I'll give you one good reason why I shouldn't be here right now. And yet here I sat, contemplating whether I should go inside or not. It was just past nine, which technically meant I still had about an hour before I really should be home and in bed.

With a few deep breaths, I pulled myself together and got out of my car, locking it once I had shut the door. I made my way across the almost deserted parking lot toward a brick building with floor to ceiling windows facing out toward the street.

There's was some soft folky music that played through speaker as I stepped inside the gallery. It looked as though I had just smelt something awful as I tried my hardest to block out the noise. There weren't many people, actually, the only people in the room were the ones who were in the show itself and maybe a few close friends.

My eyes zoned out on the first set of images I came to, my mind drifting from me for just a second.

"Hey, you!" Someone's hand lightly touched my arm in hopes of catching my attention.

I turned to come face to face with the whole reason I had come here in the first place. There stood Avery, wearing a flowy light blue dress and looking quite surprised to see me. I took note of the grey leg warmers she sported, which contrasted nicely with her dress and only had me wanting more. She had been right, I had found something here that I liked.

"Hey," I spoke softly, shoving my hands deep into the pockets of my black jeans. I felt well under-dressed.

"I didn't catch your name earlier," She looked slightly ashamed as her cheeks turned pink.

"It's Niall," I smiled down at her, already liking the fact that I was making her blush.

"That's a really pretty name to be totally honest. I've never heard it before." Avery bounced on her toes like a little kid who didn't know how to stand still.

"Thank you." I nodded my head toward the photographs in front of us, now more interested in their content because she was there. "Are these yours?"

"Oh, no," She grabbed my hand and pulled me across the glossy floor to the other side of the large room where an entire different section of work was hung. Well, now I just felt like an idiot.

"These are mine," She gestured to the wall of that held her art.

I leaned in close, inspecting each one of the portraits that hung in front me. They really were quite striking.

"Do you only take pictures of people?" I asked, turning to see that she was standing a lot closer to me than I expected.

The blush was very evident on her cheeks this time as she took a large step back, chuckling lightly. "Yeah. I find people and their expressions really interesting. You can tell a lot about a person with just one look. Like if I had my camera with me right now, I would most definitely be taking a picture of you."

The girl who stood next to me held her hands up in front of her face to make it look as if she were holding a camera as a tiny click sound came from her lips to insinuate that she had just taken a mental image of me. Jesus, she was really cute!

She laughed at her own silliness and I tried my hardest to hide the fact that I was undoubtedly attracted to her.

"Avery!" A guy around our age walked toward us, dressed in a t-shirt and button-up vest. He must have been apart of the show as well.

"Where do you want me to put those boxes?" He asked, glancing my way with a smile.

"In the back room by the chemical supplies," She tried to explain, but the guy only stared at her with raised eyebrows. "Here, I'll just show you."

Avery then turned to me, touching my arm lightly. "I'll be right back."

I just nodded and watched as the two of them disappeared down a hallway I hadn't noticed before and I felt my mood sink once again. I'll give you one good reason why I shouldn't be here right now.

My leg bounced up and down nervously as I sat on the lone bench just a few feet away from Avery's work. There were loud voices coming from the hallway Avery had left through almost ten minutes ago. I was afraid now that I had made a terrible mistake in coming here. Maybe she had a boyfriend.

My eyes turned up toward the voices as Avery and that guy came walking up to me. Maybe he was her boyfriend.

"Kevin, this is Niall." I stood from my spot as Avery finally introduced us. "Niall. Kevin."

I shook his hand firmly as he gave me a genuine smile. "Hey man, it's nice to meet you!"

"Yeah, you too," I nodded my head in agreement.

"So," Kevin then turned back to Avery. "I'm going to go. This place is dead."

He laughed loudly as my eyes moved around the gallery. He was right, there was absolutely no one left in this place.

"I'll see you later though, right?" His question had me curious as to what could possibly be happening later.

"Yeah, definitely!" Avery replied with a nod of her head.

"Great!" He smiled and then turned to me. "And nice meeting you."

"You too," I mumbled as he finally turned to leave.

Then it was just Avery and me. We stood there in a slightly awkward, yet still comfortable silence before she turned to me with that same sweet smile she always seemed to be wearing.

"Do you want to go get some food or something?"

I hesitated, checking my phone to see that it was only a little after 9:30. She gave me a thoughtful look as she stared at me and my phone.

My doctor had told me not to eat or drink anything after 10pm. I guess it messes with the surgery in some way. But it wasn't 10 yet and I couldn't help but want to spend just a little bit more time with this girl.

"Yeah, okay," I pocketed my phone. "That sounds good."

"Great!" She gave me the biggest smile yet and grabbed my hand, pulling me out the door.

I'll give you one good reason why I should be here.