Chapter 14

It felt right. Just standing there with Wes, my lips pressed against his. So what if Owen didn't trust him. I trusted him. Wes was always there to save the day. He cared about me, and I could see it now. When Wes pulled away, my thoughts drifted. He tucked my hair behind my ear and I blushed. He was grinning again. He was just too cute. He slipped his hand into mine and we walked back to the house together. I caught him staring at me.

"What?!" I asked him punching him in the arm. He bit his bottom lip trying to hide a smile.

"Nothing." He was smiling still, and looking at me from the corner of his eye. I went to go punch him again.

"Wesley!" He dodged my fist laughing. 

"Nothing! You're just cute okay." He poked my cheek with his finger. I looked down at the sand.

"Eh. I guess you're all right."

"Hey! I don't appreciate the attitude Avery." He stuck out his tongue at me and I slipped my arm around him. 

"Yeah, yeah." I giggled. I looked over at the horizon and saw the house come into view. I could feel a smile creeping its way onto my face. I stopped walking, making Wes stop too. He looked over at me, eyebrows raised. "I'll race ya." I said.

"Well I don't know maybe-" He sprinted off towards the house.

"You cheater!" I yelled at him, but I couldn't help laughing at the same time. I ran straight after him, not too far behind. By the time I caught up, Wes was already at the house, sitting on the wicker couch.

"I win." He laughed.

"That's because you're a cheater." I plopped down next to him laughing. 

"So what do you wanna do?" He asked clicking the lock button on his phone, "It's only 2:00."

"I don't know we could-" I started, but was cut off by the screen door opening.

"Hi kids!" Oh my god. It was my mother. "I brought snacks!" Oh my god. Mom. Stop.

"Haha, hi Mrs.Brayden." Wes lifted his hand up to wave.

"Hi Wesley! How are you?" My mom smiled at him, leaning against the house.

"I'm doing great, thanks. How are you?"

"Mom!" I interrupted. "Don't you have something to do somewhere else?" My mom caught the idea and gathered herself. 

"Uhm, yes. I just came out here to grab the watering can." She walked over to the corner of the deck, behind Wes to pick up the watering can. Wesley's back was to her and she caught my eye and mouthed to me, he's cute! I started making a bunch of motions. Wes saw me and started laughing. "Okay! Okay! I'm going!" She disappeared back into the house.

I smashed my face into one of the pillows on the couch. "Rarghhh." I felt Wesley petting the top of my head laughing.

"Haha, Avery, I love your mom." I lifted my head off the pillow. 

"Arghh." We just sat there for a while talking and laughing until we saw Drew and Adrianna walking to the backyard. They stopped in the middle of the walkway, and Drew pulled her in and kissed her. My mouth fell open and Wes started looking around the deck, trying not to stare. You should've seen Adrianna's face when she saw us sitting on the deck.

"Uh hey man. What's up?" Wes asked trying to be casual, slinging his arm around the couch cushions. He had a smile on his lips like he was about to say something, but I flicked him in the ear. He turned his head and I whispered to him.

"Wes, be nice." I smiled at him. He still had that look on his face, but he didn't say anything.

"So what have you guys been up to?" Drew asked in the same mocking tone Wes had been using earlier.

"Shut up Drew." I said, jokingly avoiding his glance. He kept looking though. I laughed and leaned my head against my hand.

"Hey, do you guys still wanna play?" Adrianna motioned inside and Drew hopped up.

"Sure. Wes you wanna come jam, bro?" He nodded and we all followed Adrianna into the Fisher's basement. My eyes widened.

"What? I didn't even know this was down here!" I turned to Adrianna. "What is all this stuff anyway?" I asked her.

"My dad's a music producer and he used to do a bunch of recording down here." She said.

"Woah. This is sick." Drew said as he and Wes walked around looking at everything. Drew picked up an acoustic guitar and Wes picked up an electric. "Do you guys play?" Drew asked.

"Yeah, Owen and I both play guitar and bass." she said picking up a bass guitar. 

"What about you Avery? Do you play any instruments?" Wes asked me, looking up momentarily from tuning the guitar.

"Eh, drums and piano, but I'm not very good." I admitted. 

"Sorry, we don't have a drum set down here anymore. My dad uh, took that when he left." Adrianna bit her lip and looked away.

"Ade that's completely fine! I can play the piano." I walked over to it and ran my hands over the keys. "Okay. I only know a few songs, so you guys are going to have to bear with me here." I told them.

"Haha, it's cool. What kind of stuff do you know?" Drew asked.

"Uh, a lot of Maroon5, Sublime, Aerosmith... You name it." I told them. Drew nodded and he started up with the chords for "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing". We played a couple more songs before getting to "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon5. 

"Avery! Why don't you start this one off?" Adrianna said.

"No way." I told her. I'm not a singer. At all.

"Oh come on Aves, you're good!" She pleaded.

"Nuh uh. I don't sing." I told her shaking my head.

"Yes you do! You sing in the shower all the time." She poked me. I shook my head again.

"Come on Averyyyyyyy." Wes came over and nudged me in the side. I shook my head. He nudged me again. And again. And again. Until I was being tickle attacked.

"Okay! Okay! But I'm not going solo. You have to start the song off. I'll join in on the chorus." I pushed him over to the mic in the front, and I got behind the piano. I adjusted the microphone attached to the keyboard. We started off the song and we actually sounded pretty good. We should form a band. Oh wait... Haha.

Wes kept looking at me when he sang, I still couldn't get over how amazing his voice sounded. When it was my turn, I jumped in on the chorus:

I don't mind spending every day
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved
And she will be loved

I waited for Drew to start the next verse, but everyone had stopped playing. I looked up in confusion. Everyone was looking at me. Drew and Wes had their mouths slightly open, and Adrianna had this look on her face like "I told you so".

"What?" I asked them. They still looked like a couple of fish out of water.

"Damn girl. You've got skills." Wes said.

"Well it's easy to sound good singing with you." I said, patting him on the chest.

"Ooh. Is that so?" Wes said playfully. 

"Oh please, you know you've got skills." I told him. With that I reached up and stole his hat. I stuck my tongue out at him and placed it on my head. He turned it so it was slightly on its side.

"Looks good on you." He said winking.

God he was just too hot.