The Avery Shaw Experiment (24 page)

I stared after her until I heard the curtain slide open. Avery had pulled it back. Owen was sitting there flushed red, lips swollen, hair mussed, with an odd look of both awe and horror frozen on his dazed face.

I tossed him his shirt. “You okay there, tiger?”

Owen blinked at the sound of my voice, and after he slipped his shirt back over his head, he looked up at Avery. “There is something seriously wrong with your friend.”

We both laughed as he scrambled to his feet and practically ran away from us.

I tugged Avery to a stop when she started to head back to the group. At her questioning look, I made a suggestive nod toward the now-vacant photo booth.

Avery turned the most adorable shade of red yet. “I really think we need to get back to the group.”

“Fine.” I sighed so dramatically that Avery laughed. “But if I win, then you have to agree to be my girlfriend.”

Avery took my offered hand and gave me a very knowing smile. “And if I win, then I get to be.”

Avery

The science fair was so
different this year, and it was all because of the guy standing next to me. Grayson looked amazing all dressed up. Although he agreed to wear some nice slacks and a dress shirt, he simply could not, under any circumstances, be coerced into tucking the shirt into his pants. He also wore his tie so loose around his neck it was practically a necklace. And then there were the sneakers. Of course, being Grayson, the entire outfit made him look like a Hollywood hipster instead of a slacker.

He was actually causing quite a stir among the crowd of science geeks. Many girls had taken much longer than necessary to stop and check out our project. The rumors of the hottie obviously spread as the day went along, because the traffic at our table got heavier and heavier.

It didn’t help that Grayson absolutely loved the attention. He was the star of the 2013 Utah State Science Fair, and he totally knew it. He stood there laughing with strangers and telling stories of our adventures—always making them sound much more dramatic or romantic than they really were. Every time someone would sigh, giggle, or gasp, he would flash me that special dimpled smile and then turn up his charm and win them over even more.

Eventually the judging committee got around to us, and it was time for us to present our project to them. People must have been waiting to hear everything in detail, because a large crowd gathered around us. I’d never seen one project garner quite so much attention before.

I was a nervous wreck, same as I was every year, except worse because of all the extra attention. Luckily, Grayson was there to help me out every time I got choked up from my anxiety. One small squeeze of his hand and my head would clear and I could focus again. I honestly could never have presented such a personal project without him.

Finally, I got to the last stage of grief, and I suddenly had twice the support. I took Aiden’s hand and he grinned at me—a smile every bit as beautiful as his brother’s.

“And to show the success of my project, I have brought the proof of my acceptance,” I said to the judges, pushing Aiden forward. “I’d like you to meet Aiden Kennedy—the boy who shattered my heart, and my very best friend in the whole world. As you can see, by experiencing the seven stages of grief, I have finally accepted what happened between us and have forgiven him completely.”

“Even if I don’t deserve it,” Aiden added, earning a round of chuckles from our audience.

I gave him a hug. He said he was sorry one more time and everyone clapped.

“A very impressive project, Miss Shaw,” one of the judges commented.

I was about to say thank you when Grayson stepped up next to me and said, “Impressive, but still incomplete.”

The judge who’d spoken to me—as well as the rest of the judging panel—was now watching Grayson with a curious expression, waiting for an explanation.

I couldn’t help sending him my own startled look. I didn’t know what he was up to, but I sincerely hoped he had a plan because if not, he might have just ruined our chances at placing in this fair.

Grayson winked at me and then turned his smile on the judges. “It’s true that Avery has proved she’s gone through the seven stages of grief and reached acceptance over what happened. However, if you read her original hypothesis, her intent was not to reach acceptance, but rather to cure her broken heart. Avery has not yet proved that her heart is cured. Would you agree?”

A low murmur swept the crowd, and a few of the judges were now frowning. “What are you doing?” I whispered, starting to panic.

Grayson answered my question louder than necessary. “I’m finishing the experiment, Aves.”

I glanced at the judges, and while I felt only confused, it was clear that they were all intrigued.

“You’re going to prove that my broken heart is cured? Right now?” I asked just to clarify.

“Nope. You are.”

“Me? What? How?”

Grayson didn’t answer me. He turned and addressed the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, please, if you will, gather around. I need your help in order to prove Avery’s theory a success.”

The crowd scooted in closer and went silent, holding their breaths in anticipation. I admit I was among those who’d stopped breathing as I waited for Grayson to get to his point.

Finally, he turned to me and said, “You believe your heart is completely cured, right?”

“Yes?” I said slowly.

Grayson’s smile spread wide across his face, but the look of mischief in his eyes frightened me. “Prove it,” he said.

“Prove it?”

“Yeah. Right now.”

“Um . . . ?”

Was he
trying
to make me have a major anxiety attack?

“If your heart was still broken, you couldn’t be in love again, right?”

“Right . . .”

Grayson turned fully to me then and took my hand in his. “Avery.”

My heart leapt in my chest at the use of my full name. Grayson almost never used my full name.

“In case it isn’t obvious, over the course of this experiment I have utterly, and completely, fallen for you.”

I gasped. When I sucked in a breath, it was so loud it felt like the walls rumbled. It took me a second to realize that was because
everyone
had gasped right along with me.

He couldn’t have said what I thought he just said. There was no way. Grayson Kennedy did not fall for girls. They fell for him. Still, he was looking at me, and there wasn’t a hint of a play anywhere on his face.

“What?”

Grayson took both my hands now and gave them a squeeze. “Somewhere between the shower and the Red Bull I fell in love with you, Aves. I’m talking epically. There is no coming back from a fall like mine.”

I heard a number of sighs from the crowd behind me, but I barely registered the fact that we had an audience. My brain was suddenly in overload thanks to all the blood my out-of-control heart was pumping to it.

Grayson stepped so close to me that our faces were mere inches apart. He put his hands on either side of my face and calmly said, “Breathe, Aves.”

I hadn’t realized I’d stopped.

When I took a breath, he smiled at me. “I love you.” He let go of my face but held my hand again and faced the crowd. “I love her,” he said. “Like crazy. And now that I am no longer an impartial, objective, outside observer in the Avery Shaw Experiment—because I assure you I care very much about the outcome of this particular test—I need all of you to stand witness and judge for me whether or not Avery’s heart is indeed cured.”

Grayson looked at me again and said, “Tell me you love me back. Admit it to the judges and your friends and Mr. Walden and our parents and all the other random science geeks standing here right now. Prove to them that you, Avery Shaw, are cured because you are every bit as in love with me as I am with you.”

Grayson stopped talking, and his audience waited, heart in hand, for my answer. And then, something not very uncommon for me happened. I burst into tears.

Don’t worry. They were definitely happy tears. Grayson was right. I hadn’t realized it until that exact moment, but I was absolutely in love with him.

I laughed through my tears and smiled so big at Grayson that he scooped me into his arms. “I am definitely cured,” I told him.

Grayson grinned but shook his head at me. “I think I need to hear the actual words to really be convinced.”

It was my turn to shake my head. “Has hanging out with nerds taught you nothing? You’re a kinesthetic learner, Grayson. You don’t need to hear it, you need to actively participate.”

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. I mean really, really kissed him. Tongue and all! In front of the judges and our parents and my friends and my teacher and every other random science geek in the state of Utah.

People around us cheered and clapped and whistled like crazy. It should have caused me to have a major anxiety attack, but thanks to Grayson and how much he’d helped me, all it did was make me laugh so hard I had to break our kiss.

“I love you, Grayson,” I finally said.

“I love you too.”

Grayson kissed me again and then laughed as he spun me to face our audience. “What do you think? Is she cured?”

I didn’t need the crowd’s cheer to know I was cured, and from the smiles on their faces, the judges didn’t either.

(Whatever, I make my own rules!)

Grayson

This is more of just
a PS, really, because somebody had to tell you that Avery and I TOTALLY KICKED ASS at the science fair last year. We took first place and got this huge trophy that put all my basketball ones to shame. I wouldn’t let them display it at school because it had my name on it next to the words “science fair,” but after I graduated, I broke down and gave it to Mr. Walden to put in the glass case outside the office.

As first-place winners, Avery and I both won partial scholarships to the colleges of our choice. Can you believe it? Me? A
science
scholarship? (In your face, geeks of the world!) I used it toward my first year at Utah Valley University where I made the basketball team. Owen made the team too and came with me. Now we’re teammates
and
roommates. It’s pretty sweet.

It sucks being away from Avery, but Owen and I drive back to Spanish Fork almost every weekend. He still won’t admit he’s dating Libby, but there’s no other reason for him to go home every weekend, so he’s not fooling me.

Avery will be joining me at UVU next fall, while Aiden has decided he’s more of a University of Utah guy. Works for me. He and I never fully recovered from The Great Aiden/Avery Fallout of 2013. Not that we hate each other, and we weren’t exactly BFFs before, but I think as long as I’m dating Avery, things will always be a little awkward between us. And considering I don’t plan to ever stop dating her, he and I have just learned how to bear one another’s company.

Aiden and Avery’s relationship is solid, but it’s not the same as it was before. She’ll survive his absence just fine. Plus, she’ll have me to keep her occupied. And boy do I have all kinds of plans to keep her plenty occupied! *
insert evil grin here
* Next year is going to be awesome.