Dottie had their coffees ready as soon as the two reached the front of the line. Despite her age and kind appearance, she did not relent in her scolding.
"Young man," her voice quivered with age. It was nearly impossible to get irritated at her mother-henning. "You need to get to school on time! Sean Connery wasn't late for school, and look at him now."
"Ma'am," Avery smiled, "Sean Connery is an old man now."
"Oh, a handsome old man indeed." Dottie sighed while giving Avery a wise nod. Elliot scrunched his nose, trying hard not to smile.
"I don't think he was ever really handsome, Dottie." Elliot countered. Dottie looked like she never heard such an offensive claim in her entire eighty years of living on this Earth.
"Boy, you listen here." She said, in a joking seriousness, "If you dare insult James Bond in my shop again, I will personally ground you."
"You can't ground him, Ma'am." Avery laughed.
"Well then, I'll ban you from the shop!"
"But Dottie!" Elliot faked outrage, "I'm your favorite customer!"
Dottie tried to come up with a counter, pursing her lips in thought. A small smile pierced through her offense and she patted Elliot on the arm to usher them away.
"Oh alright, you can stay. Now you two get on going! I'm sure you have many summer plans with your teenage mischief and such."
Elliot and Avery laughed, turning around, when they smack into a surprisingly quiet figure. Elliot's coffee lid popped off, sending half of his scalding hot latte on his shirt. Standing in her usual flowy thin shawl and witchy themed vibe, River Glenwood somehow avoided the majority of Elliot's coffee. But to his horror and visible pain, she definitely saw his shirt.
"Oh my god-"
"I'm so sorry-!"
"No its my fault-"
"I wasn't watching-"
"I'll get napkins!" Avery cut in between the two's frantic apologies. Dottie tutted over to give her a whole container, muttering under her breath about love birds. Elliot fell to the floor to try and clean the mess, flustered as River fell to help him.
"I'm sorry about your shirt." She frowned in sympathy as she took napkins from Avery. The two awkwardly cleaned the floor as Avery sat cross-legged watching them with an exasperated expression.
"It's fine!" Elliot stampered, "I mean no, not the shirt...the shirt I probably have to get rid of-but that's not your fault-!"
"Are you hurt?" Avery butted in, desperate to shut Elliot up. And despite the irritation, Elliot quietly felt grateful.
"I'm okay, thank you." River answered, standing up with her coffee napkins. Elliot scrambled to pick his pile up. River held out a hand.
This is it. The moment that Elliot had been waiting for for a year at least. Now he can hold River's hand, ignoring that the only reason he's holding it is to stand up.
And then Avery took River's hand and stood up. Damn it.
"Whelp, we best get going." Avery said, pulling Elliot out the door. He tried to wave at River as he passed. A small smile was returned.
Elliot internally died, hopping on his bike as peddling almost before Avery could get on.
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YOU ARE READING
Spaceboy and the Stars
Teen FictionElliot and Avery never sneaked out at night. They never broke any rules. They never did any normal things teenagers ever did. And that hasn't been a problem since they met in freshmen year. Now its the summer after junior year. Through bullying, at...
