Haphephobia

Chapter 22

Ava and I woke up relatively at the same time. My eyelids had cracked open and I stood up to stretch, which must have stirred her, as she soon groaned and sat against the headboard, eyeballing me warily. I'd been afraid of this. 

"You know, if we're gonna be awkward about this, maybe it's a bad idea that we-" I started, wanting to speak my mind right off the bat before things boiled over, but Ava cut me off.

"I've no idea what you mean, Benedict. I was simply staring at you because I'm tired and you look weird when you wake up. I mean, seriously, your hair's a fluffy mess." She commented. I furrowed my eyebrows at her, then stuck my tongue out rudely. She scoffed, flying out of bed and into her room next door, shutting the door loudly behind her.

I rolled over and got out of bed, still wondering if maybe what I'd done was wrong. Letting her sleep with me, I mean. I get she was scared and lonely and it was by no means supposed to lead to any funny business, but what if it had? I'd've died of embarrassment. 

Coming to the conclusion that all this was just too much to think about for one day, especially so early in the morning, I pulled out a fresh set of clothes. A red fisherman's wool knit turtleneck and grey jeans- perfect, especially considering the frigid weather. I began to wonder when exactly it wasn't cold out in Plainsboro, New Jersey. 

Soon enough, I was dressed and Ava came back through the door, wearing a Forest green hoodie and blue jeans. I'd just finished slipping on my converse, which had already been sullied: no thanks to the muddy snow piles that lay every three inches from here to Rhode Island.

"So any ideas what to do today while we wait for our next assignment? I don't particularly feel like going back to the preserve until I have to." I spoke to Ava, who shook her head in total agreement, her eyes widened. Sitting out there in the dark last night, out in the open... hell, I was safe up in the air, but Ava was like a sitting duck where she'd crouched behind a bush. Next time, I'd have to be more bloody careful where she stood. Vantage point or not, she was in danger.

"Let's go on a walk. I wanna get lost and have no idea how to get back." Ava suggested, which, as odd as it may have sounded, seemed like a truly good idea at the time. 

We stood up and walked out of the room and away from the hotel. Before long, we'd hit the streets, and our footsteps resonated from the black asphalt, all while we walked to no-man's-land for the hell of it.

Soon enough, we'd accidentally ended up at the coffee shop, and I cursed my amazing sense of direction. Ava rolled her eyes at me, but we went inside to buy a coffee and say hello.

As soon as we'd left and continued walking down the strip, however, it was the records store that really caught our eyes. The two of us made a beeline for the store, a bell ringing loudly as we pushed open the glass door. 

"Hey, kids. Looking for anything in particular today?" We swiveled around to meet eyes with an elderly looking man behind the register. He had kind eyes in an Elton John sort of way, but with more of that nearly fashionable ruggedness of Billy Joel. He was hard to describe, as is sometimes the way things end up with older folks, but I immediately felt like I could be safe in this store. He was clearly a well-meaning old man with a passion for music, and judging by the look of ease on Ava's face, she couldn't have agreed more.

"No- no, we're actually just tourists. We thought we might stop in for a souvenir, or something." Ava responded automatically, while I took a sip from my coffee. My eyes had already begun to wander towards the endless rows upon rows of albums. They were all organized alphabetically, each category set apart from another by a white piece of plastic with the artist's name clearly labeled.