Wrong Quarterback | ✓

9 | here's a toast to my real friends

             

           Stabbing her spoon into the pint of salted caramel ice cream, Avery pulls one of her legs to her chest, her other foot still propped up in Luke's lap.

"You know what's unfair?"

"What?" He asks as she swallows the spoonful of ice cream before holding her hand out to change him for the strawberry flavored one.

She runs her spoon along the rim of the pint, scooping the pink up onto the silver. "Sophie Sheridan has three men in her life who will gladly claim her as their daughter but my dad only calls when he needs to get the guilt off of his chest."

    Luke straightens up and reaches for the remote, muting the rerun of an old Friends episode playing in the screen.

Avery usually prefers movies over tv shows but tonight the television is mostly background noise anyways. It's a nice change of pace to not have to care entirely too much about what's happening on the screen, to not have to worry to miss anything if she zones out. And she finds herself zoning out a lot tonight, mind not seeming to be able to not contemplate the few past days – how different they turned out from how she originally imagined them.

Twisting in his seat, Luke takes in her expression. There's a careful note laced in his tone as he asks, "Sophie who?"

"Sophie Sheridan!" She exclaims, resting the spoon against her lips as she sighs further into the cushion of the couch. "'Mamma Mia!'. At least try to keep up Luke."

    The guilt of having snapped when he's here for her sake washes over her in an instant but she can tell it doesn't faze him much as he doesn't comment on it, instead simply leaning back against the decorative pillows propped up against the arm of the couch.

"Is that what he feels like?" He asks, reaching his arm out to set the pint of ice cream down on the coffee table. "Like he only calls when he's feeling guilty?"

She lifts her right shoulder in a shrug. "I don't know," She says, resting her chin on her knee. "I guess. When we talk it always stretches on forever and I don't know... there is a lot of prevarications and saying how he wishes things would be a certain way. You know?"

Luke's blue eyes soften slightly and he stays silent for a beat, tapping the pads of his fingers against her foot. "Whenever I mention it... or we talk about it you say he's doing the best he can."

"He is doing the best he can."

Though all her friends have quite a good understanding of the Robert-situation, Luke is the one who knows most. Mainly because he was there through all the years when her father was still here but his words ring true – she doesn't often touch upon the subject, doesn't dig deeper than the surface as it's brought up. Always desperately trying to shield her father from the criticism that may arise at the mention of him. It's a sticky situation to say the least – and the gods above know she's been struck in the crossfire more than a couple of times – but she's doing the best she can with the cards she's been dealt.

    She flickers her eyes between the ice cream and her friend. Clenching his jaw, he looks as if he would like to dispute her words but instead he keeps quiet, reaching for the bag of gummy candies – the kind he doesn't even like but only brought along because he knows they're her favorite – where it lies on the coffee table. He regards her for a moment, popping a piece of candy into his mouth and she imagines he's contemplating how to speak what's on his mind without accidentally causing things to go sour between them.

"All I'm saying," He begins as Avery sets the ice cream down on the table, wrapping her arm around the leg she has pressed to her chest. "Is that he could've handled this whole 'oh by the way we're not going to Orlando' thing better."