Look After You

Chapter 10

Xander smiles at Ava as he approaches her locker. "Hey, you ready?"

She smiles and wraps a maroon scarf around her next. Ava flips her strawberry blonde hair over the top of it. "Yeah, let's go." Ava reaches over and grabs Xander's hand, tangling their fingers together. Ava was a few inches shorter than Xander and was also skinnier. She was a petite girl and often had her hair styled in loose curls over her shoulders and down to the middle of her back.

Xander blushes and glances down at their hands. He hated himself for wishing it was Nolan's hand instead. He knew the kiss was just that. It was just a kiss and nothing else but he felt almost like he was betraying Nolan by holding hands with Ava and taking her to his house. He knew he shouldn't because it wasn't like him and Nolan were dating anyways but the whole situation was just so wrong and confusing to him.

"So I was thinking we could maybe hang out in your room this time? No offense but Jeremy is kind of annoying," she says.

Last time Ava invited herself offer, Xander did everything in his power to make sure they stayed out in the living room with his siblings. He was afraid if they were alone for too long Ava might make a move on him and Xander just wasn't attracted to her. It wasn't because she was a girl or anything, it was just because he didn't think of her that way.

"Um, yeah sure. Theo might be in there though," he says. He was hoping Theo would be.

She smiles softly and shrugs. "Yeah, Maybe. Guess we'll just have to see."

They walk in and Xander kicks off his shoes. Jeremy glances over at the two of them. He was laying on the couch with the Xbox controller in his hand. "Nolan really grew his hair out, huh?" He teases.

Xander rolls his eyes. "Fuck off, Jeremy. We're going to my bedroom is Theo in there?"

"Nope," Jeremy says. "Beckett had a teacher meeting with him after school today. And then I think they're gonna bring us home McDonald's. I sure as hell hope so at least." He was hoping Theo was there and now that he knew that he wasn't, he was beyond nervous. He had no clue what he would do if Ava made a move on him. He knew he should act like he wanted her but he was afraid he'd act on impulse instead.

Xander bites his lip and nods a bit. "Yeah, Okay. Come on Ava," he says and leads her to his room. His bed was unmade and so were Jeremy's and Theo's while Beckett's was neatly tucked in. "Sorry it's kinda messy. Perks of sharing a room with three other boys."

She laughs softly and sits down on his bed. "Don't worry, it's okay. Your area isn't that bad."

Jeremy's side of the room was always the worst while Beckett's was perfect. Xander's was somewhere in between. He had a messy stack of sketchbooks on his dresser with a box of colored pencils, his clothes were all in the hamper but it was filled to the top and he had his skateboard leaned up against the side of his bed.

He smiles and sits down next to her as he shrugs his coat off and tosses it to the floor.

"Hey, did you hear about what happened with Sara and Josh? I heard they broke up," she says.

Ava always loved gossip and spreading it. Xander on the other hand had never really been interested in drama or the recent school gossip. He couldn't care less about it. Normally something would be a hug gossip topic one day and then within a week no one cared about it anymore.

"Really? No way! I thought they would have lasted longer," he says with fake enthusiasm.

"You know what..." she says, resting her hand on Xander's thigh and Xander blushes.

He clears his throat and glances down at her hand. "What?"

"Sometimes I wish I had a boyfriend. Someone who I could go on dates with and kiss and hold hands with in the hallway," she says. Before Xander could even answer, Ava leans over and kisses him deeply on the lips.