The Speech

Chapter 25

Avery's POV

"Do you want one?" Theo asks, but he might as well be speaking in a different language because I can't focus on anything besides the wintergreen tic tac that just entered his mouth. I'm envious of it.
"I'm good.... thanks." I finally choke out, my mouth suddenly dry. Maybe I should've taken the tic tac. Jackie walks over to us, arms piled with drinks and snacks.
"Okay I think I got everything. Water for you, sprite for you, and coke for-" She stops handing everything once she gets to Dylan.
"Thanks. Let's get going, don't wanna miss anything." He says, grabbing the coke from her hands and leading the way to the Theater. She hands me m&ms and then starts to follow after Dylan, leaving Theo and I in the back of the pack.
"So..." Theo says, but what I hear is "I kissed you last night and you didn't protest so what does that mean for us and our friendship?"
"So?" I respond, sounding much more unsure of the word than him. We watch as the theater door closes behind Dylan and Jackie.
"Do we need to talk about it?" He says outright.
"No!" I'm quick to shut it down, but I can tell I've scared him and start to backtrack.
"Well, not no. I just mean not yet. I still haven't talked to Jay-" I start to explain, but he cuts me off.
"Right. Jayden. Got it." He starts walking again and I quickly catch up to him.
"You couldn't seriously think that I don't need to talk to him about everything?" I ask out of astonishment.
"No, that's not what I meant." He responds sharply.
"Then what did you mean?" I persist.
"That I should've known that you'd want to talk with Jayden first instead of me!" He comes to a halt just outside the door.
"He's my boyfriend Theo, I have to talk to him first. We're not broken up, we're fighting." I remind him.
"It's good to know that even after he treated you like he did yesterday, you're still putting him first." He remarks, then heads into the theater. I quickly follow after him, grabbing his arm and pulling him to a halt.
"I am trying to figure out where my relationship stands before I even dare to unpack what happened with us last night Teddy." I explain to him.
"Avery, all you need to know is whether or not you want to stay with Jayden. After everything he said and did, will an apology make it all better? Will you want to be with him?" He asks me, and I can see he's pleading for me to say no, I won't want to be with him, I'll want to be with you.
"I've spent two years with him Theo, there's time and energy that's been put into my relationship with him-"
"And what about your relationship with me?" He interrupts.

Jackie's POV

       He has coke. He's doing coke? Right right under our noses this whole time... well, under his. I ended up stuffing the Pez dispenser back in the draw when I got back downstairs. What else was I supposed to do with it? Hand it over to him?  I could tell Avery about it. I could talk to Dylan directly about it, see what's causing him to do it? That is if he even talks to me about it. Maybe he's not the one using it, he's hung out with Pez before so it's not like their being around each other is weird. Pez could've just left it there by accident. Or am I just choosing blissful ignorance instead?

"What's the likeliness of us getting to sneak out of here and ditch those two without them noticing?" Dylan asks, breaking my thoughts.
"I'd say slim to none." I respond. The lights lower as the previews start up and I stare at the bottom of the stairs wondering where Avery and Theo are.
"Do you think they ditched us first?" He asks, laughter on his lips.
"I'm starting to wonder." I say, laughing as well. There's only three other people in this theater, an older woman sat by herself in the front, and a couple of teenage girls off to the side. As busy as I figured a movie theater would be at 11 in the morning on a Saturday.
"I didn't want to extend the invite to Avery today." He says. I stare at him for a moment, curious about his sudden honesty.
"Probably shouldn't have asked me to go with you in front of her then." I tell him.
"I forgot we were a secret." he responds, but my heart stops at this statement. What if he forgets again and pulls something in front of Avery? 
"Well you can't forget." I snap at him.
"I won't, it was just a slip. And besides, I covered well and she came with anyway. No harm, no foul." He says carefree, but I'm still unsettled.
"Maybe you've just gotten too comfortable around me." I say to him, and he looks taken aback.
"Seriously? Are we doing this again?" He asks, but I'm confused.
"Doing what again?" I question.
"This really fun thing where we go to hang out and then you act like I'm crowding you." He responds annoyed.
"I don't do that." What is he getting at?
"You did it last night at the party. You begged me to come with you and once I'm there all you wanted was to get away from me." He says in a hushed voice as the lights lower completely. 

Where the fuck is Avery? 

Theo's POV

"You kissed me once Teddy. I'm not stupid, I know that changes things, but how much? Am I supposed to throw away my whole relationship over it?" She asks sincerely.
"If I wasn't around you wouldn't even have a relationship! Can you seriously not see that?" I ask in desperation. I never realized how much of a fight I'd have to put up to get her to see her relationship for what it is.
"Stop poking holes in everything, fuck!" She closes her eyes and starts pacing in front of me, her breathing becoming loud.
"I am just trying to show you what you've been seemingly missing this whole time, or at least not admitting." I tell her, but she just keeps pacing. 

"What am I missing Theo? You wanna stake some claim in my relationship? Then tell me." She stands about 5 feet in front of me, and she stares right in the eyes waiting for my response.

"I end up in your bed after every one of his after parties, because he leaves you alone and wasted. I spend those mornings holding your hair back or making you breakfast. I hold your hand during every horror movie whether you're scared or not cause it makes you feel safe during them. And I'm your first phone call every time y'all have a fight, and I spend hours cleaning up every tear that he caused!" She stares with glassy eyes from tears welling up. Fuck. I close the distance and pull her into my arms, hugging her tightly, thankful that she doesn't pull away.

"I'm sorry, I'm pushing you." I say into her hair, and though it comes out muffled, she understands. She takes a step back, combing her fingers through her hair.
"You're my best friend, Teddy. I don't want to mess that up. I'm not going to ignore what happened that night. I just need to sort out Jayden first. I have to know where he and I stand before I can even start to figure out you and me." she responds, and I nod.
"You can't figure anything out if you're hiding out at the movies though, can you?" I say and notice the lights going all the way down. We stand in silence, eyes still finding each other in the dark. She moves away from my arms and makes her way up the hallway and stairs, sitting herself next to Jackie.  She spends the next 30 minutes adjusting herself every time she subconsciously leans into me. 

Dylan

The movies sounded like a good idea. It sounded like a good idea when Avery said our parents were coming home. It sounded like a good idea when I thought it would be just me and Jackie. It sounded like a good idea when I planned to see some boring movie and spend the majority of it making out with Jackie. Now that we're here, and so are Avery and Theo, it wasn't that great of an idea. Oh and let's not forget Jackie getting all pissed at me. 

"Maybe you've just gotten too comfortable around me."  She said. I wonder what she'd do if I told her what she said to me last night?
"I like you more than I should."  Her voice was laced with worry and lust, almost aching. I sneak a glance at her just as she breaks into laughter. She's gorgeous, funny, and too nice for my own good. Maybe I should try to give her some distance, if she's getting feelings for me this all could get really messed up. I don't wanna lead her on, but she knows the terms we agreed to. I was pretty clear I'm not trying to date her, it's why I kissed her. Yeah she was there, but she was more there for me than my own friends. Who, by the way, just told me to get over it. "May will be back in a month tops."  They said.

       So yeah she was there, and she was gorgeous, and she cared to see me through this shit with May when she didn't even know how bad it really was. We have fun and there's no harm in that... until feelings get evolved. Did I bring the Pez dispenser with me?  I check my pocket and find it there to my relief. I lean over to Jackie.
"I'm running to the restroom, I'll be back." I tell her and she gives me a funny look but nods along. Heading to the bathroom I pass a group of loud and obnoxious teenagers, and purposely pull my hood up to avoid interaction. Once I'm in the bathroom stall I cut a line just as my hangover starts to push through again. I check my phone and scroll through Instagram seeing May's pictures from the party last night.

      I get why she does coke. The feeling's indescribable.

Had she not made it so clear that she won't date me despite my trying coke, I'd go back to her now and say I don't care if she does coke, and I'd promise to never bring up her cheating again. I still don't know why I said that.

"Well I'm not the one who cheats in this relationship." Did I really need to bring that up at that moment? She just pushes my buttons like no one else I know. Maybe if I'd kept my mouth shut I'd still have a chance with her...