"We have been walking for hours!" I whined. Austin and I were still lost somewhere in the middle of the woods, with no signal and no idea how to get back.
"It's not even been 40 minutes yet." He rolled his eyes. Those past 40 minutes consisted on Austin trying to find our way out of here and me complaining about how I wanted to get out. We were both getting bored and frustrated.
We walked down a narrow path in the woods. Tree branches were sticking out from all directions, I'm surprised one hadn't poked me in the eye yet.
Austin was in front of me and I noticed him push up one of the branches. Right as I was about to walk underneath the branch, Austin let it go causing the branch to bounce back scratching the top of my forehead.
"What have you got against my forehead today?" I winced, remembering when he hit his chin off my forehead a few hours ago.
Austin turned around and noticed the branch against my forehead, "Sorry, I forgot I had to protect you from flying branches." He smirked, pulling the branch away from me.
"Well, now you know." I laughed as I pushed him to carry on walking, my forehead was stinging a little but I ignored it.
I still hadn't brought up who was on the phone to Austin earlier, I didn't want to change the fact that he seemed a lot happier now.
Even though we were stuck in the middle of nowhere.
I pulled out my phone to check if I had any messages, that's when I remembered.
I have no signal.
I groaned looking at the time on my phone "Austin it's almost 8, we need to get back soon."
"It's not like we've been trying to get back for the past hour." His is voice dripping with sarcasm. I had no idea if we were even going in the right direction.
We carried on walking down the same narrow path, I was following Austin who was a few steps in front. Carefully, I was avoiding any branches stinking out, "Bella, come look." Austin shouted over his shoulder.
I cautiously stepped over the stones on the floor and made my way over to him, only to see the view of a small river running along the centre. There was less trees around this area, opening up the view of the sky which looked a beautiful pink shade.
I turned to face Austin, his eyes were focused on mine until they followed up to my forehead. "Bella, you got beat up by a branch." He said, pointing at my head which was still stinging.
I pulled out my phone to look in the reflection, I had a scratch from where the branch must have hit. I sighed, sitting down on the grass near the river, Austin sat down next to me.
"It looks amazing here!" I said, breaking the silence. I waited for his reply but he never gave me one. I looked over at Austin who was surprisingly already staring straight at me, his smile stretched wider as I returned one.
We sat there looking at each other for a while, without saying a word. It was the perfect moment to kiss him.
I stopped myself from leaning closer when I thought about today's events. Who was Austin on the phone to?
I cleared my throat and pulled back. "Austin who was you on the phone to?"
Austin stiffened up and his smile soon faded, I looked down at my hands regretting what I said.
That could have went so differently if I hadn't have brought that up.
"My dad."
That was Austin's only words. His dad. Austin had never brought up his family to me.
"You can talk to me." I replied softly, I knew Austin didn't feel comfortable taking about his family and I didn't want to push him.
"Were already talking, Bella." He replied, forcing a smile.
I laughed a little, "Seriously, you can."
"There's not much to say." He paused, "My dad and I was always close, but then when my parents found out they were having my sister and he left us. He sent in the occasional cheques and phone calls but never bothered to come see us. He left my mom to look after my sister on her own and I've never forgave him for that."
He shrugged, I could tell talking about it hurt more then what he was showing, so I just listened to what he wanted to say.
"Last year he started visiting often and spending more time with my sister, I would always cause arguments whenever he came. I decided to move here, focus on my football and get away from it all."
He didn't look at me the whole time, his eyes were just focused on the view in front of him. I rested my head on his shoulders to comfort him, he swooped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
It was perfect.
"What's your sister's name?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"Amelia." Her name brought a smile to his face, I'm guessing they are close. "She's only 4."
"What's she like?"
"She's nice but a bit of a drama queen. Kind of like you." He muttered the last part.
"I'm not a drama queen!" I defended.
He held his hand up in surrender, "I'm not the one who was walking away from our date."
Date? "Tutoring." I corrected, Austin just smirked.
"I'd love to meet Amelia, she seems sweet. Unlike you." I laughed, just as Austin was about to say something my phone repeatedly buzzed.
Mia; Hey Bella, how's 'tutoring' going ;)
Are you okay?
Bella!
Where are you and why aren't you answering your phone?
15 missed calls.
Similar messages from Kayla, Caitlyn, Mason and even Riley appeared on my phone.
"Austin." I called over, "We have signal." I watched as Austin pushed himself up from where he was sitting, running his hand along his gorgeous messy brown hair. The ringing of my phone snapped me out my daze, I glanced at the caller id, Mia.
"Bella?" Her voice was calm, maybe she wasn't all that mad.
"Yeah."
"Where have you been? Did you not hear your phone ring? Is everything okay, I haven't spoken to you left? Are you still with Aust-"
I cut her off stopping her from asking more questions, "I'm fine, I had no signal and yes I'm still with Austin." I breathed out. I heard Austin step towards me when he heard his name.
"But I need you and Kayla to help us find our way back."
***
"Austin we have no signal again." I cried in frustration as I kept trying to call Mia hoping that it would eventually work.
It never.
Back at the river, Austin and I had spotted the main pathway on the opposite side. Austin thought it would be easy and quicker to hop across the small river jumping from one rock to another.
The idea was great until Austin stepped on the same rock as me a little too quickly, losing his balance. Austin grabbed hold of me to try and regain his balance causing the both of us to fall down into the river.
We were now both drenched, cold and getting tired of walking.
Once we found the main path Mia and Kayla agreed to start walking down the same path, so they could meet us half way. We decided to carry on walking in hope that we would find them soon.
"And it's getting late." I said, shivering from the coldness from the river.
Austin took off his jacket and wrapped it around me. I slipped my arms inside, instantly felling warmer. "Thanks." I said, offering him a smile.
"Well, it was kind of my fault." He replied awkwardly, referring to the 'falling in the river incident'.
"Yes it was! If you had just kept your balance, like me, you wouldn't have fell." I said.
"Last time I checked, you lost your balance and fell with me." He laughed.
"Yeah, all thanks to you." I rolled my eyes.
"Let's just say you're falling for me." He winked, I couldn't help but laugh at his lame comment.
"I may be falling now, but I can always get back up."
"Bella." Austin stood still, taking my hand in his and staring into my eyes. He opened and then closed his mouth, he looked unsure of what he was going to say. I looked down at our hands, feeling butterflies in my stomach.
"I've been wanting to ask you something." I nodded for him to carry on talking but before he could we heard someone shouting.
"Bella!" I looked forward, seeing Mia running towards us. I wanted to ignore her and hear what Austin was about to say. When I was about to ask him, I felt his hand drop from mine and he started walking ahead of me.
I looked forward and noticed Kayla, Mason and Riley a few steps behind Mia. "This place is so cool, why do we never come here!" Mia blurted out.
"Remind me to bring a map next time we come." I muttered, all I wanted to do was go back to the dorm and sleep.
"Where are you going, let's go exploring?" Mia said cheerfully.
"Not today, I've had enough exploring." I said since it was getting dark.
"Hey guys." I greeted Kayla and the boys. Mason just nodded and didn't say anything.
We were almost back at the dorms, Mia and Kayla were walking with me at the back with Mason, Riley and Austin following lead in front.
"Okay spill it. Why do you look like you have been standing in the rain for too long with Austin's jacket?" Kayla said laughing.
"Well..." I began to tell her everything from the getting lost, to falling into a river. I left out the part about Austin's family since I don't think he would want me to tell them.
We had finally found our way back to the dorms before curfew. I handed Austin back his Jacket and we all said our goodbyes before heading back to our room.
Except Mason, he hadn't said a word to me since he saw me.
***
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What do you think Austin was about to say to Bella?
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