You Can't Tell Me to Heal

I was really pissed off that my physical therapy session ended right when Avery Lassiter's began. I remember her - the golden girl, the soccer star. I had the biggest crush on her, but I dropped out of ASU after a year, so I didn't really act on it. Avery never noticed me. She was too absorbed with soccer to notice anybody, really. I think it was her surreal beauty and straight up unattainability that made her so attractive to me.

There's no harm in taking aim, even if the target is just a dream.

"Excuse me...could you tell me when Avery Lassiter has her physical therapy sessions?" I asked the receptionist with a polite smile. She silently arched her brow at me as she shuffled some papers around. "Please?" I added, feeling pathetic and desperate.

It was crazy how Avery still had this effect on me after all these years...

The receptionist smiled and shook her head indulgently, but handed me a small slip of paper that read,"Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday.....2:00-5:00PM."
Grinning like a fool, I thanked her, tucked the paper into my wallet, and left the building.

I drove to Max's place. Nick, Justin, Halvo, Tim, and of course Max was there. We really didn't do much of anything productive besides write or record songs when we weren't touring. It was great. Once Tim let me in, I made my way into the kitchen and helped myself to a beer before heading into the living room, where the guys were congregated around the TV, playing some videogame. I sat at the kitchen counter with Tim, watching the others play some shooter game as usual. If Garrett were here, we'd probably be playing one of those Left 4 Dead games or something.

"Here, Nick, go kick some ass," said Halvo, handing over his XBOX controller and getting off the couch. "I gotta get going," he sighed, grabbing his keys off the kitchen table.

"You're still gonna be at Johnny Rocket's later, right?" I asked as he tossed his red plastic cup into the trash can in the kitchen.

"Oh..." Halvo pulled out his phone, texted somebody, and put it back in his pocket. "I'm not sure anymore," he admitted, and he looked like he really wanted to leave. I couldn't help but frown. It wasn't like Halvo to ditch us like this.

"Halvo, when do we get to meet your lady friend?" Justin teased.

I about choked on my beer, unable to process what I heard. Halvo was one of my best friends. He'd never said anything about any girl to me before... but that was understandable.

Everyone knows I don't deal well with girlfriends.

"What makes you think I have a lady friend?" Halvo laughed, slipping his TOMS on.

"Halvo!" I cried out dramatically. "You're cheating on me? What about our bromance?" I joked, and everybody laughed along.

Halvo just grinned and made his way to the door. "See you guys around. Bye, John." And with that, Halvo left the house. I was tempted to follow him and see who this girl was where he was going, but Jared and Kennedy arrived not ten minutes after Halvo left. After about an hour, we all drove down to the Johnny Rocket's for dinner. I got a text from Halvo on the way.

[Can't make it to dinner. Sorry. Maybe next time.]