Chapter 10: 7 | change of plans

Sarah's grip around the phone in her hand tightens, lips pulling into a straight line as she draws in a deep breath through her nose, looking as she'd like to hurl the device across the park.

Or maybe, crash it into a thousand tiny pieces with a hammer and then hurl it all the way across the park.

She exhales with a loud groan as she pushes the device back into her pocket, startling a little boy by the swing set just as they pass by the playground located in the south corner of the park.

Avery presses her teeth into her bottom lip, biting back a laugh before frowning as she shoots her mother a glance where they're walking side by side. "What's wrong?"

Sarah draws another deep breath in through her nose. "Wall Street," She mutters under her breath. "I'll deal with it later."

Avery nods, slurping the melted ice at the bottom of her drink before throwing the now empty cup into a trashcan. She pauses in her step, glancing out over the jet of water flowing into the pond-like circular fountain. "I should get back to work."

Sarah beams, pulling her short hair into a bun. "To think that I have a working daughter who'll squeeze me in for a walk on her lunch break!" Avery rolls her eyes but her lips are quick to crack a smile when she spots the pride crossing her mother's face, being pulled into a hug.

"Oh and I don't have any meetings after two so I'll probably spend the afternoon catching up on some laundry," Sarah says, side stepping her daughter to throw her coffee cup into the bin. "Is there anything you'll need washed before leaving on Sunday?"

Except for the guide book and two paperbacks that lies on her nightstand, Avery hasn't even begun to think about what to pack for her trip. "I don't think so, no."

Sarah tucks a few stray hairs behind Avery's ear. "Let me know if anything comes to mind, will you?"

"Yeah, I will."

Sarah hooks her arm in Avery's as they make their way towards the north exit. "Lets walk you back to work then."

♡♡♡

Ethan's sat in her desk chair, spinning himself around in circles as she returns to the offices. The sight reminds her of the night of the book launch and her lips automatically pull into a smile, watching him out of the corner of her eye as she walks over to the kitchenette to fill herself a glass of water.

Anna is nowhere to be seen and Violet is sat in her own chair at the desk across from Ethan, phone pressed to her ear and a scowl on her face as she tries to get a point across to whoever's on the other end of the line.

"Oh for–" Violet's chair almost topples over as she shoots to her feet.

Avery glances up just as he stops spinning around, amusement flickering over his gaze as he watches the woman stride down the hallway towards the conference rooms, phone held in the air in front of her. Avery can't help the silent laugh escaping her lips, if there's anything she has learnt from having heard Violet on the phone it's that you do not want to end up on her bad side.

Ethan catches her gaze. "Hey."

"Hi," She lifts the glass of water to her lips as she rounds the counter, crossing the room before setting it down next to the computer on her desk. "I believe you're in my chair."

"Oh, yeah."

As he doesn't make a move to get up she sets her mini tote down on the floor, pushing her fingers through her hair as she sits down at the edge of the desk. Her gaze immediately travels to the pad of orange post-it's next to the keyboard, eyes narrowing and lips quirking up as she reaches for it.

Tearing the top one off she shoots him a look, "Cute."

"Yeah I'm very fond of my stick figures," He leans back in the chair, kicking his feet up on the wooden tabletop as she fastens the post it to the top of her computer screen. Her brows raise and she twists to the side, lifting her own foot to kick his back down. He leans over, fingers grazing hers as he takes the pad of post-it's from her hand, riffling it with his thumb as his eyes flicker towards the glass door she came in through a short while ago. "What have you been up to?"

"Lunch with mom."

"Bagels?"

"Salad."

He pushes himself around in another circle. "So–"

"What are you still doing here?" Anna strides down the hallway from the conference rooms, holding Violet's – who's following behind – phone to her ear. She lowers the phone for a short moment, releasing her dark hair from the knot it's in and fastens the hair clip in the belt loop of her denims. She shoots a glance at the phone screen to make sure whoever's on the line is still busy talking before looking between her watch and Ethan. "You're supposed to meet that recruiter in twenty minutes! Go."

The boy rolls his eyes, flashing Avery a smile before pushing himself out of the chair. She swiftly moves over to take her place in it as he presses a fleeting kiss to Anna's cheek and crosses the room towards the door, grabbing a paperback from the bookshelf lining the wall on his way.

Anna lifts the phone to her ear, offering up some words of affirmation before shooting a wary look Violet's way as the woman hits the tangents of her computer worryingly hard. At last she hangs up the call with a less than enthusiastic goodbye, turning to Avery.

"What do you say about helping me with some filing?"

♡♡♡

Ethan saunters back into the office a few hours later with a stack of binders and folders in his embrace, dropping them onto Anna's desk. He's stood there for a moment and Avery watches him as he takes one of the framed photographs stood upon the tabletop, running his hand along the frame before setting it back down.

"How'd it go?"

He looks up, catching her gaze over the screen of her computer. "Good, I think," He weighs back on his heels, turning his head to his sides. "Where's mom and Violet?"

"Anna's on the phone," Avery cocks her head down the hall towards the conference rooms. "And Violet's meeting a client at Beans & Bagels."

"And you're...?"

"Organizing Dropbox," She flickers her gaze back to the screen of her computer, busying herself with moving some files to a folder. "So, who was the recru–"

She's cut off by her phone vibrating where it lies on the tabletop and glances down, brows knitting together as she reads the text notification on the screen. Her throat dries up, a heaviness to her chest as she turns her chair away from the computer, sliding her finger over the phone screen to read the entirety of the message. Her eyes flicker over the words not once, not twice but three times, bile beginning to rise in her throat. That's all there is. A short text – a couple of sentences. That's all there is. She grabs the phone, deleting the notif off of the screen before dropping the device into the bottom of her mini tote, letting her forehead fall into her palm.

Internally, she scolds herself – only adding onto the headache already beginning to press at her skull. She should have known better than to believe this time would be any different.

"Anything wrong?"

Sprawling her fingers, she peers through them and realizes Ethan's still watching her – probably waiting for her to continue – and she does her best to not look like she's just had all air sucked out of her, dropping her hand down into her lap. "No."

His eyes narrow but he nods. "So... you were saying?"

"About what?"

He shrugs. "I think you were about to ask something."

"I was?" Avery presses her lips together, wrenching her hands. "Oh, yeah. I was just going to ask–"

"Avery!" Comes a call from down the hall and she sees Anna come towards them on quick feet, eyes flickering to her watch. "You've been here far too long. Pack up and go home already."

"I really don't mind the work."

"It'll be here when you get back on Monday," Anna says, rolling up the arms of her pink shirt. "Or wait, no, the Monday after that, right?"

Avery has to stop herself from pulling a grimace at the reminder, nodding. "Yes, the Monday after that."

"You have a well deserved vacation," Anna smiles. "And make sure to recharge."

She swallows, fighting back the urge to flutter her eyes shut at the sensation of bile building up in her throat, forcing her lips into a tightlipped smile instead. "I will."

"I have to get back to my meeting," Anna shoots a look Ethan's way. "Make sure she actually leaves."

Avery reaches out to turn the computer off and gets to her feet, suddenly relieved over the opportunity to get out of here as soon as possible. The room's beginning to feel like it's closing in on her and the headache's only getting worse. She stretches her arms over her head. "You don't have to tell me twice."

"Good," Anna turns on her heel. "I'll see you when you get back!"

Avery grabs her bag, trying not to think about the phone that lies heavy at the bottom of it, she eyes the rest of the contents inside – the paperback which sticks out halfway because of the bag's small size, her wallet and her sunglasses. She lets her gaze flicker over the desk to make sure she hasn't forgotten anything – eyes lingering half a second on the post it stuck to her computer before pushing her chair in.

Ethan regards her as she adjusts the strap of the bag, hanging it over her shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"Home."

"I meant for your vacation."

"Oh," Again Avery's reminded of the very recent turn of events and she can feel the smile she put on for Anna falter, struggling to find enough air to speak the next word aloud. "Nowhere."

♡♡♡

"I figured you'd left."

Avery whips her head to her side, eyes widening slightly as she spots Ethan just having come out of the building.

"Hey Luke?" She says into the phone she has pressed to her ear, seeing a flash of recognition cross Ethan's gaze as he watches her. "I have to... Can I call you later?"

"Yeah, of course," Her friend says on his end of the call. "Will you be okay?"

"Mhm, I'll be fine. Just sucks a bit is all."

Luke stays silent for a beat and she knows him well enough to know he's debating whether to speak his mind or not. Eventually he simply says, "Don't forget to call."

"I won't. Tell your family I said hi."

"You too – to Sarah, I mean. Bye."

"Bye," Avery hangs up the phone, letting it drop back into her bag. She pushes a hand though her hair, accidentally letting the sigh she's been holding in slip between her lips as she glances over at Ethan again. "I'm on my way... I just had to..."

She trails off, letting her head fall back against the yellow wall of the building and out of the corner of her eye she sees him pull at the neck of his t-shirt. The red letters spelling out 'Ace East Montagues' on the front almost having faded away against the black fabric.

"Are you okay?"

Pressing her lips together, she hums an, "Uh huh."

"What were you talking to Luke about?"

"Nothing."

"Waters?"

"Yes?"

"You don't seem okay."

She swallows. His inquisition has her eyes brimming. She is not going to cry in front of Ethan Taylor. She is absolutely not.

She slides her sunglasses out of her bag, putting them on. "I'm fine."

"No you're clearly not."

"Just leave it alone, will you?"

He pushes one of his hand into the pocket of his shorts, thumb still resting on the seam of it as the other pulls through his hair and as his eyes flicker over her face she's fairly certain he's about to bid his goodbyes and turn away to walk to his car but then he weighs back on his heels. "You want a ride home?"

"I'm taking the bus."

"In this heat? God I understand why you're upset."

That cracks a soft chuckle out of her but it's soon followed by a voice-breaking sob. She grimaces, thankful her sunglasses are shading her eyes from his view.

"Okay no, you're coming with me."

"Ethan–"

"Avery, I'm not going to let you bawl your eyes out on the bus," He says, voice softening though there's still determination laced in it as he takes a step towards her, wrapping his fingers around her hand. "Let's go."

♡♡♡

"This isn't the way to my house."

"We're not going to your house."

Avery snaps her head to look at Ethan, eyes narrowing as she pushes her sunglasses into her hair. "We're not?"

"No."

"Taylor," She sighs back in her seat. "I'm really not in the mood. Take me home."

"I will," He says, casting her a sideway glance. "We're just making a short stopover."

As much as all she wants to do is go home, put on her pajamas and crawl up into a ball in her mother's lap, it is also the last thing she wants to do. She doesn't want to let this consume her yet. For just another hour or two it would be nice to pretend like this didn't just happen – again. So she nods, tongue pressed to the roof of her mouth, letting her protests of Ethan whisking her away die down as she glances out the windshield.

♡♡♡

They turn into the driveway of the furthest house down the street in one the neighborhoods closest to the coast and Ethan leans forward, killing the engine. Avery lets her eyes flicker over the facade of the two-and a half story house.

"Where are we?"

"My house."

She lets her sunglasses fall back down onto the tip of her nose. "I don't really feel like hanging out at your house."

Ethan steps out of the car. "Good because we're going down to the beach," As she remains seated he sticks his head back into the vehicle. "Come on."

She ponders whether to cross her ams like a child and stay in her seat until he gets back inside to drive her home but something about his expectant eyes – not to speak of the curiousness lingering in the back of her mind – have her unbuckling her seatbelt.

She throws the door open and jumps out, leaving her tote behind on the floor. "You better not be planning on dropping me into the water again."

"I don't make any promises," He closes his own door as she rounds the car, lips quirking up in a grin. "I'm joking. Come on."

She regards his outstretched hand, raising her brows. "I'm not holding your hand."

"Suit yourself."

She follows him through a narrow treaded path weaving between a group of bushes and the waist-high hedge running along this side of the house and soon enough her ballerina clad feet touch against the sand.

Whirling around, she lets herself get a good look at his house. Large windows adorn the pale exterior and a dark wooden railing runs along the porch circling the propped up first floor of the house. She sees that on this side there's a staircase leading right down into the sand from it.

"You literally live on the beach."

As there's no response she turns around, realizing Ethan is already all the way down by the water and she slides out of her flats, letting them remain in their place as she makes her way over to him. Grains of sand warm against her bare soles as her hair and dress flutters with the ocean breeze.

She nudges his shoulder with hers as she comes to stand next to him. "What are we doing here?"

He turns his head to look at her. "You seemed upset. This usually helps."

She finds it strange that her lips are able to widen into a smile when her insides are aching but they do. "This what?"

"I don't know... the water," He motions vaguely in the air. "Just being."

Their arms accidentally brush against one another and Avery decidedly takes a step forward. She glances out over the green and blue melting together, the waves calmly rolling in over the shore. "Yeah, I think it does."

♡♡♡

Avery lets the sand run through her fingers, over and over again. There's still a stickiness to her face from the unpreventable tears she shed earlier while staring out at the water and she can feel her skin blotching in the breeze where she's sat now.

Ethan was, thankfully, tactful enough to pretend not to notice how she wiped vigorously at her cheeks. Instead simply letting her be – stood with the ocean water up to her knees and arms wrapped around herself, pulling her cardigan close to her body while staring out at the horizon until she backed away, joining him on the shore on her own accord.

She shifts in her seat to look at him now. "Truth hour: Do I look awful?"

His lips twist into a small smile where he lies on his back in the sand. "Not in the slightest."

"Truth hour means you're not allowed to lie."

"I'm not lying," He says, nudging her with his leg. "Come lie next to me Waters."

"Why?"

"I want to show you something. Come on."

She eyes him before reluctantly scooting over to lie down next to him. Turning her head to look at him, her lips immediately crack into a smile. "Okay, what?"

"Watch the sky."

She does as she's told and he scoots closer to her, his shoulder nudging hers. "Doesn't that cloud sort of look like a cat to you?"

She lifts her hand to point. "Which one? That one?"

"No," His hand captures hers, his palm warm against her skin. He moves her hand so that her finger points to another cloud. "That one."

"Oh," She watches the cloud as it ever so slowly passes by, nose scrunching up. "I don't know. Maybe. Yeah. That one looks like an ice cream cone though."

"Which one?"

"That...," As she's about to show him she realizes he's still holding onto her hand and as she falls silent he seems to realize too, letting his own fall to his side. She clears her throat and points. "That one."

"It so does not."

"Yes it does! Look," She draws with her finger in the air as if tracing the lines of the white cloud on the bright blue sky above them. "There's the cone. And there's the scoop."

"It's just a splotch."

"No. It's an ice cream cone with one scoop."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Ethan says and out of the corner of her eye she sees him smile. "Who would want a cone with just one scoop anyways? The trick is to fill it with as much ice cream as possible, everyone knows that."

"Everyone?"

"Don't tell me you're a one scoop kind of person."

A chortled breath escapes Avery's lips at the accusation laced in his tone. "I don't really likes cones, to be honest. I'm more of a straight out of the box person."

"That one sort of looks like Coach."

Avery's gaze follows Ethan's index finger pointing towards the cloud. "I wouldn't be able to tell," She bites her teeth into her bottom lip as the corners of her mouth twitch. "I've only seen him all crumpled up and red in the face because of how bad you guys play."

"Ha ha."

Ethan gets to his feet, dusting off his palms against his shorts. Avery sits up, eyeing him just as he reaches his hand out to help her up. "What are you doing?"

"We're getting ice cream."

♡♡♡

Walking from the patch of beach outside Ethan's house to the parlor by the bigger main area takes them about seven minutes. The beach has more or less emptied by this hour and it seems even more so today considering only an hour before the temperature dropped distinctly, the early evening suddenly turning cold. Only a few families hang around, straggled across the long stretch of sand.

It always seems to be this way at the beginning of July – the streets of the town growing emptier as it's inhabitants leave for their respective vacations. At least previous years Avery's been able to enjoy the lack of crowds with her friends, this year it doesn't matter much.

They are only a stone's throw away from the petite brick stone squared building painted in a shade of light blue as Avery focuses her gaze, narrowing her eyes as she attempts to peer in through the window front from her distance.

She turns to look at Ethan. "We can't go in there together."

"Waters, there's literally no one here."

"Luke's worked here for ages. And Dahlia in there is very much aware of who I am. And you too considering she's an East alumni."

He regards her for a moment and a flash of defeat crosses his eyes as he nods. "Yeah, okay. You're right."

♡♡♡

He crouches down next to her in the sand a few minutes later, two ice cream cones in hand. As Avery reaches her hand out for the strawberry-and salted caramel one he retreats it out of her reach, fixing her with a somewhat narrowed look.

"Now, I know you said you don't like cones so no remarks please," He says. "But I do like them so I thought if you don't want it you can just eat the ice cream and give the rest to me."

"Sounds like a plan. Can I have it now?" She takes the cone from his hand, pulling back as the tips of his fingers almost touch her face. "What are you doing?"

"Just be still," He laughs and her gaze follows his fingers to a strand of her hair having stuck to her lip. He gently lifts it away, tucking it behind her ear. "There."

Her lips twist up, warmth creeping onto her cheeks – feeling how they're almost beginning to hurt from all the times she's been smiling this late afternoon. "Thanks."

♡♡♡

Ethan's lips quirk as Avery presses her finger to the radio console, searching through the stations once again, pausing at one only to sigh and continue her swapping.

"Why do you keep changing the stations?"

"Because I don't like the songs." Avery's brows dip together as she continues onto the next station. She's about to give up when she catches a bit of a melody, quickly making her way back to the previous station, smiling as she leans back in her seat just in time for the first verse to begin. She sings along under her breath and out of the corner of her eye she sees Ethan shoot her an amused glance.

"I don't even know what this is."

She breaks her singing off to allow an exaggerated scoff, brows rising in disbelief. "It's Shania Twain." She begins to sing along again, nodding her head side to side as she glances out the window.

In the backseat Ella – who they picked up at soccer practice a while ago – sings along too, obviously not knowing any of the words, or the melody but Avery's lips twist into a smile at the young girl's effort.

She not sure when her under-her-breath singing crossed into a car-concert but as the song reaches the outro she's tapping her foot to the beat, dramatically glancing out the window, voice full-on as she sings along to the words.

"But no one needs to know right now, no one needs to know right now. No one needs to know right now."

"You have a pretty voice." Ella chirps from the backseat as soon as the song fiddles out into a commercial break. Avery begins to swap through the stations again, a silent laugh escaping her lips before she turns in her seat to smile at the girl.

"Thank you, so do you," As she turns back around she catches Ethan's gaze as he flickers his eyes towards her and she lowers her voice. "I really don't."

"No you really don't."

A cross between a chortle and a breath of disbelief escapes her lips. "Well, thank you."

"Truth hour, right?"

"Mhm, right."

Ella pipes up from the backseat again. "I liked that song."

"Yeah," Avery nods. "It's one of my mom's favorites. Mine too I guess."

"Mine too." The way Ella says it – so simply as if she didn't just hear it for the first time gets a laugh out of both Ethan and Avery and as she glances back at her Avery can see the girl's brows dip together as if trying to figure out what's so funny.

"Great," Ethan says, drumming the pads of his fingers against the wheel as he drives. "Now you've gotten her hooked on country music."

♡♡♡

Avery clears her throat, hand coming to rest on the handle as they pull up outside her house.

"Well, this is me," She says, finding herself not really wanting to open the door and step out of the car – not really wanting to step back into the real world. There's been an easiness to the late afternoon she wishes she could stay in a little while longer, letting it engulf her for just a while more. She draws air in through her nose in a deep inhale before clearing her throat again. "Thank you. Not only for the ride, but you know, just being."

"Anytime."

"You really did spin my day around."

Ethan seems a bit taken aback at her words, rolling his lips in as they twist into a faint smile. "I kind of forced you."

"But I had fun," She says, glancing out the window for a beat. It wouldn't have done her any good to sit and stare at a wall in her house all afternoon. She knows that but she thinks he should too, "I needed that."

He shoots her a glance before flickering his eyes back towards Ella through the rearview mirror, seeing that she's busy with a game on her phone. "I know I don't know what happened – and you don't have to tell me but if you do ever want to talk about it you know where to find me."

"Careful Taylor, you're almost beginning sound like a friend."

"My bad," He leans back, hands drumming against the wheel again. "Well, we'll wait here until you're behind that door. Make sure you get in safely and all those things a non-friend does."

"As your non-friend I appreciate it," She smiles, cheeks positively hurting from all the time they've pulled into this expression today now. "Thank you. Again."

"See you around Waters."

"See you around Taylor," Getting the door open, she twists turns around to face the backseat. "Bye Ella."

The girl seems slightly disorientated as she looks up from her phone but soon she beams. "Goodbye Avery!"

♡♡♡

Two large bowls of spaghetti carbonara are set on the living room table as Avery comes downstairs from having exchanged her sundress and cardigan to a pair of pajama shorts and a long sleeved sweater. A selection of DVD's – the Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers kind – lie spread out next to the food and Sarah comes from the kitchen a moment later, carrying a lit candlestick and a carafe of water.

She sets them down on the table. "I thought we could watch a movie or two. I even cooked."

"So you've heard."

Her mother pulls a sad smile, padding across the room to envelope Avery in a hug. "I got a text earlier today."

Avery swallows at the sound of her mother's solemn voice before saying, "Me too."

Sarah pulls back, her arms still around Avery. "You too? He texted you? I figured he at least called."

Avery shakes her head. "No. A text."

Rage crosses her mother's eyes. "I am going to kill him."

"Mom," Avery pleads, wanting to forget about the whole ordeal as she's already tired from having carried it with her in the back of her mind throughout the afternoon. "I'm not even surprised. Can't we just eat? I don't want to think about it anymore."

"Okay," Sarah squeezes Avery's arms one more time before letting go, eyes softening. "What do you want to watch first?"

Sarah glances over at her as the title sequence of 'Julie & Julia' plays on the screen. "Hey, who was that you were with when you got home?"

Avery twirls some spaghetti onto her fork, shrugging. "A friend."