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CHAPTER FORTY FIVE Letting in ‿︵‿︵‿︵
(PRESENT)
The last twelve hours had been strange.
Avery woke up on the boat, cuddled in a blanket and using her denim jacket as a pillow. Her arms were wrapped around another body, a petite and warm back pressed against her front. Sarah Cameron was the little spoon and soaking in the last moments of slumber before the sun rises over the horizon.
For a moment, in her tired and dazed state, Avery forgot what had happened. Seconds later she remembered that the boys had abandoned them in the marsh to reconcile their differences. And Sarah getting stung, and how they ended up smoking until they were giggling and talking. Avery was actually excited to see what was to become of her new friendship with the Kook.
The boys finally came to pick them up, taking the small victory of them agreeing to tolerate each other. Secretly, the trio didn't want to give them the total satisfaction and decided to play with it a little. Eventually they were sailing back to the Chateau.
The group had decided to regroup after sundown, leaving them plenty of time to collect everything they needed and prepare. They were planning on going back to Parcel Nine, even though neither of them particularly wanted to. The well could be a lead, or better, the end of the treasure hunt.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" JJ asked again. He had been pacing the spare room for the last five minutes, slowly driving Avery crazy as she watched him go back and forth.
"Yes, J, for the third time. Please stop pacing, you are giving me a headache" The blonde whined, being ignored by JJ. "Why are you being like this?"
"Like what? Caring about you? Oh, I don't know, Aves, maybe because I'm worried about you and don't think this is a good idea" JJ huffed, finally stopping his pacing to turn to her. He stood at the foot of the bed and looked down at her with his arms crossed over his chest.
"How many times do I have to tell you to stop worrying about me? Also, this is my dad, JJ, you know that I have to do this. And I'm ready to" She sighed heavily and picked at her fingers. The look across JJ's face was far to familiar and she hated it, and she wanted to smack it off.
"How many times do I have to tell you that's never gonna happen. I'm always going to worry about you, I care about you so freaking much, Aves. You know this!" He argued and threw his hands up, letting him fall to his sides.
"I'm going to speak to my dad," She scoffed and shuffled to the edge of the bed. "Why are you worrying about it?"
"I don't know. Maybe because of everything? You left Avery–"
"– Yes, I know that JJ. Everyone reminds me of it. What's that got to do with anything? We have spoken about this– what?" Avery blinked at the boy, watching him humourlessly smile and shake his head at her.
"We've talked about this? You told us the story and then suddenly, everything is okay. Everything is back to normal. You haven't let me in Avery, not like you used to!" He snapped and stalked around the bed until he stood a few feet in front of her seated position.
"You want me to let you in?" She frowned.
"Yes!" JJ almost screamed.
"I don't think you do–"
"– Bullshit. Why won't you just let me in?" He demanded and inched closer to her, looking down at her with narrow eyes.
"What do you want from me, JJ? Because I honestly don't know. You want to talk about it? Okay, sure, that's fine," She shrugged and patted the spot next to her. "Come on, let's talk. Yeah?"
"Avery, all I want–"
The girl abruptly stood up from her spot. Her jaw clenched and she glared at him, "for me to let you back in, yeah, I know that already, JJ. But you have no idea–"
"– Don't tell me that I have no idea, or that I wouldn't get it because we both know that's not true. That's why I'm your best friend–"
"Best friend," She taunted, rolling her eyes at him. "Maybe you should let me in about that, huh?"
"You know I can't do that, Avery" He sneered. Only then did he realise how close she was, having not acknowledged how she edged closer to him as she spoke.
"Then we are stuck doing this" Her eyes flickered over his features. She was too full of emotions to noticed his warm breathe hitting her face as he sighed loudly, or she did and ignored the fuzzy sensation dancing across her skin.
"Anything is better than losing you again" He mumbled and stepped back, running a hand through his messy hair.
