012, HAPPINESS

   Avery sighed as she sat on the soft, yellow sand on the rather quiet beach. She tucks a strand of hair that comes loose from her bun behind her ear. Her AirPods were on full blast, playing none other than Taylor Swift.

She needed a moment of peace. A moment of solemn silence where all she could hear was the waves. And that's exactly what she got.

Earlier in the evening Avery Valentine had let her competitive side show when the group was playing Monopoly. However, after a long time of screams of rage, board flipping, tummy-aching laughter, and banter, Avery felt her social battery die out. It was a strange feeling for her as she hardly ever got like this when she was with her best friends.

Avery didn't necessarily want to snap at anyone but she did. Not one person, but two. After she had excused herself to go 'get something' from her room, Chris followed behind her and questioned her current state — obviously noticing she wasn't herself. 

Without realizing it, Avery shrugged him off rather harshly, leaving the boy in shock and confusion. What had he done now, you ask? Well, not every Avery herself could tell you that!

While the girl was leaving the house, Jesse Romano decided to check up on her. Avery thinks to herself whilst sitting on the beach: maybe I was too harsh on him? But Jess had been bothering her that evening, he was getting a little too close for Avery's liking. Therefore, Avery Valentine snapped in his face.

The conversation went something like this:

"Hey, Val! You okay?"

Avery shrugged, "Yup, fine."

"You're lying, what's up?" Jesse went to extend a hand to rub Avery's arm.

"I don't know, Jesse! Can you please just leave me alone? For one night, please! I just need some quiet time to myself, okay? Seriously..."

Jesse fell quiet, shoving his hands into his pockets. "No, yeah. I totally get it. Sorry."

"Jess... I didn't mean—"

"It's cool, Avery. Really."

So yeah. That's pretty much how it went, and here was Avery — present time, hastily wiping the tears off of her cheeks as she breathed in and out over and over, taking in her surroundings.

Avery sifts the salty substance on the ground through her fingers, watching as it falls back to the ground looking like it hadn't been messed with. She wonders if she could be like that one day, if someone picked her up and let her slip through their fingers, could she brush it off and go back to normal, or not?

The sky fades from a bright blue and melts into a soft pink and yellow and the cries of nearby gulls begin to slowly fade out, dominated by the sound of the crashing waves. Avery closes her eyes, inhaling the smell of sea salt.

A presence behind her goes completely unnoticed by the girl until she slowly opens her eyes again, feeling a pair of eyes on the back of her head. She snaps her head around to see what's drilling holes into the back of her head.

"Hey."

Avery raises her eyebrows in acknowledgement before turning back to watch the crashing waves. The presence now shifts to sit beside her and it takes Avery everything inside her to not burst into tears and apologize for what she's done.

"Aves... what's going on?"

The girl catches her trembling bottom lip between her teeth, trying to remain composed.

"What do you mean?" She chuckles sadly, not wanting pity for her outburst from anybody.

"Avery, we both know something's wrong. Why can't you tell me?"

The Valentine girl paused her music and yanked her AirPods out in frustration, growing overwhelmed with the different sounds flooding her ears. Her clothes felt like they were about to melt into her skin, her scalp was feeling hot and prickly, and she could hear everything and anything that was currently happening on the beach.

"I'm so sorry," she began.

The boy's brows furrowed. "For what?"

"Chris. Stop pretending like you don't know. This entire trip, I've been nothing but a bitch to you! Fuck, I even got a tattoo when I was supposed to get my first one with you! I'm a fucking terrible friend, and please don't even try to say I'm not."

She paused to make sure he was still listening. The brunette boy gazed down at her with anxious eyes, wondering where she was going with this.

"I'm really hoping I don't sound like some sort of manipulative mother or something..." Avery scoffed jokingly. "I just feel awful for everything I've done, Chris. Like I feel like such a dick! I've been so cruel for literally what?! We're in Greece for God's sake, why am I such a sad, bratty, bitch!"

Avery didn't even bother to wipe the tears flowing down her cheeks because she knew once they properly started, there was no stopping them.

The corners of Chris's lips tug downwards into a frown and he feels himself leaning closer to the girl. Before he knows it, his arms are wrapped around her and his head is resting on top of her hair.

"Aves... It's okay, I promise. I mean, yeah, I would've preferred to know about it first rather than find out randomly but it's not like you've inked your entire body, right? There are still blank spaces for you to get a matching one with me."

Avery lets out a silent sob, why is he being so nice about it?!

"True, but we wanted to get matching first ones, and I've gone and fucked that up," she exclaims as she leans further into him.

Chris frowns and lifts his head off of hers. He hates to see this girl like this. "Avery. Trust me, it's okay. I'm not mad, alright?"

"Okay."

The boy rests his cheek on the top of Avery's head yet again and the pair sit in silence, letting the sounds of the crashing waves engulf their hearing, and the whistling winds waft over their skin. 

(💟) MAL SPEAKS,

(could you tell i was listening to
evermore - album - and releasing
my 'poetic' side in this chapter?)

i've been on a ROLL with writing
this story recently (hoping i don't 
jinx it)!! 

umm we are almost done with act one :(
but act two is when avery goes to big girl
school (college)!

can you guess what school she accepted??!

anyway! lot's of love from me <33

xoxo, 
mal :)))