Library Afternoons & Midnight Parties - Completed.

15.

Austin

They both stared in silence at the campus spreading out in front of them.

'Turn around, there's still time to drive back before it gets dark,' Alan then said. Austin chuckled and shook his head.

'No. We can't.' Alan sighed deeply and looked at Austin with an almost sad face. It had taken them over four hours and one pause to get back to college, and although Austin had driven as slow as he could just to be able to stretch time and be with Alan a bit longer, they had finally arrived.

It was already late in the afternoon; they'd had one last extensive breakfast with his father this morning, and they had been out for dinner last night. Alan had insisted on paying for dinner as a thank you to Perry for letting him stay with them, and he had paid with the last money he had. They'd had a lot of fun, and until an hour ago they had been laughing and joking and talking like they had no care in the world, until they hit the high way back to college and mostly Alan's carefree vibe faltered.

It was as if the past week had almost been a dream; a good dream that had changed Austin, and even Alan. But now that dream was over and the hard reality of being back to college hit them right in the face.

Austin stretched his fingers, flinching a bit when the sore, bruised ones from hitting Dylan hurt. They felt stiff, especially from holding the steering wheel for a for hours straight.

'Come on, let's go,' he then said, opening the door and getting out. Alan followed his example and they quietly took their bags from the backseat before walking into campus. It was a lot more crowded then before they left; everyone was slowly starting to come back since most classes started tomorrow again.

Austin sighed and tried to block out the loud screaming of some girls that obviously had missed each other in the past week.

'God, so dramatic,' Alan muttered. Austin chuckled, wishing they were back in the woods with no one around them. His head already couldn't cope with the noises again. They walked up to their dorms, both stopping when their ways split up because Austin's building was on the right and Alan's on the left.

'Well...,' Austin started without knowing what more to say. It felt so weird to be standing here with Alan, surrounded with people who had no clue what had been between them in the past week.

'Thanks,' Alan said, looking up at him. Austin clenched his teeth a bit at the sight of how the sunlight hit Alan's eyes just right to make them that tint of greenish brown that he loved so much. It was frustrating to think about how gorgeous Alan – his boyfriend­ – actually was without being able to even touch him right now. 'I had an amazing week with you, Austin.' He smirked a bit, and Austin immediately knew what Alan was thinking about. Austin's cheeks flushed and he let out a small nervous laugh. Alan laughed, for the first time in a few hours again.

'I eh – Thank you too,' Austin muttered, rubbing his arm in awkwardness. Why was it that he suddenly was so nervous around Alan again? Was it the environment? 'I loved having you around.' He really, really wanted to kiss Alan right now, but he didn't feel comfortable enough with all these strangers around, and he knew Alan felt the same way.

'I'll see you around, okay?,' Alan said, hoisting his bag a bit higher. Austin nodded. Alan smiled and waved, then turned around and walked into his building. Austin looked after him, trying to ignore the little pang in his heart for having to say goodbye to Alan like this before he walked up to his own dorm.

He frowned when he heard some guitar playing coming from the half open door of his room and smiled widely when he opened it and saw Vic sitting on his bed, playing the instrument. Vic looked up and put the guitar aside.