Page 83 of Reaching Avery
Something wasn’t right with his behavior. He’d mentioned it all had derived from his dad, but I didn’t know what all that entailed. Abuse?
Was he still being abused?
“You okay, big guy?” Avery asked, pulling me from my head. He was smiling again, but it still didn’t reach his eyes. Not fully. He looked so tired.
“Yeah.” It was my turn to lie.
His attitude slowly shifted for the rest of the day, going from the walking corpse from the morning to the Avery I was more familiar with. Shadows still lingered under his eyes, and during times when we weren’t talking, I’d catch him looking at the ground or the wall with an emotionless face. But right when his eyes would find mine, he’d light up and transform into a happier version of himself.
I didn’t know what to make of it.
“So, you and goth boy are, like, together now?” Travis asked, leaning against the locker beside mine after school. He hadn’t meant it in a bad way. It was just in theTravis way. He crossed his arms, emphasizing his biceps that’d noticeably grown in the past two months.
“Yeah,” I answered, grabbing my history textbook and shelving the rest before closing the locker. “I asked him last night.” Meeting Travis’ green-eyed gaze, I added, “Things are a bit complicated at times, but… I don’t know. He just makes me happy.”
Travis smiled, showing off the dimple in his right cheek. “Man, that’s what matters. Wish I could say the same. Chelsey drives me crazy.”
“Dump her.” I looked down the hall to see if Avery was nearby. I had rehearsal again that afternoon, so we were going to walk to the performing arts building together. “Seriously, Trav. No amount of great sex is worth that. There’s plenty of other girls. Ones who aren’t stuck up their own ass.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I know.” His brow dipped and he averted his eyes from me. “Um, can I ask you something without you freaking out?”
“Okay,” I said in a suspicious tone.
“Is… is Sarah, like, seeing anyone?” he asked before looking back at me. “I see that Ben guy hangin’ with y’all a lot, and I just didn’t know if they’re together.”
It was about time he asked.
“Mavy! There you are.” Sarah ran up and grabbed my arm. She then added in a British accent, “Off to the theater we go!”
“Hey, Sarah,” Travis said with a somewhat cocky smile.
She stilled and looked at him, just now realizing he was there. “Oh. Hi, Travis. Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m such a ditz sometimes.”
“No problem,” he replied, using his famous flirty tone. He then offered his arm. “May I escort the lady to the theater instead? Not to take the lady from her current escort, but he seems to have his sights elsewhere.”
I stopped my search for Avery and quirked a brow at Travis. He was laying it on pretty thick. I’d never seen him try so hard.
“Um. Sure,” Sarah answered, glancing at me before letting go of my arm and grabbing his.
As they started walking off, she tossed me an excited smile over her shoulder. She’d expressed her crush for him several times through text, but she’d said she didn’t have a chance because she wasn’t the ‘typical ten hottie’ Travis usually dated. She was rounder than the super skinny girls he got with.
Looked like he didn’t mind.
I watched them, hoping he dumped Chelsey soon. Queen B must’ve not had cheerleading practice that day, because otherwise, I doubted Travis would’ve been so open with his flirtation of Sarah. Well, actually, he probably still would’ve been.
When he wanted something, he went for it.
Kind of like me with Avery. There were a lot of things I was unsure about, but Avery wasn’t one of them. The fact things were already a bit complicated and we’d just started dating would’ve pushed most people away. But not me. I knew there were reasons for why he was that way. Maybe one day he’d confide in me about them.
I finally found him in the library.
Ever since Ben had let him borrow that vampire book, Avery had started reading more, and he’d gone to the library a few times. Of course, none of the books in our library were as, uh, adult as theSeeing Redone, but he’d found a series calledHouse of Nightthat he really enjoyed.
After going to the library, I saw him searching a shelf, and I approached him from behind.
His long, black hair touched his shoulder blades and the fitted shirt he wore accentuated his lean torso. He bent over to look on the lower shelf, and my gaze followed.
I mean, I was an ass guy and Avery had a nice one.
