Chapter 9

Avery was so excited for Matt's arrival on Saturday afternoon that he barely registered any of the pain from his father's "reminder to behave". It didn't matter, he'd lived through it long enough that he could mask and ignore the discomfort.

When Matt arrived at the door around noon, Avery's father greeted him with a grin, casting a glance at the car where Erin waited. "Hello, Mr. Andrews."

"Hi, Mr. Greene. And please, call me Matt. I'm just a regular guy now," Matt returned politely.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, my teaching practicum ended yesterday."

"And?"

Matt shrugged, "It was good, but not sure I want to do it as a career right now. I have a job in town with the Vet Clinic, so we'll see how that goes."

"I see." Avery watched his dad carefully.

"Thank you for letting us take Avery out for a while."

"No, problem," Carl said as he thumped his son on his back as the boy moved through the doorway.

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Avery managed to contain the wince from his father's rough touch, which he knew was done purposefully to remind him of his place. "Thanks, dad," he smiled as he stepped past.

"Enjoy hanging out with your new friends," Carl grinned down at his son. "Friends can be fleeting, you know."

Avery shot a glance at his father who was smiling purposefully. A shadow crossed Avery's face with the reminder that Matt would be leaving at some point to go back to college. Of course his father could find another way to ruin his good mood. Just the thought of Matt leaving left a hole in his heart.

Matt gently laid his hand on Avery's back guiding him towards the car. Erin was already waiting in the backseat, allowing Avery to sit next to Matt in the front. Avery felt himself relax as he settled into the seat, refusing to look back at his father watching from the doorway as they drove away.

"Man," Erin shuddered, "no offense, dude, but your dad looks a little creepy watching you leave."

Avery glanced up, catching a frown on Matt's face too. It was weird, since no one ever thought anything negative about his father, Mr. Upstanding Citizen.

Avery shrugged it off. "He's just protective, I guess. I usually don't go out much."

Matt cast him a questioning look before turning his eyes back to the road.

Erin chatted excitedly as they approached the movie theatre. They had decided on some action movie that Avery had vaguely heard about. Since he'd never been to the movies, he didn't really care what they saw. It was just the chance to get out of the house and spend time with Matt that mattered, well, Erin too.

Erin placed Avery between herself and Matt during the movie. While he was somewhat aware of what was happening in the movie, he was more aware of his arm pressed against Matt's. Avery had leaned slightly towards Matt and noticed when their shoulders touched that Matt didn't move away. Avery almost had the urge to lay his head on Matt's shoulder, wishing desperately for the warm comfort of someone to care for him, but he resisted the temptation.

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Matt smiled to himself as he felt Avery's arm resting next to his. He wanted to grab his hand and hold it tight, never letting go--if Avery would let him. But it was much too soon to even consider something like that. He didn't want to scare the boy away--even though, because of his sister's meddling, he was pretty sure Avery at least liked him a little now. He wished Avery would talk to him about what was wrong, and he could tell something was wrong. He still didn't believe the stress of exams crap, but maybe he really had never gotten over his mom leaving.

After the movie, they sat down to eat in the food court. Matt ordered his meal and watched as Avery just ordered a drink, then Erin ordered her double whopper with cheese and large fries.

"I'm not sure where you put it all," Matt joked with Erin.

"Mom doesn't like Burger King," she pouted. "I haven't had one of these in forever."

Matt nudged Avery's shoulder playfully. "You sure you don't want one too?"

Matt was a little surprised when Avery's eyes darted hopefully up at him as if he hadn't expected to be able to order anything. He cleared his throat and turned to the cashier. "Hey, make that three double whopper meals."

"Thanks," Avery mumbled shyly.

"Of course, you can have whatever you want," Matt encouraged.

Matt noticed while they ate that Avery scarfed down all of his meal, so he pushed some of his fries towards his friend as well. Afterwards, they strolled down the mall and Erin darted into a guy's clothing store and pulled a t-shirt off the rack.

"This would look so good on you, Avery," she stated.

Avery nodded. "It's pretty cool. A little small though..."

"Small? It's just the right size for you. You just need to stop wearing things that are three times too big for you," she chided. She shoved the shirt into his hands. "Here, try it on."

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Reluctantly, Avery took the shirt to the dressing room. He mentally assessed whether there would be any marks visible on his arms from the short sleeve shirt. He carefully removed the hoodie and the t-shirt he was wearing and slipped on the smaller shirt, quickly hiding the bruises and marks on his back and ribs. He checked his arms and neck quickly for any telltale signs of his father's rage. Other than what might show from under the leather arm braces, nothing else was visible.

He smoothed the shirt down and looked over his form. The forest green tee hugged his narrow torso and body nicely, even with his black baggy jeans hanging from his hips. It was usually too uncomfortable wearing such form fitting shirts because they would rub against the abrasions on his back. And he was used to getting clothes big at the thrift store so they would last longer--assuming he grew any.

When he slowly opened the door to show Erin and Matt, he caught the sudden heated look that flared in Matt's eyes.

"Wow," Erin breathed, breaking the silence first. "What a difference. I'm definitely getting you that for Christmas."

Avery was suddenly shaking his head. "Oh, no, you don't need to do that."

"Heck, yeah, I do. You look hot in that!" she exclaimed, dragging him over to the register. She yanked the tag off and handed it to the cashier. "We're taking this shirt. He's going to wear it out."

Avery blushed as the young cashier also cast an approving gaze at him. He'd never felt quite so exposed. Were his scars visible on his back through the t-shirt? God, he hoped not.

Matt reached over Erin and handed the cashier some bills as Erin grinned back. "Can we have a bag to put his other shirts in?" he asked the cashier, who made change and gave him a bag. "Here, Avery, go get your clothes from the dressing room."

"Thank you," Avery looked up into Matt's deep blue eyes.

Avery flinched as Matt's hand abruptly came towards his face, but quickly cleared his features as he realized Matt wasn't going to hurt him. The soft fingertips gently brushed his ebony locks from his eyes, as the warm hand settled on the back of his neck. Avery briefly closed his eyes at the comfort and luxury of a touch that wasn't painful. The arm tugged him closer in a brief guy-clench, and Avery reveled in the peace that washed over him and breathed in the woodsy scent that was Matt.

"You're welcome," Matt breathed against his hair before releasing him.

Avery quickly turned before he embarrassed himself by clinging to Matt, blinking rapidly to stave off the tears of longing that threatened to escape. He disappeared into the dressing room, sinking onto the hard bench. He ran his hands through his hair, calming himself down.

Why had he let Matt and Erin talk him into coming out here? It hurt too much to be getting this close to them, to Matt, to know he'd be going back to college eventually and forgetting all about him. He wasn't sure he could take loosing another person he cared for like he had his mom.

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Matt caught his sister grinning slyly at him as Avery darted away.

"What?" he snapped.

"Phfft, you know what," she slapped him playfully on the arm. "You like him. You know it."

Matt shrugged. He couldn't deny it. Erin knew him too well for that. His fingers tingled with the aftermath from the feel of the soft ebony tresses and the warmth of Avery's skin under his hand. But he also couldn't forget the flash of fear that crossed Avery's emerald eyes when he'd reached for him, which fortunately had melted into something Matt hoped was affection.

"Now that I got him out of the baggy shirt, let's see if I can get those silly braces off," she cooed.

Matt grinned at his sister as she grabbed Avery's elbow when he came out of the dressing room. She dragged him to another store, pretending the intent was to look for Matt's Christmas present and stopped at a collection of men's watches.

"Ooh, look, Matt," she ogled. "Can we see that one, with the black leather band?"

As the salesperson pulled out the watch, Erin abruptly grabbed Avery's arm, surprising him when she attempted to unbuckle the wrist brace.

"What are you doing?" Avery's voice was edged in fear as he yanked his arm back.

"Oh, come on," Erin pouted, grabbing his arm again. "We're just trying on something other than these--"

She froze, and Matt noticed what she could see, and his face darkened in concern. From under the edge of the brace, he could see that the skin had become raw and bruised. How could he have missed that before?

Matt straightened, stepping up next to Avery, glaring at the salesperson. "Can you give us a minute?"

After the sales person moved away, Matt grabbed Avery's arm, quickly removing the brace from the struggling teen.

"Jeez, Avery," Matt breathed, taking in the raw skin around the boy's wrist.

Avery just pulled his arm away, rolling his eyes at Matt and Erin. "Sometimes they irritate my skin, that's all."

Erin cocked her hip, putting her hand on it. "Well, then maybe you should take them off every once in a while," she snapped.

"Yeah, whatever," Avery just grabbed the brace from Matt's hand and stalked out the door of the store. "I like 'em. I'll wear whatever I want to."

Matt stared at him dumbfounded for a moment before chasing after him. "Hey, Avery, wait!"

Matt and Erin found Avery leaning cross-armed against the wall outside the store.

"We didn't mean anything by it," Matt soothed.

"Yeah," Erin said softly, gently rubbing her hand on Avery's bicep. "I was just concerned is all."

"It's okay," Avery conceded from under the curtain of hair falling over his face. "They do get irritated, and I probably should take them off more often. I promise I'll leave them off for a while."

Erin grinned at Avery's smirk, but Matt wasn't sure what to think. He was glad that Avery seemed to be back in a good mood, but was still concerned that he could let his wrists get so bruised under the braces.

"Come on," Matt forced a smile. "We probably need to get going."

As they approached the door, Avery stopped to slip back on his hoodie against the cold weather outside. It didn't usually get that cold here in Euphoria, South Carolina like it did in the north to warrant a true winter jacket, so Avery had usually managed to get by with layering long-sleeve shirts, hoodies, and sweat jackets.

Once in the car, Matt threw the bag with Avery's old t-shirt in it on the floor of the backseat before grabbing another package from the seat. Once they were all settled, he turned to Avery sitting next to him in the passenger seat, feeling Erin leaning eagerly in through the seats with a huge excited grin.

"This is for you, Avery," Matt handed the small box over to the surprised teen.

"But--"

"But nothing," Matt interrupted, "It's a Christmas gift, from the both of us."

Erin grinned. "Well, mostly him, since I don't actually have any money. But it was my idea!"

Frowning, Avery slowly opened the blue wrapped box. He nearly dropped it when he saw what was inside. Matt had to grin at Avery's reaction to the new iphone.

Matt watched as Avery opened and closed his mouth several times before looking up with glistening eyes, the box trembling in his hands. "I--I can't take this," Avery stammered, trying to hand it back to Matt. "It's too much..."

"Then consider it an early birthday present too," Matt interrupted. "However, many months that might be."

"But, I can't--" Avery tried to argue again.

Matt smiled at Avery overwhelmed with emotion. It warmed his heart that his gift could mean so much to him. "Nonsense," Matt huffed, pushing it back towards Avery. He opened the box and pulled out the already charged and ready to go sleek black phone. "It's yours. This way we can keep in touch. See we've already put my phone and Erin's phone numbers in here. This way you have someone to talk to, any time you want. And believe me, Erin can talk."

Matt almost couldn't stand the look of gratitude and affection that filled Avery's eyes. As a tear slipped from the corner of Avery's eye, Matt worried maybe they'd gone too far.

"Hey, it's just a phone," Matt said gently. "You said you didn't have one and we figured it would be useful."

"I--I can't afford it," Avery protested. "And my dad won't pay--"

"It's on my plan," Matt pressed the phone into Avery's trembling hand. "It cost me practically nothing to add a second line to my plan. Don't worry about it." Honestly, it didn't matter to Matt how much it cost, he would have done it anyway.

When Avery glanced up again with hope in his eyes, Matt could read the deep desire in his gaze. "Are you sure?" Avery whispered.

Matt grinned, knowing he'd won. "Of course, I'm sure. You're our friend. We have to keep in touch somehow."

That got a sniffling chuckle from everyone in the car.

"Thanks," Avery gripped the phone so tightly, his fingers practically turned white.

They drove towards Avery's house with Erin eagerly leaning forward to give Avery tips on things he could do with the phone, making sure he'd successfully texted her and Matt before they reached Avery's driveway.

Erin plucked the tiny instruction manual out of the box. "Here, don't forget this."

Avery tucked it into his hoodie's pocket.

Matt chuckled, "You know, you can take the box."

"That's okay," Avery smiled as he tucked the phone into the pocket as well. "I don't need it. Thanks for a great afternoon, and especially the, uh, gifts."

Avery got out of the car and Matt followed, giving Avery a quick hug before he disappeared into the house.

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Avery practically raced inside the house, quickly closing the door and leaning against it with a sigh. He knew if he didn't escape from Matt right then, he'd find himself clinging, begging Matt to just take him away with him. He blinked away tears before quietly rushing to his room before his father caught up with him.

Fortunately, he could hear his father's light snoring from the couch, so he knew he had a few minutes to escape to his room and hide his gifts. He quickly set the phone to silent, so his father would never hear it go off and slipped it into the bottom drawer of his nightstand under some books. He figured maybe he could run the charging cord under his bed so his dad wouldn't see it. He'd have to be careful when he used it so his father didn't catch him with it.

Then he stripped off the hoodie and carefully peeled off the new t-shirt. There was no way he'd let his father see him in that. Avery did his best to hide his body around his father; he certainly didn't want to draw any more attention to it than his father already noticed. He folded it carefully away and put it in the bottom of the drawer.

Sliding another oversize t-shirt on, Avery settled on his bed. He pulled his notebook that he sketched in from his back pack, smiling as his pencil flew over the page. The box the iphone came in appeared on the page, with Matt strong hands wrapped around it.

He sighed, as he shaded in the drawing. He was just waiting for the inevitable interrogation his father would give him once he realized Avery was home.