Rays of Hope

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen: Avery’s POV

Jesse ended up staying the night, and he had slept on my couch in the living room. We would have gone for a walk in the park after we had eaten something for breakfast, but Jesse had gotten called in for work.

So I decided to go walk in the park alone. After about an hour of walking around, I sit down on my favorite bench. There, I take my sketchbook out of my bag and begin to draw.

While I’m sketching out a man that I had seen in the park, I suddenly feel eyes upon me, causing me to look up. To my surprise, sitting on a bench across the pond from me is Ray!

He averts his eyes from mine as soon as we make eye contact. I see a light tint of pink on his face and I wonder why it formed there.

After a long moment of decision making, I decide to walk around the pond and sit next to him. He looks up from his lap, where he is working, when I sit down.

“What brings you here?” I quietly ask him, trying to start up a conversation.

“Just trying to write,” he tells me, nodding his head at his paper and pen.

“Oh,” I exclaim startled, realizing that it was rude to just sit down. “Do you want me to leave?” I say awkwardly.

“No!” He splutters, waving a hand to stop me from getting up. Then he eyes move from mine to my ankle, where I have my tattoo all bandaged up.

“What happened there?” He asks, pointing to the bandage. “Oh, I uh- I got a tattoo,” I say sheepishly.

He stifles a laugh, “You?” He asks, surprised.

I don’t know why, but I get a tiny bit offended. It’s not like we’ve known each other that long, he wouldn’t know whether getting tattoos is something I usually do, or something I don’t do.

“Yes, me. It’s actually my first tattoo,” I whisper the last part. “Oh, well can you show me?” He finally asks.

I hesitate before nodding and picking the bandage off of my ankle, showing a still red tattoo, that showed off Jesse and I’s friendship.

“What’s with the A & J?” He asks, looking genuinely curious.

“Avery and Jesse.”

“Oh,” he replies, bringing his attention back to his notebook.

“So... What are you writing?” I ask, trying to get him to bring his attention to me. “Stuff,” Ray simply retorts, emotionless.

“God, you’re impossible. One minute you make me feel important and that you actually care at least a little bit about me and then the next moment you’re waving me off and pushing me away!”

“Are you serious? You’re the one who kissed me back and makes me feel important that you actually care, but then you go out with another guy and get a tattoo with him. I’m sorry I don’t want to be associated with a woman who wants so much attention from so many men,” he replies, angrily.

“Jesse is just a friend!” I exclaim, offended he would think that I would ever cheat on a someone. “Yeah, okay. That’s why you always seem to hang out with him and even get a tattoo that has his initial on it!”

 “I got the tattoo because he got one and I was so touched!” I say defensively. “We are best friends and he is there for me when I need him. That’s it.”

“So what I’m hearing is that you both got tattoos about your ‘friendship’?! Just admit you both have feelings for each other, or at least that you have feelings for him,” he puts his head down, sounding bitter as he talks.