Moving Forward

Chapter 6

I smiled at the stranger who I now knew to be Will, feeling my cheeks heat up. Which they really should not be. He shouldn't affect me at all.

"You looked like you were in a bit of a daze. Is there something wrong?" Will asked, a genuine tone to his voice. His eyes were still flittering across my face, as though he was trying to take a mental note of every feature. I couldn't find it in myself to complain about it.

I opened my mouth, about to reply only to be abruptly stopped when an older women barged past, slamming into my shoulder and causing me to stumble to the side. Will automatically reached out to grab my arm to steady myself, although I already had. Not that I was complaining.

Rolling my eyes at the back of the woman's head, I turned my attention back to Will. "I'm fine. Just a lot on my mind. Thank you though."

"No problem," he said, glancing down at the watch that rested on his wrist. "Hey, I've got to go. Maybe I'll see you at Espresso Yourself again?"

I found myself nodding before I could even process what he had said. Well... I most certainly wouldn't mind seeing him again, that's for sure. "Yeah... yeah. Like you noticed, I do come here a lot."

He nodded, lifting his hand up to pat my arm. A weird gesture that I kind of liked. "As do I. Well, I hope to see you again, Avery."

"You too, Will."

And with that, he had stepped around me and was heading off in the opposite direction to where I was stood. I stood there for a while, staring at the spot in which he stood before turning around to look over my shoulder, watching as he walked away.

At the same moment, he turned around and looked over his shoulder. As he seen me watching, he lifted his arm and gave a small wave before turning the corner. And that was my cue to leave.

----

After my walk, I had returned back to my house. Once again, I found myself sitting on my bed, a photo frame with a picture of Alex and myself in my hands.

As much as I didn't want to lose him, my head was telling me to end things. Our relationship hadn't been right a for a while. It was as though we were holding on to something that wasn't there anymore. Or maybe I was. I was beginning to think that he had decided what I was, what we were, wasn't worth it anymore.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to break up with him. I loved him. He was my first serious boyfriend. My first love. I'd always heard that the first love was the hardest, that the first heartbreak hurt the most, and I was beginning to believe it.

As much as I knew I needed to, and as much as I knew Charlotte would persuade me to do so, I couldn't find myself to bite the bullet and do it.

It was a knock on the front door that finally pulled me out of my thoughts. I set the photo frame down and headed down the stairs to see who it was. My guess was on Charlotte.

Only it wasn't her, it was surprisingly Alex. Speak of the Devil, I thought to myself.

"Hey," I muttered quietly. I wasn't exactly sure how to act around him at the moment. We hadn't really spoke since the last time that we had been together and he had taken things too far.

"Hey," he smiled. "Can I come in?"

I hesitated for a moment before nodding and opening the door wider, letting him step past me and into the house. A frown flittered across my face as I closed the door, thinking about why on earth he had come over, unannounced.

Following him into the living room, I sat down on the same sofa as him. However, this time I made sure to leave some space between us.

"Seriously?" he deadpanned, an annoyed look on his face. "You're seriously going to leave space between us?"