The Avery Shaw Experiment (9 page)

Finding new things to make her try was an addictive game. She was just so adorable when she was experiencing something for the first time. She viewed everything so analytically at first, and she was always terrified, but then once she got past her anxiety, she would get so excited. It killed me every time.

On Friday night, the second week of the Avery Shaw Experiment and our first official date—meaning she’d given in and let me actually call it a date—I had the ultimate Post Shower Avery test planned. Tonight we would see just how much a new look and a few new friends had helped her.

“A
party
?”

I waited until I had her locked in my car to tell her where we were going, because I knew she was going to freak.

“A
college
party?”

Actually, her mom probably would have freaked too. And mine.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds. A few friends of mine who graduated last year went in together on a house, and they’re having some friends over.”

“So it’s a party.”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “It’s a party. And most likely, it will be a little bit like the ones you see in the movies. I’m sure there will be lots of people drinking and making out, but I’m promising you right now that you don’t have to do either of those things, and, for you, I will not partake of such activities either.”

Come to think of it, this was going to be a new experience for me too. We’d see if a party was even still fun when you couldn’t get drunk or make out with hot girls.

“Grayson, I know I said you could pick what we do, but I don’t think I can do this one.”

“Yes, you can. I’ll be right by your side all night. It’ll be an adventure. And if you really truly can’t deal, then we can leave. Owen is taking Pam and Chloe in his car just in case this is a bust and we have to go early.”

Avery glanced up hopefully, so I smiled a huge silly smile, showing off all my teeth. “See? I already planned on the possibility of it being too much for you.”

Avery’s knuckles, as she gripped the sides of her seat, got a little less white.

I reached over and patted her hand. “Aves, you have to trust me a little. The point is to push you out of you comfort zone, but I know you, okay? I won’t overdo it. And I trust you too. If you say it’s too much, then it’s too much, and we’ll leave. But just give it a try first, please?”

Avery stared out the front window in silence. After a minute she nodded her head. I think it was more to convince herself than it was an actual answer to my question.

When we pulled up to the house, the party was already in full swing. Dozens of cars lined the street, and you could hear the music blasting from a block away. People spilled out of the house onto the front lawn, falling all over themselves in fits of laughter.

I had to drag Avery from the car. When she finally started walking, she stumbled. “Is it the heels?” I asked, pulling her to my side. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear high heels before, but they look hot. Plus it’s kind of nice having you at shoulder height for a change instead of all the way down at my chest, shorty.”

“Ha, ha,” she said, but there was only nervousness in her voice. “It’s not the heels. I practiced walking in them for over an hour. I’m just shaking too hard to walk.”

I pulled her tight against me and kissed her temple. Her hair smelled fruity. She was one of those girls who always smelled good enough to eat. It drove me crazy.

“You’ll be fine. Just hang on to me. I won’t make you let go all night if you don’t want to.”

She took me up on my offer. Slowly, she slipped her arm around my waist and then clung to me like she was super glued there. I tensed beneath her touch and had to fight back shivers.

“Feel free to hang on to other parts of me too.” My voice came out thick because it had been stuck in my throat. “My butt’s feeling pretty left out, and I don’t spend so much time working out my abs and chest just to never get felt up.”

I laughed when Avery gasped and turned as red as the dress she had on. The super-hot, super-tight, amazing spaghetti-strap pencil dress that she’d been instructed to borrow tonight. Thanks to Chloe’s petite Asian frame, Avery fit quite nicely into Chloe’s clothes. Avery’s ample chest was the only exception, and as a result, she was struggling to stay in the top of the dress. Thank you, Chloe!

My hand fell from Avery’s shoulder down to the small of her back. It itched to go lower, but, miracle of miracles, it managed to stay put.

“Oh my gosh, Grayson! For once, could you please restrain from embarrassing me when I’m already on the verge of a massive freak out?”

“I was just putting the idea out there. I don’t know if you’re aware of how incredibly beautiful you look tonight, or that I haven’t had a single hookup since The Shower Incident. That was
weeks
ago, Aves. I only have so much restraint.”

Instead of smacking me or burying her face in her hands like I expected her to, Avery stopped walking and sighed. “You’re right. This experiment has completely commandeered your life. I’m sorry. If you need to . . .” She hesitated, turning all pink again. “If you need to go do your thing or take care of business or whatever, I’ll be okay with Pamela and Chloe for a while.”

I felt a dopy smile creep over my face. I was on a role with that lately. There was no denying I was crushing on the girl now, but it was starting to get ridiculous. I was turning into some kind of freaking lovesick pansy, grinning every time I made the girl blush.

“You’re giving me permission to go find a hot girl and hook up? On our first real date?”

“We can call the next one a date. You can have the night off tonight. You’ve earned it. Go have some fun. Find a gorgeous girl, act like yourself for five whole minutes until you’ve captured her heart, and then take her someplace quiet where you guys can
talk
for the rest of the night.”

I had to bite the inside of my cheek through that speech to keep from smiling too much. “And what if I’ve already got my sights set on a gorgeous girl?”

She rolled her eyes, completely missing my meaning. “You’re Grayson Kennedy. I’m sure you’ve already got your sights set on three or four different girls, and we aren’t even in the front door yet.”

Her comment stung. She hadn’t meant it to be mean, and honestly, I totally deserved it, but things were changing for me, and I didn’t like that I was the only one noticing. That moment was the first time I realized that I really, really liked Avery, and that I wanted her to like me too. For real like me.

“Aves, I was talking about you. You’re my date tonight. I’m here with you because I want to be, okay? I don’t need to go find anyone else. I may still need to hook up, though,” I teased.

Avery frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Her naïveté was cute and frustrating at the same time. “That’s because you don’t see yourself the way I see you, but I’m going to fix that if I can.”

I started walking us toward the house again, giving her time to let my words sink in, but the moment we stepped inside, all thought flew from Avery’s mind. She froze, taking in the sight like a deer caught in the beams of a giant semitruck. The place was loud, chaotic, and packed—basically the opposite of everything Avery Shaw needed.

“Let’s get something to drink and then see if we can find Owen and the girls,” I shouted over the noise.

Avery turned around, buried her face in my chest, and held me like I was a life preserver. She squeezed me so tight I could barely breathe. I rubbed her back until I felt her take a breath.

After another look around the room, I sighed. I’d expected it to be a little crazy but not quite this much of a rager. This party was about as far from Avery’s comfort zone as you could get. I figured she had about ten minutes in her. Tops.

We were still standing there like that when Owen and the girls found us. “This is wild, isn’t it?” Owen asked slapping me a five.

“Is she okay?” Pamela asked, placing a hand on Avery’s shoulder.

“I didn’t think it’d be quite like this. Aves is having a little trouble with her anxiety. We might have to get out of here.”

Both Pamela and Chloe looked disappointed. They’d really taken a liking to Avery. They treated her a little like a pet, but it worked well for all three of them. Pam and Chloe knew all about Avery’s experiment—not that I was part of it or that I’d had to join the science club, but they knew Avery was doing this all for the science fair, and that I was trying to help. They loved the idea of a Get-Over-Aiden crusade and had instantly appointed themselves my co-assistant captains on Team Avery.

“Let’s take her down to the basement for a minute before you give up. The DJ and the kegs are up here. They’ve still got the music playing downstairs, but it’s not as crowded.”

I dipped my head down to Avery’s ear. “What do you think, Aves? Give it a try, or should we jet?”

Avery took a deep breath and then turned her head to the side so that I could hear her. It brought her face just inches from mine. If I tilted her head up the tiniest bit our lips would meet.

I kicked myself. The girl was fighting a panic attack. It wasn’t exactly the time to be fantasizing about her hot sweet mouth on mine . . . or nibbling those soft pink lips . . . our tongues dancing . . . maybe I’d taste the freckles on her beautifully bare shoulder.

“I promised I’d give it a try.” The quiver in her voice snapped me out of my daydream. “If Pamela says it’s better downstairs, let’s at least go see.”

There is a God. It was much calmer downstairs. The lights were dim, the music was a little quieter, and there was plenty of room to breathe. It was a close call, but we didn’t have to leave the party. After a while Avery even settled down enough that she sent me over to play a game of pool with Owen, while she chatted on a sofa with Pam and Chloe.

“Dude,” Owen said after he’d missed his shot and I failed to notice it was my turn. “She’s only five feet away. You’ve got to relax a little.”

“Yeah, no, I’m relaxed. I know she’s fine.” I took a deep breath and stretched. “It’s just that dress . . .” I turned back around and focused on the pool table. “Two in the corner pocket.”

“She does look good tonight,” Owen admitted. “Makes me want to go check out the rest of the nerds at school, see who else is hiding out in the science lab.”

I laughed. “Seven. Side pocket.”

I missed my shot and immediately my eyes drifted back to Avery. She looked up, smiled, gave me a thumbs-up, and then laughed at something Pam said.

“I never thought I’d see the day Grayson Kennedy was off the market, but you, bro, are a player no longer.” Owen sidled up next to me and joined me in watching the girls. Chloe was trying to get Pam and Avery to dance with her, and Avery was vehemently refusing to do so. “You are completely hung up on that girl . . . like I’ve never seen you hung up before.”

“Yeah.” I didn’t bother denying it. “It would seem so.”

“So what’s up with that? You spend all this time with her, but you don’t make a move.”

I sighed. “It’s complicated. She just got dumped hardcore.”

“She doesn’t seem all that broken up over it.”

It was true. Aves had seemed a lot happier lately, but I’d seen her right when it happened. She was getting better, but her pain ran deep.

“It was my little brother who hurt her. How can I move in on that?”

Owen shrugged and went back to the game. “Eleven in the corner. You said they were never together.”

“Not technically, but they were like . . . I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Yeah, but there was nothing going on. For
seventeen
years
? You weren’t with her five minutes before you couldn’t stop picturing her naked. That’s how it’s supposed to be. Fourteen in the corner.”

Owen missed his shot, and as I lined up my next he said, “Sometimes it just works. It obviously does for you guys. She may think she’s in love with your brother, but I’ve seen her look at you too. Trust me, the spark is there.”

I missed my shot, definitely not on my game tonight. This conversation wasn’t helping any. Then again, I was pretty sure that was part of Owen’s strategy.

“Even if it is,” I argued. “It won’t happen until she lets go of the idea of my brother. That’s what I’m trying to get her to do.”

Owen sunk the last stripe on the table. “So try harder. You’re Grayson Kennedy. You’re the guy who upon turning eighteen got a personal invite to the Playboy mansion after spending less than twenty minutes in your first club.”

I laughed. Some stories about me were exaggerated. That one wasn’t.

“She’s still trying to think of you as Aiden’s older brother. Lay some serious mojo on the girl, and make her see you for you. Guarantee you she’ll be like, ‘Aiden who?’ Eight ball, side pocket.”

Owen went to line up his shot, and suddenly Avery was there. “Wait! Stop!”

Owen leaned up, startled.

Avery blushed but then forced herself to go stand next to Owen.

I watched, curious, as she assessed the table and then pointed to the corner pocket furthest from Owen—a different one than he’d called. “That one,” she said. “The angle’s wrong over here. Aim directly at the three ball. Give it a little bit of force, and it will bounce right off and straight into that pocket. It’s a much clearer shot that way, I promise.”