Page 33 of Substitute for Love

“Uh, yeah,” Avery said, trying to hide a smile.

“I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun.” She smiled.

Avery headed to her car. Gabe’s truck was still in the parking lot, even though much of the rest of the lot was cleared. What was he up to staying later than usual? She could go back inside. But no. She didn’t want to come on too strong. She’d see him tomorrow.

Saturday August 30, 10:30 AM

Avery finally opened her eyes when she could no longer stand the sunlight peeking out from around her curtains. She half regretted staying up late watching standup comedian specials with Mom, but it was so good to see her laughing and not in pain.

There was a lot to do today, including picking up more meds, helping Mom take a shower, doing laundry, grocery shopping… the list went on. By the time it was 4 PM, the list was done but she had forgotten to text Claire about borrowing a dress for the dance.

AVERY: So sorry! Can I come borrow a dress? It’s been a long day.

CLAIRE: Girl, I’m having a day myself. A piece of equipment broke and a new hot guy wanted me as his personal trainer. Couldn’t say no.

AVERY: Obviously.

CLAIRE: Anyway, I won’t be home til late. Go grab something. Key is under the gnome.

Avery stared at Claire’s open closet, something she had loved to do in high school. Claire had the best clothes. She was always into fashion, and gossip, and guys. It seemed like she had a different love interest every week. Avery couldn’t be more different from her in that respect.

She pulled out a few dresses, most of them too flashy or too short or too revealing up top. Finally she settled on a simple sage green dress, with a fitted top and a flowy skirt that came to her knees.

As she went to leave, she passed a photo of Claire and Marshall hanging in the hallway. The sister-brother duo had the biggest effect on her teen and young adult years. Avery studied it, realizing Marshall’s features weren’t as attractive to her as they had once been.

“Why couldn’t you be the person I needed?” She had thought he was, at first. In high school all of his attention was exciting, plus it was easy to be around him a lot since Claire was her bestfriend. After he graduated, he always visited her. So it was an easy decision to follow him to college up north to Flagstaff.

She shook her head. “I was so young and dumb.”

After she moved up there and started taking classes at Northern Arizona University, they hung out and were “together” officially. Finally they were boyfriend-girlfriend. What she had always dreamed of. Life would be so great.

But things were different. He was always too busy to make time for her. She wrote it off as him being dedicated to his studies. Plus she had plenty to do, like school and work, so she buried her head and thought this part of their relationship was a phase. Things would be hard for a while.

Avery didn’t realize until it was too late that he had strung her along for years.

Chapter 11: Gabe

Saturday August 30, 6:00 PM

GABE: What’s your address? Unless you’d rather meet at a neutral location. Promise I’m not a stalker.

AVERY: I dunno, you’ve been stalking me all week.

GABE: It’s not stalking if it’s in the job description.

AVERY: So you’re telling me the history teacher had “visit the library” in his lesson plans?

GABE: Well…. I’m sure he meant to.

AVERY: Here’s my address. Don’t be late.

Gabe took a deep breath. Avery tested him at every turn. And he loved it.

For days he had been trying to convince himself to keep his distance from her. That she was going to treat him like all other girls had—have a fling and run off. But she was different. She was smart. Deep. Introspective. There was a whole world going on in her head, and he wanted to at least scratch the surface of getting to know her.

He hoped he didn’t get lost. Or maybe he did.

Gabe put on tan khakis, a green shirt, and a purple tie. It was an option he had seen when he searched for “guy + school dance outfit + purple.” He wouldn’t think of pairing green and purple together, but what did he know?

---