Avery's POV
I hopped off the last step on the staircase and was immediately pulled away by Callum into the bedroom closest to us.
"Callum, what are you doing?" I ask looking up to him, my face most likely showing a mix of annoyance and confusion.
"Let's break up." He tells me holding both my shoulders and shaking his head a bit as he looks down at me.
I blink. Once. And then twice. "You are the most random person I've ever met, I swear to god."
It was his turn to roll his eyes at me now and he just slapped one of my shoulders lightly. "I'm not but whatever. And shouldn't you act happier? Cause you look hella excited right now."
I frown at him. "I'm neutral."
"Oh yeah, cause neutral is smiling wider than that creepy ass IT clown and your eyes shining brighter than ever. " He tells me mockingly.
"I'm not smiling," I argue back, crossing my arms over my chest now.
"Would you like a mirror? Because it would say otherwise."
There's suddenly a loud knocking on the door. "You guys better not be fucking or I swear-" Keegan yells and practically falls into the room when I pull open the door.
I smile and kick his shin. "You're gross. Now go sit next to my cousin. She's the only one who can make you reasonable."
Keegan rolls his eyes and I can hear him mocking me in a high pitch voice on his way over to the table.
***
"Where'd you guys go?" Axel asks looking away from Mona and to me and Callum.
"Oh, we broke up." Callum easily lets slip while continuing to munch on his mashed potatoes.
Like I said, most random and the bluntest dude I've ever come across.
He really had a thing for letting big pieces of information like this just slip out and a way of making it so...casual.
Which, sometimes I appreciated, other times, not so much. But hey, it was what made Callum, Callum, and I loved him for that I guess.
I hear Bentley let out a deep sigh and Victor smile. Even Keegan let out a small 'thank fuck', which made me laugh and smile.
"Oh wow, I'm sorry," Elliot says nodding slowly with what I'm sure was meant to be a sympathetic or neutral look on his face but came across more as confusion.
I think he was the one who was definitely the most perplexed by our 'relationship' and his personality was just to be kind and caring all the time so that only added onto how it was totally weird for him.
"How come? If you don't mind me asking..?"
"We just discovered we work better as friends and trying to force this relationship wasn't good. It was a quick decision without much thought and things didn't work out. We're cool though." I say before Callum can come up with some crazy story or accidentally let anything else slip.
Everyone nods, I think trying to hide their smiles a bit.
I see Mona wink at me and give me a not so subtle thumbs up as her eyes went back and forth between me and Dawson.
I think I see her mutter the words 'I ship' but I pretend I didn't see any of that.
***
There was a knocking at Dawson and I's bedroom door and automatically I assume it's Sawyer or someone who was all too polite and wouldn't just bust on in like Mona or Callum.
So I call out for them to come in but who was actually at the door wasn't Sawyer. It wasn't even Mona or Dawson or Axel. No, it was Keegan. Weird.
"Dawson's not here right now." I tell him awkwardly. Dawson and Keegan didn't talk all the time but they were still really close and he was the only possible reason he could be here right now.
"Actually I need to talk to you." He tells me.
Okay so apparently not.
I sit up from my spot on my bed and ask what was up, hoping my facial expressions or tone didn't show him that this was weird. Really weird.
"I have a uh, well I have a date with Eva tonight and I was just wondering like what to do and shit. I mean one you're a girl, and two you guys are cousins. So could you please help me out?"
Oh, that was totally forced.
"Sure...for 20 bucks and chick fil a," I tell him with a completely empty and straight face.
"Okay fine." He says running his hands through his hair anxiously.
"Woah I was kidding. You must really like her if you would actually give me shit instead of just like blackmailing me or something." I stared in awe at him, tilting my head to the side a bit.
He didn't even bother to glare at me for the few jabs at him throughout my monologue. So I decided to get to the advice.
"Just to let you know, we haven't talked in...forever so she could've changed but I guess I've made sure she was alright and shit over the years so I know things or whatever..." I mumble.
Keegan just waves his hands impatiently while staring at me in desperation.
"Okay well, she's a hopeless romantic. Loves all that cute shit and being affectionate or whatever. I don't get why but ya know she does. So get her like flowers. Not roses though. She fell in a rose bush when we were kids and has hated flowers with thorns ever since. Go with sunflowers or something. They're bright too. She likes bright colors. Wears a lot of them I noticed..."
He nods while digesting the information and paces back and forth.
And even I had to admit that he was acting adorably. I was nervous about Keegan and Eva getting together at first but seeing him like this helped me realize he was a good guy for her.
"Also if you're gonna kiss her, do it at the end of the date. And no...tongue." I shudder. I really didn't want to talk about Keegan making out with my cousin but I figured I'd help him out with this too.
"A peck. Short and sweet. It's more romantic like that." I tell him.
I once overheard Eva say her perfect date would end with a short kiss and he'd wish her goodnight. I had a feeling this date would end like that.
He just nodded as he kept pushing his hair back like that would fix all his problems.
"Okay, well thanks." He finally looked up to me and stopped touching his hair so much. "I hate you a little less now."
I just sighed and held up a thumbs up, accepting our relationship would always be like this. Not that I wanted it to ever change really.
Then he stood up to leave but I stopped him when he got to the door.
"And Foster?"
"Yeah?" He asked peaking his head back a bit to look at me before closing the door.
I paused, not really knowing what my plan was or what I wanted to tell him. There were lots of things though. About him. About Eva. About him and Eva. But I settle with my last piece of encouragement.
"Good luck. You're good for each other."
He nodded, and for the first time ever, I think I saw him crack a full-on smile towards me.
***
It was later that night now and everyone was asleep. I already made plans to question Keegan about how the date went tomorrow. Which was maybe one of the reasons I couldn't sleep.
I'd been drifting in and out of consciousness for a while now but this time I think I was stuck awake. At least for a good couple hours.
I turn my head to look at Dawson's side of the room and notice his bed was empty.
I look around a bit for him when I see the window open the slightest bit and a shadowy figure sitting outside on the rooftop.
I yawn and crawl out of bed, making my way over to the window and knocking on it to get Dawson's attention before opening it up.
"Mind if I join? I" ask blinking a bit to get all the sleep out of them.
"Course not Aves." He scoots to the very edge and leans against the wall of where the room next to us stuck out a bit more.
"So," I ask him after taking a seat and getting as comfortable as I possibly could on a rooftop at 2 a.m.
"Why can't you sleep?"
He shrugs and leans his head back to look up at the stars.
"I don't know. Just thinking bout some things." He mutters avoiding eye contact.
"Like?" I ask bumping his shoulder a bit and smiling in his direction.
"You really wanna know?" He finally turned to look at me and smiled, or at least tried to. It looked like a sad smile. He looked sad.
I nodded almost immediately. In a sort of way to comfort him I guess. I emphasize on how if he doesn't wanna talk all about it then that's okay too, knowing I've done that...well, almost anytime the questions been asked.
Although, a small part of me regretted nodding. Because by the way he was looking at me told me it wasn't gonna be the easiest or most fun conversation.
***
We. Are. Getting. Somewhere. YAY.
Also I was thinking about either changing or adding to the description for the book, and I was possibly gonna add a scene from the book so if anyone has any ideas for a specific one they liked or if anyone thinks I should wait for a couple of bigger moments then that would be like super helpful.