Pretty Please - Riley McDonough Fanfiction

Chapter 14

Avery's POV

Sky kept calling me over and over again, but I didn't answer. I didn't open the door when he came over. I simply didn't want to talk to him. I had had enough, at least for a while. What he needed to understand was that I needed space. I needed to think about stuff.

It wasn't like I thought that I wouldn't ever forgive him. I knew I had overreacted a little bit, but what pissed me of was that it wasn't that long ago when Sky had tried the same thing. I had told him no. He should've known better than try to push me. That was not something a boyfriend would do.

I did understand him, in a way. I had made him wait for a while. But it was my body and I was going to decide what to do with it. Nobody could tell me what I should or shouldn't be doing. I would not stand it.

I knew Ellie knew. She tried to talk to me, but I it wasn't just Sky I didn't want to talk to. I didn't want to talk to anyone.

Expect Riley.

I know, shame on me for talking to another guy behind my boyfriends back, but we were just friends. And I was not going to tell Riley what had happened between me and Sky, not now, not ever. I felt like it was a little humiliating. Sky and I had been together long enough to... you know... but I wasn't ready. Every time he touched my skin, it didn't feel good. Was something wrong with me? And the problem was not that I wasn't attracted to men – trust me, I was –, so what was it?

What if it was just not Sky I was meant to be with? That thought scared me. We shared friends, we had know each other for a long time. Not having him in my life would be weird.

Anyways, I knew I was going to give Sky another chance. He deserved it. He had been my friend even before we got together. And before... bad stuff happened.

Riley's POV

I was wayyy too excited to go to bed on Friday, because I knew I was going to go for a run with Avery. That was the man reason I couldn't sleep. The other one was that I really needed to pee, but getting up sounded like something I didn't want to do, since that would've meant leaving my comfy bed.

...Moving on.

At some point I had to go to the bathroom, so I got up and went to the bathroom. After I was done, I looked at my bed, but didn't feel like going back. I was wide-awake, and forcing myself to sleep wasn't something I was able to do.

I walked downstairs, thinking of warming myself some milk. Connor was probably still in the studio and it was past Toby's bedtime.

So of course he was up. He stopped me to the bottom of the stairs. "What are you doing? I thought you needed to go to bed early."

You're the one who should be in bed, kiddo, I thought but didn't say it out loud. Instead I walked past him and pushed my hair out of my face. "Yeah, but I can't sleep."

He followed to the kitchen. "Too excited for your date?"

I frowned at him. "It's not a date."

"But you wish it would be."

I paused. "But it's not, so it doesn't matter."

I knew Avery was going through something. She sometimes spaced out and looked sad, and she didn't smile as much as she used to. I hoped I could change it tomorrow. I didn't want to push her to tell me. If she felt like she wanted to talk to me, she would. I only hoped she didn't think she couldn't trust me. But somehow I didn't think it was that.

I warned some milk and felt Toby's eyes on my back the whole time. I poured the milk to a glass and turned around. Toby stared at me. I sighed and walk to the couch and sat down. Putting my glass down I faced him again.

"What?"

"I said nothing."

"But you obviously want to."

"Maybe." He sat down with me. "I just... Don't say anything before I'm finished, okay?"

I nodded. I had no idea what Toby was going to say. Maybe he'd go on about how I was being crazy, how I shouldn't be with her knowing that nothing could happen.

"I know you don't like that you can't date like a normal person, and what I think I'm saying is that I get it." He looked vulnerable, staring at me. I knew it was had for him to talk about this. "I get you. Hell, I haven't dated anyone, ever. And I'm not 12 anymore, so of course I would want to. I can't escape it, since all the songs are basically about love and now you're chasing after a girl."

"I'm not chasing –"

"So... I don't know. There are moments when I feel a little alone. My friends talk about girls. I can't, because – well, I do meet girls, but not in the same way. They actually get to know them. We don't."

"So what are you saying?" I started to feel bad. All I had done was thinking about how miserable my life in some departments was, so I hadn't thought that my brothers might feel the same way. I looked at Toby. I was the lucky one of us. At least I had had some normal pre—teenage. Toby hadn't had that.

He sighed. A sad look on his face, he still managed to smile. Even though it was a fake one. "I'm saying that you're not alone. You can talk to us, okay?"

"Okay." I nodded. He was right.

Toby jumped up but I grabbed his wrist. He looked down at me. "What?"

I smiled. "When did you grow up?"

"Oh, I don't know." He smiled back. "I thought someone needed to be the adult here."

"Hey!"

"Just kidding", he chuckled. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I watched his back as he leaved. A variety of feelings whirled inside me. Toby knew what I was going through and had helped.

I wished I could do the same for someone sometimes.

I wished I could help Avery.