If Tomorrow Never Comes | On Hold

9

Monday morning snuck up on Avery in the blink of an eye. She had spent the remainder of her weekend locked inside her house and hanging out with her dad. She'd texted the girls that she'd be turning off her phone in order to concentrate on helping Mark settle back into the house, when in reality she was ignoring the last text message Aiden had sent her.

His words had been running on an endless loop in her head. But what if I don't want to? She couldn't fathom the reason why he would want to be around her when all she really had to give him was the burden that came with all the baggage she carried. And even though Madison and Kelsey had told her plenty of times before that being friends with her was a blessing in itself, she still didn't quite believe it.

Aiden had made it clear that he didn't want to be around her, his harsh words from Saturday morning ricocheting off the walls of her heart and reminding her that he'd felt nothing but pity for her.

She huffed out in annoyance and turned her phone back on, looking into the mirror above her bathroom sink and grimacing. She really did look like hell. The dark circles under her eyes were more prominent this morning and her skin looked a little pale, except her nose was a bit red. She knew she was getting sick and so she pumped herself full of medicines the night before, clearly to no avail.

When she glanced at her phone once again, she put in her passcode and watched as all the notifications she'd missed the past two days began to trickle in. She opened up the messages app and tapped on Aiden's name, he'd sent another text late Saturday night that she hadn't yet seen.

Aiden: Fine, whatever.

He'd sent it around eleven at night and she wondered what he'd been doing up so late. She exited out and opened up Snapchat as she walked back into her bedroom, she clicked absentmindedly on peoples stories until one in particular made her chest tighten in a very ugly way.

There'd been a party last night, she knew that much from all the stories she'd watched so far. But there, playing on her screen in repeat was Aiden leaning against a wall with a black haired beauty wrapped around him, their mouths hungrily latched onto each other's. She locked her phone, throwing it into her backpack with more force than was necessary.

"You're acting like an idiot," she mumbled to herself, "he's a disaster waiting to happen." Her pep talk continued as she pulled on a pair of ripped white skinny jeans and a burgundy sweater tube top, her gladiator sandals pulling the entire outfit together.

She glanced in the mirror once again and sighed defeatedly, there was nothing she could do about how sick she looked and she didn't have enough time to try. She hurried out of her room and down the stairs, the bun her hair was in bouncing with every step she took.

"Good morning, papa!" She said as happily as she could but her dad only looked at her with concern. He stood up off the couch and walked towards her, his hand coming into contact with her forehead.

"Pumpkin, you're burning up." He grabbed her by the elbow and steered her towards the kitchen but Avery lightly pulled her arm away.

"I already took medicine, don't worry. I'm just down here to let you know that the nurse should be here in about thirty minutes. If she's not, call me okay?" She watched as her dad rolled his eyes and pouted his lips. The sight made her chuckle, he was acting like a child.

"I told you I didn't want a nurse," he whined and stalked back towards the living room. Avery followed right behind him, shaking her head slightly.

"And I told you that leaving you here alone is not an option," she snapped and Mark raised an eyebrow at her, "what if something happened, papa?"