Capturing You

Chapter 17: Alligator

A/N: I made a quick update to the cast list to include Avery's mom and cousins! 

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    Conveniently, my dad already had my things packed up in Cincinnati and waiting on my porch by the time I'd brushed my teeth and headed downstairs for breakfast. The big moving truck was outside, him the driver, honking his horn as soon as he saw me through the window. I wasn't sure how he'd dropped me off from the airport, drove to Cincinnati and then back in one night's sleep, but I wasn't going to question it. I was back in Louisiana for good.

     "Wow, dad, thanks so much," I said, patting the hood of the moving truck once I jogged outside. It was a gargantuan vehicle; surely the stuff in my apartment only took up a corner of the back, but I knew my dad likely chose the bigger truck to be safe rather than sorry. "We should get to moving all my stuff in, right?"

     "Yeah, but only after you've finished your pancake mountain," he told me, wearing a warped grin.

     I knitted my brows together. I thought I smelled French toast coming out of the kitchen, but maybe my memory was blurry — I'd just woken up after all.

     I was about to retreat to the house to obediently finish my pancake mountain, anxious to move in with my cousins, until he stopped me with a question. "Oh, by the way, Ave. Where should the guys put your stuff?"

     Looking even more confused, I asked, "The guys?" He must have meant Micah and Hunter but those two were still fast asleep in the basement, where I had left them. I just needed to make sure.

     "You're acting like such a weirdo," he said, circling to the back of the truck, beckoning me to follow him. We reached the back and he opened the hatch, revealing the entirety of the Bengals' offensive players sitting, squishing my stuff.

     "Hey Avery," they all greeted me in cheerful unison, wearing the same freaky-perfect smile. I knew their faces, but for some reason, couldn't formulate their names in my head. They split in the middle to reveal Joe all the way in the back of the truck, sitting on my yellow couch, cuddling my limited edition alligator squish pillow. A bright ray of yellow light shone on him, and he looked up at me, an angelic smile on his face. A real-life halo twinkled above his light brown head of curls.

"J-Joe?"

     He walked over to me, taking my chin in his finger and lifting it up; his other arm clutched my alligator. My alligator chumpfed, not happy with the way Joe was holding him.

"Avery, it's time for breakfast," Joe said.

"W-what the hell is going on here?"

"I made you your favorite. Biscuits and gravy," he whispered seductively to me, randomly taking on a swampy southern accent.

     "But I thought my dad just said there was a pancake mountain..." My words came out slow — not slurred or anything, but just as if I had been learning how to speak for the first time. My tongue felt like powder against the roof of my mouth.

     Joe dropped my squish pillow to the ground, forcing a yelp out of me, and grabbed my shoulders, violently shaking them. "Avery! The biscuits're gettin' cold!" He slurred his words like Ed Orgeron.

I woke up.

     Hunter's ugly mug was looking down at me just inches away, totally invading my personal space, and my disorientation made him look squiggly like I'd been staring into a funhouse mirror. Jesus Christ, I was dreaming!

"Get outta my face," I grumbled, lightly shoving him back as he laughed at me.

     "You were out cold, dreaming about... I don't even know, but you were making some freaky faces and sounds," Hunter said, snickering as he stood up straight. "You were callin' for somebody named Joe."