An Unexpected Love

Avery had to walk away-she had to leave Brittany and Ashley sitting out in the living room because it was killing her to see her best friend cry like that again. She had disappeared back towards her bedroom and as Avery pushed open the door to her messy room, she didn’t even realize that CC had followed her back there. The room before him was chaotic-that was being generous-and CC could see that Avery was quite the collector of AV equipment, computer systems and clothing. So many pieces of clothing were strewn across the floor that he wasn’t really sure what color the carpet was at this point.

She was huffing and puffing as she walked in the room and CC felt shock lace his features as he watched this tiny girl reach out and punch a bag that was hanging in the corner. It was a punching bag and it was obviously better than punching a wall, but CC couldn’t help but feel slightly shocked. He watched with tears in his eyes as the girl before him punched the bag over and over, grunting and growling until finally she seemed to collapse. He ran to her then, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist as they both sunk to the floor.

Avery didn’t even know that CC had been standing in her doorway and it was a shock to feel his tattooed arms wrap around her waist and bring her down to the floor. She was so angry and Avery wanted nothing more than to lash out, but CC was holding her so tightly that she knew that was going to be impossible. He sat there, her legs draped across his jean clad ones and she could feel one of his hands running up and down her arms in a somewhat calming manner. She couldn’t believe this was all happening again and while Avery could put on a brave face for Brittany-alone she crumbled like a stale cookie.


“Avery? Avery…” His voice was low in her ears and Avery said nothing and instead just tried to sniff her tears away.

“I-I’m fine.” She said, but feeling his hands hold her tightly, protecting her and being there for her…Avery felt herself break out into a fresh bout of tears. She was sobbing so hard that soon enough Avery had the hiccups.

“This is fine to you? Because babe this really doesn’t seem to be fine or okay to me.” He said, his breath on her cheek and Avery smiled softly. He had called her babe…already starting with the nicknames.

“It’s just that Brittany means so much to me and I-I can’t bear to think about losing her again.” Avery was sniffing and hiccuping, which was making it hard for him to understand her, but it was kind of adorable to see. He had never seen her this vulnerable, not even when speaking about losing her brother and CC knew-Brittany was everything to Avery.

“Who says she’s going anywhere?” CC asked and Avery had to hold back the scoff in her voice. CC knew very little about what was going on and what could possibly happen.

“You don’t understand. You don’t know. We went through hell with this girl-she put Brittany through absolute hell and misery for almost a year. It almost killed her CC…Julia isn’t fucking around.” Avery said with an incredibly serious tone. She had moved slightly-she was still sitting on his lap, which made CC happy, but now she was facing him and he could see the absolute fear in her hazel eyes.


CC knew that girls could be crazy-he had dated plenty of whackos in the past-but this was taking it to a whole new level. He got what Avery and Britt were saying-Julia didn’t like either one of them and her way of dealing with it was revenge, but he just couldn’t understand how someone could hate Brittany. Avery? Sure. CC liked the girl and he even had deep feelings for her, but he couldn’t deny that Avery was one tough cookie to swallow. Now here she was, letting him hold her and she looked like the saddest little puppy in the window. He wanted to understand and maybe now that Britt wasn’t in the room, Avery could give him some more insight.


“Then explain it to me Avery. Tell me what the hell happened seven years ago.” CC was looking at her and all of the kindness had left his eyes. Avery could see that he wanted to understand and she knew that now was her only chance to make him understand just exactly how dangerous Julia Michaels could really be.

“Okay, well I guess I’ll start with Julia and I falling out with each other. Keep in mind that Julia could be incredibly possessive and the fact that she and Brittany had stayed friends throughout high school-so she and Britt were close. When I came in to the picture I could see that Julia was threatened by how close Britt and I became…how quickly our friendship had grown. We tried for a while, but soon enough I would get cornered by Julia…she would tell me awful things about Brittany.” Avery sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair. She had hoped that she would never have to talk about this again, but CC was going to be in their lives and he needed to know.

“She told me that Brittany would steal my boyfriend-that she had done it before-she also told me that Brittany talked about me behind my back. Well I went to Britt and confronted her about it and we worked it out. Julia lied and that’s when I was done with her-I tried to get Brittany to join me, but she and Julia had been friends for so long that she couldn’t give up on her.” CC seemed to be listening and finally Avery knew she was getting to the hard part.

“We stuck it out-I sucked it up for Britt, but then we went on this fucking trip to Cabo. Everything fell apart after that and then the messages started-‘you’re going to die’ ‘fucking kill yourself’ ‘you’re worthless’ ‘whore’ ‘slut’…all kinds of things. Julia also spread rumors and soon enough I was Brittany’s only friend. She started cutting-something she hadn’t done since high school and that just fed Julia’s revenge even more. Then we were out one day looking for apartments and Brittany’s brakes failed. I cried for weeks on end and the worst part is that I would see Julia, smirking as she walked past me in the quad or in the dorm hall.” Avery was clenching her fists now and CC said nothing as he just helped her to her feet and brought her in for a hug.

“That’s really shitty Avery…but I’m glad that Britt had you in her life. You never gave up on her…does anyone know where Julia is now?” CC asked as he pulled away from the girl in his arms. Avery was wiping at her cheeks and CC only smiled as he ran a thumb under her eyes and helped.

“No-no one has heard from her since graduation and I had hoped it would stay that way.” Avery sounded so sad and CC knew she needed a break.


They had planned on heading to his place-he had intended on cooking her dinner, having a few beers and either curling up on his leather couch to watch movies or to go head to head in a battle royal of video games. He knew now, more than ever, that Avery needed to get away and he knew that Ashley had planned on spending some time with Brittany. The couple seemed to come to a silent understanding-it was time to go. CC watched from the doorway as he Avery ran around her room, gathering some things-an extra pair of clothes and some other needed things-until finally she was standing before him.

Even after crying hysterically and having one of the worst days ever-CC still thought she looked gorgeous. Her hazel eyes were red rimmed, but it made her look softer. Her blonde hair was messy, but that made her look sexier. Her blue and green tank top was wrinkled and messy, but that only showed him that she went with the flow. Silently the two of them walked down the hall, hand in hand until they finally made it out to the front living room. Ashley was laying on the couch with Brittany, who was asleep, pulled tightly against his broad chest and he only looked up as he noticed the other couple standing next to the couch.


“What’s going on?” He asked quietly and Brittany only lightly stirred in her sleep. Avery only smiled as she approached them and placed a very soft kiss to her best friend’s forehead.

“I’m taking Avery to my house. That had kind of been the plan, but then chaos ensued…” CC laughed as Avery came back to his side and he tossed an arm around her shoulders.

“Oh-okay. Well just be careful and I’ll tell Brittany where you went Avery…I think all of us just need to process everything that’s going on right now.” Ashley said as he brushed a finger across Britt’s forehead and the small girl curled into him more.

“Take care of her for me Ash…” Avery smiled as she walked towards the door, CC holding her bag for her and Ashley only smiled up at them from his place on the couch.

“You know I will…” Avery smiled as she walked out of the front door with CC coming right behind her.


Avery and CC walked out of the apartment building hand in hand and for some reason Avery felt a sense of calm wash over her. CC was a lot of things and a typical band guy wasn’t one of them.

Notes