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Avery locks his gaze on the screen. Nothing meant more in the moment than now. It was a 1v1 against his best friend, Leven. His grip on the mouse tightens as he selects the fishing rod.
“You owe me a Pepsi if I win, Ave.” Leven says. Avery already knows he has that stupid grin on his face.
“That's never gonna happen dude. You suck at Skywars.” He laughs, beginning to build a path to Leven. As soon as he was close enough, Avery spam-clicked the rod. After a few clicks, he was already on the edge. Just as he was about to hit the final blow…
BOOM!
A sound that exploded as if it were a bomb could be heard from outside. The sudden noise made Avery jump, letting out a yelp and causing the camera POV to go all over the place. Leven took advantage of the situation and hit Avery off his build. Red flashed Avery’s screen with the taunting text: ‘You Died!’
“Well well well…” Leven drew out. Avery rolled his eyes.
“Bro, there was something outSIDE!” He jumped again. “Hold on man, I’m gonna check something out.” Avery took off his headset and ambled to the curtains, sliding them open and peeking outside. The booms Avery was hearing? They were fireworks. Blue and white sparkled across the night sky in powerful bursts.
“Ah…why are there fireworks??” He sat back in his gaming chair, spinning to face the desk.
“Yo Leven, are they lighting up fireworks over there? I looked out my window and all I saw were sparks.”
“Nah,” He quickly responded. “Gotta head off for today though. Night, Ave.”
“Alright, night!”
“Remember the Pepsi, dude!”
“Oh, shut up.” The call soon hung up. Avery thought to himself for a few moments. He opened the window he had Discord on, and messaged someone.
“hey der-man are there any fireworks being lit up there? i open my window and this is all i see”
**averythemayo has sent an attachment**
Not too long after, he responds.
“have you ever checked what today was, Avery? also yeah there should be a fireworks display soon. I see some people preparing for it. lemme take a picture.”
**d3rlord3 has sent an attachment**
“The date?” Avery thought out loud. He turned on his phone, and looked at the date right above the time.
‘Saturday, July 4th’
“OHH…” He said in realization. The reason Leven hasn't seen any was because he was Canadian.
“yh i get it now its the 4th of july”
“yup” Derek replied. He turned off his computer and switched to talking to d3r through his phone. Avery’s fingers were hovering over the keyboard.
“hey uh” He sent. “can we like call so we can watch each others fireworks”
“you're just scared of them and want company, huh?”
“NO” Avery paused. “okay maybe”
“hm, thought so. yeah I don't mind.”
Walking outside, Avery hesitantly looks at the call button.
“Why are you so nervous? You’ve called him before. You’ve seen his face before. That dazzling, beautiful face… oh yeah that's why.” Avery mumbled the last part to himself. He decided to gather up his courage and tapped the call button. As it rang, Avery sat on his front porch. There were minimal trees, so observing the fireworks was easy from his house. He adjusted his hair, making sure he looked his best, despite wearing a beat-up t-shirt he only wears to sleep. It took a while before Derek answered. When he did, he was sitting on the roof of his apartment complex, overlooking the bay and city.
“Hey, Derek!” Avery said, eyes beaming in excitement.
“Avery.” He responded. A small smile grew on his face, causing Avery’s face to warm up. To prevent him from noticing, he swapped the camera, showing off the bursts of color. Every color was lighting up the sky like exploding supernovae.
“Man, Florida fireworks have gotta be the best.” He sighed.
“Yeah, right.” Derek let out a chuckle.
“What do you mean ‘yeah, right’? Your Massechush… Your Boston fireworks aren't even lit up. I bet they're busy eating ‘clam chowDAH’.” Avery snapped back.
“That doesn't make any sort of sense. Also, it's Massachusetts.” Derek corrected.
“Whatever, nerd. This is why you're going to Harvard. You're like, EXTREMELY smart. I bet Beethoven is jealous of you.”
“You mean Einstein?”
“Yeahh…sorry, barely focused in history class.” Avery sighed.
“How are you even graduating highschool?”
“Who knows, man. Besides," he drew out, "there's dumber people out there.”
“Toddlers? Actually you're around the same.”
“OKAY…” Derek burst into laughter. Avery couldn't help but laugh after.
“Your laugh is the best, dude.” Avery wiped a tear from his eye, still giggling. He swapped the camera again so you can see his face. His eyes sparkled.
“Honesty, I always found your laugh to be adorable. I like hearing it.” Avery froze.
“w…wha-” He sputtered out. He quickly turned his phone around just so he could process what he was hearing.
“Are…you okay? I was just saying, you know.” Derek chuckled again, making Avery more flustered as a result.
“I’M FINE, DEREK.” He blurted out.
“Now the entire neighborhood knows you're fine, congrats.” He struggled with trying not to explode. Avery took a deep breath, and stayed silent for about a minute.
“You wanna know why I actually wanted to call you?” He broke the silence.
“Hm?”
“You already know that I’m a tiny bit scared of fireworks…and your voice grounds me in a way, so I thought ‘why not?’.” He confessed, making the camera face him.
“But I genuinely enjoy talking to you, whether it's texting, or calling. I enjoy your presence, Derek. You're an amazing person, and nothing in the world could remotely describe how grateful I am to have you. Even just looking at you makes me smile.” After he finished talking, Derek’s fireworks finally went off. His eyes were widened. Avery couldn't tell if the red on his face were from the fireworks, or if it was from fluster. His eyes were glistening.
“Oh- Wow, Avery… I never knew y…you thought of me like that.” Derek stuttered, laughing and awkwardly adjusting his red glasses.
“I thought you knew everything, nerd.” Avery was back to his old, usual self again.
“There's no way you just called me a nerd after that speech.”
“Well I did!”
“Great job, Beethoven.”
“DEREK!”