Falling for the Fire

Chapter 20

Avery and I had already planned on going to dinner together that night, and I had to call her on the way home to let her know that I was running late.

"Hey Ave, I'm a little behind tonight, can we push the time back like thirty minutes?" I asked her over the phone.

"Yeah sure," she said, "everything good?"

"Uhh," I hesitated, "kind of yeah, I'll explain when we get to the restaurant."

"Alright, I'll see you soon," she said.

I sighed as I hung up the phone and went inside to change my clothes.

I got to the restaurant a while later and found Avery already waiting at a table.

"Hey," I said as I sat down, "sorry, today was crazy."

"Don't worry about it," she responded, "your life has been quite exciting lately."

"Exciting?" I questioned as I raised my eyebrows, "I don't think I'd call it that, but sure."

"Well..." she said, "spill then, what happened?"

"Alright so," I sighed, "I tried to talk to Brooklyn, we ended up making out in my office, and then when we left, Owen was waiting outside wanting to talk to me, so yeah...just that."

Avery's mouth was partially open as she looked at me, and she obviously had no idea what to say.

"Exciting, right?" I asked teasingly.

"I - woah," Avery stammered, "I have to say I was not expecting that."

"Oh you know Ave, just another day in the life," I said.

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms in front of me as I watched Avery try to process what I'd just told her.

"So wait," she said, "start with the Brooklyn thing."

"I tried to talk to her, she kept trying to act like it was no big deal and nothing was going on," I explained, "and then we - yeah we made out."

"Jesus, that's one way to do it," Avery laughed, "so are you guys like...a thing now?"

"No, no, no," I shook my head, "definitely not, we've still barely talked, I might actually be more confused now than I was before."

"Okay great, so we've covered Brooklyn," she said, "now why the hell was Owen there?"

"He wanted to apologize...again," I said as I rolled my eyes, "starting to feel like deja vu with him, I swear."

"How was he trying to explain his way out of this one?" She asked.

"He didn't really have an excuse honestly," I shrugged, "just said it slipped out or some bullshit like that."

"Wow, great reason Owen," she said.

"Always is with him," I responded, "but it's not like I would forgive him even if he did have a valid excuse."

"I don't think there is a valid excuse for that shit," Avery said.

"Exactly," I said matter-of-factly, "so it doesn't matter...I just told him that he really needed to leave me the hell alone now, I'm done dealing with him."

"Good for you," she nodded.

"We'll see if he listens, or if he finds another thing that he needs to apologize for," I said.

"Let's hope not," Avery responded as she rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," I sighed, "that's how my day went, can we get a drink now?"

Avery laughed at me as she nodded, and the waiter came over to our table a few minutes later.

We ordered our drinks and dinner, and had a fairly uneventful conversation for the rest of the time. When we were almost done with our meal, she asked me the question that I'd been thinking about since I'd left work.

"So what does all of this mean for you and Brooklyn?"

"That seems to be a common question lately, doesn't it?" I responded.

"Kind of seems that way," she said.

"I think we're just going to continue to randomly make out, fight, hook up, you know," I joked, "never talk about any of it."

"Sounds like a great plan," she grinned.

"I thought so," I said, "but yeah, I really don't know...as usual. I guess we'll have to figure it out at some point."

                                       ***

We were split up in our usual groups at work the next day, and being around Brooklyn seemed even harder than it was before.

Partially because I wanted to know what was going on between us, and partially because all I wanted to do was kiss her again.

I had no idea what I'd be getting myself into with her, I still felt like we barely knew each other, but damn I wanted it badly.

We were discussing the location that we had finally decided on, and trying to figure out where we could put all of the stages for live music.

"What about right here?" I asked as I pointed to a place on the map of the park.

"No, that's not going to -" she stopped herself and paused momentarily before rephrasing, "I'm not sure if that will be a good spot or not, it might be too tight of a fit for the size of stage you want."

I looked up at her and grinned slightly.

"It's really hard for you to be nice to me, huh?" I teased.

"No, it's - it's not that," she said, "the hard part is not being in control."

I caught her eyes darkening as she spoke, and I had to look away.

"Well I appreciate you trying," I told her, "I can tell that the struggle is real."

I grinned at her again and she rolled her eyes.

"It is," she mumbled.

I noticed her looking around the room to see if anyone else was in earshot before she leaned in closer and spoke in a quiet voice.

"You can come by my house tonight if you really want to see how much I like being in control."

My body tensed up at the thought, and she sat back and smirked at me.

"I...think I could make that work," I hesitantly said.

"You think?" Brooklyn questioned as she cocked her head to the side.

"I will," I said quietly, "I will come over."

"Good," she nodded, "I like that answer better."

I felt my cheeks heat up as she kept her smirk aimed in my direction.

"Can we stop talking about this now before someone else hears us?" I asked.

"You're no fun," she teased, "but yes, I suppose we can."

"Thank you," I responded.

"This day is going to go even slower now," she said.

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