Page 61 of Thorn Kiss
“I’m sorry about your dad,” I winced. “Just based on how everyone talks about him, he sounds like he was special. And he was extremely talented. That painting is amazing.”
“We all miss him. I think Austin struggles the most, but Dallas and I also have our days. He was amazing. But we're not talking about that.”
“Right,” I chuckled as she took me through a doorway to a large room. "We’re talking about your hot boyfriends.”
“We sure are. Oh god, also, I'm sorry about when you called last week.”
I shook my head. “If I were also getting railed by two hot people who loved me, I'd be like that too.”
Avery’s laugh made my smile bigger. An unexpected feeling crept in like a cloud, dark and stormy. This feeling that I’d been missing friends in my life. Real friends.
When Justin and I got together, I’d assimilated right into his friend group. Iusedto have my own friends, but he didn’t like them, and eventually I stopped talking to them. His friends became my friends. Except they were never really my friends.
Talking to Avery was like this double-edged sword of happiness and sadness slicing through my heart.
Avery glanced up at me. “Do you have any siblings?”
“Technically, yes.”
“Ooh.Technicallyis rough.”
I winced. “It’s complicated. I have two younger sisters, and I do keep in touch with them. But they were raised in a different way than me. My parents had learned not what to do with me. I don't speak to anyone else in my family.” I swallowed hard. “Sometimes I think I'm a little cursed.”
“Not cursed.” She tsked. “But sometimes it takes a while to find the right people in your life. Chosen family is moreimportant in a lot of ways. I know that's easy for me to say since I'm close with my brothers, but my best friends mean everything in the world to me. I don't know what I would do without them.”
“I wish I had that. LA hasn't been the easiest for me. It didn't help that I wasted eight years with Justin . . . Ugh, I'm sorry. I'm just standing here complaining.”
Avery shook her head. “We're getting to know each other. That’s what friends do. It's not complaining if you're just telling me about your life. I have one of those types of exes too. I didn't think I'd ever find love again. But then Mateo and Levi crashed into my life, and here I am.”
“It was just so much of my life,” I said. “Eight years. And the last two years, I should have broken up with him. I should have long before that, but . . . He helped with rent. It’s not cheap in LA. And even though I'm pretty sure this wasn't his first time cheating, it was the first time it was so damn blatant.”
Avery scowled. “Hecheatedon you?”
“Yeah. They’re already engaged, too.”
“What a motherfucker.”
Her immediate hatred for Justin burst the bubble in my chest. I couldn't help but cackle. “Yeah. He never liked how much taller than him I was.”
“So not only is he an asshole, he is a small, insecure man.”
“Yep. He is . . .” I trailed off, then repeated it a lot more confidently this time. “Heisa small man. But, I did throw eggs at his house on my way out. And I spent way too much money on lingerie as a big fuck you to him.”
Avery cackled, her grip on me tightening. “Oh god. That’s amazing. I wish I would have egged my ex's place . . .” She trailed off. “You deserve a lot better. Good riddance. Eight years is a long time, but you have good things coming your way. It'll make all of that look like nothing, I promise. The scars will still bethere but you'll meet someone who will kiss every single one of them. Or two someones.”
She had a lens straight into my heart. “Maybe.”
I finally pulled my attention from our conversation and looked around the room. There were tables and chairs for classes, and the walls were covered in more students’ works.
I hadn’t thought about it, but Avery really did have a lot of students. Not only that, the different art styles she was teaching them were amazing. All different mediums, all different sorts of talent. Some were arguably terrible, and it made me love them all the more.
You didn’t need to be good at art to make art. Sometimes it was just about creating something with your hands.
I’d missed that.
“You really have done something amazing here,” I said. “Truly.”
“Thank you. You should come to a class. It's fun. There's a lot of older people and they're all insane but funny. As long as Ms. Carlson doesn't sink her claws into you, you’ll be safe.”
