Chapter Eight

Avery woke up by the sound of something hitting her window. She shot up in bed, the recent A threat running through her mind. She slowly walked towards it and yanked her black curtains back. Dean was standing under the window, a small pebble in his hands, ready to be thrown.

"What are you doing?" She hissed. "You're going to wake everyone in the house."

Dean's grin was evident in the moon's light. He threw his arms to the side. "I love you Avery Montgomery."

"I know that." She bit her lip worriedly. Her parents will definitely kill her if she had a boy standing outside their house at two o'clock in the morning.

"And," He went on. "I remembered when you told me you always wanted someone to show up under your window at night with a boom box and sneak to your room." She felt her cheeks burn red at that. She didn't remember saying that, she guesses she was drunk or something when she blurted it out. And Dean, being Dean, of course remembered that.

"Catch." He threw something up, she barely caught it. It was a backpack, his bag. "Don't open it yet." He walked towards the wall of her house. She had the sort of wooden trail leading up besides her window to the side of the house. Dean shook it, making sure it was steady enough for him to climb. She guesses it wasn't, but he condemned it enough as he started going up.

She was anxious as he got higher and higher. He could fall and break his arm or a leg. When he was in reach. She leaned down and took ahold of his arm and tried to yank him up as much as she could. He dropped through into her room on his ass. Dean groaned as he hit the ground. She quickly helped him up to his feet.

"What do you think?" He asked. "Out of ten."

"I'll give you an eight." Avery said. "One point off for the ungraceful landing. And another for waking me up."

"Isn't it like every girl's dream to have a guy tell her in the middle of the night he love her?" Dean said. Regaining his energy as he went sit on the edge of her bed. She went to turn on the lights. As soon as she turned around, she knew why he had chosen this particular day to find her. He had a split lip and a bruise on his cheek.

"What happened?" She gently took his chin in her hand, turning his head to the side to examine his face.

"Do you really have to ask?" He said dryly, making her shoot a concerned look in his direction. "We fought."

"About?" She stood up to walk to her closet to get the first aid kit she kept there as this wasn't the first time he had come to her with a bruise. It wasn't a lot, his family fought frequently, but not physically most of the time.

"The usual. Nothing important." He shrugged. He wasn't going to tell her it was about her. Sheldon, his older his brother had been fighting with him when Dean decided to be the better man and walk away when Sheldon called to him, saying 'run to your pretty little girlfriend.' Dean had snapped and punched him in the jaw. They kept going until his father broke it up, sending them both far away from each other..

"Well," Avery tried a positive tone. "At least you're here. What's in your bag?"

"Oh." He winced when she applied pressure to his lip, earning a mumbled apology. "I couldn't get to a boom box but brought you something instead." She let him go, he unzipped it, getting out a CD.

"It's a new band." He explained. "I thought you'll like it."

"Thanks." She finished patching him up and pressed a soft kiss to his other-unbruised cheek. "I'll listen to it first thing in the morning."

"You're welcome." He muttered. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure." She said.

"Can I stay the night?" He asked. "I promise I'll clear out before the sun has even comes up."

"Even if." She said. "Mom and Dad won't mind. I'll get you some blankets." She disappeared to the hallway and returned with two blankets in her arms and a pillow. "You can sleep on the bed."

"Even though I'll love to." A hint of smile was on his face. "Your parents will have a different opinion."

She agreed, letting his settle in the chair she had, it was a bit long, so he could lie down a little if he wanted to. Avery slid back in her bed under the cover. Dean turned off the light, leaving the room in darkness. After a while of tossing and turning, she sat up, huffing a soft breath.

"I don't want to go to sleep." Avery said, her voice no higher than a whisper.

"What do you want to do?" He asked, his voice was also clear and alert.

"Talk?" They stayed up all night talking, about his family and about hers.

A hesitant knock woke Avery up. She glanced at Dean besides, who was in the process of waking up. "Go back to sleep. I'll get it." She murmured, kissing him on his cheek. She got out of bed, running her fingers lightly through her hair. The knocking continued.

"Alright, alright." Avery muttered. "I'm coming." She opened the door, only to have the air knocked out of her as Aria hugged her. Her little sister threw herself at her, her arms around her shoulders. She could hear her sniffle.

"Aria, what's wrong?" She asked immediately.

"Everything." Aria buried her head in Avery's hair. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize." Avery hugged her back. "I didn't tell you either."

"But I should've noticed." Aria pulled back, Avery noticed for the first time that she was wearing pajamas with a simple jacket on top of it. "I thought I kept hearing crying at night but I ignored it."

"It's fine." Avery reassured her. "If you had asked me, I would've brushed you off." She grabbed her sister's hands, pulling her to the kitchen. "Come on, I'll get out something to eat." Aria let her drag her, sitting down obediently when Avery pointed at one of the chairs at the small table against the wall.

"So, what do you want?" Avery asked. "I have leftovers Chinese and pizza. I can find some-"

"Can you make pancakes?" Aria said. She sighed at the amused expression that appeared on Avery's face. "It's just that you and mom used to make them when one of us got upset." Avery nodded, moving to get out the ingredients.

"How do you do it?" Aria questioned.

"What?" The older girl said. She held the mixing bowl awkwardly. "Pancakes?"

"No." Aria shook her head. "Be you." Avery sighed and put down the bowl on the counter, she sat in the chair across her sister.

"I think it's time we need to have the talk." She said.

"Avery," Aria bit her lip. "I already-"

"Not that." Avery fake shuddered before turning serious. "Let's see how much you'll think of me as 'perfect'." She took a deep breath. God, she was such a bad role model. "I was addicted to drug."

Aria froze, her eyes wide. "W-what?"

"Just listen." Avery held her hands in defense. She told her sister about how she started, one of her friends pressured her to try and take one drag from a smoke and she's been hooked ever since. She told her everything, right until Jenny dies and she decided to go sober.

"Watching her in the last moments-" Avery tried to keep her voice from trembling. "I thought 'my best friend just died from the same thing I do everyday.' And so, I quit. I mean, I kept thinking this could happen to me."

Aria, who had been silent for the entire time, lifted her eyes up to meet hers. "Where does Dean come in?"

"Well, he was my boyfriend. I told him I wanted to go sober and he said he's been thinking about it a lot so we did it together."

"You didn't have professional help?" The teen asked in disbelieve.

"No." Avery shook her head. "We backed each other up, distracting ourselves when the craving and the edge became too much. There was a while," She smiled a little at the memory. "Where we literally did everything together. Meals, school, sports."

"That sounds nice-" Aria said. "-ish."

"Yeah." Avery agreed. "It was."

"So, you can help Spencer. Right?" Aria said.

"Aria, it doesn't work like that." Avery sighed. "Every person is different when they're going through withdrawal. Dean and I became co-dependent. Some people bury themselves in work, they find distractions or face the problem."

"Wow." Aria leaned back. "That's intense."

Avery hummed in agreement. "You know what, I'm gonna need some coffee." She got up ."I just need to go to the bathroom first." She started a pot of coffee and went to her bedroom, where Dean was still sleeping. She grabbed his hoodie that he threw on the edge of the bed and slipped it on, enjoying the warmth.

She came back to the kitchen, seeing Aria already pouring the pancakes mix into a pan. The younger girl smiled sheepishly. "I sorta got started earlier."

"It's fine." Avery waved her off before moving to get the waffle maker from the top cabinet, she set it on the counter, plugging it in.

"Can I live here?" Aria's jaw dropped slightly.

Avery chuckled while pouring the mix to make the waffle. "If you ask mom and dad." After making sure it was secure, she went to the fridge and got out the maple syrup and whipped cream and berries. She was about to sit down when she remembered she still had something else to serve. She got a basket filled with scones and cinnamon rolls and muffins. She got back to the waffles, intent on making a large stack of them while Aria finished her stack of pancakes.

"Is it morning yet?" Dean's sleepy voice snapped both girls' attention to him. he was leaning on the doorway.

"Not even close." Avery answered. "It's breakfast foods for dinner." She did it a lot so he wasn't surprised. The only thing different was that Aria joined in making it.

The teen watched as Dean seemed to move as if he was in his own home, he moved to the fridge and got out several containers of juice and water, getting out the jam as Avery told him to.

He noticed Aria's staring and smiled. "This isn't my first time." He got the plates and utensils. "You haven't seen the worst of your sister."

"You know." Avery sang lightly. "If you don't like it, you can always leave."

"And miss your waffles?" He said, moving to stand behind her and put his arms around her waist from behind her, his lips brushing against her ear. "Not a chance." He let out a grunt when she elbowed him in the ribs.

"My little sister is here." She hissed. He kissed on the cheek before thankfully moving back. He helped her with setting the food down on the table and sat along with the Montagermy sisters.

Aria looked at Avery and Dean, they were in sync with each other, they snatched food off of their plates. She never talked to Avery for longer than a few minutes to know of her relationship with Dean. They had been together for so long and she was always with him, she barely saw her sister in the summer.

She just hoped that A doesn't ruin it when her sister is happy again.

So, I'm not really satisfied with this chapter, but it's here. But I hope you enjoyed. Please, follow/favorite/review anything is welcome. Thanks for reading 3 3