See You on the Other Side | ✓

20 | I Was Wondering...

"I'm through with playin'. Can I give you my heart?" - Herrick + Hooley, Landscapes (Interlude)

~~~

I looked at the reflection seen in the mirror. I usually got dressed with little thought and couldn't care less. With this outfit, each article was picked with careful deliberation. Still, I was antsy.

My grandma walked in and pinched my cheeks in perhaps the most stereotypical way possible. "Aww, look at my little boy."

"'Ma, stop." I continued to look at my outfit. It was simple with just some khakis and a sweatshirt.

"I look like the whitest guy ever," I lamented.

"Well, maybe that's her type."

I squinted my eyes at her and she backed off. "Adrian, don't think about it too much. Although your stress over such a simple thing is admirable, being more laid back never hurt anyone."

"I don't know how to do that. At this point, being tense is a physical trait of mine."

"False. This is a rare thing for you and you know it."

"Okay, I might be a little chill right now, but when I'm with her it's another me. I get tense and I blush like an idiot when she says something that might suggest that she likes me."

"Now you know that she actually does so, you can calm down. If she didn't like you, she'd say no to going out with you," she said. She had a point but she forgot that Avery was largely a people pleaser. She'd lie if it meant she'd keep me around. She'd lie if it meant anyone would stay around.

~~~

I drove over to her house and knocked on the door. Avery appeared in her usual garb; a sweatshirt and some leggings. I thought she looked beautiful, as always.

"So, where are we going?" She asked. "I know a few places by the harbor, but we don't have to go there if you already have this planned out."

I didn't plan anything out. The plan was to ask her out and if she said yes, take her out. If she said no, then I'd just sulk with Sylvie.

"We can go there if you want," I commented.

She smiled in response and walked towards my car. She opened the passenger door, which my fingers had almost laid on. Then, I remembered that Avery was hellbent on making her independence known.

She reached out to touch the heating dial and turned it up. She also pressed the button that heated the seats more than a few times, setting it to the highest level.

"Are you cold?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No. You?"

"No."

"Good because then I'd have to give you my jacket to warm you up."

I laughed. "Aren't I the one who should be doing that?

"But I'm not cold. I'm warm now," she stated. Her pointing out of something obvious reminded me of the naivete conversation Brielle and I had last month.

"But you were cold at one point, right?"

"Yes, but I'm not anymore. That's what matters," she explained.

Well, that little exchange was kind of awkward. I rescinded what I said mentally to try and erase the weird feeling retained in the air. I hated to even entertain the thought, but could Brielle be right about Avery lacking common sense?

I mean, she could have answered the question pretty simply.

"I know I could've answered that question quickly, but sometimes I like to push people's buttons. Maybe I just like to hear myself talk," she said.

"You're not the only one. Your talking doesn't bother me either."

"Well, isn't that sweet?" She smiled. "I kinda love hate your voice."

"What?" I exclaimed. This was definitely not something I wanted to hear from Avery of all people.

"It sounds nice, like the cadence is there, but when you speak, you speak like someone just told you Santa wasn't real," she admitted slowly, hoping that maybe I'd receive her message better. "Also, right turn coming up."

"I'm not mean, I'm honest."

"I'm not necessarily calling you mean, but you can be unforgiving and to-the-point. I overheard you talking to Sylvia about how heaven wasn't real and it broke her heart. It broke mine a little too," she confessed. The thing she said was a whisper, almost like she was ashamed of it.

"I'm sorry."

"Wrong person, Adrian. Apologizing to Sylvie would make it right, but only if you are truly sorry for what you said. You had ample time to say sorry if you actually meant it."

"Well, aren't you blunt?"

"My mom is like your level of honest times 10. I guess it's innate for me."

I chuckled. "Wait...if you didn't like me when I was talking to Sylvie like that, why didn't you tell me sooner? I'm surprised you're even nice to me."

"Me too, but I guess there's a part of me that hopes that people get better with time. I hope for a lot of things with you in it, but I won't bore you with the details."

"Wait, what details?" I questioned, trying not to rush my words.

"Well, I guess I'm gonna be straight forward with you...ever since New Year's, I kinda wondered what an actual kiss from you would be like."

My eyebrows went up in surprise. I waited for what she was gonna do next. I saw the restaurant Avery was talking about before and parked.

She reached up for a kiss. It was short, but not a peck.

"That's way better than New Year's," she said. In her light brown tone, I saw a shade of red overcome her face. It livened me up to see that I was making Avery blush, but nothing felt final. Even as I felt her lips on mine, she felt like water slipping through my fingers.

Was this just to get her curiosity thwarted? Where were we gonna go with this?

A/N

Oh wow, I was so off schedule with this one but at some point this week we were at number 82 in bwwm! Muchas gracias!😎