No Noël | ✓

15 » get in the manger, noel

15 » get in the manger, noel

❅

I wasn't sure how long Avery and I sat in my car last night. Time didn't really seem to matter, and I definitely didn't mind when she asked if it was okay that we just sat there.

But once it had gone later into the night, and the lights that were littering the block began to shut off, it was clearly time for me to go.

I noticed that Avery hesitated, for a split second, before she let me take my arm off of her. She didn't say anything, but it was clear that she didn't want me to leave. I worried that she had become attached.

Attachment was the absolute last fucking thing I needed or wanted.

But as I had looked at her and then looked toward her house, I realized it had less to do with me, and more to do with her not wanting to be there. In the place where she lived and spent time with her dog for so many years.

The crazy idea of inviting her back to my place had crossed my mind, and I literally had to shake it away before I did it.

Avery was out of my car and in her house in the next five minutes, and then I had driven home wondering if I made things worse for her or not.

I got my answer the next morning when she showed up to work, and looked a lot more human than she did the night before. As the day went on, though, and the time to leave crept closer, it was clear she wasn't feeling well anymore. Even from across the room, I was able to read her body language.

I probably looked—and certainly felt—like some fucking creep staring at her, but I couldn't help becoming worried every time she chewed her bottom lip or shook her leg. They were the littlest details, but they were the clearest signs that she was anxious. Angel did those same things.

Once John cut most of us at five, I hazardly threw all my shit in my bookbag and rushed to her side of the room. I didn't get there fast enough, or maybe just in time, as Eric had already sauntered up to her desk and smiled down at her.

"Hey, Avery," he called out for her attention, because she of course hadn't noticed him approaching. "Are you feeling any better?"

Are you feeling any better? What the fuck kind of question was that? She didn't have a cold or any kind of sickness. Her fucking dog died, and he knew that.

"Uh, yeah, I am," she answered while flashing him a small smile. "Thank you again for helping the other day. It means a lot."

He stepped closer, hovering over her chair. "Of course. It was no problem at all."

Avery just gave him that same smile, not saying anything else, and I decided that was the time to step in. "Hey," I said, making it a point to keep my gaze solely on her. "Do you have any plans after work?"

I wasn't sure if I was seeing things or if the smile on her face actually grew. "No, I don't. Why do you ask?"

Her tone was teasing, and so I played along. "Just curious, that's all."

"That's all?" she repeated, and that time I knew her smile got bigger. "I never really saw you as the type to be generally interested in peoples' lives."