Page 25 of Slap Shot at a Second Chance

But I was quite sure it wasn’t her birthday, it had already passed during the spring on the eighth of May. And she wasn’t working here yet so it wasn’t her birthday that caused her to be mad at me.

Maybe, she didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t take my eyes off her and the fact that I admitted it to her. Was I supposed to act mean toward her, and not be honest about my intentions with her?

I mean,sure, I hadn’t told her what I really wanted from her just yet, but I wasn’t expecting everything to happen so soon. A small crush quickly grew to affection andyes, it was no secret that I wanted her, but I wasn’t going to dive in headfirst to tell herhow muchI wanted her.

Thinking about it wouldn’t get me anywhere, it was better to ask the person who was ignoring me exactly why she was ignoring me. Today sealed the suspicions that Avery had been avoiding me.

At first, I thought she was just busy, she said she had meetings, pitching sessions, and other stuff that I didn’t understand. I accepted it because if my girl said she had stuff to do, then she had stuff to do.

But the way she looked at me suggested otherwise.

When I made it to her floor, I took a deep breath in because I didn’t have the patience to wait for the elevator and opted for the stairs instead; and now here I was trying to catch my breath in front of her door.

I knocked after a few seconds and her soft voice beckoned for me to enter her office, she took a bite of her cookie as she looked at the documents that had filled her table and looked up when I closed the door, the clicking sound getting her attention.

“Nate,” she murmured before she covered her mouth and finished chewing. She dabbed the sides of her mouth with her napkin as she stood up and pulled down her shirt. It almost felt as if I were her boss with the way she was fidgeting and how quick she was to wipe her lips, I didn’t mind the few crumbs... it was cute.

“Avery, hi.” I smiled and I waved, hoping that it would remind her of how she treated me in the communal space, where Iwaitedfor her.

I should’ve texted, but if the roles were reversed, I would have gladly sat down and finished my drink with her because I enjoyed her company.

“Oh, yes,” she whispered as she looked around her office before her enchanting blue eyes met mine and she said, “I didn’t mean to seem cold, I remembered in that moment that I had some work to finish.”

She pointed to her desk behind her and I noticed the few documents on her desk and it did seem as if she did have some work to finish, but did that mean she didn’t have even a second to spare for me?

“Have you been avoiding me?” I asked, ignoring all the warning signs that were lighting off in my head that she would probably not like me asking her that question. But I had to know if whether I was wasting our time. If that was how she felt, then I would back off.

“No!” she shouted as she shook her head and took a deep breath as her shoulders sagged. “No,” she said softly this time.

“You’ve just been really busy?” I teased, trying to ease the disappointment I felt like was about to come.

“I just—“ She sighed as she leaned against her desk, crossing her arms over her chest. “Yes, I have been avoiding you.”

My heart sank and I slowly nodded as I looked everywhere besides her eyes. Fuck, it really was disappointing.

“Would you perhaps like me to leave you alone?” I spoke softly, my nails scratching my arm as I waited for her response. “Don’t you like being around me?”

“It’s not that, Nate.” She rubbed her temples as she took a deep breath in. “I just think that maybe, we shouldn’t be hanging out.”

She picked at her nails, and her tongue nervously licked her top lip as she looked at me through her lashes.

This felt like a break-up.

“Why?”

“Because...” she dragged the word as she dropped her hands, looking at me as if she was desperate for me to understand. “Nate, we just don’tclick.”

CLICK?

“Really? You think we don’tclick?” I asked, surprised by her reasoning. “Avery, you and I don’t click?”

I took a step forward and I was suddenly really close to her.

“Please explain to me what kind of click we should have for us to hang out?”

“Nate.” She nibbled on her bottom lip, avoiding my gaze and my eyes stared at her pink lips that were a shade darker because she kept biting them.

“Avery, you really don’t like us spending time together?” I whispered as I tilted my head to the side, bringing my fingers under her chin. My thumb gently rubbed her soft skin and she looked at me through her lashes again. Her hands moved dangerously close to my waist. “Do you mean that?”

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