Today was a strange day for Avery, because he was in the odd position of feeling forced to find people to be around. When he'd first gotten here, he'd made himself emerge from his room at least once a day, but now he was feeling the need to stay out even more than that. However impossible it seemed, how implausible, he was finding it to be true: whenever he was around anyone else, he didn't feel horribly sick and cold. Cold didn't even adequately describe what it felt like when he was alone and trying to take hot showers or bundle up in covers to get warm and finding those measures didn't even come close to helping.
Now that he was by himself again, he was yet again acutely uncomfortable. Avery almost wished he knew anyone here well enough that he could just ask if he could stay in their vicinity for hours at a stretch, but he didn't, so he was out of luck on that count. He'd have to hope he could find someone else to talk to, someone who'd put up with his awkward attempts at conversation.
As he was passing through the foyer, trying to figure out where he should go to find people, he noticed that someone was coming down the stairs. The girl looked a little scary, not anyone he would have tried to talk to ordinarily, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Once she'd gotten to the bottom of the steps, he said, "Hi," realizing with relief that with the presence of another person, hey presto, the excruciating cold was gone.