Time Will Tell | ✔

Chapter 16 - The Truth Sometimes Hurts The Most

time will tell

Anxiety.

Every single muscle in my body felt extremely tight. My brain was screaming at me to go back home before it was too late, but my legs didn't want to move. I felt paralyzed. A lot of different thoughts were racing through my mind like crazy and each one drove me mad. He was going to be here any minute. I'd have to actually face him right now. There was no going back anymore.

I had no idea what I was expecting - or perhaps who I was expecting. My heart rate was accelerating each passing second and I had to grab my chest very tight to make it stop somehow. This felt like some sort of nightmare I couldn't escape from and I prayed to be woken up again. This situation felt overwhelming and I hated this feeling. The feeling of the unknown. The feeling of not knowing what to expect. The feeling of anxiety and fear.

My limbs tingled while my lungs were running out of breath as I kept walking back and forth in the diner Baldwin and Austin decided to meet. Although I briefly remembered what he looked like, I had no idea whether I could recognize or identify him, but the actual question was: did I even want to? No. I wanted to run back to my doorm, lock myself in there and do what I can do best: blame myself. I didn't want to encounter him, I really didn't. Why did he even agree to meet me? What does he want from me? How much does he actually know about me?

While my thoughts were driving me insane, I noticed that this place wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. A few people were staring at me and shooting some weird glances my way since I was probably looking like a maniac to them due to my weird behavior, which caused me to sit down on one of the many empty seats right by the wall in the far corner. I couldn't stop tapping my right foot against the wooden floor though which was making a rather loud noise.

I took a short glance at my watch and back up to the door made of glass. He was twenty-two minutes late. I made a deal with myself: If he won't be here in less than a minute, I will get up and leave this place, but to my despair, the door swung open when I reached twenty-eight seconds.

A rather tall blond guy with a backpack rushed through the door and seemed to be out of breath once he came to a halt. He wasn't very muscular but still lean and fit. He had a thin face with a stern expression and a smooth, silky skin. His clothes didn't seem average but rather "rich", expensive and vintage. He drove a hand through his ash blond hair, which was neatly combed but his squiff still managed to look very untamed somehow.

His cheekbones were very present and he licked his lips as he pushed his eyebrows together while roaming around the room - until he spotted me. I probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights but I could definitely tell that he wasn't sure whether I was the person he was looking for since we both had never seen each other before.

It was him though, I could tell. What am I suppossed to do now? Wave at him? Walk towards him and introduce myself? Or should I just remain seated and ignore him? I was completely overhelmed and confused. Fear crept its way into my brain again and I closed my eyes to escape from this cruel reality.

Man up now! Stop being scared and go confront him. Stop acting like a scared little boy, you're stronger than you think, my subconscious added and I took a deep breath in before I re-opened my eyes and gathered enough strength to finally put my hand up to signalize that I was indeed the person he agreed to meet with. His eyes were roaming around the room for a second time and when they finally landed on mine for a brief moment, we just stared at each other for a while until he nodded.

I raised myself from my seat very slowly as he took long strides towards my table. "Uh hey," he greeted, taking his bag off of his shoulders and placing it onto the floor underneath the table. "I'm Austin."