Miscommunication

Further up the northernmost peak of Kaster Mountain, Juliet, and Avery continued to climb to the summit. And much to Juliet's chagrin, it was a quite silent climb. By no means was Avery cold or distanced from the cheerleader, he was doing something far worse in Juliet's opinion, he was acting as though she wasn't anyone special. Hell, she'd seen Avery more than enough times with Mindy, the guy had an ability to talk to girls, and he gawked enough around Nicole during school, but when he had a chance alone with her, he gave nothing? That was unacceptable as far as Juliet was concerned; something had to be wrong, and there had to be an explanation for the way he was acting. There was no way that Avery just didn't care...

Pulling up a small snowy embankment, Juliet gave pause, waiting as Avery caught up and climbed up next to her. "You doing alright? Guess Brian wasn't lying when he said this path was a little intense. Keeping up alright?" Juliet asked in as sweet of tone as she could muster,

"Yeah, all good." Avery plainly replied with a half smile, "You good?"

"Um...Yes, I'm doing --" She let out a small scoff and ran a hand over her brow,

Avery tilted his head, "You...sure? We can take a break and catch our breath. There's no race."

Juliet pursed her lips into a tight frown as she lifted her eyes back to the blonde, "Do you just not like me? Did I do something to you that I don't remember?" Her arms crossed, "Is there something you've seen me do that has given you an issue with who I am? Because, Avery, I'm quite honestly lost with you."

"What..." Avery lightly shook his head in confusion, "I'm sorry, Julie, but I don't know what you're talking about. You didn't do anything to me. And why would I be making this climb if I didn't like you? If I didn't want to be around you, I wouldn't be around you."

That response only made Juliet's irritation grow, "Then why are acting like this with me?"

"Like what?" Avery wracked his brain for anything he might have done but he had barely been saying too much to Julie this trip as is, "If I did something that upset you, I'm sorry, it was definitely by accident."

"If you did something?" Juliet echoed with a small scoff, "Avery, come on."

"Was it something that happened last night? I thought you wanted to stay up until the fire died down. I wasn't trying to make you stay out there so late with me." Avery took a shot in the dark, his eyes growing more bewildered by the second,

"Last night?! No, I'm talking about -- Ugh, just forget it all!" Juliet tossed her hands up and pushed further to the peak.

"What did I do?" Avery sighed under his breath before heading after the brunette, "Juliet, hang on, just tell me what I did, so I can apologize."

The cheerleader let out a huffing exhale, "No. Just forget it Avery, forget I said anything."

"Julie, come on, I really am sorry for whatever I did. I'm a little dumb sometimes I guess, Mindy tells me I say stuff without thinking sometimes, I don't know if that's what I did here, but I swear I didn't mean to offend." Avery continued with his apologies though his mind continued to try and play over everything that had happened from the moment he was with a very happy and laid-back Juliet to this sudden bitter and angry girl ahead of him now.

The pair grew silent once again as they continued to climb, and the silence didn't break until they finally reached the top of the summit. Rocky, snow-covered, and high enough to see both Greenwall as well as the distant Bear Mountain University and Dartwin, it was a sight to behold. Yet, what was most interesting to Avery was a simple bronze plaque affixed to a massive slab of rock. Moving over to it, the blonde wiped away the snow and read it over with a small, "Kaster Mountain, named for Captain Simon Kaster, founder of Greenwall, a true and genuine freedom fighter." He read aloud with a small exhaling laugh, "Damn...first time I actually got to see it in person." He reached for his phone, swiftly snapping a picture for himself, "So cool..."

"Yeah, and the view makes it all worth it," Juliet agreed, pushing her hands into her pockets, and making a few awkward steps toward Avery, "You know...I'm not mad at you right."

Avery slowly turned his head, "You're not?" He didn't even attempt to hide the confusion in his voice.

"No, you didn't do anything." Juliet exhaled, her cheeks thankfully already glowing red from the cold, "I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I just...I guess I'm not used to a guy like you."

"Like me?" Avery turned facing the brunette fully, "What, like the nerd, loner type?" He weakly joked.

"No, you dope," She gently nudged him with an elbow, "One who isn't interested in me." She finally admitted, "Most guys, even if they aren't trying to be so apparent about it, look at me. There are jackasses like Brian who love to flirt and beg for dates and then they're are quiet ones who just look when they think I'm not paying attention. But not you." Avery's head gave a slight tilt, "You don't really care, huh?"

"So, wait, you're telling me that the reason you started getting so upset with me is because I'm not flirting with you? Or acting utterly ****?"

Juliet swiftly diverted her gaze, "Well I wouldn't put it that way..."

"Julie, I've known you as long as I've known Kenny and we never interacted for the most part past a few hello's when we pass by each other." Avery scratched the back of his head, "Why is this suddenly a problem now?"

"Because I wasn't noticing it until now. I didn't notice until last night, sitting by that fire, I could have been anyone to you." Juliet let her head hang back, letting out a long embarrassed exhale, "I didn't expect it to bug me so much, okay?!"

Avery couldn't help as a small chortle escaped his mouth, "Kenny's my best friend, and aren't you the girl with this big rule about how your friends can't be with him? Wouldn't the same rules apply here?"

Juliet snapped her eyes back to Avery, "That's very different!"

"How?"

"It just is!" She waved the argument off with a wave of her finger, "Now will you please just accept my apology for acting weird, and then we can move on with this?"

"I...alright? I...forgive you for being upset that I wasn't flirting with you?"

Juliet tightened her fists and gave her boot a small stomp, "That's not what I was saying!"

"Pretty sure that's what it was unless I seriously misunderstood what you meant about comparing me and Brian just now." Avery gave a nonchalant shrug.

"I compared you two because you were acting like I was invisible! You barely talked to me this whole hike!"

Avery gave a small nod of agreement, "Okay, yeah, you do have me there. I'm sorry I was so quiet, I guess -- Well, I don't exactly know what to talk to you about. You're you and I'm...well, me."

All of Juliet's defensiveness faltered for a moment, "And what exactly does that mean?"

"Julie, you're cheer captain, you hang out with some of the most popular people around with your own personal clique. And I'm the guy who has pulled some all-nighters playing a game with your cousin. We don't exactly travel in similar circles; figured you wouldn't have cared one way or the other if I tried to talk."

"I'm not some heartless bitch, Avery. We could have talked. I -- There is absolutely nothing wrong with you spending more time with Kenny over going out partying. Just because we're different doesn't mean we have to forever be strangers!"

"Can you even name anything about me?" Avery asked with a raised brow,

"Not when you never talk about yourself," Juliet immediately fired back, a challenging look simmering in her eyes, "And just because you can name what stuff I do at school doesn't mean you know me either."

Avery took a few moments before giving a small nod, "That...fair. You're right. I know just as much about you as you do me." He then cleared his throat, "So, how about instead of letting this whole thing remain weird and awkward, we start over."

Juliet let out a confident smile, "I can get behind that, let's get to actually know one another."

Avery opened his mouth to speak but he flicked his eyes up, pausing before reaching out and taking Juliet's hand, "That might need to wait." He pointed over to a swirl of storming clouds growing near, "We need to get back to the lodge and quick."

"Oh shit. Quick message Brian, let him know what we see." Juliet swiftly agreed following along with Avery's tugging hand as they headed back down the slope, to attempt and outrun this incoming storm.