Austin's POV
I ran my hands up her back, still trying to close every possible space between us as we slowly but extremely passionately kissed each other. I was enjoying every minute of our moment together, but the kiss felt different. It felt as if she was afraid that I was going to leave her at any minute, almost as if every part of her body was memorizing how we were in this moment. I pulled away from the kiss, her head shaking back and forth slowly as she gently grabbed the side of my face, pressing her lips back against mine "no baby, don't stop" she said.
I opened my eyes slowly, to see tears coming out of her eyes as she kept kissing me. My hand coming up and running over her cheeks as her emotions caught up with her as she started sobbing against me, her carefree happy demeanor from just moments ago evaporating like the water from the dock on a warm sunny day. She pulled her head away from mine as she rested it on my shoulder, her arms wrapping around my neck as she sobbed.
"Charlie, baby" I said, hesitating on my next words not wanting to seem overly pushy with getting her to tell me what was wrong with her, but from knowing her as long as I did I knew it was something that was killing her inside. I decided against asking, realizing that being here for her was the one and only thing she needed right now. I let her cry on me for several minutes, placing small kisses against her head, my hand running slowly up and down her back. My outside coming off as strong and comforting for her, but my insides breaking as I couldn't help but wonder what was killing her.
Realizing that we could be sitting here the entirety of the night--not that I would mind I would be with her wherever for however long we needed--I placed one last kiss on her hair before starting to pull her up to a sitting position on my lap, but suddenly feeling like it was a bad idea. I looked at her face and my heart broke with so much pain. "Charlie, baby please talk to me" I said with a pleading glance as I ran my palms across her cheeks wiping up the tears that flooded them.
"Can we please just go" she asked sadly, pushing herself off of me as she walked into the boathouse. I sat forward in my chair, my forearms resting on my thighs as I hung my head low wondering what the hell was wrong with her.
"Is she okay?" I heard Casey's voice say quietly as she walked out next to me, her hand rubbing up and down my back slowly as she bent down next to me. I shrugged my shoulders, bringing my hands up and put them on the sides of my head as I shook it slowly, feeling like tears were going to fall out of my eyes at any minute as well. Taking a deep breath I sat myself up and looked at her.
"Honestly? I don't even know because she won't even tell me what is wrong. She was really happy one minute and then the next we were kissing as she just started crying. It was almost like she was afraid this was going to be the last time we would be together" I said as I looked over at Casey, her eyes looking at mine with deep concern boiling behind them.
"Austin" she said quietly, hearing my actual name come off of her lips meant one of two things. I was either doing something stupid and she was trying to talk some sense into me or she was trying to prepare me for bad news. Quickly dismissing the first option since I knew for a fact I hadn't done anything stupid, I swallowed hard as I looked at her.
"Why don't I like where this is going?" I asked her, letting out a small laugh as a plethora of thoughts started racing through my head starting with Charlie told her that she indeed didn't want to go back to LA with me all the way down the ladder of possibilities stopping with there was something physically wrong with her that she was afraid to tell me about. "Casey" I said, the silence that was building between us becoming too much as I just wanted to hear what she knew.
She looked away from me, her hand coming up and scratching the back of her head as she took in a deep breath. "Listen, she's going to kill me and probably never want to talk to me again" she started, my eyes cutting to hers as I could see she was struggling with really deciding if she wanted to tell me what she was about to tell me. "Fuck" she said letting out a small laugh.
"Casey stop fucking around" I said getting agitated, but still filled with understanding as I could see how she was struggling with whatever was going on. She looked up at me taking a deep breath I'm sorry Charlie, I'm so sorry she mumbled under her breath as she looked at me straight in the eyes.
"I think you should go see your parents. Please don't tell Charlie where you are going, but they would really like to see you" she said, her stare boring into mine. I felt slightly apprehensive to her plan, especially seeing how Charlie was acting, and Casey pretty much telling me to go behind her back and do something without telling her made me feel uneasy. Hiding things from her was not the way I wanted to start our relationship.
I shook my head looking at her, "why can't I tell her Casey? Why wouldn't she want to go see them?" I asked. Sure she had just spent most of the day there with Casey, but she loved my parents and they loved her. I'm sure she wouldn't be opposed to stopping by quick again.
"Because she just wants to go back and spend time with you and catch up. But if you do this, it might make everything fall into place" she said, looking at me as if I should be figuring something out.
"I can't go behind her back Casey" I said shaking my head. "Also, why do I feel like you are trying to tell me something without actually telling me?" I laughed.
"Because it isn't my place to tell" she said, her words stabbing my heart as I instantaneously knew what was going on. I don't know if I should be feeling anxious, nervous, sad, happy I was just feeling numb knowing whatever was bothering her was something she was afraid to tell me. "All I will say is think back to your conversations with Mark today Stoney" she gave me a weak smile and patted my shoulder as she got up and walked away.
After a few moments I felt a presence walk up next to me, looking up I saw that it was Charlie. I brought my hand up, my elbow resting on the arm rest of the chair as I grabbed her fingers in mine, my gaze looking up at her as she met me with her sad eyes. "Please just tell me that you are okay. I mean shit clearly you're not but I mean tell me that you are healthy" I said, trying to get the biggest concern out of my head.
She smiled just slightly, pulling our hands up as she placed a soft kiss on the back of mine, "yes baby I am fine in that way" she said quietly. "Can we please go now?" she asked slightly, pulling on my arm as I got up and followed her up the stairs towards my car. I opened the door for her, wrapping her in a hug before I let her slip in the seat and closing the door behind her.
I started the drive to my parents house, taking Casey's advice of not telling Charlie as I looked over to her staring out the window absentmindedly. I reached out and placed my hand on her thigh rubbing it softly as Casey's words kept echoing through my head. It's not my place to tell. Think of the conversations you had with Mark today. It was perplexing to me. Clearly Casey knew, which means that Charlie was hiding something from me that other people knew. Could my parents know too and that is why she had me going here? I mean, that would make sense now that I think about it. Why else would she want to turn me away from going to see them?
I pulled my hand away from her, placing it back on the steering wheel as I felt my jaw clench. She had to be hiding something from me, and her reaction today was fear of me walking out of her life again. The thought made me start to see red at why she would do something like that to me. We've known each other for years, she used to be able to tell me anything and feel comfortable doing so. Now she was hiding shit from me? I took a deep breath calming myself down, telling myself that she had good reason for doing what she was doing. No matter what she was hiding from me, and no matter how mad it made me, I would never end up leaving her. I couldn't, she was the girl for me.
We drove in a not so comfortable silence, Charlie not looking over at me once or seeming to acknowledge where we were going. So many times I wanted to just let out the question and ask her what was bothering her, and each one of those times I backed out, turning away scared to know what her answer was going to be. She had already told me that she was healthy, that in and of itself making me feel like a huge part of this weight that was crushing down on my shoulders had been removed. Of course I wouldn't have left her if she had something wrong with her, I would still want to be with her and I'd help her and be there for her for whatever it was that was wrong with her. But, with her confirmation that she was fine all of those thoughts got pushed into the deepest parts of my mind as I started shuffling through the other cards that were still being played in my hand.
Casey kept saying think back to Mark and I's conversations from today. We talked a lot about what it was like for me to jolt into fame almost immediately. What it was like to really live my dream, if it was everything that it was cut out to be. I talked about my fear of her not wanting to come back with me and he also talked a lot about if I was really ready for her to be living this lifestyle, but none of those conversations seemed to have anything to do with whatever was going on inside of her. I took a deep breath turning onto my parents road as my thoughts finally settled on one solution, she was hiding something from me and whatever it was scared her.
I pulled the Mercedes into my parents driveway, pressing the button to turn off the ignition as she started looking around at her surroundings, her eyes growing wide as she started to panic a little in the passenger seat. She turned her eyes to me, clutching both of my hands in hers, her pupils dilated so large that they completely took over the color of her eyes. "Austin, what are we doing here? I have everything I need, we can just go back to the hotel" she said almost frantically.
I smiled, reaching out and gently touching her face as I placed a soft kiss on her lips, "relax baby girl. I just wanted to say hi to my Dad and Jodie. It would be rude for me to be home and not come and see them" I said, grabbing the door handle as I started to get out of the car, Charlie moving frantically next to me as she did the same, quickly following behind me as she grabbed my hand trying to pull me back towards her. I stopped at the door grabbing both of her hands in mine, my tone stern as I got her attention.
"Charlotte stop, just stop. I know you are trying to hide something from me. I wasn't sure, but seeing how you are acting right now makes me more sure than ever" I said to her, "I don't know why you think you can't tell me whatever it is, but I want to assure you that no matter what, I am never going to leave you. You don't have to be afraid" I said, giving her a small smile as I rubbed her cheek, leaning in and giving her a kiss as I felt her start to cry again against my lips. "Baby, it's going to be okay" I said, grabbing her hand in mine as I reached out to turn the door knob allowing me entrance to my parents house.
I walked through the threshold with Charlie following close to my heels as I closed the door behind us. I started walking towards the living room of the house where I heard several voices talking, Charlie's hand still in mine as I stopped in the entrance way. I felt the tension start to rise immediately as all eyes turned towards me and Charlie standing in front of them. They slowly slid over me before they went to Charlie, her head hanging down as she started nervously biting on the skin of her lip. "Uh hey guys. Mr. Roman I didn't know that you were here too" I said politely, walking in and giving Jodie and my Dad a hug before shaking Mr. Roman's hand.
"Uh yeah, we decided to make the trip with Charlie" he said clearing his throat as he sat back down on the couch. "How is everything going for you Austin? Charlie tells us that you are really becoming successful and living your dream" he said with a smile. I squeezed her hand in mine as I looked down at her, happiness flooding me that she still talked about me even after everything I put her through.
"It's going amazing sir, better than I could have expected honestly. I mean it's kind of hectic and everything but I'm loving every minute of it. Did Charlie tell y'all that I want her to come with me to LA?" I beamed, wrapping my arm around her as I placed a soft kiss on her temple, a warm smile just barely visible on her face.
"She did," her Dad said with a smile. "We trust that you are going to take good care of our little girl while she is out there with you" I looked over at my parents, Jodie beaming with excitement at the news that I'm sure she already knew from Charlie's lunch date with them, and obviously her parents too, as I brought my attention back to my her Dad.
"Absolutely sir. I love her and promise to give her the best life that I can" I said, finally admitting my love for her to our families making me feel like a feather that was drifting slowly through the sky. He nodded his head as I looked between the three of them. Something still felt off, like some unaddressed situation was still lying on the surface that everyone was afraid to touch. I was just about to ask what was up when I heard a tiny voice yell from behind me.
"Mommy! Mommy!" my head quickly turned towards Charlie, her jaw clenched and her eyes closed tightly as she took in a deep breath, her eyes fluttering open slowly as she brought them over towards me. She dropped my hand as she knelt down and opened her arms with a smile.
"Hi Austy, how are you buddy? Were you good for your Grandparents while I was gone?" her words drifting up to me from her position on the floor as I took a minute to process them. His name was Austy--presumably short for Austin--, he called her Mommy and she referred to our parents as his Grandparents. I didn't say anything for a minute, my left hand going into my pocket, my right coming up and rubbing at the beard on my face as I looked at her.
"Momma, that's Daddy" the little boy said to her in a loud whisper, his head resting against her shoulder as he looked over at me. He had a beautiful head of curly dark blonde hair. His eyes shined like two stunning blue crystals, his entire face structure a mirror image of mine when I was little. I looked at her, shaking my head with a laugh bringing my hand down from my face as I shoved it in my pocket. My head started shaking again, this was it. This was the secret that she has been hiding from me, and clearly for a few years. She started walking towards me as I started to take a few steps back, turning my head towards my name coming from my parents as they both gave me pleading looks. I stopped out of respect for them as I gave my attention back towards Charlie.
"Yes baby, that's Daddy. Say hi baby" she said sweetly, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi Daddy, I wuve you" he said with a wave and a smile, the look on his face making me smile despite all of the different emotions that were boiling inside of me. He was a fucking cute kid, we made cute babies but fuck, she fucking hid this from me. I said a quiet hi to him as he curled back into Charlie's chest as she finally said the first words she's said to me since we've been in the house.
"Austin, I'd like you to meet our son. Austin Oliver Post."
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A/N: Well thanks to Casey that happened sooner than expected, and not according to plan. The initial shock is still hanging heavy, but what do you think his reaction will really be? How do you feel about Casey making this happen earlier? As always thanks for reading and hope you are still enjoying!
Also since this is like my second job lol here is my update schedule in case you have a favorite story you want to know will be updated.
•2/10: I Know Your Scared Of The Unknown
•2/11: What Happens In Vegas
•2/12: I'm No Good At Goodbyes
•2/13: Chance Encounters
•2/14: Changed Since Texas