Forever

Chapter 6

I was walking to my locker when I met with Austin.

"Hey!" I greeted.

"Hey!" "What's that?" He immediately noticed the slip of paper that was still in my hand.

"Oh, it's nothing." I answered, trying to hide the paper, but not very well.

"Oh, come on! Show me." He laughed, maneuvering around me to get it. He read what was on it. "Let's go! You got someone's number!" He congratulated me.

I chuckled. "Thanks!"

"So who is it?" He asked.

I paused with a suspicious smile on my face. "Maybe you have to guess."

Austin guessed many names, none of which was correct. "Thomas Richardson?"

"No!" I answer surprised.

He took a second to think. "Um, Nick Lincon?"

I look away blushing and smile. "Yeah, and he might've asked me out." I turn back to Austin immediately to see him smiling and giggling. "What?"

"Nothing! I'm just happy for you." He jokingly defended. "So what did you say?" He waited anxiously. "Did you say yes?"

"No." I hesitate.

"What why?"

"But," I interrupted. "I didn't say no." He looked confused. "So what did you tell him?

"I said I'll think about it," I admitted.

"But don't you want a boyfriend?" He seemed confused, which is understandable. I have been talking to him about wanting to be with someone, and hearing that i turned down something that could've been amazing.

"I don't know, Austin. I mean, yeah I do, but I heard," I hesitated again, "things about him. Things that I don't know I want to get involved with."

"What things?"

"He is the party type, and you know how I feel about that."

"Then just don't party with him."

"Why are you wanting me to say yes so badly?" I questioned, chuckling.

"Because," he said, "this is what you have been wanting for a while, and I want you to be happy."

I blushed. Of course Austin answered with that. That's all he wants, and I think that is really sweet.

"But I also heard that he is a player and I don't know what I would do if he did that to me." I surrendered my tough act, knowing he was going to make me crack one way or another.

"Ah, so that's what it is." I nodded. "Don't worry about that. If, and that is a big if, he does do that, I'm here, and he would be gone."

I smiled. " You really want me to say yes, don't you?"

"Honestly, yeah. Plus, wouldn't double dates be so fun?" He joked.

"Okay, fine." I gave in. I felt the butterflies grow as I comprehended that I was about to have a boyfriend.

Austin hugged me and we jokingly shoved each other down the halls.

The next day was a fairly cold one, so I grabbed one of Austin's hoodies while I was waiting for him to finish getting ready. I sat down on his bed and was about to text Nick my answer, but decided that it would just be better to tell him in person.

15 minutes later, Austin gets out of his bathroom that is adjacent to his bedroom. "Finally, bro! You took forever. We apparently have to pick up Scarlett also so hurry up, we can't be late," I teased.

"We do? When did you hear that?" Austin questioned, referring to when I said we needed to pick up Scarlett.

"Oh, she texted you when you were in the shower." I replied. "Oh okay."

Austin got dressed, packed up his school things, then we headed out the door.

On the drive to Scarlett's house, Austin stopped at a red light, then turned to me. "So, did the single community lose another citizen?"

I laughed. "No, I haven't told him yet."

"Why?"

"I was going to this morning, but I thought about it and I decided that it would just be better if I told him in person."

Austin nodded, glanced to the road and noticed the red light turning green, then sped ahead. I turned away and looked out my window and thought how it would be like to actually have a boyfriend. I mean, I only dreamed about it and saw it on TV, I never thought it would actually happen, at least right now.

The car pulled into Scarlett's driveway and parked. I got into the habit of moving to the backseat to let Austin be with her. I unbuckled my seatbelt and put my hand on the car door handle when Austin stopped me. I turned to him questioningly. "What? I don't want to start anything else with her, so I'm just going to move to the back again," I said.

"Why don't you just stay up here? You called that seat anyway, so just stay." He offered with a slight glimmer in his eye, but turned away, as if he was hiding something. I agreed, smiling, then looked down on my phone and looked through Instagram.

A couple moments passed when I heard a knock on my window. I rolled it down and Scarlett had an expecting look in her eye.

"Sorry, Peppa but this seat is taken," she snarked.

"Yeah, by me."

"Who's Peppa?" Austin chimed in. I gave him the I'll-tell-you-later look and he nodded. "Again, the backseats are totally free," I reminded her, laughing.

She scoffed, opened the car door and plopped down in the seat.

On the drive to school, the car was silent like usual, and my mind drifted to how I was going to tell Nick yes. I thought of a million different ways with all kinds of scenarios but got they interrupted when I noticed the car was parked and the car was empty. He left me? I thought. I looked at the time and noticed there were 2 minutes before school started. Ugh, no wonder! I hurriedly threw my backpack over my shoulder than ran to my locker to grab my textbook and head to class.

I haven't really talked to Austin at all today, but that was fine because he was hanging out with his girlfriend and I had to worry about how I was going to approach Nick. While I was absentmindedly walking to 4th period, I got shoved with a large amount of force, ending with me on the ground and a hurt right wrist from trying to catch myself. "Ouch," I accidentally said out loud. I turned around and saw a group of senior boys sprinting through the halls. Of course it was them, I thought. I felt a hand on my shoulder, thinking it was Austin, but it was Nick. "Ugh, sorry about them." He apologized, helping me up by grabbing my right arm and lifting me up. I winced and pulled away, and he immediately pulled away. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," he guiltily apologized. "It's okay. It's not you, It's me. I tried catching myself when I fell and must've put too much weight on it. I'm fine," I shyly reassured him. "Oh okay that's good. Well, did you make a decision?" I hesitated. "Yes, I did," I said. He waited patiently but apprehensively. "Yes, I will be your girlfriend." His face immediately lit up. He smiled from ear to ear and hugged me. "Oh my gosh yes! Thank you!" "Haha of course!" I replied, hugging him back.