Free Shattered (Shattered #1) by Heather D'Agostino

way
into the kitchen. Avery was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper
and sipping a cup of coffee.
    “Morning,” I smiled at her.
    “Morning,” she grumbled back.
    Avery was not a morning person. When she ended up taking on the early
shift at her mom’s flower shop, I was shocked. We’d always been night owls, and
would stay up as late as our bodies would allow.
    “What’s got you so chipper today?” she glanced over at me scrutinizing
my appearance.
    I shrugged, “What do you mean?”
    “You haven’t been like this in a long time Leah. I know you. We used to
talk on the phone every day.”
    “Maybe I have something to be happy about now,” I grinned.
    “You met up with him, didn’t you? He showed up last night,” she smirked
and then stood to move in front of me.
    I only nodded, afraid that if I voice my happiness aloud, it might not
be real.
    “Finally,” she rolled her eyes. “You two have been miserable for years.
It’s about time you worked your shit out.”
    “We’ll see,” I lifted one shoulder. “I don’t know how serious this is
yet. He didn’t seem too excited last night. He didn’t even try to kiss me.”
    “He’s just afraid. You wrecked him the last time. I’m sure he wants this
just as bad as you do. He’s just afraid of letting go again, and you bolting
the first chance you get.”
    “I’m not going anywhere,” I sighed. “Why doesn’t anyone believe me?”
    “You have to prove that,” she shook her head. “All any of us ever heard
about from you was how you wanted to get away. Now you’re here, and we’re all
waiting for you to bolt again.”
    “I know,” I hung my head. “I just want things to get back to the way
they once were. I’m willing to do just about anything to get them that way.”
    Before the conversation could morph into a fight, I finished my coffee
and began to head into the living room. Avery and I had been friends for so
long that we fought like sisters. I could always tell when she was getting
ready to go off on me. Now was one of those times. I knew I’d hurt her just as
much as everyone else when I’d left. Being here was hard. I had so many fences
to fix.
    “I gotta get out of here,” I called over my shoulder. “I want to talk to
Nick before school starts, and I need to set up a practice schedule.”
    “Alright,” she shouted after me. “Hey…you wanna get everyone together at
Dave’s on Friday? We’ll get the old gang back…have a few drinks…party like we
used to?” she grinned at me as I turned around.
    “Sounds great,” I smiled. “Maybe I can actually let loose now that I’m
not training for anything. “
    Every time we’d hung out with our friends, I’d always been getting ready
for something. Whether it was a meet or just training in general, I never could
relax. It’s sad for me to admit that I’d never had a beer until after the
accident. Nick had always claimed that he understood, but I could see the look
in his eyes when we were out with our friends and they would be cutting loose,
and I was sipping my water.
    “I’ll talk to Nick today, and see what he says. Maybe he can convince
Cam to come too.”
    “Sure, but I don’t know about Cam, Logan says something is going on with
him,” Avery got a wistful look on her face.
    “I thought you guys were just sleeping together, I didn’t know that
involved conversations like this,” I teased.
    “Go to work,” Avery ordered, “before I kick your ass.”
    ooooooooo
      I pulled open the front door, and
began walking toward where my car was parked. As I fumbled with my keys, a low
chuckle rang out.
    “You still waiting til the last minute to leave the house I see.”
    My head snapped up as I stood there frozen in my spot on the front
steps, “What are you doing here?”
    Nick’s face went from smiling to impassive in a matter of seconds, “I
was going to offer you a ride to work.”
    “Why?” I cocked my head to the side.
    “Uh,” he mumbled