure your shit out. Or not. Let me know what you come up with – I won't talk to either of you until then. I'm done with this childish mess."

Callie and Nic exchange a look as the girl stalks off before quietly getting to their feet too, leaving Luke and Avery behind as they trace her steps towards the main building of their school.

With all of them gone Avery's left to staring at Luke – or rather glaring at Luke.

The first few days of this she'd been hurt. Now she's mostly annoyed.

Which is exactly why she rips a piece of bread off her bagel and throws it at him.

His eyes narrow as it bounces off his face and falls to the grass but the expression is followed by the faintest twitch to his lips and she has to press her own together not to mirror it.

In a way, being mad at Luke serves as a nice distraction. It allows her to put her focus elsewhere, away from the not-always-so-friendly words spoken of her around the hallways. Then again, most of the time it's annoying.

    They're not exactly fighting. But they aren't exactly not fighting either.

They co-exist. Sort of.

It's quite like what she had imagined telling him about Ethan would be, though the way it was all revealed seems to have prolonged the aftershocks. Somewhere along the way she grew frustrated at his stubborn state of mind. Now they're stuck in a loop, neither seeming to want to fold first.