Adore You - Jack Mercer

- Chapter Three: Nothing Changes -

Avery hadn't expected to be leaving her boyfriend to return home alone when she had woken up this morning. Nor had she imagined that Bobby would guilt her into joining the brothers at Evelyn's for the night.

"You sure you're okay with this?" She asks Carter as he leans against his car with his hands resting on her waist.

"Go spend some time with your family. I'll be fine. It's only for tonight, then you're back home to mine tomorrow for Thanksgiving dinner." He reassures with a smile whilst bringing his hand up to cup her face lovingly. "I'll pick you up at ten, okay?"

Avery nods as she leans up to kiss his lips softly. She pulls back with a smile tugging at the corner of her lips, though it doesn't reach her eyes. "Don't be late." she murmurs as she strokes his face softly with the nagging discomfort within her at so much affection being ignored completely in this moment.

"I'll be waiting." Carter smiles and kisses her once more whilst cupping her face in his hands.

"Fuck me. She's only gonna be away for one-night lover boy. She ain't fucking dying." Bobby mutters as he walks over to the pair and grabs Avery's arm before pulling her to his car where Jack was already seated in the passenger seat. "Get in." Bobby tells her before walking around to the driver's side.

She rolls her eyes but climbs in the back after Jack steps out to let her in. She waves to Carter from her seat as he blows her a kiss before getting into his car and driving off.

"Okay," Bobby breathes as he slams the door shut and starts the car up. "Let's go home."

_______________

The night sky calms Avery as she stares up at the house she had practically grown up in. The house where all her adventures with the Mercer boys had taken place.

It looked the same. Of course, it did. For her worries that it had somehow crumbled to rubble in the last week or so since her last visit was ridiculous. Maybe she had secretly deep down hoped that it had in fear of returning to a house that no longer had the warmth of the woman that had made it a home.

She frowns as her eyes trail to the right where her own house sat; vacant, empty, and as cold as it has always been.

She lets her eyes take in the boarded-up windows with a deep sigh. Her mind trying desperately to push back the oncoming traumatic memories of her childhood. In fact, her father's death in that house was only one of many reasons why she had chosen long ago not to live there.

Of course, she knew that she would have to make the decision to either sell it one day or keep it and live in it. 

Though whenever she had tried to follow through with either possibility in the past, she had been unable to. She supposed it was sourced from her lack of ability to let go of that part of her life whilst also feeling trapped within it when living there.

The painful truth was that she hated that house and the memories tied to it. While, at the same time, it held a deep and broken part of her. A part that was so ingrained in her that it felt impossible to remove it entirely from her life.

She tears her eyes away from the structure to look at Bobby as he pulls the car up outside Evelyn's home before turning the engine off. He sighs deeply whilst staring up at his childhood home, likely remembering all that he had experienced within it.

Unfortunately, the empty appearance of the house was haunting for each of them to see first hand because it was a harsh reminder that the woman who once occupied it was gone.