The Avery Shaw Experiment - By Kelly Oram Page 0,3

yet. I was about to cry, and there was no way I was going to let him see that.

“Avery.”

After a nice deep breath, the burning sensation subsided. I was able to face him and force a smile, but I think my injured pride was the only thing that kept the tears at bay.

“You okay?” Aiden asked.

The answer was a definite no, but I nodded anyway. “Of course. Yeah, sure, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s just a science project. Like you said, I’ll manage. As for the other stuff, I get it, and that’s cool. If that’s what you want. I suppose it could be fun to change things up a bit.”

Lie! Complete and utter lie!

The lie was so big it hurt me all the way to my soul, but what hurt even worse was that Aiden believed it. He let out a breath and then threw his arms around me. His whole body sagged with relief. “I am so glad you understand. I was so scared that you were going to hate me for this and never speak to me again.”

“I could never to that,” I muttered.

His grip tightened gratefully, but he may as well have been reaching inside my chest and squeezing the last of the life out of my heart instead of hugging me.

I pinched my eyes shut. I was going to lose it. The tears weren’t going to stay back forever. I had minutes, maybe seconds, left before I fell apart.

“It’s fine,” I insisted again as I pulled out of Aiden’s embrace. “You know I could never hate you.”

Aiden sent me a megawatt smile. “Thanks, Aves.” He kissed my cheek and whispered, “You’re the best.”

I couldn’t speak now without giving myself away, so I just nodded.

Cheryl must have recognized the truth of my emotional state, because she cleared her throat and asked Aiden if he wouldn’t mind taking the garbage bag with all the broken glass out to the dumpster.

Cheryl threw her arms around me the second he was gone. “Avery, I am so sorry! So, so sorry! I don’t understand . . .” She let her voice trail off. She was every bit as bewildered as I was.

“It’s okay, Cheryl. It’s fine. Really.” I pushed away from her and practically ran out of the room. I only made it to the upstairs hallway before I collapsed to the floor and cried.

A few minutes later the door downstairs slammed. I sucked in a deep breath, knowing I needed to at least make it to my room before Aiden rounded the corner and saw me, but it was my mother’s voice I heard, not Aiden’s.

Her jovial “Grayson! Avery! Go help Aiden bring up the groceries!” was not repeated like it normally would have been when neither of us responded. Instead, I could hear a few hushed whispers and then one very loud, startled gasp. Cheryl had just spilled the beans to my mother, and they were no doubt discussing how destroyed I was.

I scrambled to my feet when I heard my mom say “I’ll go talk to her. Maybe I’ll take her out just the two of us for New Year’s Eve tonight.”

No way did I want to do that. I loved my mom and all, but I wasn’t ready to face the truth yet. I was in way too much shock. Stage one of the grieving process? Currently underway.

I also didn’t need a special pity party tonight while the Kennedy family pretended like they didn’t know why mom and I ditched them.

In a panic I burst through the first door I could find and backed up against it. I’d been known to have an anxiety attack or two in my time, but I’d never experienced one quite as bad as this. My head was swimming, every part of my body hurt, I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t think straight.

I was so out of it that I’d slipped into the bathroom while Grayson was in the shower, and I didn’t even notice until he poked his head out from behind the curtain with a surprised look on his face. “Aves, babe, I’m a little busy here.” He cocked an eyebrow and gave me a crooked smile. “Unless you’re planning to join me . . . ?”

Just then there was a loud knock on the door, and my mother’s worried voice called out to me. I looked up at Grayson and in a moment of sheer panic didn’t think twice before jumping behind the curtain with him.

“Whoa!