A Readers Guide to Romance

Chapter 3

Monday, May 23:

"Here you go dad," Avery said as she set the bowl of soup down in front of her dad, then set the other bowl in front of her mom, giving them both a kiss on the check. "There's more in the pot on the stove if either of you want it."

"You're not eating?" Her mom asks, eyebrows creased in worry - she really does worry too much, the lines between her brows seem to be getting deeper by the day.

"James invited me for dinner at his and his mom's place, I'll be back soon. Will you guys be alright?"

"Lenora, what has our child become? She was here for two days and is already abandoning us again!" Avery's father tried to sound serious, but the poorly suppressed grin gave him away.

"Oh hush Eric, let her have some fun, she doesn't need to spend all her time with us old people." Avery's mom was smirking too. She patted her husband's arm and turned back to Avery who was grabbing her keys by the door and sliding her shoes on, "yes, hun we'll be fine, go have some fun."

Avery let the warmth of the moment pass over her while she stood by the door for a few seconds. There were times with her dad where it felt like nothing was different, she tries to hold onto those moments the best she can, refusing to take them for granted when she knows just how bad those bad moments can be.

After a second or two, Avery opened the door and walked out, "see you in a couple of hours, I'll be back before our show tonight dad," then shut the door behind her.

***

"Avery!" James' mother was just as much of a hugger as he was, Lacey O'Conner pulled Avery into a hug almost as tight as James' was just the other day, it was no wonder where he got his strength from.

"Hi Ms O'Conner," Avery smiled into Lacey's neck and held her tight, she was almost like a second mother to her, Avery spent almost as much time here growing up as she did her own house.

Lacey pulled back and immediately moved her hands from Avery's shoulders to her face, "oh my God, look at you, you're all grown up!" Lacey pulled Avery back in for another hug and Avery just laughed in her shoulder, hugging her back.

"Alright mom, don't suffocate her before she gets a chance to eat." James says as he steps down the stairs over towards where Lacey is finally letting Avery go by the front door.
At James' words Lacey abruptly turns around and heads toward the kitchen, "Shit! I forgot to take it out of the oven!"

"She's been waiting to see you since I got home and told her you were coming for dinner, she even went all out to make your favorite mac and cheese." Avery's eyes popped open with excitement, her smile growing even wider than before.

"She made the mac and cheese?" James nodded in response, his own smile growing at the clear excitement in Avery's expression.

"Sometimes I think she loves you more than me," James says and plops down on the couch, one arm up on the back. Avery plops down onto the spot by his side, right under his arm.

"Oh come on Jamie, you know that's not true." Avery smirks with an overly sweet tone, and reaches for the tv remote, flicking through the channels, "if that was true she would have kicked you out ages ago, how old are you again?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know I'm such a loser I still live with my mom." James rolled his eyes, but the smile was still on his face, "you know, I've really missed your ruthless cruelty, it's just not the same without you insulting me in some way each and every day."

"You know you love me."

"Yeah, sure."

"Dinner's ready!" Lacey calls from the kitchen, she peeps her head through the door to the kitchen and into the living room, "I made your mac and cheese Ave!"

***

The mac and cheese was incredible, as always, made better by the fact Avery hadn't tasted the cheesy baked noodles in nearly 3 years. After dinner Avery and James did the dishes - a tradition they had started when they were both little and realized they could get it done much faster if they worked together - then the two ended upstairs in James' bedroom, which hadn't changed a bit since high school.

"Are you sure you're not still in high school?" Avery asks as she walks into the room, feeling like she had just teleported back to the past, everything was the same, the same colored wall filled with the same posters, the little keyboard in the back corner and the guitar case next to it, the same rug in the middle of the room with random objects and clothes strewn about on top of it. "Did you even think about cleaning up in here?"

"Why would I? It's just you." James says and flops down onto the bed, with the same quilt on the unmade bed.

"Great to know I'm such a special person in your life." Avery says sarcastically as she flings a t-shirt from off the end of the bed and onto the floor, sitting down by James up against the wall.

They stay silent for a couple of minutes, sitting side by side, looking across the room, before James decides to speak. "So," he begins slowly, "do you want to talk about it?"

It wasn't hard to figure out what James was referring to, Avery had mentioned it to him twice now but with very little detail. At dinner Lacey had asked why Avery was back in town and she told them both of her father's diagnosis, but that was it, neither pushed for more details, knowing Avery would tell them herself if she felt like talking about it.

"Honestly," Avery leaned towards James and he quickly put his arm around her, pulling her close, she let out a sigh and continued, "not really. Can we talk about something else?"

"Yeah of course," James responded and took a long pause, "what should we talk about?" Avery let out a laugh and thought for a moment before blurting out the one thing that came to her mind.

"I think I signed up to audition for a movie." There was a long pause, long enough that Avery looked up at James to be sure he was still living, when he finally responded.

"You think?"

"Well, to be honest I wasn't thinking at all when I did it. It just kind of happened."

"What - and I mean this in the nicest way possible - what in the actual hell does that mean, Ave?" Avery pulled out her phone and showed James the emails and the information she had gotten from the audition place and tried to explain it best she could.

James still didn't seem to quite understand why, or how, this was even possible but tried to be supportive, even if he was confused out of his mind.

Avery arrived back home just after eight, her dad was sitting in his recliner in front of the tv, which was paused at the beginning of their show. Avery smiled to herself and sat down on the couch beside her dad.

"You're late," is how Eric responded, but left it at that, unpausing the show and reclining further back in his chair.

***

AN: Ok so I got out another full chapter tonight and decided I should just post it because I didn't do one last week, (or the week before that), so I hope you enjoy this one!

I promise things will start picking up soon, audition is coming up soon...

Al always, thank you so very much for giving this story a shot, I really appreciate it! I hope you're enjoying it! Feel free to leave any comments I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

See you next time!