Perfect Puzzle Pieces || A. K.

Twenty-One

This cannot be happening. Things have been too perfect for her to come and fuck them up! What if Awsten leaves me because of this? He did seem pretty terrified of the idea when Britanny first sent that tweet, God only knows how he'll react when he sees it's real. Even worse, if he does leave, it'll be my fault; Britanny is my friend, after all. Awsten would have every right to blame me for this.

No, I remind myself, Awsten wouldn't do that if his life depended on it. He cares about me too much to let one person tear us apart. And I love him too much to let him disappear. We'll get through this together like we're supposed to, like we promised all those years ago. I can only hope he's on the same page.

"So I was thinkin'," Awsten says as he walks up to me, "you and I could grab some dinner then head to my place? Or yours, wherever you wanna go." When I don't reply, his cheerful demeanor fades and he leans closer to me, putting a hand on my arm. "Lys, you alright?"

Forcing a smile, I meet his blue and green gaze and nod. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Awsten's eyes glisten with uncertainty and he softly lifts an eyebrow before straightening and walking out of Jawn's studio with me. The second we step into the hall, he locks his fingers between mine and gives my hand a gentle squeeze; he knows I'm not okay, and from the way he's being unusually silent, I can tell it's hurting him a little. Once we reach his car, we both get inside but instead of instantly starting it, he turns to face me. Oh shit, I think, he's gonna give me an Awsten Lecture, isn't he?

"Talk to me, Snowflake," he requests, voice still soft. His eyes shimmer with a slight desperation, making me realize that he thinks he did something wrong. "Please. What's going on?"

I stare at him, unable to form words. I want to tell him everything, about Britanny, about the anticipation of fans coming after him or me (or the both of us), but I'm too scared. Looking at him is hardly bearable, so instead I look down at my lap, where my hands fold over each other restlessly. "If...if I tell you," I whisper finally, forcing my voice to stay level, "then you'll do what I did; you'll disappear."

"No, I won't," Awsten reassures me, "and you know that, love." He carefully puts a hand under my chin, lifting my head so I look him in the eye. "Please, just tell me what's wrong."

Tears blurring my vision, I say, "While you were finishing up the shoot, Britanny texted me and—" I pause to choke out a sob "—and she said....she said...." The tears take over then, and I'm unable to finish.

Reaching over the console, Awsten pulls me into an embrace. "Hey, hey, hey," he soothes, running a hand through my hair, "shhh, it's okay. It's okay, Lys..."

Squeezing him for just a moment, I pull away and take my phone out from my pocket, opening my messages. Once I bring up Britanny's texts, I hold out my phone for Awsten, who hesitantly takes it from me and reads her last message. His eyes widen as they scan the screen, then he looks up at me.

"It's exactly what you were afraid of," I say, my words starting to slur together. "And she's very skilled at manipulation so chances are she told lies that she was able to convince people of and now your fans are gonna turn on you and it'll ruin—"

"That wasn't what I was afraid of," Awsten interrupts, keeping his voice gentle. Pausing for a moment, he gives the phone back to me before taking my hand and admitting, "I was afraid they were gonna take you away from me. You've told me how good Britanny is at convincing people of lies, and she is—or was, anyway—very close to you, so my fans wouldn't know any better if she lied to them or not. That's what I'm scared of, Lys. I'm scared that she told them things that make you seem like an absolute dick so they'll gang up on you. But I'm not gonna let that happen. I lost you once, and I almost lost you twice; I'll be damned if I lose you again."