Page 16 of One Bet

Relief swept through me, mingling with the desire to see her. I needed to save this moment. I needed to save whatever was becoming of us.

Avery, we don’t have to sext. Or even have sex. I just want to get to know you. Can I see you tonight?

It took five solid minutes, minutes I spent staring at my phone, for her to reply.

You can see me now. Walk around the side of the building.

Those awkward, heartbreaking minutes I’d just survived were all worth it when I turned the corner and she pushed me back against the brick and made this the best morning after nothing happened that I’d ever had.

11

Avery

I’d never even been called into the principal’s office, but now sat, face bandaged, hands shaking, across the desk from the director of my department because a meeting had been called to discuss my conduct.

“Miss Stroh.” He turned his computer to face me. “Is that you?”

I watched the video, it was after I’d been punched, and blood was trickling down my cheek. Beth Cooper stood screaming words I’d ignored and hadn’t even remembered until I saw the video thanks to a bout of shock. “Yes.”

“Had you been drinking?”

I hadn’t, but it was none of his damned business. My behavior had been nothing but consistent with Glouster's values. I twisted the computer back to face him. “As you can see in the video, I did not react to this person’s assault, nor did I do anything to earn it, I don’t understand why I’m here.”

He held up one finger as his phone rang, after a moment, he spoke. “I’m in a meeting with Miss Stroh.” He paused and nodded. “Yes. I’ll be right there.” He hung up and glanced at me as he straightened his tie then slid his arms into the jacket he’d pulled from the back of his chair. “Excuse me for a moment.”

I waited for twenty minutes for his return before I stood to pace behind my chair. He had a picture of himself with the cast of Friends and another with his arm around Beth Cooper in front of the BC logo on her talk show set.

Now I understood Beth Cooper, of course. With my luck, she was probably his daughter. Which meant I would lose my office, my class schedule, my paycheck. As I lamented my probable losses, he swung the door open and stood just inside. “Thank you for your time, Miss Stroh. I believe you have a class starting in ten minutes. You’d better hurry.”

What? Not that I was complaining, but what? “Um, yes. I do.”

I stood and smoothed down my lucky pencil skirt, its record was still undefeated and I didn’t want to stick around to let him change his mind so I raced toward my modern film class.

And I would have walked in on time had Keaton not been waiting for me outside the door. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Last night’s kiss was still fresh in my mind, and I covered my mouth, hoping I could stop the memory from making me act foolishly.

“I guess everything went okay?”

How did he know there was an issue? “Yeah.”

“Good.” He nodded. “You have class now?”

He looked almost shy as he stood with his shoulder against the wall and his arms crossed and I was so pathetic I wanted to ditch my class and spend the afternoon ogling him.

“You want to sit in? We’re talking about similarities and differences between modern and original cinema.”

He chuckled. “I wish I could. I told the football coach I’d drop in on practice. Maybe you could text me later? We could…get dinner?”

He probably would’ve laughed if I told him I still had the phone I’d used to text him for the first time all those years ago and if I charged it, it would still have those same conversations in its memory. Not like I’d forgotten them either.

One Decade Ago

Decisions, decisions. We’d maintained a pretty steady and extremely innocent text conversation through our classes then skipped a few hours while he was at practice. Now though, I was seeking advice from a friend. I’d already sent Alex the requisite help-me text and when he didn’t answer, I opened the app again and typed.

I want to send him something sexy, just to let him know I’m really interested, but I’m nervous.

The three little dots on my phone blinked. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t ask for help. Especially not from Alex and most especially not for something like this. The amount of time it was taking him to reply did nothing to help my anxiety.