Chapter 12

"Uh. Nothing." Wes and I said in unison. Drew gave us a funny look, but before he could question us any further I jumped up from the couch. I woke Adrianna and had to practically drag her off the couch. "It's getting pretty late. We should probably get going." I had Adrianna by the elbow now and was leading her in the direction of the door. Apparently she wasn't exactly awake yet because she wasn't doing much moving. I had to drag her.

"Yeah. Here, I'll show you out." Wes said anxiously trying to get me out of the same room as Drew so he wouldn't ask questions. He rushed us to the front door, and I was out of there faster than he could close it. I was breathing hard and leaning against the outside of their front door. When I finally caught my breath I motioned for Adrianna to walk with me. 

"What the hell is going on?" Adrianna demanded of me once we were on a new block. I sat down on the curb.

"I kissed Wesley." I stared off into the distance, trying to analyze the pattern the asphalt made.

"WHAT!?"

"Well he kissed me, but that's same thing I guess." I let my brain relax, I wasn't thinking about anything. Not about Wes, not about Owen, not about myself. I just let my eyes focus and zone out on that one spot of road.

"Oh."

"I know." So much for not thinking. In that moment I was reminded of all the things I had said. I told Wes that I forgave him. I told Owen I was done with Wes. I told Wes that I cared about him. I told Adrianna I was fine. "Ugh I wasn't supposed to kiss him! It just happened."

"Well did you want it to happen?" Adrianna asked as she sat down next to me. I had my face buried in my hands but I still nodded.

"I thought that I didn't, but once his lips were actually on mine I didn't want it to end." She put her hand on my shoulder and just comforted me. "At first I was done with him completely, but then I felt bad and decided to forgive him as a friend. Then the next thing you know we're making out in the middle of his living room." When I said it out loud like that it did seem kind of pathetic.

"Maybe it's for the better. I think he's changed Aves." I contemplated this. 

"I thought so too. Like he can be so sweet some times, but there are other times where I feel like I can't trust him."

"Welcome to my life, Avery." she laughed. 

"What do you mean?" I asked her, genuinely confused.

"You think that I can trust Drew all the time? He was as drunk as Wes at that party remember?" I thought about it. She was right. I wasn't the only one. "He's almost 2 years older than me. I don't know if I can always count on him to be responsible. At least Wes is our age." I reached over to her and grabbed her arm lightly.

"Adrianna, Drew is one of the best people I know. He's not like any other guy I've met before. He always has this really positive attitude, and I know that he's a responsible guy. He's the one that talked Wes into apologizing to me, and I know he wouldn't hurt you." I meant it. Drew was great guy for her. They had a weird relationship. Drew treated her like a little sister, but that type of relationship worked for them.

"I guess you're right... So, what are you going to do?" That was a good question. I shrugged. "I guess you should just lay low for a while, like learn to trust him as a friend, and then see where the relationship goes." I started laughing. "What?" she asked me.

"Hahaha, you've been spending too much time with Drew, you sound just like him." she smiled at me.

"Well I've heard he can give pretty good advice." And with that we walked back to the house together.

The next morning when I woke up, Owen was downstairs already eating breakfast. He was chewing on a piece of toast when I sat down next to him. I rested my forehead on the table. I heard Owen snickering.

"Uh rough night last night?" I heard him ask. I groaned and pulled my face off the smooth wood. 

"Not so much rough as stressful." I said. He pushed his coffee over to me.

"You look like you need it more than I do." He grinned. I sighed gratefully and accepted the hot beverage. I downed it in a few seconds.

"Thanks." I smiled at him.

"No problem. You wanna hit the skate park today?" I could really use a break from Wes and all this drama. I accepted the invitation instantly. 

"Yeah sure. I think Adrianna is still sleeping. We got back pretty late last night." I said.

"Okay, that's cool we can just go without her." He replied. 

The nearest skate park was about 15 minutes away, so we skated down there. I haven't been to a skate park over here yet, so I was pretty excited. It wasn't very crowded when we got there. There were a few groups of guys skating around the bowl, but other than that, everything was free. Owen and I walked over to the half pipe. He gave me a look,

"You sure you can handle it? I've only seen you skate on flat road." He said with a daring smile.

"Please. I've been down way worse than this." I retorted. He shook his head like I was insane, but he followed me over to the half pipe. We climbed up and I decided to go first. "Watch and learn." I told him. I set up my board on the coping so the trucks of my board hung over the edge of the ramp. I pushed my weight towards the front of my board and dropped in. I just rolled around a little, going up and down the ramp pumping when I got to the other side. Then I started to throw in a few tricks. I started off with a 360, and then finished off with a McTwist. I rolled up the half pipe back up to where Owen was. 

He had his hand reached out and I grabbed it, stopping my board and pulling myself up onto the ledge. A couple of the other guys had crowed around the half pipe and were whooping and hollering. "Avery that was totally sick! Honestly, I didn't think you had it in you." He said smiling.

"Hey Fisher! Who's your friend?" A voice called from the ground. Owen cupped his hand over his eyes to see who was talking. He grinned and skated down to the bottom of the ramp. I followed him down and walked over to the group of guys. He greeted the guys and clapped them all on the back. I felt pretty out of place walking over to them. Owen pulled me into the circle anyway.

"Guys this is Avery. Avery these are the guys." Owen said introducing me. For the next few minutes the guys went around introducing themselves.

"I'm Zack."

"Kevin."

"Mark."

"I'm Jeremy."

"And I'm Logan." The last one caught my eye. I was instantly drawn to him. He wasn't like all the other typical California guys. He had dark blonde, almost brown hair. It was cut short and spiked up in the front. His eyes were plain brown, but they sparkled in the light. He had on sneakers and shorts, but what attracted to me was the shirt he had on. I smiled at him and pointed to his shirt.

"The Ramones, cool, I have the same one." He grinned at me and looked at my shirt. He nodded in approval.

"Third Eye Blind? Sweet." I smiled back at him.

"You like them?" I asked surprised. Not many people knew who they were, let alone liked their music.

"Yeah their stuff is totally sweet." We just looked at each other for a while. It was starting to get awkward, but then Owen interjected.

"So we were gonna hit the beach if any of you guys wanna come along." Owen said. Most of the guys said they were just going to hang back here and carve it up, but Logan agreed to come with us. We went and got Italian Ice from Rudy's and just chilled. I got to know Logan and he seemed like a pretty chill guy. 

"So your from New Jersey? I used to live there." Logan said. I instantly lit up. Someone from the east coast! Finally. 

"Oh yeah man I forgot you used to live there." Owen added.

"What part are you from? “He asked me.

"Wyckoff." I said.

"Haha, no way, I'm from Ramsey." He told me. His face smiled with familiarity. 

"Cool. Haha, Owen's sister was laughing at me about the ocean."

"I know. Compared to the Atlantic it's like a freaking bottle of distilled water." We both cracked up.

"So do you guys wanna hit the waves?" Owen asked, eyebrows raised.

Logan looked at me and smiled. "Sure. I'm down."