The Avery Shaw Experiment

“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 Ke

“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 seventeenyears? 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 Ke

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.”

Owen raised a brow and Avery backed right off, turning a deep shade of red. “I mean, if you want to,” she said quietly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You’re sure?” Owen asked her.

She looked mortified that she’d said anything, but she nodded.

Owen looked back at the table and shrugged. “Why not?”

He lined up his shot, and it did exactly as Avery said it would. He sunk the eight ball with ease, and everyone around who’d witnessed the scene cheered.

“Aves!” I said, pouting a little. “Whose date are you anyway? You just won him the game!”

“Sorry.” Avery looked at her shoes.

I laughed and pulled her to me. “It’s okay. He was going to win anyway. He’s by far the superior player.”

“Hey, how’d you know about that?” Owen asked, still smiling from his victory.

Avery’s face paled, and she stared at the floor again. “Um, I just . . .” She cringed. “It’s all physics.” The irony was not lost on me. “Angles, trajectory, mass, momentum, velocity . . . Newton’s laws are—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay.” Owen laughed. “That’s enough geekspeak. I get it. But can you actually play the game, or do you just coach?”

Avery shrugged. “I’m all right.”

I saw the gleam in Owen’s eyes and wondered just how good Avery really was. The girl was the most modest person I’d ever met. I was sure she was downplaying her skills. I also knew there was no one more competitive than Owen.

“You up for a game?” he asked, exactly as I knew he would. “Say we make it interesting with a little friendly wager?”

Avery looked at the table and bit her bottom lip, contemplating. She wanted to give it a try. She looked back up at Owen and warily asked, “What are your terms?”

That’s where I stepped in. “Oh, no, hold up! I get to pick the stakes.”

“What?” Owen argued. “Why? I’m the one playing. It was my bet.”

“Because,” I said, “she won the last game for you.”

Owen scoffed.

“She’s my date,” I continued. “And she gave me free reign over her social life, so I’m in charge of this bet.”

Owen crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. Name it.”

I thought for a minute. We were gathering a small crowd now, so it had to be good. “Okay. Avery wins and you have to get from this pool table to your car without any clothes.”

Avery gasped and tried to protest on Owen’s behalf, but Owen doesn’t know how to back down from a challenge. “Done. And if I win?”