Page 66 of Reaching Avery
“Because I’m difficult,” I answered as we walked toward my locker. “I hate carrying a heavy backpack.”
He chuckled. “With all those muscles, and you’re afraid of a little extra weight to carry?”
“Shut it, dork,” I said, bumping his arm. “The point of lockers is so you don’thaveto do that.”
“Dude,” Avery said, stopping in the middle of the hall and shaking his head. “Not cool.”
“Umm. What?” I wracked my brain, wondering what the hell I said wrong.
“Just because I have a dick doesn’t mean it’s okay to call me one,” he answered, rolling his eyes. With all the black eyeliner, the action kind of made him look like the scary chick fromLights Out. But, like, a sexy version that I wanted to push up against the lockers and make out with. And of course, I then got sucked into the fantasy and ended up just staring at him like a weirdo as I imagined all the things I wanted to do to him. “Mav? Did I break your brain?”
Wait. What?
“A dick?” I asked, because yeah, that was the best response. Totally.
Avery laughed and nudged my arm before walking again. “Visit Google later, big guy, and look up the history of the worddork.”
Trailing after him, I was still trying to work out what he’d said. The phrasestunned stupidhad never been truer. Eventually, I caught up to him.
“What time should I pick you up tonight?”
His blue eyes flickered to mine. “Huh?”
“The movie,” I reminded him.
“Oh.” He bit his bottom lip. “I’ll have to check with my mom first. Not sure when she’s going into work, and I need to make sure Declan gets dinner.”
“Isn’t he, like, fourteen?” I asked as we got to my locker. I worked the combination, popped the door open, and shelved my history book before grabbing the biology one. “He can make his own food, right?”
After I shut my locker, I faced Avery. His expression was shielded again. And maybe a little peeved.
“Sorry if it inconveniences you,” he snapped, taking a few steps back. “But he’s my baby brother and I need to make sure he’s looked after, Maverick. With my mom gone all the time, I’m all he has.”
Beneath the anger, I saw pain. An emotional one that burned in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Avery.” I wished we could go back to the playful banter from moments earlier. Before I opened my big mouth and upset him. “He can come too, if you want.”
To be honest, I wanted it to just be me and Avery, but if his brother tagging along was the only way to see him, then I’d take it. Plus, it’d be cool to finally meet Declan. The kid was in high school, but since he was a freshman, he had a different lunch time and separate classes. Maybe meeting him would help me get to know Avery even better too.
Avery’s face softened. “Really? You’d let him hang out with us?”
“Sure,” I said, knowing I’d probably say yes to anything he wanted at this point. “I can take us to dinner and then we can catch a movie after.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Avery said, looking at me with eyes that made me weak in the knees. “We better get to class before we’re late.”
