“I’ll just give you two a little time,” said Abigail, who went to get in her car, leaving us alone.
“I guess there’s a victory party at Omega tonight. I know you’re kind of expected, but after the last time, I hope you don’t mind if I sit this one out.”
I wasn’t sure if I was hearing her right. “Are you saying you trust me to go alone?”
“Yeah, I trust you. I may not trust the cheerleading squad, but I do trust you.” That alone was more than I could ask for. But there was no way I was going to let her go spend the night alone while I celebrated.
“How about I take you out instead? I mean, we could go and have a nice quiet dinner somewhere.”
“You mean no party? You’re going to catch hell if you’re not there. I know how it is with the Omegas.”
“I’m not a pledge, so I’m not beholden to them. Besides, I really don’t want to go. I’d rather spend some time with my girl.”
Her cheeks turned pink as her smile grew brighter. “I’ll tell Abi that I’m going to catch a ride with you.”
“Did you have plans?” I wondered if she and Abigail had already decided on something else together.
“No, she has to go home and study. She has a big test next week and wanted to get a head start.”
At least she wasn’t ditching her friends for me. I didn’t need anyone else to get upset about us.
I walked her over to the car and waited as she ran to the door and Abi put her window down. It only took a second for them to exchange a few words, and Abi looked up at me in surprise and smiled.
“I think you impressed her,” said Avery as she approached.
“All I’m worried about is impressing you.”
“You’ve already done that,” she said. “So, where do you want to go?”
“How about a burger? Or pizza? We could go to DeAngelo’s.”
“Okay. I’d like that. But are you sure it’s okay? I don’t want to cause problems.”
“You’re not. And no one can tell me where I can and can’t be seen with you. That’s up to us, and I say, screw them. Let’s do what we want.” I had already won one victory, and being with her officially was like winning another one.
* * *
I drove her out to DeAngelo’s, and despite the busy night, we only saw one other couple we knew, and that happened to be Layla and Jayce of all people.
They sat on the other side of the restaurant from us thankfully, but I wondered if Avery was okay. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s not like you knew they’d be here, and they’re way over there. If you’re okay, I’m okay.”
“I’m good.”
“No more apologies.”
She was so good about it, and I wondered again how I got so lucky.
I polished off half a pizza before she could even eat two slices. And when we were laughing and talking, Jayce and Layla stopped by the table on their way out.
“Hi, guys,” said Layla.
Jayce shook my hand. “How’s it going, man?”
“Great, thanks.”
Layla gestured to the pizza. “I see Seth ordered his favorite.”
“Actually, that’s mine,” said Avery. “Is it yours too?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. You’re the first person who liked the ham as much as me.”
“Well, it looks like you two have a lot in common,” said Layla with a sweet grin. She was always so pretty, but Avery was pretty and more. It was strange that I was finally over her and moved on. Back when I first lost her, I went through a spell of thinking I’d made the biggest mistake ever, but Avery had put all that to rest.
“Yeah, I don’t have to compromise and have pineapple,” I said, giving her a teasing look.
“Oh no, you eat pineapple on your pizza?” Avery giggled.
Jayce nodded. “Yeah, now I get to compromise.”
“Hey,” said Layla. “I’m worth it.”
“That, you are.” Jayce turned his attention to me. “Great game by the way. We caught the last half. You played like a beast, man. Impressive.”
“Thanks.” I wasn’t sure if Jayce was taking that friendship deal to his head, but that was all right with me. “It was good having Avery there to cheer me on. I felt like I was back on my game for the first time in a long time.”
“Are you going to the victory party at Omega after?” asked Layla.
Avery busied herself with her drink as I responded. “No. I thought I’d sit this one out. It gets old, and I have better places to be now.”
“Good call,” said Jayce.
“Well, it was good to see you,” said Layla. “You two take care of each other.” She gave Avery a big smile, and the two of them left.
Avery looked at me with red cheeks. “I can see why you were in love with her.”
“Love? I’m not sure it was that anymore.”
“It’s okay. I understand if you were.”
“With Lay, it was just different. I think we needed each other for more than love, you know?”
“You call her Lay?”
“It’s her nickname,” I said with a laugh.
“Could you maybe just say Layla? Lay just brings up other images, and while I’m not a jealous girlfriend, I’d rather not have those in my mind.” She laughed it off, but I could tell it was awkward for her.
“Right. Sorry. I never looked at it that way. A lot of her friends call her that.” I shrugged it off and swiped another piece of the pizza.
“You’re putting that away like a garbage disposal. I don’t see how you eat that much.” She was on her third slice and taking it slowly, picking at the crust.
“Play hard, work hard, eat a ton to make up for it.”
“Clara thinks I’m bad.”
“Speaking of your sister, does she know about us?”
She gave me a nervous look. “Well, Clara is complicated. With her health issues, all of her past problems, and the fact that
