Car Crash {Post Malone}

Fourteen

Austin walked up to the door with the bagels in one hand and the coffee in another.

He pushed the door to the building where the radio interview was going to take place with his back and let Bailey walk through the door in front of him.

"Bailey," Dre said as he stood up off of the couch, "I didn't know you would be joining us."

He seemed happy to see the girl and even happier to see Austin smiling again so soon after his breakup.

"I invited her," Austin said quickly as he handed the coffee to Bailey to have until they had to move again, "I hope you don't mind."

Dre shook his head, "Not at all, man."

Dre could see what Austin liked about Bailey, even just as a friend.

She had a thick southern accent and a strong sense of self that reminded Dre of Austin and Austin of home.

"We're not late, are we," Bailey asked.

"No, you're good," Dre said.

"When do we head in," Austin asked.

Dre looked at the time on his phone, "They should be coming off the air in a minute or so then we go in during the commercial break and get set up."

Austin nodded along, knowing what to do and having done it twice already.

Bailey on the other hand was rocking back and forth on her crutches as she sipped her iced drink, taking in what was going on around her.

"Just remember," Dre said, "they're here to get a rise out of you but you need to just focus on the album and music."

Austin nodded, "Got it."

"Wait," Bailey said curiously, "if this isn't going to be a serious interview, why go?"

"It's good publicity," Dre responded, "I was against the interview personally, but the label said that since they reached out again we need to come back."

"That sucks," Bailey said.

"It'll be alright," Austin said and smiled down at Bailey to reassure her. 

"Time to go in," Dre said as the door to the room got pushed open. 

"We'll be right there," Austin said as he grabbed the coffee cup from Bailey. 

She smiled and followed him into the room.

"Post, it's good to see you again," one of the interviewers said. 

"Thanks man, you too," Austin said and set everything down on the table. 

He walked over and pulled a chair up to the table for Bailey and helped her sit down before putting her crutches in a corner of the room, out of the way. 

Austin then sat down and pulled Bailey's broken leg into his lap once he noticed the look of discomfort on her face. 

"Who's this," the second interviewer asked. 

"I'm Bailey," the girl said, "don't worry, I'll be quiet and let y'all do what y'all do." 

Austin smiled and passed her the bagel and the rest of her coffee. 

"Alright, we're live in thirty seconds," a tech person said and turned on Austin's microphone.

Bailey pulled her phone out of her pocket and noticed that Carter had texted her. 

"You good," Austin asked as the timer counted down until they were live.

Bailey nodded, "Yeah, just talking to Carter. He's at lunch right now."

Austin smiled before the red light turned on and the interview started.

"So, we're back here with Post Malone," the main radio host said. 

"Thanks for having me back," Austin said. 

"How are you doing Post," the host asked.

"I'm good," Austin smiled, "you know, just keeping on going and staying busy."

"So, tell me about your new album," the host said, "how close to being done is it?" 

Austin leaned into the microphone, "It's getting there. I've had to push some of it back to deal with some personal stuff but I've got about half of it done." 

"What do you mean personal stuff," the other interviewer asked and as he did Bailey noticed Dre shift in his seat. 

She pulled up her text messages and started a new conversation with Dre to ask what was wrong. She was thankful that Austin made her add all of his team's contact information to his phone. 

A few seconds later his response came through, "Personal topics didn't go so well last time." 

Zoning back into the interview, Bailey heard the next question asked of Austin.

"Is this delay about your ex-girlfriend?"

Austin shook his head, "It's not. There was an emergency back home I had to deal with."

"How long has it been since you broke up?" 

"A couple months."

"Does she know you've already found a replacement?" 

Austin glanced over to Bailey who subtly rolled her eyes at the comment.

"Bailey's a family friend," Austin responded.

"Oh, did you two go to high school together," the main host asked.

"No," Austin said quickly, "we both are from Grapevine but we went to rival schools."

However, the interviewer didn't care about how Bailey and Austin knew each other.

"She seems a little preoccupied," the interviewer commented.

"She's not the one being interviewed," Austin responded quickly. 

"Who are you texting," he asked.

Bailey raised an eyebrow and looked to Austin who tried to non-verbally express that he was sorry that she was getting dragged into this.

"I'm texting my brother," Bailey responded as she set her phone down on the table.

"Your brother?" 

"Yes sir," she said, "he's at lunch break right now and I'm just checking in."

"That's nice," the interviewer said and turned his attention back to Austin, "so did you invite Bailey to come out to California with you from Texas?" 

"I did," Austin said.

"So you claim not to be dating but you invite her to live with you in a different state?"

The interviewer sounded very skeptical and Austin sighed.

"There's more to the story that just that," he tried to explain.

"You know," he said addressing Bailey, "a man's only as loyal as his options." 

Bailey sat up in her chair, "Darlin' a man is loyal to their partner no matter what, boys on the other hand are only as good as their options."