"You look like you're having a great time, I hope you caught the sarcasm," A deep voice rang in my ear. A warm shiver ran along my skin as the person's voice sent vibrations down my body. I immediately knew who it belonged to even though I hadn't heard it in a month. I turned seeing Austin standing over me with a smile on his face.
"Sorry, I'm not a partier or much of a drinker," I apologized.
"Come with me then, I have the night shift, so I have to be sober," He said before turning to walk away. About threes steps away he turned back to me "well come on."
I shrugged before walking behind him. He ended up leading me upstairs and around corners until we got to another smaller set of stairs which were steep for me to navigate since I only stood at five seven. By the time we got up then I was a bit winded.
"This is my favorite part of the station," Austin said while opening the door up. A cool breeze blew past me as we walked through the open doorway.
"It's always calming up here, where's your place. You know the place you go to get away from the chaos of everyday life," he said while walking over to a circle of plastic lawn chairs that were near the edge of the building. I could see the beautiful city around us in plain view which was amazing.
"Well it was the place you rescued me from," I said to him forlorn at the memory of my old retreat.
"That's unfortunate, so you went there a lot," He asked me as he took a seat. I walked to the other side of the circle and taking place on the cold hard plastic.
"Yeah it was my place, every work day I was there. It was the first place I went to when I moved here," I said to him. I turned and glanced over at the skyscrapers that surrounded us.
"You don't go to eat with your coworkers or friends," Austin said drawing attention back to him. He was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt with jeans that weren't super fitting but weren't baggy either.
"I'm not...social," I said in a low tone of voice but just loud enough for me to not have to repeat the sentence.
"Why not," he asked looking at me directly in the eye. He was giving me his full attention as we conversed. It was almost intimidating to have such a good looking man paying such close attention to everything I was doing. I could feel him watching my mannerisms. I felt like I was on display for him and tried to give my best performance as a normal person.
"I don't know," I answered.
"I have a personal question to ask you, and I don't want you to get offended," He said his eyes still locked on mine.
"Uh sure," I said nervously. Mentally I was geared to be defensive about anything he was going to ask me.
"When we found you, you were laying close to the door, and you had a smile on your face like you were at peace. I just want to know did you try to save yourself or were you... Content," Austin asked me with concern, he paused while speaking as if to frame his words in a way not to upset me. I just looked at him taken aback by what he just said.
"I don't know what you mean," I said to him.
"You said you wouldn't get offended."
"You just accused me of trying to die," I shot back at him while crisis g my arms over my chest.
"No, I'm asking if you're okay. You don't seem like you have any friends other than your sister and I think you have a brother. I just wanted to know...what makes you whole," He spoke in a highly concerned voice.
"I'm fine; I was too tired to save myself and laid down. That's what happened. For your information, I don't need anyone but my family to make me feel whole," I spoke aloud.
"You can't lie," he said to me making me look at him with anger.
"You don't know me," I said.
"Which should tell you how bad of a liar you are," He said while leaning back.
"You're right I don't know you, but I'd like to if you'd let me. We could both use some more friends," He continued and flashed me a smile.
"I'm good," I said and started to stand up.
"You like dogs," he said out of nowhere.
"What," I asked him standing up completely knowing my face was red and contorted.
"I'm going to volunteer at this dog shelter next weekend. I want you to join me, we'll be working so we won't be able to talk too much," Austin said getting up too.
"He'll be there," the voice of my sister with a slight slur appeared at the door.
"Chole shut up," I said annoyed wonder g how she even managed to climb up here in her state.
"Austin I'll send you his number, you should see his house he still has the stock pictures in some of the frames. Anyway, I just got an interview for tomorrow so we have to go so I can sleep this off," she said walking over to me and dragging me away from Austin who had a smile on his face as he waved.
YOU ARE READING
Living Silently
RomanceNoel has spent his life floating in the background. In foster care, he was the glue that held his little family together and in the operating room, he makes sure he's supporting the doctors. After years of feeling useless, he begins to believe that...
Carouse
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