Chapter Ten
I woke up feeling like I had had too much soufflé and had watched way too much South Park Ocean Avenue ” was playing and I wanted to sing to it so bad, but it was rather difficult to sing while running. I was running when I saw a figure in the distance I had a déjà vu, although this time I had enough sense to dodge the object. I spun around and came face to face with Avery.
“Surprised you didn’t run into me again.” He smirked.
“You’re lucky I don’t hit you.” I warned, but this just made him laugh.
“You wouldn’t hit me.” He jutted out his lower lip and made his deep blue eyes wide. “Would you?” I laughed and he smiled at me.
“Don’t tempt me.” He could see through my words and he knew I probably would not hit him. “So why are you out in the cold so early?”
“Oh… well.” He stammered. He lifted up an old camera hanging around his neck. “I need to finish my photography assignment.” I had forgotten he was in my class. “May I?” he held the camera up to his eye and aimed it at me. I groaned and covered my face with my hands. “Oh come on.” He pleaded.
“Can we do a rain check? Perhaps when I’m not gross?” I suggested.
“Oh Jorden you could never look gross.” I felt flattered and by the look on his face, I could tell he meant it. “But okay. Later today would be best. The film is due tomorrow.”
“Not a problem. Drop by around three.” He nodded and I put my headphones back in and continued running. As I was running, I kept thinking about how Avery had said I could never look gross. What did that mean exactly? Did he call me pretty? This comment was going to bother me for a while.
When I got home, I immediately jumped into the shower. I was contemplating what clothes to wear and what I should do with my hair. After my shower, I walked into my room and opened my closet. I decided that I was stressing over that fact that the class could see a picture of me, not over the fact that Avery was the one taking it. I just kept telling myself that Avery didn’t matter. I grabbed my faded blue jeans with the hole in the knee and my long sleeve, white shirt that had the hood. I left my hair down and went to sit on my bed. I still had two hours until Avery was going to come over and take my picture. I decided to call Letty.
“Jordy.” She greeted me.
“Letty.” I replied. “What’s up?”
“Nothing really. Just making a mixed CD.”
“For who?” I asked. She was quiet just a beat to long.
“A friend.” She said evasively.
“I have the same friends, which one?” She was quiet again.
“Jack.” She mumbled. I smiled.
“Oooh.” I exclaimed.
“Shut up.” I could practically hear her blushing over the phone.
“Well after that you should come over.”
“Why?” She asked skeptically.
“Do I need a reason?” She laughed.
“No. I’ll be over when I’m finished with this.”
“Make sure you bring that with you. I wanna make sure that’s G rated.” She scoffed and hung up on me. I laughed and walked out my door and down the hall to Mike’s room. I knocked and he opened the door. His hair was tousled and Alexis was sitting on his bed smiling.
“Yes?” he asked impatiently.
“What were you doing?” I asked cautiously. He looked embarrassed. “Never mind I don’t want to know.” I walked away without another word. I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. I opened the fridge, grabbed a green tea and an apple and walked back up to my room. I looked at the clock more than I should have. I put my tea down on my nightstand and pulled out a pad of paper, when in doubt write a story. I started writing about a girl who meets this guy and hates him but kept running into him. She was somewhat sarcastic, I was writing down a really good comeback when my phone went off. I glanced at my phone and then picked it up.
“You done?” I asked.
“Yeah, I hope he likes it.” she said nervously.
“He’d be crazy not to.” I told her with confidence.
“I hope you’re right.” She mumbled. I looked at the clock and realized I forgot to mention something to Letty.
“So… would you mind if someone joined us today?” I asked coolly.
“That’s fine. Who’s joining us?”
“Err…” I stammered.
“Jorden? Who is it?” She asked again.
“Well… uhh…” I was trying to stall.
“Tell me.”
“Avery. But he just needs to take a photo for photography and that’s it then he can leave, don’t give me that face I know you’re giving me now.” I said in a rush. I could hear her laughing on the other line.
“And you were giving me shit for making a cd for Jack.” She laughed. I felt chagrin.
“It’s not the same, you like Jack, I’m just…. Being nice to Autumn’s favorite cousin.” I stammered. She laughed.
“Okay sure, anyways I’ll be there in like ten.” She hung up before I had a chance to argue with her. I hated when she did that. I sighed and set my phone back down. I got up and went to check my Facebook again; I was really starting to think I was addicted. I read through all my friends’ updates and I changed mine when my phone started buzzing. I picked it up and it was a text from Letty telling me she was here. I got up and ran down to let her in.
“Here.” She thrust the mixed cd into my hands and immediately started to turn crimson. I smiled and led her back upstairs. I opened the cd case and popped it into my computer. I double clicked the first one and the intro started playing.
“Is that Hanging by a Moment by Lifehouse?” I asked smiling. She blushed.
“Okay never mind I don’t want you to listen to it anymore.” She reached to stop the cd and I swatted her hand away.
“I’m not done.” I switched the song and “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield began to play. At that we both laughed.
“Really?” I asked and she just shrugged.
“I like that song.” She replied. I continued scanning through the cd and she did have a good selection of music on there.
“It sounds good Letty; he should love it.” I told her. I heard my doorbell from downstairs. “I’ll be right back Letty.” I told her and got up.
“Oh no I’m coming with you; it’s time to make fun of you for a change.” I shot her a look and we both ran down the stairs to let him in. I stopped in front of the door and fixed my shirt, Letty gave me an ‘I told you so’ look.
“What? I’m not gonna flash the boy; I had to fix my shirt.” She rolled her eyes and laughed as I opened the door.
“Hello Jorden, Juliet. May I come in?” he asked formally, his accent made it sound really good. I quickly got that thought out of my head before Letty could see it on my face.
“Hey Avery, come on in.” I moved to let him in. He had his camera around his neck.
“So what kind of picture do you need to take of Jorden?” Letty asked encouraging. I glared at her.
“Oh… I’m not really sure, something casual and not very posed. I want it to look natural.” He said. I thought that sounded like a good idea until Letty said,
“So you want to catch her off guard?” I spun my head in her direction and she was grinning.
“Exactly.” He replied and I groaned.
“You know I don’t really enjoy being paparazzi-ed.” I told them, but no one was listening, they were discussing when to catch me. I walked up the stairs.
“Oh Jorden?” Avery called. I turned to look at him from the top of the stairs and he snapped a picture of me. I glared at him and he put on a really big smile. I rolled my eyes and walked into my room. I picked up my green tea to take a sip and I heard another “click” sound, I looked up to see Avery with the camera aimed at me.
“Really?” I asked incredulously. He just smiled at me again and shrugged. Letty turned on my iTunes and hit shuffle and “Too Little, Too Late” By JoJo began to play and I blushed. Both Avery and Letty were giving me inquisitive looks.
“She was like my idol in seventh grade.” I explained. Letty cracked a smile.
“Mine too.” She agreed. Avery raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know who this is.” He stated. Letty began to explain while I switched the song.
“Hey Jorden if it’s not too much to ask could you go sit on your window sill?” He asked. I nodded and walked over to my window. It was a beautiful day outside; the sun was just beginning to show through the clouds. I pulled my knees up to my chest and gazed out the window. I heard a click and whipped my head around.
“Sorry, it was too beautiful not to do.” He said sheepishly. Did he just call me beautiful? No, he was talking about the scene, not me. I shrugged and continued looking out the window. I could sense Letty looking at me, but I tried to ignore her. Just then, I heard my own voice singing from the computer. I turned suddenly to see that Avery had selected it.
“What are you doing?” I asked quickly. Letty was gaping at me.
“Is that you two?” She asked and I turned a deep scarlet.
“Yes, I’m playing the guitar and Jorden is singing to her favorite song.” He said it so matter of factly, but I still felt embarrassed, I hadn’t told Letty or Mika about how he had recorded it. “You recorded it?” She asked Avery and he nodded. She nodded back and tried to keep a straight face. “Hey Avery, could you please go grab us some sweet tea? It’s in the fridge.” Letty asked him rather sweetly.
“Of course.” He walked to my door and went downstairs.
“Oh my fucking god Jorden!” Letty practically screamed at me when she was sure he was out of earshot. “Do you realize what’s going on here?” I was about to speak when she interrupted me. “No, you know what, I’m not taking this anymore. There is something going on between you two and I want to get to the bottom of it. He is absolutely crazy about you, it’s obvious. You have a boyfriend but you continue to do all these things with Avery. Please explain!” I kept my mouth shut in case she tried to stop me again. When she didn’t I proceeded to explain.
“Juliet,” She knew I was serious when I didn’t call her Letty. “There is nothing going on between me and Avery. Maybe we’re becoming friends, but I love Tyler
“Yeah okay, but you can’t deny that Avery is crazy about you.”
“He’s not, but we are all entitled to our own opinions.” I said with a shrug of my shoulder. Avery appeared at my door with a tray that had three glasses of sweet tea on it. I helped him through and took my glass. “Thanks Avery.” I smiled at him and his smile made my heart melt. I didn’t let my face react and went back to my windowsill. I saw that Mike and Alexis had moved out of his room and were now in the yard. He was sitting on his skateboard and she was on his lap; gag me. Sure, they were cute together but honestly, there was just something about her that I didn’t like. When they first started dating I thought it was just Mika being jealous, but as time went on I found there was something I didn’t trust about her. I looked back at my bed and Letty and Avery were talking. I joined them on the bed and jumped into the conversation.
We just talked for a while and had my iTunes playing in the background, and then my mom walked in.
“Hey Honey, Letty, I was just going to ask what you wanted for dinner.” Then her eyes darted from me to Letty to Avery. “Who’s your friend?” She asked. I knew she had seen him before, just never in my room. He got up and walked over to her.
“I’m Avery Roberts.” He stuck out his hand to her and shook it. I wanted to laugh; it was so formal. She looked flattered.
“Hello Avery, I’m Jorden’s mom, you can call me Lucy.” I could tell from her expression that she approved of him; I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“Uh, mom? Dinner?” I reminded her. She looked back at me.
“Oh right. We can either have Shepherd’s pie or lasagna.” She told us. She turned to Avery, “Will you be staying for dinner?” She asked him sweetly. He smiled.
“Yes ma’am.” He replied. My heart dropped. Why was he staying for dinner?
“What do you like?” She asked him.
“Anything.” He replied, Suck up.
“I want Shepherd’s pie.” I said and Letty nodded in agreement with me. My mom nodded and left the room. I sighed and Letty rolled her eyes at me.
“Your mom is really nice.” He told me. I just nodded. “You know you look just like her. You both have the same shade of blue eyes.” I nodded again. I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. I knew I looked like her, so did Jamie.
“So what are we going to do now?” Letty asked from my bed. She was sitting cross-legged. I shrugged. “Adventure time?” Letty suggested. I hopped up.
“I know just the place.” I said. They both followed me out of my house and back down the street. We walked down to the lake bend and sat down.
“This is also a good place for photos,” I told Avery. “I did part of my last assignment here.” He nodded picking up his camera from his neck. I sat down on a rock facing the river. He lined up and squatted down in front on me, angled. When his eyes met mine I felt a shiver in my spine. His gaze was just so intense I had to look away. Down by the river I saw two people; a guy and a girl. The girl was tall with dark hair while the guy had semi-broad shoulders and messy blonde hair. I gasped when I realized who it was. No it couldn’t be him, I told myself. Avery and Letty looked over at me with concern.
“What’s wrong hun?” Letty asked trying to follow my gaze. I quickly looked away and took a deep breath.
“Nothing.” I replied. She didn’t look convinced, but knew I didn’t want to discuss it with Avery around. I was really hoping my boyfriend wasn’t cheating on me, but I was definitely worried and not up for dinner with Avery or anyone else for that matter.
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