Penpals

The Fourth letter

Theo's POV

"Avery, I don't want your handout." I object, following the petite brunette. She walks off the porch, and across the grounds of crisp, green grass towards a towering wooden barn.

"It is not a handout, not even close. You're my best friend, and I'm just lookin' out for ya." Avery protests as she easily pushes aside an enormous wooden barn door.

"I appreciate that, and I know you have good intentions but I want to make it on my own. I want to start from scratch and make a life for myself." I explain ducking inside. She stops in her tracks and turns to me, her glowing smile gone.

"I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I just got ya, I don't want to lose ya." She pleas. I sigh, her hazel eyes flooding with disappointment, hitting me right in the heart.

"Aw, don't give me that look." I groan, and her face crumbles up.

"... Geez, alright, alright. You win. I give in." I sigh. I don't want to live under Avery's roof. I just got out and I'm already going to build up a tab. I should just hand my balls in a silver platter with a note that says IOU. Avery turns to me with a satisfied grin on her face.

"Hope you aren't afraid of heights." She says as she looks up a wooden ladder. I follow her eyes up the steep ladder. My hands instantly reach out and lift the bag off Avery's arm so she doesn't have to carry it up. God help if she topples over because my duffle weighs her down.

"Me? I'm not afraid of anything," I scoff, looking into her hazel eyes. Avery throws a smile over her shoulder then starts climbing up the ladder. I follow after her, the wood creaking under my weight. The floor disappears as we climb higher and higher till we finally reach the second floor. Avery guides me further into the barn to another large barn door. She slides it away and steps into a plain room.

"Do... do ya like it? Is it okay?" Avery asks nervously. The room is large that is for sure, and the ceilings are very high, arching above our heads. There is a full bed with a blue duvet against a dull beige wall. To the right of the bed a wooden chest of drawers sits. There are no curtains hanging on the windows, but there are two random rugs on the dark wooden floor.

"It's perfect." I answer. My last "bedroom" and I use that term loosely, was a tight, dirty hole in the wall. I shared it with three other guys, including a crapper. This is a palace in comparison.

"Ya sure?" Avery asks, her hazel eyes filled with worry. I haven't smiled in years but this girl already has me grinning in a matter of minutes.

"Trust me. It's perfect." I say. She grins happily and plops down on the bed.

"Do I have to use an outhouse?" I joke have seriously. Do I have to? Cause the main house might have an upgrade but I'm not so sure about the barn. Avery rolls her beautiful hazel eyes at my words, unamused by the joke.

"Haha, funny. Of course ya don't. We ain't hillbillies." She starts. "Its right on over there." She points across the room to where a normal door is closed.

"But..." Avery starts and I raise a brow.

"But what?" I ask.

"Well, ya see it ain't a full bath. There's no tub. Mama didn't see a point since it is a barn and all." Avery states.

"But you made a guest room up here." I point out.

"Er... yeah we did but we use it more for sleepovers and really big family reunions when the house is filled up like a chicken coop." Avery explains, nervously wringing her hands.

"So do I go up to the main house to shower?" I ask and she sinks her teeth into her lower lip anxiously.

"About that... Mama shouldn't know about you here. So no trips up to the main house." She says.

"Avery! I'm not being your little secret!" I snap and she flinches.

"I'm sorry... mama isn't really your biggest fan and all because..." She starts.

"Because I was in juvy, right?" I ask coldly. Avery's face crumbles up again, her hazel eyes flood with sadness. I sigh, wishing I didn't respond the way I did.

"Sorry, I'm sorry. It's just... living in prison for a crime I didn't do and finally leaving only to be hoarded up here? I just got my freedom back, I don't want to give it up again." I say.

"Ya have a point... I'm being selfish." She says, her voice low and quiet. My heart burns at the sight of the only person who cares for me sad.

"No you're not. You're the opposite of selfish." I start and sit next to her and looping an arm around her small shoulders.

"You just offered your home to me so I'm not on the streets." I say, smoothing back her brown hair gently, soothingly running my thumb in a circle on her temple.

"Really?" She asks, looking up at me with her hazel eyes.

"Really," I answer with a grin. I throw myself backwards and rest on my back, with my arms behind my head.

"Plus, I like this place. It's comfy." I state genuinely. This mattress is really soft and comfortable, a lot different than my thin, lumpy cot back in my bunk in juvy.

"So ya stayin?" She asks, a note of hope in her voice.

"Yup." I say, popping the P. Avery smiles brightly and lays besides me, smiling up at me. I grin back down, her smile so beautiful and radiant that it is infectious. I'm kinda of glad that I'm staying here now, because I'm with my best friend.

"So where am I suppose to shower?" I ask.

"Well... there's an outdoor shower out back." She states.

"You got to be kidding."