chapter 21

New York city...

Avery's pov;

My mini date with Eric , we talked a lot about our personal lives and school related stuff , I learnt that he is majoring in electromagnetism and something about mathematical analysis, you know smart people things . Genius level , totally not me.

Right now it is already evening , Eric is sending me home in his car , yes he has a car. Eric is from a rich researcher family and plus he works at a bio physics lab so he gets quite the pay, not that I care about any of that of course.

The more time I spend with Eric the more I learn new aspects of his personality that I like , for example he is very punctual which makes him a responsible man, he is friendly with everyone around him , he is pretty selfless in general , puts others before himself and he apparently only has 2 exes , he told me that he only had 2 serious relationships in his 25 years on this earth . They were all long term lasting between 3-4 years , that's quite reassuring.

''We are here , that would be 84$'' Eric says jokingly , "Drop the crap you idiot *laugh " I tap his shoulder as he laughs along with me , he then goes out of the car to open my door , ''Here you mademoiselle"

I get out of the car and shake my head at him because of his constant jokes , this guy really doesn't stop huh? *chuckle . ''Okay I'll stop. For now. *wink" we laugh once more and then there is a silence , I am not gonna invite him up the apartment because its not mine only and Sheila is probably there right now plus even though those were not the situation of the moment , it would be too soon for that step to be initiated. After the situation with Lucas I prefer taking my time with men. ''Um , I guess I'll go up now . See you when I see you next?" He looks at me with an understanding look.

"Of course . Don't let me stop you , I'll kidnap you some other time" he winks at me and smiles then looks at me and kisses my cheek then goes back into his car and drives always while I still process the fact that he just kissed my cheek . That's progress right there and I am not mad about it.

I skip around to the door as I enter the apartment only to be surprised or rather scared by Sheila who was literally standing in front of the door with her arms spread out and a big creepy smile on her face that she does when she is excited about something. Weird considering how I left her this morning.

"I am guessing your depressive phase has ended?" I tell her as I drop my ass on the couch and just lay there, she comes sit next me "Well yes you can say that, but let's not talk about me just yet. Tell me about the guy with the car you were with down the street and don't yes I was spying on you , accidentally might I add, point is I saw the kiss and girl I'm excited for you , tell me everything" she looks at me with her wine glass in her hands.

"Since when are you a gossiper?" She shrugs and gestures for me to actually start spilling the beans.

"Okay okay. His name is Eric , he is an electromagnetism and mathematical analysis major and He 25years old.

We met on an online dating app and talked for weeks on and on until he asked me out today on a kinda first date ." I pause and look at Sheila who was making all sorts of aww sounds and saying how his profile seems very perfect which is sketchy to her, anyways I continue narrating my story,

"We went at a park near the area where he had prepared a picnic set up , very Pinterest and aesthetic. We ate and chatted all afternoon and we also went to buy ice cream because why not then he drove me back home. The kiss you saw was on the cheek not on the lips , maybe from up here it would look like we were kissing but he actually took me by surprise when he kissed me but so far so good , I am trying to go slow with this, wouldn't want to find another Lucas would we" she nods and tells me he seems like a nice guy from how I describe him .

"Look Avery don't overthink too much either okay? If he is a nice guy then give him a chance , you will never know anything other than Lucas if you don't try out with new people . So go for it girl , I'm right behind you as long as he makes you happy" she then hugs me and I hug her back , definitely the best best friend ever.

After talking about my new love interest we decided to have takeout dinner while rewatching Bridgerton , this is probably the 3 time around but what can I say we are hooked to it like how the Duke of Hastings is hooked to Daphne .

When the show is over , I turn off the tv and face Sheila and tell her to spill her tea since she seemed more at peace and in a good mood today compared to how she was looking for weeks now.

"Don't think I forgot you also had things to update me on Sheila, now spill, did you talk to Professor Gary?" She sighs then nods her head.

"We did talk but what he told me was something I didn't expect. It's quite unexpected" I hold her hand as a sign of support.

"I confronted him on the fact that I saw him holding another woman in his arms in his office and that he also kissed her cheek , I told him It didn't seem friendly at all and accused him of cheating on me . He seemed to be in disbelief that I could think that of him then he clarified that the woman he was hugging was his ex wife" I gasped , professor Gary was married? I mean he is quite older than we are but not to the extent of having experienced marriage, maybe he was still young at the time.

"Yeah I was shocked too when he told me that. I mean it's not everyday your boyfriend tells you he has an ex-wife. Anyways, he revealed that and many other things about his toxic relationship with her during the period they were married, I can't tell you everything in detail because it's his personal life but all was cleared out , he wasn't cheating just comforting her because of a situation she had just endured , he promised not to keep anymore secrets from me and now we are all good" she smiles and so I am relieved , as long as she is happy then I am too.

"I am glad that was fixed , you were looking like crap for weeks because of crying over him, Your face is kinda wrinkly because of that" I tease her a bit and she grabs the pillow on the couch and throws it at me while I run back to my room.

"That's right run Avery but I will catch you eventually" she says outside my door and we both laugh as she goes back to i assume the living room while I stay in my bedroom.

Today was fun as was this week especially sun I didn't go to campus , a break was really needed. Now I will have to catch up on what the others have been studying on in history especially.

I talked to professor Gary yesterday and he agreed to tutor me in his free time so that I can catch up on my delay.

As for Alba , I guess I won't be going there any time soon because I have quite a lot to do academically and plus I am sure Ethera got this, Heizel is there to help her too so she will be fine.

I hope to hear of progress with King Tobias though , since they are historically supposed to have a love affair going on . Oh I am excited.

For now this whole Alba travelling thing will be a secret , I can't even tell Sheila . I think it's better this way , it wouldn't be very believable anyways even if I decided to tell her.

Best friends don't always tell each other everything , some degree of secret is okay, right?