Chapter 33: 30 | party of five

"Does this look like a snowflake to you?"

Avery's lips pull into a faint smile, glancing up from the pages of her book at Callie's question. Nic has barely made it down the one-stair step leading into Callie's kitchen before she dangles the cut-out piece of paper in his face. Balancing the two paper bags of groceries in his embrace, the boy simply shrugs before walking over to Avery where he sets them down next to her on the counter.

Sighing, Callie turns to the next boy just having walked into the room. "Luke?"

Luke sinks into a seat in the bay window as he pulls his blue hoodie over his head, running a hand through his wind tossed hair as he eyes the paper snowflake in Callie's hand. "Yeah, I guess."

"Good." Callie's lips set in a satisfied smile as she walks over to the kitchen table. Her hair falls forwards, concealing her face as she jots something down before tucking both the notepad and the snowflake into her neatly organized binder.

"I already told you it looks like a snowflake," Avery closes her book and puts it aside, reaching her hand into the bowl of popcorn stood next to her. "Don't you trust me?"

"You did not," Callie disagrees. "Saying 'Mhm' while keeping your eyes on the page doesn't count," Callie throws a look over her shoulder at Luke. "She almost walked into the fridge as well."

Avery shoots Callie a narrowed look as she leans back against the white tiled wall, lightly kicking Nic's leg as he reaches over to grab a fist of popcorn. "How'd practice go?"

"As if I'm telling you," He scoffs, popping one of them into his mouth. "You're only going to run to the enemy and let them in on all our flaws."

"What flaws?" Luke looks up from his phone just as Avery rolls her eyes.

"Yes Nic, that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Music fills the room at the end of Avery's sentence, Callie cranking up the volume before heading over to the counter where Nic's already busy unpacking the bags of groceries.

"Okay let's get–" Callie's cut off by the sound of the doorbell echoing through the house. "Lea's here!"

Avery watches her friend whirl around on her heel, disappearing out into the hall to let Lea inside and the two girls come back a second later. Lea's dark hair is pulled back with a hair clip, cheeks flushed from the chill mid-November day and the bounce in her step brings a gust of cold air into the kitchen as she beelines for Luke. She's beaming as she drops into a seat next to the boy in the bay window and Avery pops another popcorn into her mouth while she watches the girl drop a booklet into his lap.

He puts his phone aside, brows etching together as he takes the stack of papers into his hands. "What's this?"

The corners of Lea's lips pull back even further as Luke flickers his eyes between her and the paper as if to make he's seeing right before meeting her gaze. "This is a B."

"That's a B!" Lea sings, folding her legs to her side as she runs a palm over the denim. "I was going to show you yesterday but–"

She trails off when a squealing laugh escapes her lips instead, the sound cutting through the beat of the pop song coming out the speakers as Luke pulls her into a hug.

"See?" Luke bellows and Avery casts her eyes to the bowl of popcorn, cheeks tightening with her own smile. "I told you so. I knew you could do it!"

"All thanks to you."

Avery has the bowl of popcorn ripped out of her hands a second later and as she glances up she finds Callie stood in front of her.

The girl places a cutting board next to her, raising her brows. "Either help out of move out of the way."

"Geez Calliope." Avery says with a chortled breath, jumping off the counter as Nic laughs.

The pasta water fogs his glasses as he leans closer to the stove, shooting Avery a sideways glance. "You should know not to mess with Cal when she's hungry."

"I'll set the table," Lea offers, placing her test on the kitchen table as she leaves the bay window behind. "Where do we eat?"

"In front of the TV? The dining room? In here?" Callie lists her suggestions before shrugging. "I don't know."

"Let's do dining room."

Nic gets a cabinet open to fetch cups as Lea balances a stack of plates in her hands. "I'll help."

The two leave for the dining room down the hall as Luke sidles up next to Avery, eyes surveying the counter as if to see what he can do to help. He reaches across her to steal half a cherry tomato out of the salad bowl and she pauses with the knife against the cutting board as she turns her head to look at him.

"Don't."

Despite pressing her lips together her smile widens as she feigns innocence. "I didn't say anything."

♡♡♡

Callie's humming along to the music enveloping them in the upstairs living room, gently running a make-up brush over Avery's cheeks. From where she lies with her head propped up in Callie's lap, Avery smiles up at her friend as she peers down at her upside-down.

"You're pretty."

A soft chortle escapes Callie's lips. "So are you. Now close your eyes."

She's about to do as she's told but has her attention taken elsewhere as Luke asks, "Do you think I can eat this in under a minute?"

Turning her head to look at him Avery realizes he's regarding the piece of chocolate mud cake on his plate and Lea's quick to catch on, glancing up from where she's propped up on her stomach in a sea of decorative throw pillows. The color pencil in her hand hovers over her drawing as she sighs.

"Please don't try."

Avery rolls her eyes as she hears Nic counter-bet Luke, turning it into a competition, before settling back into Callie's lap while closing her eyes. Her lips slip into a smile as she lets herself be pampered, listening to Callie sing along to the boyband songs slipping through the speakers.

"Okay, I know bought it but I have no idea how to even begin to apply this thing."

Avery bats her eyes open, peering up at Callie to find her holding a tube of eyeliner. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Lea reach her hand out for her phone, snapping a quick picture of her two friends before she puts it back down next to her pencil case and abandons her drawing to crawl over to them.

"Here," She says, holding her hand out for the tube as she nudges Avery in the shoulder. "Sit up."

Avery pushes herself up into a cross legged seat, twirling around as she twists her hair into a bun. She reaches for the somewhat condensed pint of strawberry ice cream stood to their side, barely having run the spoon along the rim before Lea's eyes narrow.

"Excuse me," Lea drops the tube to the rug, inching closer to tug down the collar of Avery's black knitted sweater and Avery pauses with the spoon against her lips as they twitch into a sheepish smile. That's why she was supposed to keep her hair down. Lea's lips set in a somewhat impressed smile. "Well well well, Ms Avery Jane Waters look what we have here."

"You should see the other guy."

A choked laugh escapes Callie, Cheetos spilling out of her mouth and bouncing off her gray 'Montgomery for Congress-78' t-shirt as her eyes widen. Lea's lips crack into an appreciative grin, a mirroring laugh escaping her.

"Could you not scar me for life?" The three girls whip their heads over their shoulders as they hear Luke speak through a mouthful of cake. "I'm trying to win a thing over here."

"If you two throw up all over my couch I will kill you."

Nic meets Callie's glare, swallowing back a bite of cake. "What are you coming at us for? It would be Ave's fault!"

"My fault?"

Lea reaches her hand into the bowl of Cheetos, easily popping one into her mouth as she falls back against the rug. "Leave her alone, she's in love."

Warmth flushes Avery's cheeks instantly, lips twitching as she presses them together. She casts her eyes to the ice cream, jabbing the spoon into the pink as her skin runs warm beneath her sweater. Clearing her throat, she sets the pint down and dusts her palms together before reaching for the few discarded candy wrappers sprawled about the bowl of Cheetos.

"I'll throw these out."

The guys are back to stuffing their faces with cake as she gets to her feet, collecting some of the trash lying upon the coffee table as well. Another rush of warmth speckles her skin from inside out as a surprised soft laugh leaves Lea where she lies on the floor.

"Oh my God, you are. You're in love."

♡♡♡

She's barely made it down the stairs and past the marble floored entrance hall before Lea and Callie catch up to her in the kitchen. Dropping the trash into the trashcan she lets the cabinet door fall shut and turns around to find the two girls sat in the bay window, their lips in toothy sweet smiles and her brows knit together ever so slightly.

"What?"

A chortled breath escapes her as they both reach their palms out to pat the empty space between them on the light colored cushion. Rather reluctantly – not sure if this will be a conversation she's going to enjoy or not – Avery eyes them and weighs back on her heels. Lea raises her brows.

"Come on Ave, you've deprived us of details long enough. I've been waiting for you to bring this Ethan thing up for weeks now but you never do and–"

Avery's lips slip into a faint smile as her brows knit together further – the flicker of surprise etching into her features. Somewhere along the way she's convinced herself her friends would rather not speak of the Ethan of it all. They've kept stepping around it so delicately she figured it was so a no-go. Figured that while the mention of her boyfriend's name is no longer followed by the usual grimace dedicated to Easters, it doesn't mean they'll want to hear her love-sick blabbering either. She's still not sure they do but as she bites down at her lip now she feels a little lighter and she crosses the floor to sit down in between the two girls.

She holds onto the arches of her feet in her cross legged seat as she looks between them and Lea's soon back to grinning, catching the looped straw of her drink in between her lips.

"I have questions. So many questions."

Callie laughs while popping a Cheeto into her mouth. "Oh God."

Lea lowers her drink and smiles at Avery. "But first, I think you have a way overdue explanation to give us of how the hell you ended up dating Ethan Taylor."

Eyes casting to her lap for a moment, Avery grabs a Cheeto out of the bowl. "You really want to know?"

Callie's words are soft-spoken as she leans back against the window. "Of course we do."

Avery flickers her eyes to Lea and the girl sets her drink down, pulling her legs to her chest.

"Duh," She pokes Avery in the shoulder before reaching over to cup her cheeks with a light squeeze. "And we want to hear every detail too. As I said – so many questions. Like–"

Callie reaches across Avery, nudging Lea in the head. "Let her speak."

"Oh, right," Lea settles back into her seat, looping her arms around her knees as she rests her chin upon them. "Go on."

♡♡♡

Luke glances over his shoulder as Avery walks into the living room, handing her the pint of salted caramel ice cream as she rounds the U-shaped couch and sinks into a seat next to him. Nic looks up from his phone as Callie and Lea walks into the room a moment later – their laughter bouncing off the walls – and he throws them a dirty look over the rim of his glasses, lips falling into a pout.

"I happen to like girl talk too."

Lea drops into the couch next to Avery, releasing her hair from the hair clip holding it together. She shrugs at Nic as she steals the pint of ice cream out of Avery's hands. "Sucks to be you."

Callie gently pats his head, offering up a consoling smile. "You can choose what movie we're watching first. If it'll make you feel any better."

"Hell yeah."

Avery rolls her eyes with a small smile as Nic heads over to Callie's neatly organized shelf of DVD's, thoroughly letting his finger run along the spines of them with a thoughtful purse of his lips. Leaning forward to grab her glass of iced tea off the coffee table, she notices Lea shift in her seat next to her.

"Wait a minute–," Lea's eyes narrow as she surveys the table, glancing between the other four. "Who ate the last piece of cake?"

Nic turns his head over his shoulder, lips in a sheepish grin as he exchanges a look with Luke. Avery ducks, lips pressed together to conceal a laugh, as Lea reaches across her to swat Luke in the chest.

"We said we were going to share."

Popping the DVD he's chosen into the player, Nic flashes Lea a smile. "Sucks to be you."

♡♡♡

"So if I spent this afternoon with Ethan, does this mean the two of you have indirectly kissed?"

Luke pulls a face at Avery's pondering, shoving her glass of iced tea back into her hand and she laughs – the light airy sound echoing against the warm-toned tiled walls of the bathroom they're in.

He's quick to gently point his elbow into her side where the two of them are sat next to each other, leant against the wall of the built-in bathtub, on the heated floor. He lifts his finger to his lips to hush her.

"Would you not lure them over here? I'm trying to enjoy the silence."

Her lips twitch up, cheeks tightening with her smile as she shoots him a sideways glance and throws a popcorn into her mouth. From here they can hear the faint soft tones of Callie plucking away at the piano down the hall, melding together with the sounds of the action movie playing out in the living room and Avery wonders if anyone's still paying attention to their third movie for the night.

She laughs, the chortled sound bubbling up her throat once more as Luke mindlessly reaches for her drink only to retreat his hand as if burned, lips in a frown.

"Ugh," His nose scrunches up. "Gross. Why would you–Ugh,"

Inching back to throw a few popcorn at him, she smiles as he rolls his eyes when they bounce off his face and it only widens as she spots the eyeshadow lingering on his lids. Courtesy of Lea. Of course. He regards her for a beat, running a hand through his hair as he reaches for the bowl of popcorn.

"Heard you witnessed the Montagues win last week."

Rolling her lips together, Avery's smile falters ever so slightly as she tugs at the arms of her sweater to cover her palms. "Mhm,"

There's a part of her who wants explain further as to the why of her being in the stands of an East game, but at the same time she finds herself reluctant to speak of it. Even if she wishes she could make Luke see more of what she sees, she doesn't want to share the things Ethan's entrusted her with someone who's very much not a part of his life. Tilting her head back she glances up at the ceiling, squinting at the glow of the dimmed spotlights. "Had to be there."

Out of the corner of her eye she notices Luke nod but her mind is already far away, thinking back to last Friday night and a soft flutter warms her chest as her cheeks tighten – the skin around her eyes creasing, her smile etching into her features. A soft chortle escapes Luke as he lightly elbows her again, shooting her a somewhat feigned tired look.

"Stop that," His words only have her smile widening and he slowly shakes his head as she twists to meets his gaze. "I still can't believe you're with Ethan Taylor. It's so weird."

"You're only saying that because you don't know him."

He regards her for a beat, lips puckering ever so slightly in thought as he shrugs. "Maybe."

Pausing with her lips against the rim of her glass, Avery's smile deepens with a twitch of amusement as she lets her gaze flicker over her friend's features. "I'm loving this look for you. The glitter really makes the blue in your eyes pop."

A sigh sounding breath escapes Luke's lips as he smiles, amusement and defeat blending together as he shoots another look her way. "Whatever."

Her soft laugh is drowned out by both their phones buzzing at once and Avery reaches up to grab hers off the sink.

'lea is a genius'

Calliope: Wherever the two of you are hiding out it's time to come back, we're bringing out the boardgames

Luke glances up at Avery. "That's a bad idea."

"Tell me about it," She finishes the last of her drink as Luke gets to his feet, reaching his hand out to help her up and she feigns a yawn. "I think I'm going to have to stay in here, I'm just too tired."

He laughs as she does, pulling her to her feet. "Come on, we'll team up on them together."

♡♡♡

The soles of their feet pressed together, Luke and Avery lie with their legs in the air in each end of the couch. Nic's propped up on his elbows on the rug, the plate of brownies they made an hour or two ago in front of him as he keeps his gaze on the TV playing a late night rerun of a Friends episode. Callie and Lea are across the room, fuzzy slippers in the air where they lie on the mattress they brought out of one of the bedrooms as they paint each other's nails – the chemical scent blending together with the brownie scent having traveled upstairs from the kitchen.

Avery suppresses a small yawn as she bites into the brownie in her hand, lazily letting her eyes gaze at the scenes playing out on the TV when her phone sounds from in between the cushions of the couch. Reaching her hand down she searches for it, fishing it out as her fingers lace around the cold device.

'<3 treason buddy <3'

hi

A soft chortle escapes her through another bite of the brownie as she reads the text. They wrote to say goodnight a few hours ago now.

why are you still up?

why are you still up?

there are brownies and if i go to sleep chances are nic will eat them all

besides if i'd been sleeping i wouldn't be here talking to you

both very valid points

another star just fell from my ceiling

you should make a wish

dork

As Luke drops his feet to the cushion with a light thud Avery's fall too and she glances up momentarily from her phone. His gaze flickers to hers as she watches him lean forward to grab another brownie off the plate and he rolls his eyes, lips twitching faintly.

"You're doing the smile."

Her cheeks tighten, warming as her smile grows bigger. "Yeah."

He settles back against the cushions of his corner as her gaze drops back to the screen to type another reply. "Gross."

Nic twists halfway to look at them, pillow squeezed in his embrace as he yawns. "What are you two talking about?"

His eyes narrow as an easy "Nothing." slips them both.

Flickering his gaze between them before he turns back towards the TV, Nic's words are barely comprehensible as he stuffs too big a piece of brownie into his mouth.

"Dumb womb connection. Stupid bullies," He mutters under his breath through his chews. "Always excluding everyone else."

Avery presses her lips together as she looks up at Luke again and it only takes them one exchanged glance before they both fold over laughing. The sound echoing against the walls only increasing as Nic shoots them a glare.

Her heart lightens as she catches her breath – there's an easiness to this simple moment with her friends she hasn't felt in a while and softer laughter spills through her lips as her gaze reconnects with Luke's. Lips in half a smirk, she sinks further into the couch and brings her attention back to her phone.

"I'm going to tell him you say hi."

. . .

helloo friends! I hope you're all doing good (I am).

as always, thank you for being so wonderful and the best people ever.

MUCH LOVE, yours

linn