It has been a few days. Carlos is helping Avery put her reading room together since T.K. and Owen are at work. Carlos is busy putting together a set of her bookshelves whilst Avery is on her phone setting up her "booktok" account.

'Are you going to help me or just sit there on your phone?' Carlos jokes.

'How do you think the name "thesebookdelights" sounds?' Avery looks at him, ignoring his question. Carlos just laughs. 'What?'

'I take it that you are just gonna sit there are on your phone and not help then.'

'Not that long ago you'd freak out if I even came close to some craft scissors.' Avery raises an eyebrow. 'And now you're trusting me with tools. Sharp tools.'

'Well, I'm supervising you and trust you. Plus we'd get this done a bit quicker.' Carlos replies. 'What are you doing anyway?'

'Setting up my tiktok account.' Avery tells him. 'So, username, thesebookdelights?'

'Sounds good.' Carlos nods. Avery finishes what she's doing on her phone and turns her attention back to Carlos.

'So, what can I help with?' She asks him.

'I'm almost done with this shelf, so why don't you unpack one of the other boxes and sort the bits and pieces out for me?' Carlos suggests.

'Sure.' Avery nods. She opens one of the flatpacks, takes the instructions out, and starts sorting out the screws and planks of wood. Within ten minutes, she's done. She looks at Carlos and sees that he's still working on one of the shelves so she sits back and watches. After a few minutes, she starts to get bored so she picks up a hammer and starts lightly tapping it on her hand. After a minute, she shrugs and starts lightly tapping it on her head.

'I'll be taking that.' She hears Carlos say almost immediately as he takes the hammer from her hand. She looks up at him. 'Seriously?'

'Come on, it's not like I was bashing my brains out.' Avery laughs. 'Although, that would be so cool.' She adds with a gasp. 'Do you think it'd work?' Carlos raises an eyebrow. 'I was joking! Chill out, Sergeant Serious. You should be used to my dark humor by now.'

'I think you're done here.' Carlos tells her seriously. 'Why don't you go and sort out your books ready to bring in here? We'll be done with the shelves by the end of the day.'

'Fine.' Avery huffs. She stands up and walks into her room. She flops down onto her bed and opens up the "the three musketeers" chat on her phone.

Avery: Question

Jase: Uh-oh

Avery: Shhh

Avery: What would happen if I accidentally hit myself with a hammer?

Trouble: Erm...

Jase: Avery... did you hit yourself with a hammer?

Avery: More like tapped...

Avery: Carlos took the hammer away

Trouble: Good

Jase: What were you doing with a hammer?

Avery: Well... you know how dad's birthday present to me was my reading room?

Jase: Yes...

Avery: Well, Carlos is here and we made a start on it today by building the bookshelves. I was on my phone and he made a joke about whether I was going to help or sit on my phone all-day. He asked me to sort out the bits and pieces for the next bookshelf so it was ready and I did

Trouble: Where is this going?

Avery: I finished within ten mins but then I got bored so I picked up the hammer and started tapping it on my hand

Trouble: That's not too bad

Jase: You started doing it to your head too, didn't you?

Avery: No comment.

Avery: I can't be trusted near tools

Jase: Gathered that

Avery: He won't let me help anymore so he sent me out of the room

Jase: Give me half an hour and I'll come round, we can go out for a bit. I think Carlos could use an Avery break

Avery: Oi!

Jase: Love ya *kissing face*

Jase: Megan, wanna join?

Trouble: Sure

Jase: Great, I'll pick you up on the way

Avery puts her phone down and stands back up. She looks in the mirror and frowns seeing dust all over her clothes. She walks to her closet and grabs some clothes to change into. She gets changed into an oversized sweater which she tucks into some black jeans. She pairs the outfit with some black boots and one of Jason's beanies she had "borrowed" when she lived in L.A. Once she's changed, she walks back through to Carlos and leans against the doorway. He's still working on the shelves. He looks up at her.

'What are you dressed up for?' He asks, curious.

'Jase and Megan are on their way over.' Avery tells him. 'I told them about what I did with the hammer and Jason suggested you could use an "Avery-break", so we're gonna head out.'

'Jason is right.' Carlos chuckles. 'I could use an "Avery-break", then I could get these done without worrying about you getting a hold of the tools.'

'Okay, I'm not three.' Avery laughs. 'I was bored and the hammer was there.'

'That's precisely my point. You get bored and do dumb shit. Like hit yourself in the head with a hammer or pretend to through yourself down the stairs.' Carlos raises an eyebrow.

'Blame T.K.' Avery shrugs.

'You can't blame your brother for everything.' Carlos laughs as he walks closer to her.

'You don't have any brothers or sisters, Carlos. It's what we do. We blame each other for everything.' Avery says.

'Actually,' Carlos starts, 'I do have a sibling. A sister.' Avery looks at him confused. 'You.'

'Awee.' Avery smiles, standing up straight. 'That's cute.'

'Yeah, and you drive me insane.' He chuckles as he brings her in for a hug.

'That's what sisters do.' Avery laughs as they part. 'Especially me.'

'Don't I know it.' Carlos laughs gently as he shakes his head. 'When are Jason and Megan going to be here?'

'About twenty minutes.' Avery replies. 'I'm going to go downstairs and wait for them.'

'Just let me know when you're leaving.' Carlos tells her.

'Will do.' Avery nods before walking off.

.

An hour later, Jason, Avery and Megan are in the mall. They are in one of the clothes stores since Megan needed to get some new clothes. They are at the counter and Megan is about to pay when Jason hands over his card.

'I got this.' He states, looking at Megan.

'I can pay myself. It's fine.' Megan shakes her head.

'No, I got this.' Jason insists. 'Save your money for food and shit.'

'I budget. I've set this money aside for clothes.' Megan tells him.

'Then put that money towards something you want, not something you need.' Jason raises an eyebrow. 'I got this.'

'Jason.' Megan shakes her head again.

'I got this.' Jason repeats.

'Dude, he's not going to give up.' Avery laughs.

'This is like $200 worth of clothes.' Megan says. Avery looks at Jason and he nods.

'When Jason says he's got this, he's got this.' Avery tells Megan. 'He's a trust fund kid, he can more than afford it. When we were in L.A. he would never let me pay for shit.'

'You're a trust fund kid?' Megan asks Jason surprised.

'Yeah, my dad was the CEO of his own business, and so was my mom, she's now a hot-shot lawyer.' Jason explains.

'Erm- are you guys gonna pay or-', the cashier asks them. Before Megan can do anything, Jason steps up and pays. The cashier hands Megan the bags and smiles, 'have a good day.'

'You too.' Jason smiles. The three of them walk out of the store.

'Thank you.' Megan smiles at Jason and he simply nods.

'Get used to not paying when you're with Jase.' Avery laughs.

'Can I not treat my friends?' Jason asks.

'A treat is something you have every now and then. Not all the time.' Avery raises an eyebrow. 'I remember when we first met my mom got really mad that you were buying shit for me because she thought you were grooming me or something.'

'Wait, seriously?' Megan asks.

'Yeah.' Avery nods, laughing. 'It was a big thing.'

'Anyways, where do you want to go?' Jason asks Avery and she just raises her eyebrow. 'Right,' he nods, 'to Barnes and Noble we go, and don't even think about trying to argue when I pay.'

Half an hour later, Jason, Megan and Avery are in Barnes and Noble. Avery is picking up books and handing them to Jason to carry.

'Before we carry on,' Jason starts, 'you don't already own these books do you?'

'No.' Avery shakes her head.

'I'm just checking since you do have like six copies of Addie LaRue, four copies of These Violent Delights, three copies of-'

'Okay, okay, I get it.' Avery laughs, handing him another book. 'But those extra copies are special and exclusive editions.'

'That you'll never read?' Megan questions.

'Correct.' Jason nods and Avery glares at them.

'They're pretty. That's justification enough to get them.' Avery defends herself.

'Don't most of them come in those book boxes you get?' Megan asks.

'Technically my mom gets them for her.' Jason tells Megan. 'She pays for them.'

'His mom also likes to buy me stuff.' Avery adds.

'She sees Ave as a daughter. When she found out Avery loves to read, she started paying for the book subscription boxes and refuses to stop.' Jason finishes. By now he's carrying six books.

'Does Owen and T.K. know about all this?' Megan queries.

'Yeah.' Avery nods. 'They're cool with it.' Avery takes another book from the shelf and adds it to the pile Jason is carrying.

'You're not even looking at these books, how'd you know if you'd even like them?' Jason asks his best friend.

'I knew exactly what books I wanted before we even got here.' Avery smiles.

'Of course, you did.' Jason laughs and shakes his head. 'How many books do you actually have now?'

'No comment.' Avery avoids eye contact. Fifteen minutes later, Jason is carrying a pile of 17 books that Avery had picked up to the counter.

'Back again?' The employee smiles at Avery.

'When were you in here?' Jason asks Avery.

'Avery is always in here.' The employee laughs. 'She was in here yesterday having a look around.'

'No doubt making a list of books she wanted so I could buy them for her.' Jason jokes and Avery playfully slaps him. Jason pays for the books, hands the bags to Avery and they leave the store.

.

A few hours later, Jason, Avery and Megan are returning to the Strand residence. When they walk into the house, T.K. is there since he was only doing a short shift. When he hears them walk in, he walks into the hallway with Carlos. He catches sight of the Barnes and Noble bags Avery has and she quickly hides them behind her back.

'You see nothing.' She tells them innocently.

'How many books did you buy?' T.K. asks.

'No comment.' Avery shakes her head.

'Do you really need more books?' T.K. starts to jokingly interrogate Avery.

'Always.'

'Do you own any of them already?' He queries.

'Nope.' Avery shakes her head.

'What kind of books did you buy?' T.K. questions.

'Hades porn.' Avery states, smirking before swiftly walking up the stairs and to her room with Jason and Megan following her. T.K. turns to Carlos.

'Hades porn?' Carlos laughs.

'I've learnt to not question what she reads.' T.K. shakes his head. 'The day she spoke to us about her eating disorder, she was reading on her Kindle so I decided to scare her, she hid her Kindle quite fast so I got suspicious. I tried to get the Kindle to see what she was reading but she ran away from me and I chased her. She dropped the Kindle and I managed to grab it.'

'I'm scared to ask what kinda page it was on now.' Carlos says.

'There was one quote I remember that was like "remember. In public, you're my princess, but in private, you're my whore."' (A/N: This is from Twisted Games by Ana Huang) T.K. responds. Carlos' eyes widen and his jaw drops to the floor.

'I didn't think she'd read stuff like that.' Carlos states surprised.

'She said she saw it on TikTok.' T.K. shrugs.

'T.K!' They hear Avery shout from upstairs.

'Why can't she come down like a normal person.' T.K. laughs shaking his head.

'We both know nothing about Ave is normal.' Carlos laughs.

'Tyler Kennedy!' They hear Avery shout once more.

'I am going to murder her.' T.K. mutters under his breath, joking. He walks up the stairs, to Avery's room and stands in the doorway.

'Avery Kate.' T.K. drawls. Avery looks at him.

'Hey, bro.' Avery grins.

'You bellowed, your highness?'

'Ha-ha very funny.' Avery smiles sarcastically.

'What'd you want?' He asks her.

'Oh, I was gonna ask if you could make us some food but Jase is going to order us something instead.' Avery tells him.

'And you couldn't just walk down the stairs and do that?' T.K. raises an eyebrow.

'Meh' Avery shrugs. 'Couldn't be bothered.'

'Figures.' T.K. mutters.

'Do you and Carlos want anything?' Jason looks at T.K.

'No, it's fine.' T.K. shakes his head. 'We're going out for dinner.'

'Ooooo.' Avery grins and T.K. rolls his eyes.

'Thanks anyway.' T.K. nods at Jason. 'Will you be okay whilst we're out?' He asks his sister.

'Yeah.' Avery nods. 'We'll probably just watch a movie or something.'

'Carlos finished your bookshelves today so we'll work on achoring them to the walls tomorrow and make a start on your furniture.' T.K. tells her.

'Okay.' She nods.

'Oh, and a hammer? Really?' T.K. asks her. 'You hit yourself in the head with a hammer.'

'Carlos told you, huh?' Avery laughs.

'It's not funny, Ave.' T.K. raises an eyebrow. 'You could have seriously hurt yourself.' He adds. 'I'll leave yous to it.' He then walks off.

'Busted.' Jason laughs.

'Please,' Avery laughs, 'I knew Carlos would tell him.' They're interrupted by Jason's phone rining. He looks at his phone and sees it's his mom.

'It's my mom.' He answers the call. 'Hey, mom... yeah, I'm at Ave's...no it's fine, I'm going to eat here, I was about to order something for us.' Avery leans into Jason.

'Hi Sharon!' Avery shouts down the phone.

'Yeah, Ave says hi.' Jason chuckles. He looks at Avery. 'Mom said hi.' He tells her. He turns his attention back to his phone. 'Yeah, that's fine... I'll see you later. Love you.' He hangs up. 'My mom's working late, she just wanted to check I was okay for food.' He continues. 'So, what are we ordering?' They spend the rest of the evening watching a movie and eating. When it gets to 9pm, Jason leaves with Megan.

.

The next morning, Avery is sat at the kitchen counter eating breakfast when T.K. walks in.

'Good morning.' He smiles at her.

'Morning.' Avery smiles back. 'Is dad still at work?'

'Yeah.' T.K. nods. 'I'll get breakfast and then we'll start on achoring those bookshelves, Carlos will be over later to help with the furniture.'

'Okay.' Avery nods.

'And I have some news.' T.K. sits next to her with a bowl of cereal.

'Yeah?'

'We found a place.' T.K. states. 'Carlos and myself. We're signing the lease tomorrow.'

'Ah.' Avery squeals. 'That's great.' She hugs him. 'When you moving out?'

'In a rush to get rid of me?' T.K. asks.

'In a rush to get rid your snoring.' Avery corrects him.

'I don't snore that loud!' T.K. laughs.

'I can hear you from down the hall.' Avery says. 'You and dad are the worst snorers.'

'Well, I for one can't wait to get rid of you screaming and crying over books.' T.K. remarks.

'I can't help it!' Avery defends herself. 'I'm an emotional reader.'

'Yeah, well when it's 1am in the morning and you're screaming over a plot twist, it's not fun.' T.K. says.

'When you put it like that,' Avery laughs, 'I completely understand where you're coming from.' She adds. 'I am going to miss you though.'

'Hey, we're not going to be far and you can always drop by whenever you want.' T.K. puts his arm around her shoulder and brings her in for a hug. 'And I'm always a phone call away, okay?'

'Yeah.' Avery nods. 'I love you.'

'I love you too, baby sis.' T.K. smiles, hugging her tighter.

~~~~~~~~~

A few big things are coming up and I can't wait for y'all to read what's coming next!

Remember that Megan belongs to DharmaWinter and her story, Addicted so be sure to go read that if you haven't already!

So, the booktok account I mentioned in this chapter does exist and it's my own TikTok account - thesebookdelights - so any tik-toks I post in this story are my own!

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter!

Much love