unbreakable heaven • awsten knight

1.2 have we met?

houston, tx
august, 2008

"Come on, man, lighten up!" Zakk shakes Awsten shoulders, wearing a grin.

"Yeah, it's a back to school party!" Dean cheers in agreement.

"Mhm, because parties are my favourite," Awsten glares, as Zakk continues to guide him up to the house. "Especially with illegal drinking and obnoxious sixteen year olds."

"I think you're forgetting that you are also an obnoxious sixteen year old," Jawn chimes in, raising his eyebrows.

"Whatever, this is stupid," Awsten rolls his eyes. "Why are we celebrating going back to school?"

"It's not celebrating going back to school," Dean retorts. "It's more of a, 'lets actually have fun before we have to go back to that hell hole', kind of vibe," he explains, with a shrug.

"Just stop finding excuses to ruin the mood!" Zakk groans, beginning to walk ahead of him now. "I need this. Come find me when you wanna be fun," he adds, shooting him a smile, before wandering off into the party with Dean.

"Just try to have a good time," Jawn nudges Awsten, with a more sympathetic approach, and he lets out a sigh in response.

Once they're inside, Jawn finds his girlfriend, which leaves Awsten by himself, just as he'd predicted; though, it happened much more quickly than he'd initially thought.

There's a lot more people than Awsten expected, as he notices that it's clearly not just students from his own school here; he doesn't recognise half of the faces he's seeing around him.

He spends almost half an hour, wandering around by himself, attempting to weave his way through sweaty teenagers to reach the kitchen.

Eventually, he does, and the heat of the room almost makes it feel like it's closing in on him, so he makes a b-line for the fridge, hoping to find some water.

"Awsten!" Zakk calls his name, waving to catch his attention.

He turns around to spot Zakk pulling a girl along with him; he can't see her face, because her head is down, and she's trying to dodge all of the people that Zakk is leading her through.

"I've been looking for you everywhere!" Zakk shouts, out of breath, trying to be heard over the blaring music.

"Well, I'm here," Awsten shrugs, before the girl steps out from behind someone.

"Fucking hell, do people here not know what personal space is?" Her thick, English accent, seeps through an irritated tone, as she brushes her shoulder down, where someone had barged past her.

She looks up, her eyes scanning over Awsten's figure; her head tilts to the side, as she watches his eyebrows dip together.

The second their gazes lock, it's almost as if his eyes whisper to her— have we met?

"Ellie, this is—"

"Awsten?" She cuts Zakk off, with wide eyes.

"Ellie?" Awsten gawks back, the familiarity clicking for both of them now.

"Oh my god, hi," Ellie grins, and Awsten's jaw drops.

"What the fuck? You're actually—"

"Hang on," Zakk interrupts Awsten abruptly, looking between the two of them. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah, man! She's the girl from camp that I didn't stop—" Awsten talks loudly, and excitedly, before he realised what he's saying, and drops his tone a little, "I didn't stop talking about.." he mumbles, sheepishly, and Ellie blushes.