Page 53 of Reaching Avery
Maverick was in one of the aisles, holding a stack of books in one arm and placing them on the shelf with the other. Except he’d stopped shelving the books and was instead looking at me. His expression was both kind and sort of shy.
I wasn’t used to seeing him nervous.
“Hey, Maverick,” I greeted, seeing the way his face fell a smidge when I didn’t say the shortened version of his name. It was my way of trying to keep him at arm’s length. If he got any closer, emotionally, I might not be able to resist him anymore. “I didn’t know you worked here.”
“Yeah, I do,” he said, setting the books on the floor in the aisle before walking toward me. “It’s a pretty cool job. Rehearsals cut into my hours a bit, so that sucks. But I love it here.”
By his stance, I could tell he didn’t know whether to stand in front of me, sit beside me, or walk away and continue working.
I decided to throw a life jacket to the poor guy.
“Do you wanna sit?” I asked, motioning to the empty seat beside me. “Ben went to get us coffees, but I’m sure it’s okay if you hang out for a few.”
Maverick smiled, and the shyness gradually left him. “As much as I’d love to, I don’t think I should while on the clock. But if you guys are still here when I go on my lunch break, maybe I can? If the offer is still open?”
“What offer?” Ben asked, placing my coffee in front of me before sitting down in his chair.
“I said he could sit with us if he wanted,” I said, and then I froze a little when it occurred to me that maybe I was overstepping. “I mean, if that’s okay with you.”
“Of course it is.” Ben gave me a weird look, as if he couldn’t believe I’d even suggested otherwise. He then looked at Maverick. “We’re studying for the biology exam, so another brain wouldn’t hurt. Plus, you’re the best student in class. You’d be a lot of help.”
“Cool,” Maverick responded. “My lunch is at one, so I’ll be over here then. As for now,” he looked over at his discarded pile of books, “I need to get back to work.”
***
A lot of reading and two lattes later, Ben and I had gone over most of the material. For the past ten minutes, we’d decided to take a short break before diving into the rest.
During the break, we’d talked about various things, like his love of skiing—his family vacationed to Colorado each year at some winter resort—and how he couldn’t say the wordiron.He pronounced it with ther.
“Sorry, I feel like we’re always talking about me,” Ben apologized. “I feel like an awful friend.”
“You aren’t,” I said. “Believe me. I don’t mind having the topic off me.”
“Why?” His brow pulled together. “You’re awesome. Like, I wish I had the confidence to dress the way you do, with all the eyeliner and rocker hairdo. I tried on a pair of skinny jeans before and ripped the inner thigh of them before I even pulled them up over my ass. Not just any dude can wear those.”
I laughed as a wave of something else washed over me too. Happiness? Ben called me brave for wearing what made me feel likeme. He praised what most others mocked.
“Thanks.” The spotlight made me feel a little uncomfortable. I wasn’t used to compliments and didn’t know how to respond to them. “I don’t feel confident. I just see it as I’ll be judged no matter what I do or wear. If it’s not my appearance than it’d be how I talk or where I live. So, why not stay true to myself? If I’m going to be teased, it might as well be for who I am than who I’m not.”
“Very thought provoking,” Ben said, nodding. “I’ve kinda thought about dyeing my hair a few times. People call me a ginger and make fun of me for it. Damn, it used to hurt a lot when I was younger too. I’d come home from school crying nearly every day. But it’sme, you know? If I dye my hair just so they won’t make fun of me that means they’ve won.”
There were tears in his eyes, and he looked away, trying to hide it. No matter how confident a person seemed, they could be struggling with deep insecurities. Some just hid it better than others.
I hadn’t known Ben had been bullied.
“Well, I happen to like redheads,” I said, smirking. “In medieval times, redheads were thought to be kissed by fire. So if anyone ever gives you crap for it again, just tell them that you’ll set them aflame or something and drag their souls, kicking and screaming, to the Underworld. Be all dramatic with it.”
Ben snorted, and his watery eyes cleared. “Thanks, Avery.”
It was then that I truly felt like I wasn’t alone. Ben had experienced the same type of bullying I had, and for something that wasn’t his fault at all. Seeing how emotional he got when telling me about the bullying and seeing his reaction at me defending him impacted me.
Sometimes you just needed one person to be there for you. To have your back. Not a huge group of people, butonewho truly got you.
Maybe Ben would be my person and I’d be his.
When Ben’s gaze fixated on something behind me, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Not so much out of fear, but just the unknown. Like that feeling ofwhat the heck is behind metype thing.
Maverick appeared at my side, put his hand on the back of the vacant chair, and hesitated. “Can I sit?”
