Away

Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12;

"Does this hurt?" The trainer asked me as I cringed.

"No. I'm fine. Can I leave now?" I asked impatiently. The trainer pushed my toes back towards my leg slightly, then moved his hand on my heel and put pressure on it. I sucked in a yelp and pulled my foot away.

"Taylor," I put my sock and shoe on and hopped off the bench, putting as little pressure on my ankle as possible.

"I'm fine." I said bluntly as I grabbed my Field Hockey bag to leave.

"Taylor, stop. You need to go see a doctor. Your ankle is resprained, if not broken." The trainer told me. I bit my lip and looked down at it.

"I can walk on it. It's not broken. I'll be fine." Coach was over talking to my dad. My plan was to just tell coach I'm fine, just a little bruise, and I can still play.

"Please come back here and at least let me wrap it." Everyone was slowly making their way to their cars now, the game having ended a good fifteen minutes ago.

"I'll ice and wrap it when I get home." I promised, trying to just get away from the trainer. I glanced over at Dad and Coach Heidi again, Coach had her hand sympathetically on my fathers shoulder. Uh oh.

The trainer shook his head and started packing up his med kit. I watched my father and Heidi talk, not knowing if I should go join their conversation or just to pretend I was busy over here.

I pulled my sweatshirt over my head, then felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Great game, you're unstoppable out there Stewart." I turned to face Avery. I smiled at the compliment and continued to limp to my car.

"I'm serious. You see, if I actually understood field hockey it'd be a lot easier to understand why they blow the whistle all the damn time." I laughed through my pain and turned to face him.

"Why did you come?" I asked, staring into his deep, beautiful eyes. He glanced over and looked at the people walking to their cars then back down at me.

"Because I heard The Great Taylor Stewart was coming back today. Who would miss that?" I shook my head with a smile spread ear to ear across my face. I was blushing so badly, just hoping Avery wouldn't notice.

I brushed back a piece of hair and put it behind my ear and bit my lip. "Too bad I screwed it up." I said referring to my ankle again. Avery nodded and grabbed my bag off my shoulder and started carrying it.

"We can discuss this over ice cream. My treat." Avery said with a smirk.

**********************************

I leaned up against the pole behind me as Avery was handed his ice cream. He nodded at a table and we walked over to claim it.

I licked my chocolate ice cream around the cone so it wouldn't drip. when I looked back over at Avery, he was licking his cone ferociously, attempting to stop his from dripping. He wasn't succeeding.

I laughed at a watched him. He looked up at me and wiped his cone with his napkin, his efforts still useless.

"You're making a mess, Avery!" I laughed. He laughed as he continued to lick. He was eating his ice cream worse than a young child.

"I told you getting a large was a bad idea." I scolded.

"Can you please go get me another napkin?" I rolled my eyes playfully.

I reached my hand out. "Here. Lemme see it." I said.

"What are you gonna do-" Avery stopped when he watched me lick his ice cream.

I handed it back to him, his ice cream dripless. He just started at it.

"Eat it before it starts dripping again!" I laugh.

"You just CONTAMINATED my ice cream!" I give my sad face playfully. He slowly started to lick it again.

"So," Avery started, "When are we going on date number two?" I continued to lick my ice cream nonchalant. Avery kept his eyes on me and I just shrugged.

"We never went on a date number one." Avery stopped licking his ice cream until I pointed at a drip finding it's was down his cone.

"I believe we did..." Avery said hesitantly.

"That was as friends, my friend." I said as I took a big bite into my cone.

"Come on." I swallowed the cone I was chewing in my mouth and bit my lip.

"What?" I asked. Avery looked stunned. "Seriously Taylor." I crinkled my nose and scoffed.

"What!" I said playfully. "That was a date. No denying." I rolled my eyes again and put my hands on the table.

"No, if I remember right, you specifically said JUST friends. That was the only reason I went." His jaw dropped. I reached out across the table to close it, but he dropped it again as soon as I moved my hand.

"That's the ONLY reason you went?" I couldn't tell if Avery was pretending to act hurt, or if the look in his eyes was real. I smiled to lighten the mood and finished off the last bite of my ice cream. The sun was just starting to set behind the ice cream parlor. Street lamps were threatening to turn on.

This time of day was truly beautiful. Everything was preparing for the darkness that was soon to settle.

I don't even remember the music starting to play, but next thing I know, Avery is standing beside me with his hand outstretched.

"May I have this dance?" He asked confidently. With a smile on my face I accepted his hand and stood up. We walked over to the middle of the parking lot and began to dance. The song was slow and relaxing. It was beautiful.

We stared into each others eyes, neither daring to look away.

The song was beautiful, the scenery was beautiful, he was beautiful. I wish this song would last forever, so I'd have the perfect excuse to stay in Avery's strong arms for eternity, to forget the rest of the world.