Here We Are (Avery)

[Peter Holden]

Peter checked his appearance in the mirror once more before leaving his room. He wore the tuxedo that he'd had to get to attend the events his parents had dragged him to back at home, but now he was grateful for it. It fit nicely and he'd been told that it was very nice, though he wasn't really sure how he felt about it. Either way, he was wearing it tonight, and hoped that Avery would appreciate it.

He tugged a bit at the bow tie on his neck, hoping that it'd stay in place since it's taken him a little longer than expected to get right. Tucked in his button hole was a small bunch of baby's breath that he'd gotten from the florist with Avery's corsage. The corsage featured three tiny light pink rosebuds surrounded by baby's breath, and had a delicate ribbon to tie around Avery's wrist. Shrugging into his jacket, he grabbed his phone, wallet, and the corsage before leaving his dorm and walking over to the White Ribbon House.

He'd never been in any of the other houses before, and felt out of place walking into the common room on the first floor. He had to force himself not to tap his foot while waiting for her, and instead tapped his fingertips against his knuckles. He probably wouldn't have been attending this event had it not been for Avery. It had seemed like a good way to spend more time with her, especially in this new relationship that they continued to build. His eyes stayed trained on the stairway that he assumed lead up to the girls' dorms.

[Avery Jacobs]

Nervous little breaths puffed out of Avery’s lips as she glanced at her appearance in the mirror. Her body was complimented with a rather vintage dress; something the brunette was quite surprised she’d chosen. While it wasn’t as flashy or figure showing as some of the other dresses were, she felt as if it was the perfect thing for Peter. She had to admit, it was a beautiful dress that managed to put classy and simple in the same sentence. Classy and simple was the pure essence of what Avery was and she was quite excited to go to this winter formal.

The pink material fluttered around her knees as she spun around to grab the last rosebud clip to go in her hair. Avery honestly felt ridiculous, but beautiful in her excitement to go to a stupid school event. The last time she’d been excited for a formal was a long, long time ago and that was a dance in middle school. She had been Ms. Popular then, but her old habits had died, or so she had thought. Still, even if she was excited for this dance, she was more excited to see the familiar soft expression face of the boy she’d kissed just a few days earlier.

The girl smiled slightly, and adjusted the somewhat neutral tone of lipstick she’d slid onto her lips before. Really, the stuff was more of a gloss than an actual color and Avery felt a bit more conservative than she usually was. She liked it however. Of course, Avery had decided to go in heels. That was something not even the most tragic thing could change and this time, the heels had a bit of spunk in them to show she wasn’t the soft and sweet of the dress. She grinned, pulling them on and looking at her appearance yet again. She wasn’t quite as tall as Peter now, but she was taller than before.

Finally, Avery pulled out the snake earrings with the pink pearls in them and put them on her pale ears. While they were snakes, she didn’t view the reptiles in such a bad light. The shined in her ears, jiggling around only a bit before she finally clipped on the pearl necklace she’d bought along with the dress. The girl then went to the full length mirror to peer at her appearance one last time and did a last minute twirl before letting out a chuckle at herself. This was so unlike the girl now and so like the girl she used to be. In all honesty, it scared the brunette a bit.

Checking her phone clock, Avery realized Peter was probably already waiting for her in the common room and she hurried to move down the stairs as fast as she could in her attire. The heels clacked softly against the steps until she finally stopped and peered into the common room. There the boy stood, all dressed up and looking handsome in suit. The small, sweet smile the girl had reserved for Peter came out onto her lips and she walked closer, eyeing him in his trim outfit from top to bottom. “Hello Peter. You look nice.” she grinned in spite of this, for once a bit embarrassed at what came out of her mind straight to her lips and out into the open.

Outfit <3

[Peter Holden]

Peter grew a little more uncomfortable with each passing moment he waited in the common room alone. He was beginning to doubt more and more that he should be going to this thing at all, especially now with the effect it was having on his nerves. It was stupid, being this jittery and raw feeling because of some school dance. Maybe it was because this was Avery and not some other girl he was going to be dancing with. Or the thought of people watching him, which seemed absolutely horrible.

Fiddling with his bow tie, he considered how maybe he wasn't even dressed properly. He certainly missed Kate's guidance. The younger girl was painfully critical and wouldn't hesitate to tell him what was wrong. Plus, she was always arranging and fixing his outfits when, on the rare occasions when he went out. Hopefully though, this would soon become clear and he'd figure out if anything was wrong.

He wasn't really at all prepared for her to come down the stairs. The waiting had seemed like it could have gone on forever, and he had to force himself to breath as he heard footsteps clicking on the stairs before she appeared. It was Avery, for which he was thankful, and not some unfamiliar girl that only looked vaguely like Avery in her dress. But even though it was very clearly the Avery he knew, she was so beautiful, in a different way from what he'd come to consider her normal.

As she walked over, he arched both eyebrows a bit, quite unconsciously, and murmured, "Bloody hell." It made his smile grow a bit wider, remembering that she'd said she expected him to say that. When she reached him, he received her compliment graciously, quite pleased that he'd gotten it right, and returned, "Hello Avery. You look really nice too." He took the corsage and held it out, waiting for her wrist so he could tie it on.

[Avery Jacobs]

Despite her usual calmness and way of always knowing everything about the situation, Avery honestly wasn’t quite sure what to expect as her heels mercilessly clonked down the stairs. Was he there? No matter how much she refused to admit it, the brunette was fearful Peter might’ve even not come. It seemed to be a popular trend with the people she really did care about, though her trust in the boy was far greater than the majority of people she trusted in. Avery truly wished for this to work, and as much as she did, the girl was still too fearful to place labels on it. It was a bit of cowardice on her part, though she was a bit unsure about it.

All negative thoughts went flying out however as her turquoise orbs caught a glance of the familiar large, trusting orbs and handsome face. He always looked good looking to her eyes, thought tonight; he appeared to have reached another level of good looking. An old feeling came upon the girl, and she was thankful that she had such a boy to hug and kiss. Of course, he was much more than that, though even those little things meant a lot with him. Perhaps that was why she liked him so much.

After commenting sweetly on his appearance, Peter’s first words caused a familiar Avery grin to spread across her glossed lips. Bloody hell indeed, he was looking nice. She took this as a good thing, though felt a small blush crawl up her neck. She was used to being called such things, but of course, boys had never meant these things in any way that was respectful to woman. By Peter’s soft voice coming out to compliment her, her smile softened and she nodded “Thank you.” Avery was quite thankful the boy had commented on how she looked in a positive note, or she might’ve just gone mad.

Raising her eyebrows slightly as Peter produced a beautiful corsage, Avery grew the same soft vulnerable expression she’d had earlier during the picnic. It had been such a long time since anyone had ever given her anything so sweet. Hell, it even managed to match her outfit. Unable to stop smiling, the brunette delicately held her thin wrist out for the boy to put on the corsage. She watched him closely, taking in his expression, his clothes, his everything. It seemed everything about Peter was perfect in its own special way.

Outfit <3

[Peter Holden]

Now that Avery was beside him, Peter was feeling quite a bit less uncertain about the whole event. She was the reason for his going, of course, so he'd make it about that. He smiled in response to her thanks, tilting his head sideways a bit. As she held out her wrist, he tied the corsage around it carefully. He hadn't known that it would match, but he was quite glad. It looked very nice with her dress, in his opinion. He's probably think anything looked nice with the dress. He wasn't very adept in the field of dresses, but it seemed much nicer than anything he'd seen at events with his peers before. It was sort of like something that Kate would wear, but still much different. He felt regret creeping up on him as he thought of his camera sitting on his desk back in his room. The pictures would have been very nice, but bringing his camera would not have been acceptable.

"Shall we go?" he asked, gesturing towards the door and holding his arm out. He looked at her, a bit worried, We'll be walking...do you need a jacket or something? You could have mine for the time being, but I'll need it back eventually..." He trailed off, blushing a bit, I mean, it isn't a terribly long walk but..." He shrugged, smiling. He wanted this all to be just right, and a freezing Avery certainly would not help.

He still couldn't help but wonder if this would be odd. All of the time they'd spent together so far had been just the two of them, and this would be different all together. He could only hope that it would be okay and everything would be fine, even with so many other people around.

[Avery Jacobs]

Avery smiled softly. She was indeed feeling much better now actually being next to Peter instead of in her room and wondering whether he’d be there in the first place. The girl was actually feeling a bit of happiness at the thought of going to the dance, though the thought of everyone there did give her a bit of fear. Still, who was she? At least who had she been? She’d been Avery Jacobs, the girl that was fearless. She’d been the girl that would date any guy she’d want to and didn’t give a crap about other people. Avery squared her thoughts – she’d be with Peter and that’s all that mattered.

After getting to know him and fall for him so quickly, the girl actually found herself trusting the boy. While that seemed to be a given thing if you had a boyfriend, Avery had always had trust issues. Feeling herself grow into even more of a relaxed happy state due to the boy’s smile she offered him one as well. Lately, Avery had been finding quite difficult not to smile in his presence. Peter was simply one of those remarkable people she couldn’t help but smile around. Even with the amount of care he took in putting on the corsage made her happy. It was nice to feel that someone cared about her.

Of course, she had Leo – but then again, she was supposedly supposed to hate him at the moment. Turning her attention from the jumbled thoughts in her head to Peter’s gentlemanly like arm, Avery nodded. She wanted to get rid of the anticipation of what it would be like as soon as possible. Quickly, the girl took his arm, but came to the cold realization as soon as Peter did. Biting her lip slightly, Avery knew she couldn’t exactly play tough girl with Peter. For some reason, the boy seemed to see right into her.

“I – I wouldn’t want you to be cold…. And it’s just a short walk, I should be alright.” She smiled hopefully up at his taller figure. Avery was softened around Peter, though she still had her tough traits. Sure, she’d get a few goose bumps, but the walk honestly wasn’t that long and she wouldn’t get too badly chilled. Avery knew she’d certainly warm up at the dance anyway.

Outfit <3

[Peter Holden]

Peter had been to this sort of even before, and to be honest, he hadn't liked it one bit. The crowd of people and expectations and having to be so socially aware hadn't really been his style. Frankly, he wasn't exactly sure why he'd gone, but now he was doing the same thing over again. Of course, he kept telling himself, it was different because there was Avery and this was a completely different school, but how different could it be? Still, the thought of just having Avery near calmed him a bit, or at least enough to keep him from suggesting that they just go and find ice cream somewhere.

The thing about Peter is that it's not the easiest to get close to him, but one one reaches a certain point, they're all of the sudden very important to him, in more ways than one. Avery was certainly reaching this point, and Peter's trust was sort of falling into her. It wasn't easy for him, knowing that he was all of the sudden relying on someone who he hadn't known for terribly long, but it would have been harder to try and take it back. He tried not to let it show, his relief that she'd come down the stairs in time and that she actually was happy to see him. Her smile made him the happiest, and he couldn't help but smile along with her.

Trusting her and relying on her made him nervous, scared that she wouldn't feel the same, but he probably wasn't as scared as he should have been. See, Peter had never been really hurt by someone. Disappointed sure, and angry maybe, but never really hurt. Perhaps it was how careful he was around people, or maybe he was just lucky, but he didn't know what Avery was really capable of doing to him now. She was important to him now, and he knew that, and preferred not to put too much thought into what would happen if she decided one day that he wasn't good for her. Though he didn't realize it himself, Peter was one of the innocent few, and he was endangering himself just by putting so much hope into Avery. He didn't know how much she could break him.

Narrowing his eyes a bit at her reply, Peter looked down at her bare shoulders. "Are you sure...?" he asked hesitantly, clearly worried about how freezing she'd be. He didn't really want to push the matter, knowing that if it were Kate, she'd snap on him, demanding to know if he doubted her ability to make choices for herself. Yeah, girls were confusing, and he didn't really want to question it too much. Tilting his head to the side a bit he noted slowly, "Okay, but the moment I see a shiver, you're being smothered with my jacket." He finished with a grin, beginning to step out of the common room.

[Avery Jacobs]

Like she imagined what most people wanted in a relationship, Avery wanted to make sure everything she did was perfect. This whole liking and caring concept was very new to her and though it confused her and though it she was scared, Avery was determined to do her best. It was the same stubborn headed girl, except this time, she was using her stubbornness for something perhaps, well. The girl was most definitely not used to have any sort of the feelings she had for Peter for any other guy, and while she’d been hurt before, Avery still felt a bit vulnerable.

Judging by the boy’s quiet and simple way of being with her, she supposed he hadn’t been through the whole relationship thing a lot either. In a way, this fact made her very happy. It also made her pressured a bit to be the best person she could be for him, but when she was with him, Avery only felt as if she was being herself. Not the self she was when she came into the school, but the sweet girl she’d been in the early days. It certainly brought up a lot of memories that would send her to her dorm tearing up, but she was happy to have them.

Being this Avery felt good. The brunette looked at Peter as he narrowed his eyes at her. She wasn’t surprised. The boy seemed to be able to tell when she was bluffing about something. Avery couldn’t deny she’d most likely be cold in the strapless dress she was wearing along the walk to the gym, but maybe it would wake her up a bit more. Avery made a somewhat wide grin “Um. Yes?” she gave him what she supposed was a convincing answer before following him to the door.

At his next words, she let out a laugh. “Okay, okay.” Despite her reassuring words, Avery couldn’t help but feel yet again touched that he cared enough to care so much whether she’d be cold or not. The girl certainly was getting a lot of caring words from him and it melted her heart each time. Stepping out in the slightly snowy outside, the cold air hit her bare limbs somewhat hard before it became slightly refreshing. She walked faster than usual, knowing Peter’s longer legs could keep up as she focused on not shivering. Her cheeks turned a bit red, and the girl walked closer to the boy, and nearly against him to soak in his body heat.

Outfit <3

[Peter Holden]

The speed with which everything was going with Avery was a little odd to Peter. He'd gone years staring after the same girl, with both of them dancing around a relationship but never getting there. With Avery though, everything had sort of clicked and then taken off, and he didn't really know what they were, but there were something and that's what mattered. Of course, figuring out what that was would be helpful, but he figured that they'd get there eventually, and for now he should just be happy, which he was.

Peter really only knew to be himself with Avery. He was always himself, it was just that sometimes he was more himself than others, or at least closer to his true self. He was getting closer to that true self with Avery. Both of them seemed to have fewer inhibitions lately, as far as Peter could tell. He was sure that he did, as he didn't really worry about what Avery thought of him as much anymore, and though he usually checked his words before saying them, he definitely spoke more freely around her.

He shook his head eyebrows still raised at her answer. The walk wasn't terribly long, but it was cold, especially with the sun down. This became increasingly clear when they stepped outside and the cold air hit his face harshly. When she grew so close to him that he could practically feel her brushing against him, he stopped her, putting a hand on her arm. "Here," he insisted, shrugging off his jacket and holding it out so she could put it on. He shouldn't have listened to her in the first place, having already walked to the White Ribbon House in the cold, and was feeling terrible about it.

[Avery Jacobs]

The brunette had always seemed to be in somewhat of a full speed mode. Her childhood for instance had been there for a few moments before tumbling into the depths of reality as her mother died that very odd night. Avery had never been the one to slow pace things as she had realized they barely had any time in this world in the first place. She knew how short life could be and it was something that did haunt her a bit in the very depths in her mind. Peter had really been the only one she was cautious with, careful to do things right and give him sweet looks. Perhaps he was the first one, Avery actually really, really, really liked.

There had been so many boys in the past. Avery was ashamed of it, but she hadn’t been up to telling the boy right there in front of her this any time soon. Just the thought of it sent a bad feeling down her spine and while the brunette wanted to be truthful and herself in front of Peter, there was always that part of her that made her feel like he would be just – poof! Gone within her reach any second. She hated the feeling, but slowly, with his kind looks and sweet face, Avery was starting to realize what was being developed was something that was actually new and… true.

Avery couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit stupid at her ridiculous attempt to walk to the gym in a strapless dress without getting cold. It was most definitely cold compared to her home in Napa, California, and as much as she missed the place, she was not going there for winter break. A small, caught smile played on her lips as she felt Peter’s hand on her arm to stop her. Yeah, she definitely wasn’t getting things past him easily. In a way, Avery, being the blunt person she was liked the fact the boy could see who she really was. She chuckled as he handed her his jacket before pulling it on with immense gratitude. Maybe it looked odd, but it was oh so warm from his earlier body heat. Avery looked back at Peter, giving him somewhat of a sweet, rare look before softly kissing his cheek. “Thank you.”

Outfit <3

[Peter Holden]

For the first time in his life, Peter felt as if time were moving faster than normal. Like any child, he'd yearned to grow up and get older to experience more things. When he'd gotten older, the pressure from his parent's had set in, and time seemed to pass even slower. Now, at Blue Ridge, he was actually enjoying his time and it was passing rather quickly. Perhaps it was the freedom from his parents' eyes, or maybe it was Avery.

Peter sort of assumed to an extent that Avery had some sort of experience with boys, certainly more than he'd had with girls. It was just clear to him from being around her. It seemed impossible that she ever could have been alone for very long, in all her Avery-ness. He didn't like to wonder about how many, or what they were like, as the thought just made him slightly anxious. It was just important that they were something now, and both of them were at Blue Ridge where everything seemed different, at least for him.

It hadn't been hard to see that Avery was cold, and Peter, true to his word, had done exactly what he said he'd do. He was just grateful that she hadn't protested further when he'd given her the jacket, and had taken it gratefully. The kiss he got in return was worth it, but the smile that had come before was even more so. Still blushing a bit from her touch, he answered quietly "You're welcome." He started walking with her again once she'd gotten the jacket on properly, trying to make it to the gym as quickly as possible. They reached it soon enough, and Peter was glad when they made it through the doors, into the warmth.