Page 72 of Reaching Avery
To meet me halfway.
He grabbed onto it with a gentle hold. And I couldn’t control my goofy smile as I linked our fingers.
“So, this is a date?” he asked as we reached the entrance.
I opened the door for him with my free hand and followed him inside.
“Yep,” I answered, tossing him the same smile that I was sure would be a permanent fixture on my face for the rest of the evening. “Is that okay with you?”
Avery didn’t answer right away. His brow pulled together and he worried his bottom lip. “I don’t know.” He looked around at the place, before looking back at me. “This is all happening a bit fast, don’t you think?”
So much for the permanent smile. It fell from my face, and a sinking happened in my gut.
Was it too fast?
I’d only talked to Chris for like two weeks before we’d started fooling around. Most other couples in our school had hung out less than that before making things official. Hell, one of my baseball buddies had started dating a girl and within three weeks, they were already saying they loved each other.
Avery and I’d been talking for almost two months. I was allowed to feel the way I did. But if he didn’t feel it, I wasn’t going to force it on him.
I released his hand.
“Sorry,” I said, feeling my throat tighten. “I’ll get our tickets. Give me a sec.”
As I approached the guy at the box office, I tried to compose myself.
That hurt worse than the punch to my face. Maybe Avery wasn’t gay and was just curious. Or maybe hewasgay, but he just wasn’t into me. My voice of reason told me to calm the hell down, stop moping, and give him more time. Because he hadn’t said he didn’t want me. He’d just thought we were moving too fast.
“Good evening, how can I help you?” the guy greeted once I was at the counter. His nametag said Cody. He looked a little older than me and was dressed in black sacks and a maroon polo shirt with the movie theater logo on the front pocket.
“Can I get two tickets toTheGrotesquefor the seven-fifteen show?” I asked, pulling out my wallet. He told me the price, and I handed him a twenty before taking the tickets. “Thanks.”
“Enjoy the movie,” Cody said. “I heard it’s great, if you’re into gore.”
I turned around and didn’t see Avery. The theater wasn’t that big, so there were only a few places he could be. A sitting area was beside the restrooms, consisting of a couch and two loveseats. He wasn’t there.
Video game music from the arcade sounded from the right, so I headed that way.
Avery was looking at some motorcycle game, gliding his fingers along the seat. It was one of those that you actually rode the bike to play the game. Nearing him, I took several deep breaths, not wanting him to see the effect his words had on me.
“Hey,” I said, getting his attention. He flipped around at my voice and held his forearm in an awkward stance. “Here’s your ticket. The guy up front said it’s a good movie. So, we’ll see if he’s right.”
“Thanks.” He took the ticket and looked at it, but I could tell he wasn’t so much interested in the ticket as he was trying to avoid looking at me. Suddenly, his gaze lifted and he started talking really fast. “I’m sorry if I upset you about the dating thing. It’s just complicated with me. I want to… but I’m not sure I can.”
“Why?” I asked, searching his face for answers. Sometimes I could read him better when he wasn’t saying anything. “Is it because of what you said about your home life? You don’t have to be ashamed of it.”
Avery paled a bit more, which was surprising since he was already like porcelain. “That’s not the only reason. We’re just too different, Mav. On opposite sides of the tracks.”
“That’s what intersections are for,” I said, using his metaphor against him.
Even though I saw how hard he tried to fight it, he smiled. “There’s no pushing you away, is there?”
“Not when your lips say one thing but your eyes say another,” I said, stepping a little closer to him and angling my head down a fraction.
The flashing lights from the arcade games caused shadows to move across his face. With his long, dark hair, black lined eyes, and pale skin, he looked ethereal. Unique and beautiful. I wasn’t sure if I’d intended to kiss him right then, but we were so close, I could feel his breath on my skin.
Just an inch or so more and our mouths would meet.
“What do my eyes say?” he whispered, seeming as if he was under the same spell as me. His lips parted as his gaze shifted from mine, to my mouth, and back up again.
