Page 104 of The Backup Plan
Dale
For a moral lecture, that was a little anticlimactic. I expected Bible-thumping.
Marshall
I liked it. Short, but vaguely menacing.
Cameron
Doesn’t need to be long to pack a punch.
Hammy, we’re waiting.
Hayden
You guys suck. I can’t even say it.
Cameron
It was a joke.
THIRTY
Things That Never Happened
AVERY
Isaac was waiting in a high-backed booth when Avery arrived at the restaurant a block from campus. He rose and greeted her with a bear hug, like nothing had gone wrong.
“This was the best idea,” he announced. “I’m starving. I haven’t eaten for hours. I’m buying, and we’re getting everything.”
“Isaac.”
He peeked over top of the laminated menu. “Do we have to do the hard part before we even get an appetizer? I can hash out tragic backstories a lot better with a helping of spinach-artichoke dip.”
Avery couldn’t hold back a smile. “I do better with buffalo wings.”
“One of each, then.”
After signaling the server over for their order, Isaac leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms, and feigned a pout. “So. We’re doing this.”
“We’re doing this.” She took a deep breath, and he cut her off before she could speak again.
“Avery, I am so deeply sorry for what I said at the bonfire. To put that on you, and especially at such a vulnerable moment, was just wrong.”
“I told you, that conversation never happened.”
He scrunched his nose in confusion. “Then what are we talking about?”
“Me leaving you to take care of Justin the next morning, for one thing. And for my abuse of our friendship more or less since we met.”
“I swear I’m not trying to be a smartass, but I don’t feel abused in any way.”
“I obviously came on way too strong and gave you the wrong idea.” She crinkled a napkin between her fingers and struggled to hold eye contact. “Before I ever laid eyes on you, I told myself we were never dating because Justin was being so pushy. I told you we were best friends pretty much immediately. I never took the time to see what you’d think about this strange girl suddenly dragging you around and calling you her bestie and asking you to pretend to be her boyfriend. I made you go to the party, and I gave you shit every time you didn’t eat dinner with me, and then Justin?—”
Isaac sliced his hand across his neck to silence her. “Avery, you never had to ask me how I felt. I may be chronically nervous speaking to strangers, but you were never a stranger, and I’ve never had trouble telling you how I feel. You’re not the only one who felt comfortable in the first two minutes. And you don’t have to ask me every little thing. I’m an adult. And I showed you how I felt by acting like a twelve-year-old playing laser tag with you.”
He grabbed her hand and pried the napkin from between her fingers. “You were right when you said at the bonfire that you never gave me cause to think of us as anything but friends. You were entirely right. You treated me like a brother, and I think that was more confusing than if you really flirted with me.”