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avery groaned as loud knocking echoed throughout her apartment and woke her up. she rubbed her eyes before she glanced at her clock and noticed that it was only nine in the morning. she rolled out of bed and trudged to her door, peeking through the small hole and letting out a sigh.
"what?" her voice was scratchy and she opened the door for colby and he slowly walked in. his hands were shoved in the front pockets of his black jeans and he stared at her with his big blue eyes.
"how're you feeling?" he questioned shyly, rocking back and forth on his heels. they stood awkwardly in the entryway of her apartment and she eyed him.
"fine."
"i'm really sorry, avery," he sounded guilty and lost and avery forgave him right there because his arms looked so inviting him and she missed him. her mom would've been disappointed in how quick she was to let it go, but she didn't care. "i was being a total dick and i should've came to see you."
"it's okay," she mumbled and he opened his arms and she crawled into them. her body was weak since she was still recovering from being sick, but now that he was here with her everything felt okay.
"it's not okay," he whispered and his words were muffled against her neck and she let out a quiet laugh at the feeling. "i was so mean."
"i was, too," she said into his chest and she felt it rumbling as he chuckled. she didn't want to talk about it because they were fine now and that's all that mattered. "why are you here so early?"
"sam and i have to go to a meeting about a merch design," the words tumbled from his mouth like he had been practicing them the whole time he was driving over, but avery didn't catch that or the way he nervously rubbed the back of his neck while he talked. "i just wanted to stop here first."
"oh," she frowned and she wished he could stay and cuddle. "well, good luck."
"thanks," he pulled her in for another quick hug and then he was in the doorway again, "see you later?"
"yeah," she smiled at him and stared at his back until the door shut and the view of him was blocked.
avery was feeling better so she texted the girls and asked if they wanted to go out and she didn't notice how kat said she was with sam. she continued to make plans with tara and devyn and then made herself look presentable and like she hadn't just been sick before she drove to the mall.
"how are you feeling?" devyn asked as she stared at avery who was still a bit pale and the bags under her eyes hadn't disappeared yet.
"just tired," avery responded as she looked through a rack of clothes. she pulled out a bright orange top that was a poor excuse for a shirt and tara told her it would look great with the black jeans she had just bought from the last store so she had to get it. she did.
"have you talked to colby?" tara piped up as they wandered through the mall with so many bags hanging from their wrists that it was beginning to hurt them.
"he came over earlier," avery informed them, "he had to go do a merch design or something with sam so he left."
"ave?" tara questioned cautiously and waited for avery to acknowledge her before she continued, "kat's with sam right now."
avery's face fell and she stared at the girl quizzically and tara told her to check the groupchat. avery furrowed her eyebrows as she read kat's text over and over and tried to figure out if it was some sick prank or if colby really lied to her.
"why is he being like this," her shoulders slumped and she wanted to shrink into the white tile they were walking on.
"i don't know," tara's voice was gentle and she felt bad for avery because she didn't deserve how she was being treated. devyn was quiet because she had no clue what was really going on with colby and never expected him to act this way to someone he so obviously loved.
"we all know colby's scared of his feelings," devyn said after a few moments of silence and she reached out to hug avery who melted into her grip. "he's probably terrified at the fact that everyday he's falling more in love with you. i don't think he knows what to do."
"but i'm right here," she nearly cried out, feeling defeated. "i love him. why is he scared?"
"love is a scary, confusing thing and colby handles it completely different," devyn kept going and she acted like avery hadn't been colby's best friend for years and seen these things first hand.
"we're surprised colby even committed to you," tara jumped in and devyn nodded at her words. avery was still feeling sad, but didn't want to start another fight so she let it go.
she told the girls goodnight and trudged to her car, her shoes dragging against the pavement like an upset child who didn't get their way. she debated on calling colby to see what he was up to, but she didn't want to get turned down so she drove home in silence with the thoughts of him clouding her mind.
