the balcony ••• awsten knight

five

"That's fine. I'll take care of her," Claire assures him and he thanks her again, before heading into Sadie's room to say goodbye.

"Call me if you need anything, okay?" He plants a kiss on her head.

"I won't," Sadie replies, stubbornly, not moving a inch to even look at him.

Once again, Awsten is left to stew in his bad mood as he drives back to the party. He finds his friends quickly and is glad to know that they're ready to go.

"Where did you disappear off to?" Jawn asks.

"I needed to take Sadie home," Awsten lets out a breath, already seeming defeated, so Jawn doesn't push it any further. "Y'all ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Geoff nods, clearly growing tired.

"Wait, where's Emily?" Jawn scans their surroundings.

"Does it matter?" Awsten retorts.

"Yes," Jawn glares. "I don't know how she's getting home," he adds. "I'd feel bad leaving her here without knowing."

"Me too," Otto agrees, easily. "Oh! There she is," he points her out, swiftly waving her over.

Awsten tries to mask his eye roll as she approaches them.

"Hey," she smiles, looking to each of them, except Awsten. "Are you guys leaving now?"

"Yeah, but we didn't want to go without knowing how you're getting home," Jawn says. "Do you need a ride?" He asks, causing Awsten's head to snap towards him, shooting a death stare in his direction.

Jawn knows what he's doing, but he doesn't care. He knows that no matter how much Awsten dislikes Emily, he wouldn't leave her here with no way of getting home.

"Oh, that's really nice of you. But, you really don't have to do that," Emily dismisses the offer. "I can find a way back to—"

"If you haven't already got a ride, you can jump in with us," Awsten cuts her off, his voice sounding as flat and apathetic as it usually does when he speaks to her.

"It's fine. You don't have to—"

"I'm offering," he interrupts again, though he doesn't sound very accommodating about it.

Emily wants to be pissed off that he keeps cutting her off. It's rude and she doesn't like it. But, she can't really be mad if he's offering her a ride.

She makes sure to sit in the backseat, in between Jawn and Otto, leaving Geoff to sit in the passenger's seat.

"Can you tell me your address?" Awsten asks, only making conversation because he has to know where he's going.

Emily does as he asks, leaning forward to check that it's right as he puts it into his phone, before everyone settles in their seats and clips their seatbelts in.

"Hey, I thought you lived near the offices," Geoff queries, glancing back at Emily.

"Oh, yeah, I do," she replies. "But, I, uhm...I'm not going home," Emily says, timidly.

"Are you going to a boy's house?" Otto gasps, dramatically.

Emily laughs, hoping it'll distract from her slight embarrassment.

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Jawn wiggles his eyebrows, matching Otto's dramatic intrigue.

"I— I don't. He's, uh...He's not my boyfriend yet," Emily shrugs. "We're just dating."

"Yet," Otto points out, with a wink.

Awsten can't help rolling his eyes once again at the exchange happening around him. He thinks it's childish and that's not something that he's in the mood for right now.

"How many dates have y'all been on?" Geoff questions, curiously.

"Seven," Emily answers. "We've known each other for about two months now."

No one mentions the fact that seven dates is usually entering boyfriend-girlfriend territory; Awsten is definitely thinking about it, but he stays quiet.

"What's his name?" Otto presses.

"Jackson," she responds, chuckling at their intrigue. "He's, uhm— He's the first guy I've properly dated in a while so, it's going well."

"How do you properly date?" Awsten finally speaks up. "Is all dating not proper dating?"

There's still an odd, bitter twist to his tone that kills the enjoyment of the conversation; Emily tells herself not to be bothered by it.

"I just mean that...I had a long term relationship that ended badly. Since I started going on dates again after all of that, Jackson has been the only one to make it past a second date," she explains, earning only a curt nod in response.

Awsten is glad that the place Emily is going to isn't too far out. It's actually on the way to the B&B that they're all staying at, so he isn't so resentful about the journey in the end.

They drop her off outside of an apartment complex and she thanks everyone for being kind enough to give her a ride.

"Thanks," Emily adds, a little quieter, clearly directed at Awsten, as she hops out of the car.

It's the first time she's willingly addressed him all evening— maybe ever.

"No problem," he murmurs, just as she closes the door.

He waits until he can see that she's firmly inside before driving away.

"See, that wasn't so bad, huh?" Geoff nudges him, gently.

Awsten only shoots him a subtle glare.

"Was that part of some sort of plan to get me to like her?" He glances at his friends, before swiftly returning his focus to the road. "Because if it was, it didn't work. I still don't like her," Awsten states, firmly, but no one replies.

The conversation seems to die off at that, until Awsten resumes.

"God, she's just so rude," he groans, finding the complaints coming out of his mouth before he can even think too much about it. "Don't you think?" He puts the question to the rest of them. "Like, for the whole of the night, we barely spoke, but she was talking to y'all like she's known you for years," Awsten rants. "And, in the time that we did speak, she didn't say congratulations or— anything about the album."

"Did you honestly want her to?" Geoff counters.

"Yes," Awsten replies, quickly. "I mean, no. I don't know," he shrugs, now mumbling.

"Well, she loves the album," Jawn tells him. "If you care."

Awsten inhales and pauses for a beat before answering.

"I don't care."

***