In case you missed them I'm putting them, I'm posting all the entries of the Avery Diaries here so that they can be easily found on my extras page. :) There is, however, still time to enter the giveaway. Just click the link for the Avery Shaw Diaries in the upper left had corner of my blog. And a special thanks to Colorimetry, Reading Teen, I Am A Reader, Not A Writer, Book Passion For Life, Confessions of a Bookaholic and A Life Bound By Books for originally hosting these stories! You guys are the best!
"Post Shower Avery and Grayson Things"
(Avery)
Dear Diary,
He brought me roses! No one has ever given me roses! When he
showed up holding a giant bouquet my face turned the same color as the flowers,
but he was still so sweet to bring them. It didn’t really help the whole
not-a-date thing, but I didn’t care. I loved them.
Grayson is completely crazy. Hilarious and sweet beyond compare,
but absolutely insane. Tonight he brought me a list that he’d titled Post
Shower Avery and Grayson Things. He had this silly notion that he and I needed
“things” the way couples have things—like a song, or a place… When I argued
that we weren’t a couple, he said we were science partners, which was just as
important. He said in order for the Avery Shaw Experiment to be successful, we,
as partners, needed to have a solid foundation to build our relationship on.
In a way he was right. We are going to be working very
closely together for the next while, and the subject of our experiment is very
personal. The more we know each other the better we’ll work together. I hadn’t
really thought about it before, but Grayson and I haven’t spent much time
together on our own.
Of course I knew him. Or, I knew the image he puts on for
people. But until tonight, I’d never really seen much of the real him. I can’t
tell you how surprised I am. I mean I knew he came to my rescue with Aiden, so
I knew he was nice, but I had no idea he could be so… so… again I am at a loss
for words to describe him. He went above and beyond tonight. This whole evening
was crazy, but it was incredible! I can’t remember the last time I had so much
fun or laughed so much.
First, Grayson took me to dinner at a place widely known for
doing karaoke on Friday nights. I about had a heart attack when he pulled into
the parking lot. I was going to refuse to go inside, but Grayson promised me
that under no circumstances whatsoever would I have to sing. If I’d had any
idea what he was planning, I’d have made him promise that he wouldn’t sing
either. I’ll never make that mistake again.
We ordered dinner and then Grayson asked to see the song
catalog. (This is where he’d shown me the Post Shower Avery and Grayson list.) He
told that we needed a song to add to that list, then made me randomly open the
catalog and point with my eyes closed. Whatever song my finger landed on would
become “our” song.
“Ring My Bell” by Anita Ward.
I laughed. It was funny. But then Grayson made his way to
the stage and I stopped laughing. I knew what he was going to do, and I felt
like crawling under the table to hide. First, he apologized to the crowd for
what was about to happen, but explained that the song he was about to sing was “our”
song and he just had to sing it for
me.
Oh my gosh! Grayson didn’t just sing that song. He performed
it like a pro! He danced around the stage belting out the song in his best
falsetto. He made a complete fool of himself, but he did it for me. To make me
laugh. He did it to level the playing field between us so that I wouldn’t be so
intimidated by him or feel like such a geek around him. And once I got over the
horror of everyone looking at me, it worked. He looked like the biggest dork
ever up there. I can’t believe he sacrificed his own dignity just to make me
feel less shy around him. It was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.
I laughed until there were tears in my eyes, and “Ring My
Bell” is definitely now “our” song. Forever. Kind of like “showering together”
and “smiley face stickers” are “our” things. (He’d added both of those things
to the list before he’d picked me up tonight.)
The ridiculousness didn’t stop there either. Grayson took us
all around the city on this strange sort of scavenger hunt to acquire a bunch
of “things.” Among other things, chocolate milkshakes, pennies that you smash
into souvenirs, and llamas are all now our things too. Yes, I said llamas! I
knew we had a llama farm here in Spanish Fork, but I’d never been to it.
Neither had Grayson, so he said it was the perfect place to make “our place”
since we could experience it for the first time together. Did you know you can rent llamas? When Grayson learned that
he freaked out. He insists that once it warms up we are going to go hiking
together on llamas!
