Bunking With Boys

Chapter 24: The Aftermath

Avery's POV

The room got incredibly silent after the news of Callum and I's 'relationship' was let out.

Everyone sat staring with wide eyes and dropped jaws like this was the last thing they expected.

"Well..." Elliot starts to try and break the extremely tense and awkward silence. "I wish you guys all the best..." he says each word slowly, like he's still processing himself.

And I couldn't necessarily blame him. Because maybe dropping news like this in the middle of nowhere was not the best idea...And maybe we should've thought this through more?

But I guess it was too late for that now though.

Callum grabbed my hand and swung it up in the air with an all too wide and fake smile plastered on his lips and I just attempted to smile but it was weird acting like this when he was nothing more than a close friend. A close platonic friend. Who was also in relationship with someone else.

No one really makes the move to continue eating dinner, or the move to do...anything. At all. Until all of a sudden, the unpleasant and loud screeching of a chair is heard from the edge of the table.

Dawson's edge of the table.

"I can't believe this." He mutters to himself before walking off towards our room.

And then it hits me. I never really truly considered my own feelings or relationship status. Which was merely just complicated by the way, but I was too worried about Callum to even think about how this would affect me. Or how this would affect Dawson.

It's like my heart dropped. Like I realized I kinda just ruined one of the few good things I had in my life.

And I tried to think it would be okay. I really tried to think that if it were meant to be then things would be okay. And that if this was the end of... whatever we had going on then that was meant to happen, and it was for the best.

But I couldn't. I couldn't imagine not having him in my life and I couldn't imagine having a lesser relationship with him.

I'd done that before and I'd lost a lot of great people and things because I didn't fight. Because I believed I deserved them leaving. But he was one of the people I couldn't let leave.

I look over to Callum, for some sort of help in what I'm supposed to do. How I'm supposed to fix this.

He leans in a bit. "He's your friend. Go make sure he's okay." And for a second I wonder why that was the term he decided to use compared to all the other times we talked about Dawson but then I notice the onlooking eyes of everyone else at the table.

So I stand up after excusing myself, take one last look at Callum, and walk to our room.

Once I get to the door I stop though. I had this feeling of...not wanting to know how he felt. Or the truth. Because that meant facing it. And I was never good at facing the truth. Especially the bad truths.

So I look back to Callum again, like he can reassure me everything's gonna be okay. And when I do he nods and smiles.

It was a bright smile. Like he knew something I didn't. Like there was something I was missing. Which I think was finally what pushed me to open the door.

Dawson was standing in the middle of the room, staring out the window I think. He was running his hand through his hair but the rest of him was pretty...still.

"Dawson," I say quietly with an apprehensive look on my face as I slowly took a few steps closer and closer to him.

And then he does something I'd never expected him to do.