Badass Bloggettes: Better by S. Walden ~ Interview with Avery & Blog Tour

Their relationship has been exposed, and now their lives are changed forever.

For Cadence Miller, the fast track to adulthood proves intimidating and frustrating. She’s a little girl lost—abandoned by her parents and uncertain of her future. She doesn’t think she “fits” anywhere. She’s eighteen. She wants to be older. And the result is both comical and heartbreaking.

Mark Connelly will do anything to provide Cadence a stable, loving home—to be her protector. But he’s just as broken and lost, and his heart won’t let go of his past so easily. He knows he must share his secret with Cadence. And he hopes his revelation won't tear them apart. He hopes it will draw them closer, and make their love better.

I was given the unique opportunity to sit down with the one and only Avery, Cadence Miller's best friend. I've got to say I was a little nervous, she is quite the personality. After sitting down and getting to know her a little better, though, I've got to say she is really very wonderful! (And, as we already knew, that girl is hilarious!)

Sarah: Avery, I’m going to be honest with you: You’re one of the most selfish people I’ve ever met.

Avery: Why, thank you.

S: Ummm, you’re welcome? *shakes head* Anyway, your selfishness made for good reading, but wasn’t there ever a time you felt badly about it? I mean, look at how things turned out for you and Cadence.
A: Okay. I get what you’re saying. Had I not convinced Cadence to go along with my “Freedom Over Friendship” plan, then she probably wouldn’t have had the guts to get involved with Mark. We all know what happened when they were found out. My relationship with Gavin would have never been discovered. Yeah, there were a lot of consequences because I wanted to get me some booty, but I also have to look at the outcome to all this drama: Cadence and Mark are together and in a really good place. I’m in a fantastic place with Dylan. It worked out. Yes, some bad shit happened, but the important thing is that everything worked out.

S: Um, your best friend’s dad punched her in the eye.

A: Like I said, it worked out. Eventually.

S: *smirks* Did you think you’d actually become genuine friends with Cadence?
A: I’m not sure. I guess I hoped for it because everyone needs a friend, right? I liked her pretty much immediately. She’s so different from me, so I guess that old adage is true: Opposites attract. I thought maybe we could complement one another: I could shake her up, and she could calm me down.

S: And how is your friendship now?
A: Well, we’re best friends. Like, fiercely loyal to each other. I’d do anything for that girl. I know she feels the same. We went through so much together, and two people don’t go through the shit we did and not come out closer. Know what I mean?

S: I do.

A: So yeah. We’re tight. I said a long time ago that I imagined us raising our kids together. Well, I decided not to have kids after watching her with Elizabeth. God, she was such a whiny baby! But now that her kids are teenagers, they’re kind of cool to hang with. They’re staying with me next week when Mark and Cadence go away for their anniversary.

S: Speaking of anniversaries, you have one coming up with Dylan.

A: Yep. Who saw that coming, right? I’m not saying that losing Gavin wasn’t really painful because it totally was. And I know there are people out there who probably thought I’d lost my mind by making the decision to live with my parents and under their rules. But I’m no idiot. I knew I couldn’t support myself, and to tell you the truth, my parents’ discovery of my relationship with Gavin really shined a light on that guy anyway. He wasn’t good for me. I just didn’t see it at the time. Definitely not the guy I needed to spend the rest of my life with. He was just a side note. Dylan? Well, he’s a completely different story. He was the guy I was meant to be with. And you’ve no idea how happy I was to play cards with him that night at Mark and Cadence’s.

S: How is your relationship with your parents?

A: Eh.

S: Care to elaborate?
A: Not nonexistent like Cadence’s relationship with her parents. I mean, we’re civil to each other. But something was lost when I moved in with Dylan, and I’ve come to terms with it. I had to or else I’d live in this constant, dull pain, you know? And I refuse to live like that. They can disagree with my choices. That’s their right. Just as it’s my right to disagree with theirs.

S: If you had it all to do over, would you have scrapped your “Freedom Over Friendship” plan?

A: Hmm. Great question. I think I’d have to say no. And here’s why: I wouldn’t have become best friends with Cadence. I wouldn’t have learned to stand on my own. I wouldn’t have met my husband. Yes, people want storybook lives where families get along and everyone’s happy all the time and nothing bad ever happens. But lives like that don’t exist. And if you’re living one of those, nobody likes you anyway. My point? Life hurts. People hurt. People make good and bad decisions. Not all my decisions were good. However, life is a learning process, and I have grown from all my decisions. I met wonderful, life-long friends. I’m in a stellar relationship. I wouldn’t trade those things for a trillion bazillion bucks.

S: Would you be interested in sharing your story with the world?

A: I have. Read Good and Better.

S: *laughs* No no. I mean from your point of view. Your story.
A: Oh God. Really? I’m not sure people could handle me.

S: I think people would love to know more about you.

A: Hmm. I’ll think about it.

S: What’s in your future?
A: Love. Sex. Friends. Booze. God.

S: That’s a peculiar list.

A: That’s my life.

S: Did you intend to put “God” after “booze”?
A: Ha ha! Priorities, right? Kidding aside, that list oughta be reordered: God. Love. Sex. Friends. Booze.

S: Thanks for sitting down with me, Avery. I hope you decide to give your story the green light. I’d love to read it.
A: Thanks!

S: Tell Dylan I said hello.

A: Will do.

S: Take care of yourself.
A: Always.

Mark sat in his car staring through the windshield. Any minute now, Cadence, dressed in graduation robe and cap, would round the corner with her brother and Fanny. All he wanted was to see her smile.

He knew her parents didn’t show up. They made their intentions clear three nights ago when Cadence called home to speak to her mother. After she hung up, she told Mark she didn’t care that they refused to attend, but he awoke later that night to the sounds of her soft cries. She was curled up lying close to the edge of the bed, far away from him. He reached out to touch her, then stopped. Something told him not to, that it’d be disastrous if he tried to comfort her. So he left her alone. The next morning she was bright and cheery and as fake as he’d ever seen her.

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Please smile. Please smile. Please smile.”

He thought back to the first time he saw her really smile. She grinned at him on the side of Highway 28, but it wasn’t until she sat on a metal bench in the bus parking lot on the first day of school that he saw a real smile. She giggled about the names she’d been calling him, revealing pretty teeth with one imperfection. She had a calcium deposit on her eye tooth. Yeah, he’d noticed. And he recalled feeling like a total creep for liking it so much.

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S. Walden used to teach English before making the best decision of her life by becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Georgia with her very supportive husband who prefers physics textbooks over fiction and has a difficult time understanding why her characters must have personality flaws. She is wary of small children, so she has a Westie instead. Her dreams include raising chickens and owning and operating a beachside inn on the Gulf Coast (chickens included). When she's not writing, she's thinking about it.

She loves her fans and loves to hear from them. Email her at swaldenauthor@hotmail.com and follow her blog athttp://swaldenauthor.blogspot.com where you can get up-to-date information on her current projects.