The Bell House

The Lucky Badger

Avery POV

  When I ran into Zak, I felt my heart flip inside of my chest. His eyes looking inside of my soul and I could feel as the butterflies flew effortlessly in my stomach. I tried to act normal, like it didn't phase me but deep down I was crumbling inside.

  When Aaron Came around the corner, I felt so grateful. I could finally make my escape and catch my breath again. When I walked back down the stairs, my hands were literally shaking just from that brief encounter. I couldn't explain why he had this kind of effect on me and I could sense it within him also. The pulling sensation I had felt just the previous day, was present again but I knew I had to keep my distance. I couldn't get involved with him. Hell I hardly knew the guy! And he definitely couldn't find out who I really was.

   The following day I entered the B and B and immediately was struck with a strong coffee aroma. I could hear familiar voices coming from the dining room and peeked my head inside for a moment. I spotted the guys sitting at the main table, talking, laughing and eating the breakfast Ms. Moore prepared. Aaron noticed me right away and waved me over. At that gesture, they all stopped talking and looked my way.

  "Shit." I said to myself as I walked over to the table. I could sense Zak' s eyes on me and heard Aaron whisper something to him before I made it to the table.

"Hey Avery." Aaron said in a sweet tone. The other guys nodded to me and continued on with their conversations.

"Hey, how is everything going? Do you guys need anything?" I glanced over to Zak who was already looking right at me.

"What's there to do in this town? Anything fun?" Aaron smiled over to Zak.

"We were planning on taking a break today. Exploring." Zak slightly smiled at me.

"Well it is a small town but we do have an arcade acouple blocks down. We also have the bakery across the street where you can go in and make your own chocolates or candy. We have hiking trails on the other side of town near the bridge, if you go down there you can get down to the waterfall. The theatre has live plays or just regular showings. The gym has indoor rock climbing and mini golf next door. The Lucky Badger has a live band every night and karaoke. There's quite a bit to do actually." I noticed I had been rambling and Zak was staring at me intently.

"What do you do for fun?" Zak asked waiting for me to answer.

"Umm.. I'm a writer so I find time to write or I go watch the band at the lucky badger. Every so often I'll go walk the dogs at the local shelter. Alot of things." I noticed his eyes light up almost instantly.

"I actually help out at the shelter back at home. Music is definitely high on my list too. We will have to check it out." His eyes had so much light in them, I didn't want to look away. After a moment, Aaron spoke up.

"Are you two going to stare at eachother all day or... ?" A smile crept up on his lips as he watched us.

"I actually have to get back to work so I'll leave you guys to it."

"See you around?" Zak asked but immediately turned a light shade of pink. Aaron caught on and laughed to himself.

"Yeah, I'll see you around." I couldn't help but smile and walked away.

   The day was easy, I tidied up the rooms, vacuumed the halls, cleaned the kitchen downstairs, dusted and whatever else needed my attention. Nomatter how hard I tried though, I couldn't get Zak out of my head.

  My phone started to vibrate in My pocket and when I took it out I realized it was my best friend, Charlotte.

   We had known of eachother our whole lives but didn't really start a friendship until after we graduated. We both stayed in Riversmend unlike the others in our class who moved away to become something or someone great.