Coming to Terms Solo

Interacting with: @Mikey Forville Mentioning: N/A Date: 10/02/25

Word Count: 947

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Avery couldn’t sleep. She had been staring at the ceiling in her dorm, Thestral Thicket, for the past hour. Somehow she had managed to memorize every shadow that danced across the wall during that time which clearly showed just how awake she was that early in the morning. Eventually she sat up. Her disheveled hair flopping into her eyes. She brushed it back with a hand. Still not used to how long it had become over the summer. She had gotten it trimmed before she left for summer camp, but it still fell past her mid arm now. She liked it better that way even though it would take some getting used to. Avery pulled the covers back from on her bed and stretched before pulling her legs to hang over the bed. Her hair hadn’t been the only thing that had grown. She herself had also grown a few inches taller over her time spent in her home. Avery eventually stood up. The floor warm enough to not cause a chill to run up her spine when she first touched it. The room was dark as she got ready yet she was used to it. After brushing out her hair and making sure everything looked presentable, she walked out of her dorm and headed towards the grounds. She needed to breathe in the fresh air and attempt to calm her mind. Something had been bothering her. Something she couldn’t get her mind off ever since the summer when she had talked with her aunt. Ever since then she couldn’t stop thinking about what she had to say to him. What she would have to do to admit her feelings to the one boy that ever made her feel something different inside of her. Mikey. Ever since they had first met Avery knew he was different. She had been friends with plenty of other guys, but Mikey was the only one of them that made her feel like there was someone that would be there for her through all of her worst times. The letters from the summer, the wedding, summer camp. . . all of them led to one thing. She cared for him in a way that was more than just friends. As much as she tried to hide it and deny it since she wasn’t sure he felt the same, it never worked. Every time those thoughts and feelings came back. What scared her most and caused her to not even tell him yet was the fact that she didn’t know how he felt. Did he feel the same way or were her own feelings causing her to think he did? He had sat with her on the train ride home and he had also gone on that ride with her, but was he just being a good friend and helping her have a good time? Avery’s mind reeled. Every step she took another memory attacked her. Memories of both the good and bad. The times when Mikey had told her he was there for her and that she didn’t have to pretend to be fine around him. He brought out a side of her that she had kept hidden from others for so long. The side that showed how she really felt. Broken and damaged beyond repair. But he had told her that she wasn’t broken. That she wasn’t damaged. He had shown her that people cared and wanted her even in her darkest moments and even in the times when all she wanted was to push people away. He had also saved her life. The day that she thought she was going to lose everything was the day he had saved her. After she had collapsed unable to catch her breath in the middle of the grounds, he had been there in an instant. Telling her she was going to be okay and helping her breathe. He then had taken her up to the Hospital Wing where she had collapsed. She couldn’t remember much after that though, but she could remember him never leaving her side and being a constant presence. As the memories ran through her head, she tried to put them together like a puzzle. It didn’t work, though. So many moments between them yet so little understanding. The one memory that stood out above all the chaos was the night they had met. The moment their eyes had locked onto each other and sparks flew. The night they danced and laughed. The night when he barely even knew her yet draped his jacket around her just so she wouldn’t be soaked through and shivering. Avery’s knees buckled beneath her as she fell back into the soft grass of the grounds. Letting the early morning sun warm her face as she stared at the beautiful blue sky above her. It was going to be another beautiful day. She had to tell Mikey how she really felt about him, but she still didn’t know how or how he would react. If he didn’t like her back in that way, well, she had probably just lost him as a friend. And if he didn’t. . . Avery wasn’t sure if she was ready to get her hopes up so soon. She had done that far too many times in the past and had always ended up losing someone or something. The instinct to tell him and the urge to keep everything to herself raged on. All she wanted was for him to know the truth. It killed her keeping things from him. She couldn’t do it anymore. She had to tell him. All she had to do now was figure out when.

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