Moving Forward

Chapter 5

A week later, I was once again sat with Charlotte at Espresso Yourself. It had been a week since the situation with Alex and I had yet to speak to him. I was currently ignoring him. I knew we had stuff to work out but... whatever. Right now, I didn't want to.

As far as I was aware, Charlotte had taken my advice and had messaged Matt. They were just getting to know each other at the moment, taking it slow and being friends instead of jumping straight back in where they left off. Which I thought was a good idea for the pair. Not that it was any of my business, of course.

"I'm a little bummed that your lover isn't here," Charlotte smirked as she finished typing on her phone and slipped it back into her pocket. "He normally is."

"He is not my lover," I deadpanned. I wished that she would stop calling him that. "Someone is going to overhear you say that and take it in the wrong way. It sounds terrible when I'm still with Alex."

Charlotte sighed loudly. "I still don't understand why you're with him."

"Because I love him."

"There's nothing to love! He treats you terrible, has no compassion for what you're going through. Not to mention the fact he forced himself onto you and then tried to push the blame onto you and went off on one. Alex is no good for you." She rushed out, taking a deep breath when she had finished what she was saying. Her eyes were on mine the whole time, as if she were staring straight through me. They remained on me as I struggled to come up with a response.

"I know... but we've been together for so long. I love him. I can't just leave him." Everything I had said was true. I did love him.

"You deserve so much better than him though, Avery. You are worth so much more," she said reaching across the table to grasp my hands in hers. She gave then a tight squeeze as a sad smile spread across her face. "I can't tell you what to do, but I can advise you. I only hope you'll listen."

All I could do was smile back at her. I knew I wasn't going to end things with Alex. Maybe I was being stupid, but I couldn't lose another person in my life.

The bell above the door rang and in perfect synchronisation, Charlotte and I turned our heads to see who had entered the coffee shop. Charlotte let out a gasp and then a laugh as we realised who it was.

The beautiful mystery guy we kept seeing here.

I didn't turn to look at Charlotte's face, I kept my eyes on the guy at the door. I watched him as he scanned the room, looking for somewhere to sit. The coffee shop was relatively full today, it was most days.

His scan of the room stopped when his eyes landed on our table. Obviously caught staring at him, his lips twitched up into a perfect smile as he acknowledged us before heading over to a table that was two behind ours.

He was so beautiful.

Charlotte let out a quiet, strangled scream as she grabbed my hands tighter and pulled me so that I was facing her again. "He smiled at you!"

"He smiled at us," I corrected her. It wasn't at me. It was at our table. Therefore it was at us.

"I don't care. That still includes you! Oh my, Avery he's so pretty."

"I don't think pretty is a word I would use," I laughed. Pretty just didn't do him justice when it came to describing him.

She leaned closer to me, as though she was preparing to tell me a secret. "Go speak to him."

"What? No!" I gasped. There was no way in hell I was going to randomly go up to a stranger and speak to him. It would only make me look weird.

"Why not?"