You Took A Part Of Me (Cashby)

Chapter Seven

Austin was gone for a while. With that alone time, I decided to whip out the guitar for a while. I didn't have my amps like at home, but it still produced a decent sound without them.

After thinking a bit about what I wanted to play, I flipped through my phone to find something. I had a few days' worth of music, so I'd surely find something. I finally settled on "Welcome To The Jungle" by Guns N' Roses. I guess it's just one of those...songs.

After playing through the intro, I found myself singing along in an obnoxious Axl Rose voice. Not my best idea, I will admit.

"WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, WE GOT FUN AND GAMES! WE GOT EVERYTHING YOU WANT, HONEY WE KNOW THE NAME! WE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT CAN FIND WHATEVER YOU MAY NEED! IF YOU GOT NO MONEY, HONEY, WE GOT YOUR DISEASE! IN THE JUNGLE, WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE! GONNA BRING YOU TO YOUR—"

"N-N-N-N-N-N-KNEES, KNEES!" Austin screeched as he bursted in through the door. My face was probably redder than my hair at that moment. Austin, of course, was almost doubled over in laughter as he came in and shut the door behind him. This ended in him falling over on his bed and continuing his hysterics.

"Oh my god," he choked out, barely able to breathe. "I never knew you were actually Axl Rose!"

"Oh, shut the fuck up," I said as I put my guitar away.

"Fine, then I guess I won't tell you what I was going to say," he fake-pouted.

I sighed. "Proceed."

"Come with me," he said, getting up and grabbing me by the arm. He practically dragged me out of the building.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see," he smirked. He was up to something, I knew it.

We walked for a while, which I had definitely had enough of in the past two days. I was really curious as to where we were headed.

"Austin, what the hell is going on?" I whined.

"Shh. You'll see," he said again. He laced his fingers through mine, causing me to tense up a little, but I relaxed and found it kind of nice. He was holding my hand. I took back what I said about him not having any hope, because maybe he actually did.

I noticed that we were headed in the direction of the sports fields. What was he doing back there? It didn't make any sense at all.

"Are we even allowed to be back here?" I questioned nervously.

"Probably not. But do you see any fucks to be given?" He waved his free hand around in the air.

"Yes, I see mine! I'm not getting in trouble in my first week of college!" I whisper-yelled, as if someone would hear us.

"Wow, your fucks do a really good job of hiding because I can't see them anywhere!" He joked. "Now quit being so afraid of the world and come on."

I sighed as he dragged me across the track and football field, stopping at a thin strip of brush and trees. I could see a little bit behind it. It looked like some kind of stone staircase.

Austin pushed back some of the brush and motioned for me to step through. Once I did, he came in behind me and I gawked at the sight. It was amazing. There was a platform type thing made with dirt and stones, two benches and a boulder sitting on top of it. Two stone staircases went up in both directions and led to a different part of the brush. There were some wildflowers and some birds and the whole damn fluffy nature bit. But it was pretty nice back there.

"Welcome to the Vietnam War Memorial," Austin said with a smile.

"How did you even find this?" I asked in shock.

"Went exploring earlier. Came in through the opposite way and stumbled upon this little setup. Pretty, isn't it?" He explained.

"It's gorgeous," I agreed. My legs seemed to force me up one of the sets of stairs so that I could climb up on the platform and sit down. Austin followed closely behind and we plopped down on a bench.

"So, why did you even take me here?" I inquired, gandering around at the surroundings.

"Because I figured it would be a nice spot to discuss things," he responded.

"Discuss things like what?"

"Well, that's what I'm getting to."

"Okay...please go on."

"Well, I kinda wanted to explain to you why I'm always a dick," he said, looking at the ground. "I know I'm a horrible person and all, but I don't want to be. It happened after my mom died. I was at work and I got a call from my grandma. She was crying and saying something about my mom, so we went to the hospital to see what happened. When we got there, they were pulling mom out of an ambulance and that was the last fucking time I saw her. I didn't know what to do with myself. It felt like I literally had no emotions anymore. So I shut everyone out, blocked myself out from any type of feelings, and started acting like an ass to everyone. It made me feel like I had power. Soon, it became second nature and the habit stuck. I didn't have any friends anymore. I thought I'd be alone forever. But then I came across you and I knew something was different, so I tried to make myself stop the whole asshole act. It obviously didn't work. I know you probably don't feel the same way because of how I acted and you're all about morals and how we only just met and such, but I really want you to be mine one day. Okay? This is the first time I've ever let someone in my life since I was sixteen. You know that says something. You may not understand it now, but I really really do like you. You're my Ginger Prince."

By the time he ended his little speech, I was almost in tears. I never knew he had been through all that and it made me feel worse about the comment I made that caused our argument. The only reaction I could think of was to pull him into a tight hug and keep him there for a while.

"Austin, you can be my Romeo any day," I murmured in his ear. I expected him to flip out knowing I had accepted him, but I was wrong.

"At least we've established that I'm the man in the relationship," he giggled. I hit him on the shoulder and started laughing a little. Finally, I pulled back from the hug and looked at him.

"But in all seriousness, what does this mean for us now?" He asked.

"I don't know," I answered. "I just don't want to rush this. No relationship yet, we need to wait things out and see how they go. You know?"

"Yeah," he said with a hint of disappointment.

"However, I am still entitled to doing this," I said, leaning in to kiss him.

"I like that idea," he smiled, and so we were left in our little hideout to be "just friends."