Found it! [ girlxgirl ]

|EIGHT|

-"Ave..." Herrrhem, I clear my throat and swallow hard, "Avery?"

-"Ave sounds just fine." She winked at me and moved forward to stand beside the table.

Richard immediately returned to a sitting position when he heard the name and Sarah keeps looking between me and Avery expecting me to say something.

Oh shit! Say something Emma.

Avery is looking at the three of us and I can see that our staring starts to make her feel uncomfortable. I gather my thoughts and speak up, trying to sound completely fine with the unexpected situation. Unfortunately, all I could say was "Hi...Hello".

-"I saw your text, and came looking for you." She says, smiling, while studying both me and my friends.

If my face wasn't red from the drinking and the laughing, everyone could see how embarrassed I'm feeling. I haven't seen Avery since that encounter in the diner, and that was when I didn't even know her names was Avery. We've been talking for weeks now, yes...but we never met. Now, here she is, standing in front of me and I can't say a word. I was so caught off guard. I was expecting a text as a warning. This is unexpected. She's unexpected. Not to mention that I'm too mesmerized by her beauty to form comprehensible sentences. But I have to try.

-"Thank you!" I regret it as soon as say it. Richard and Sarah laugh and I can see Avery is covering her mouth to avoid laughing too. "I mean, I'm happy that you did!"

-"Nice save" Richard tells Sarah, loud enough for me and Avery to ear, to which she says "I'm impressed, actually."

I shrug and proceed to introduce my annoying friends to Avery. They shake hands and ask her if she wants to sit. I'm glad they did, because I'm still trying to get my head back to its normal state. I scooch over to my right, to give her some room to sit next to me. Richard immediately drags his ass as close as possible to Sarah, to stay right in front of me and Avery with a perfect view to my embarrassment. Luckily, Sarah is a much better friend and orders Richard to help her get more drinks, but not that much better considering she winked at me in the weirdest way possible before leaving.

It's just me and Avery now. Well, me and Avery and all the familiar and unfamiliar people in the bar. But who cares about them, right? I most certainly do not. I don't think it would be the same if this was happening in Italy, to be honest. No one knows that I like girls. Hell, I didn't know I liked girls. I wasn't really sure until this exact moment. The way my heart is trying to escape my chest, to have more room for beating, tells me that I do. If I was sitting in a bar in Italy filed with people that would recognize me, I would be freaking out twice as much.

Avery is sitting next to me, rather close actually. I'm not sure if I should move or not. Don't freak out Emma. Breath. In and out. She's leaning her left side into the table with her left arm over it, using the hand to hold her head. Her right leg is crossed under the left one, over the seat. She's facing me and I can see that she's waiting for a reaction. She probably noticed my anxiety and she's giving me space. Not physical space, though. Her right knee is brushing my tight and that's increasing my anxiety levels.

I hear her chuckle and it brings me back to reality. I have to stop letting my mind wander around in situations like this.

-"What?" I ask, nervously. I avoid looking her straight in the eyes, afraid I might get lost again.

-"You are quiet...and you're staring" She smirks.

-"Sorry. You kind of caught me by surprise. I guess I'm adjusting slowly to this unexpected situation" I look down to my hands resting on my lap. I'm stopping myself from fidgeting.

I can still feel her eyes upon me and I look back at her.

-"I should've replied to you text first, and announce my unexpected approach. Sorry" She says, emphasizing 'unexpected', and raising her brow. She never stops smiling, like I suspected she wouldn't.

-"It's fine. I told you, I'm happy that you found me." I feel a wide smile starting to form. Instinctively, to stop it from getting wider I bite my lower lip. That's when I notice her eyes slipping down to my mouth.

-"I'm glad I did" She shakes her head, returning her eyes to mine. "They sure take their time to get those drinks!" She says, playfully, avoiding another awkward moment.

My heartbeat slowed down. Sometimes it would go way above healthy levels, especially when she moved the leg that was touching me, but I was able to control myself and not panic. Sarah and Richard eventually arrived with beers. Not knowing what Avery usually drinks, they brought what we've been drinking. We talked for nearly 15 more minutes before she went back to her classmates. She waved a goodbye, and rubbed my shoulder before walking away from our table.

Until Sarah and Richard arrived with the drinks, she said she was there with some of her classmates and her best friend, Joshua. She convinced him to tag along with her classmates, knowing they usually come to this bar. She also said she didn't text me because she wanted to be a surprise. And a surprise it was. Ah! A good surprise.

Before we left the bar, Sarah and Richard had a thousand questions for me. Truth is, I had a thousand more. After today, and considering I spent a week replaying the diner encounter in my head, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to think about anything else.

I'll think about the wrong things I said and did. I'll cringe. I'll think about all the alternatives. Then, I'll tell myself it doesn't matter and I'll be back at simply replaying it over and over again, and I'll remember those bright eyes looking at me. I'll also very much remember the way her eyes shifted to my mouth when I accidentally and unintentionally bit my lower lip.

In fact, I'm thinking about it right now.