Once Upon A Bet

/3/ He's here

Dedicated to anonymous_me26 for the amazing support and being the first comment last chapter <33

My eyes darted between the different nail polish. Cerulean blue or coral pink? I bit my lip. Both are lovely. Beautiful. I took them and glanced the prize. Same prize. That wouldn't help me decide either and the long hesitation was attracting the attention of the big man with a permanent frown behind the counter ten feet from me.

"Hey." I almost jumped out of my skin at the sudden voice and spun around to face a cackling girl. "Easy there."

"Avery?" I  recognized the tall girl from the auction and take in a deep breath calming my pounding heart. "You scared the hell out of me."

"I know." she laughed ignoring the glare the man sent our way. "Your face was priceless."

"Ha ha. So funny." I rolled my eyes and turned to the nail polish, still obfuscated in my dilemma. 

"I know," she wiped a non-existent tear and stopped by my side. "So? What bring you to a gas station this time at night? Considering you don't have a car." she gestured to the empty parking lot outside, now occupied by a cute red Volkswagen.

"Nice."

"Thanks." she grinned. "But don't change the topic."

"It's not that late." I grumbled under my breath, not wanting to relive the recent fight with my parents.

Apparently, this summer job Damien offered me didn't sit well with my mother, but shockingly it did with my father. He was grumpy and dry, as usual; but he seemed pleased we were kinda building a bridge or whatever with the McFriedricks. My mother on the other hand, made a scene about how I was going to embarrass the family again and wouldn't stop pestering me around the house.

I needed to get out of there, at least until she calmed down or my father convinced her to let it go. The soft wheater invited to take a calming walk and that's exactly what I did. For over an hour now.

"Mhm." Avery hummed absently inspecting the polish section as well and took one randomly. "I'm sure it's the happy hour somewhere, perfect moment to buy new accessories, uh?"

I narrowed my eyes, wary at her. "And why do you care?"

"Just curious." Avery put down the small pot she picked and nodded to the ones in my hands. "Which one are you going for?"

I sighed, accepting her questions since it didn't look like they would stop any time soon. "That's the question, isn't it? I like them both. But I'll be starting this job soon and don't want to look too immature or something."

"Here, let me see." I gingerly passed her the small tubs and she rolled them in her hands, inspecting closely. "Take this."  she finally slid the pink over to me. "Is smoother and would give you a more professional image. "And," she grinned, picking the blue. "I'll take this one and you can borrow it whenever you want."

"Wow. Thanks." once more her eager friendliness shocked me.

But it didn't feel like Dalia, sweet and soft to everyone; fake. No. I'd seen Avery being more sassy, but she seemed to have decided I was worth being kind too. Surprising, knowing she was aware of everything. More from the other side of the story than mine since she was on their course.

"Anytime." she winked hanging the scowling man a bill before I could protest and walked out the gas station with her cerulean polish and head high.

The man's eyes bored into me, almost intimidating me into leaving and I decided I'd wandered around this gas station for long enough. With a quick wave I exited as well just in time to see Avery thanking the guy who filled her tank. She opened the driver's door but instead of entering she eyed me over the ceiling. "Hey, you know? I'm going to have drinks with a friend. Wanna come?"