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Chapter 5-5

Audrey

  "Are you sure we went to the right street?" Audrey asked.
  "She said pass Grasier Charter High."
  "But I don't think we were supposed to keep on passing it."
They stood, catching their breath.
  "Do you have your phone on you? I left mine back at the school," Adrian asked.
  "I don't have pockets, I thought you'd have yours?"
  "My shorts don't have pockets either."
  "Then I take it you don't have your wallet on you either?" she asked.
  "No, why?"
a low growl came from her stomach.
  "Oh... well, actually my place isn't too far from here, why don't we walk there and get a small snack and some water."
  "Sounds great!"
They walked to his house, staying on the sidewalk with the most shade.
  "How are you liking being president of the writing club?" he asked.
  "It's something to get used to, but I'm looking forward to making stories with everyone else."
  "Speaking honestly here, do you think anyone will actually take it seriously?"
  "What do you mean?"
  "It really feels like we're the only ones interested in it."
  "Oh, that's what you mean. Well, I enjoy them being there anyway. It's nice to have this small hangout on Wednesdays."
  "True, it's been a while since I've hung out with friends," Adrian said.
  "What happened to your old friends?" Audrey asked.
  "We just moved away from each other. Went to different schools."
  His look got a bit more serious.
  "They eventually made their own friends and we slowly stopped texting each other. And then when my dad passed, I kind of just shut people away."
  "I'm sorry to hear that."
  A cool breeze brushed against them, a silence fell between them. Audrey wanted to speak, to say anything but she couldn't find the right words to say.
  "Sorry, I don't mean to sound all sad about it, it was long ago."
  "No, no. It's okay. I was just not sure how to respond."
  "You don't have to say anything, I enjoy your company. It's nice having someone like you to talk to."
She smiled at the compliment.
  "Like me?"
  "A good listener. And you just bring such a warm presence whenever we are together."
  "Oh thank you," Audrey said, Her voice a pitch higher.
She began to blush. Adrian noticed and got embarrassed.
  "Any new updates on your story?" he said.
  "Ummm, not much, I'm struggling to find a way to end it."
  "Well how are you ending it now?"
  "Well the main character waits too long for his date, and he realizes that he's been stood up so he leaves the flowers on the bench and walks away."
  "Hence the title, 'Abandoned Flowers', right?"
  "Precisely!"
  "What's wrong with that ending?"
  "It's just, I kind of want the main character to wait now. And his patience pays off and his date was just running late. It's like in the end, it was all just his insecurities that made him think she wasn't going to show."
  "I like that, 'even if things seem bad, they will get better', kind of deal. It's a good moral," he continued, "what's stopping you from making that version?"
  "Honestly, 'cause then I can't think of a new title. Titling a story has always been hard for me."
  "You should still write it, I'd very much like to read it. I'm sure the title will come later."
  "What about your stories?" she asked.
  "Well...."
  "What? What's wrong?"
  "I don't know if you'd like any of them, they're all horror and seeing how you reacted to the movie we saw last Friday, I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable with my writing." he responded.
  "Oh, that's different." She said, "I'd be more than happy to be scared from one of your stories."
  "We'll if you insist, I could try and find a tame one for you."
  "You should read them to the group around a campfire!" Audrey insisted enthusiastically, "Tis the season after all."
  Adrian grew flustered, "No, I'm not sure I'm ready for that."
"We'll, how about to me?" She asked.
  "Only if you feel comfortable reading yours to me."
  "Oh, never mind then."
  "Woah wait a minute why not?" The sudden switch in personality shocked him. "You were so eager to get me to read aloud to others."
  Audrey's posture closed up and tightened. "My stuff isn't any good, I'm sure of it."
  "Oh come on now, who told you that?" He watched her patiently, waiting for her response. Her gaze struck the ground. She held her hands clasped together, her thumbs fiddling around each other.
  "Has anyone read any of your stories?"
Her stare was unphased. Gently, almost unnoticeable, she shook her head.
  "Hey now, no need to feel embarrassed. What if we read our stories together?"
  She broke her stare with the ground and met his gentle brown eyes. His smile was one of sincerity. It calmed her, and the weight on her shoulders felt lighter.
  "Like read them to each other?" She asked.
  "I was thinking something along the lines of trading stories, reading them, giving feedback, then returning them." He continued, "but we could read them to each other if that's what you want."
  "Either seems fine to me."
  "We'll how about we read them to each other, try to get over our shyness, maybe reading aloud to each other will help us catch mistakes," he said
Audrey was nervous, "sounds g-good!" She said.
     "Can I call you tonight?" Adrian asked.
butterflies fluttered in her stomach.
     "T-tonight?" Audrey stuttered a bit.
    "Yeah, I'll read one of my short stories to you and we can go over that ending of yours."
  "Yeah, that sounds great!"
He could tell she was nervous, but he didn't think much of it. As far as he knew, that was normal for Audrey. They arrived at his house.
  "Hello Audrey! It's always a pleasure to see you! Your hair looks nice up like that!" Adrian's mom said, greeting them at the entrance.
  "Thank you, Mrs. Parker,"
  "Oh, always so formal, please dear, call me Liv."
  "Sorry Liv, force of habit."
  "Hey mom, sorry to bother, but is it cool if we get a ride back to the school?" Adrian asked. He was grabbing some almond packs from the cabinet.
  "Of course honey, just let me know when you two are ready."
  "Thanks mom."
  "Thank you, Liv!"
Adrian handed Audrey an almond pack. "It's not much but I don't think we have much time to eat," he said. Audrey meekly grabbed it.
  "No worries, thank you." She said.
  "Do you need to use the restroom before we head back?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
  "Alright, I'm going to use it very quickly."
Liv was in the kitchen, she was tidying up some dishes. Audrey sat quietly eating some of the almonds.
  "How are you doing Audrey?" Liv asked.
  Audrey finished chewing, "I'm good, how about you?"
  "That's good! I'm good, but I just wanted to say thank you dear, for Adrian."
  "Oh no problem," she said. She didn't quite understand why she was being thanked.
  "Ever since his birthday he's been going out more and bringing friends over. He hasn't had that in a while since his father passed."
  "He mentioned that, I'm sorry for your loss, it must've been hard."
  "Thank you dear. He would stay locked up in his room. His friends would come over to cheer him up but he just wouldn't budge."  She paused a moment looking down. "Eventually they stopped coming over."
Audrey politely looked down. The fidgeting of the almond bag in her hands was the only noise breaking the silence.
  "Sorry Audrey, I didn't mean to be a downer, I'm just grateful he has someone like you in his life, and your friends. It's nice to seem him smile again."
  A flush could be heard from down the hall and immediately Liv changed the subject. A brief moment later Adrian came back, drying the excess water on his shirt.
  "Alright mom, I think we're ready to go."

  Back at school

   "Alright! Everyone is here!" Danielle said.
  "I hope you all had an invigorating run!"
They all looked at each other.
  "Yeah something like that," Natalie said.
  "No foolin'," Sam said sarcastically.
  "You guys were not gone for too long, we expected you guys to be here later." Emma said, "But Audrey and Adrian, you two came back so late, that's kind of what I expected."
  "Yeah, you took forever dri," Looz said. "You guys were the last ones here."
  "We got lost, so we stopped by Adrian's place to get a ride back."
  "Audrey was also hungry, I couldn't let her faint from an empty stomach."
  "You made me proud Adrian," Sam said, smiling at him.
  "Well It's not exactly running, but at least you guys made it back safe." Danielle said.
  "Well, it's a Friday! No way we should stop the fun here!" Natalie said enthusiastically.
  "Yaaas! Finally girl! What are we doing?" Emma said excitedly. Her boredom had reached its peak while Natalie was gone.
"I think after a hard run like that, Jacob deserves a boba on me," Nat said.
"YOU MEAN IT!?" Jacob said.
"That's right, cutie!"
  "SWEET! BOBA TIME!"

Authors note

Songs
Name: artist
Can I call you tonight?: Dayglow

Hey everyone! Sorry for another late post! No drawings either for this one! I'm on vacation so I'm spending time with my wife c: I hope you enjoyed this chapter now that it's finally all out! Thank you for reading!

What did you think of this chapter? What was your favorite part of it? I personally liked writing Audrey's part.

Fun fact
My favorite characters to write together are Natalie and Audrey.

Next chapter
With only a week left for the retest, Adrian tries his hardest to tutor Natalie. However Natalie is easily distracted and unmotivated. Her Halloween party is riding on this test. Will she be able to focus and pass?
Follow and vote and stay updated to find out!