Falling for the Fire

Chapter 5

"Wait, what?!" Avery loudly questioned.

I slowly let my hands fall from my face as I nodded at her.

"I don't know what the hell I was thinking," I groaned.

"Okay wait a second," she said, "the hookup isn't a big deal, but why did I not know that you were into women?"

"I'm not really sure that I knew," I said with a sarcastic laugh, "I - I've never done anything like that before."

"You're the only person I've told," I continued.

"Yeah I figured as much," Avery said in an exasperated voice, "this is a lot of information to process...damn."

"Fuck, I know," I sighed, "I'm such a fucking idiot."

"Hey, come on," she said as she patted my leg, "no you're not."

"Maybe not an idiot," I responded, "maybe just a slut."

"Oh my God," Avery laughed, "would you shut up? Do you really think that people don't do that shit all of the time?"

"Well...I guess they do, but I don't," I told her.

"I mean," she paused as she gave me a cautious look, "was it good at least?"

"Avery!" I said in shock.

"What??" She asked innocently, "I'm just wondering if it was worth it!"

"Fine," I rolled my eyes, "yes...it was more than good honestly."

A sly grin spread across her face as I told her, and I shook my head in response.

"I tried to tell you, didn't I?" She asked.

Avery was bisexual, and she definitely had made comments before about how I should give women a try. Apparently she was right.

"Oh whatever," I said jokingly, "but okay yeah...you did."

"So who was this woman anyway?" She asked me.

"Umm," I hesitated, "I don't - I have no idea."

"Not even a name?" Avery asked as she raised an eyebrow again.

"I can practically hear you judging me right now, you know that, right?" I teased.

"No, no, no," she insisted, "I'm just surprised, that's all."

"Whatever you say," I responded, "I really wish I had gotten her name though, because I can't shake the feeling that she looked familiar."

"You sure that wasn't just the alcohol talking?" She asked.

"Okay it definitely could have been," I shrugged, "but I really don't think so."

"Well let's hope you don't figure out who it was any time soon then," she said, "unless...you want to know?"

"I kind of do," I responded, "but not for the same reasons that you think I do."

I shot her a look and she smiled smugly at me as she shrugged.

"What if she's the love of your life?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure the woman that I let drunkenly finger me in the bathroom is my soulmate," I said sarcastically.

Avery's eyes widened at me again and I realized what I had just let slip.

"I - sorry," I continued, "that was probably more than you wanted to know."

I blushed as I tried to hold in my laughter after seeing her reaction.

"No uh," she said, "that's just more information than I ever expected to get from you."

"It's more than I meant to give you," I laughed.

I set my coffee cup down next to me and leaned back against my headboard. Avery laid back next to me and I heard a quiet laugh come from her.

I turned to look at her, and she was shaking her head and smiling.

"I'm glad my situation is so amusing to you," I teased.

"I'm sorry," she said, returning my gaze, "I can't help it, especially after what you just told me. It's funny coming from you."

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes, "you're no help right now, you know that?"

"I don't know what else you want me to say Ari," she shrugged, "I know this isn't like you, but I don't think you need to be so hard on yourself."

I shrugged slightly and looked up at my ceiling.

"You're single now, you were drunk, and you were hurting," Avery continued, "so you had a drunken hookup, who cares?"

"I do," I said under my breath.

"Oh quit it," she joked as she reached over and lightly hit my shoulder, "you're going to be fine, I know you will be."

"We'll see about that," I muttered.

"Come on," she said as she leaned over and nudged me, "don't do that to yourself."

"I know, I know," I nodded, "I'll get over it eventually but - yeah, it's going to take a while."

We sat in my room for a while longer and talked about everything that had been going on, but I still couldn't bring myself to give her the details of my breakup.

"Hey, don't you have that big event for work coming up soon that you have to help with?" Avery asked me.

I was glad that we had moved on to another subject that didn't include anything about my love life, but work brought on another type of stress.

"Yes," I sighed, "that 'big event' would be the New York City Food & Wine Festival, no pressure at all."

"Damn," she said, "I guess I didn't realize that's what it was."

"Yeah it's not like we have to plan everything by ourselves," I told her, "there's a couple of other companies that all do the planning, but it's still a lot."

I had been working for the same event planning company for about five years now, and this was going to be our first year doing an event of this scale. I really loved my job, but I wasn't sure that I was ready for the stress of something this big.

"I'm sure it is," she nodded, "it's kind of exciting though, right?"

"Oh yeah," I quickly said, "it should be a lot of fun...but it's also going to be a lot of work."

"Do you get free tickets to the event then?" Avery asked with a sly smile on her face.

"I don't know yet," I laughed, "is that you saying that you want one if I do?"

"Well obviously I would take one if you're offering," she said coyly.

"Uh huh," I grinned, "real subtle Ave."

"It was worth a try," she shrugged, "I'm sure you guys are going to kill it though, I'm excited to go even if I don't have a free ticket."

"Yeah I hope so," I said, "we just have to make sure that everything goes smoothly, I need to put all of my focus on that right now."

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