I wake up early the next morning after staying up super late, and sleepily make my way downstairs. My mom and Nathan are sitting at the table holding hands. My mom's got the widest smile on her face; I love how happy Nathan makes her. I come around the corner and plop myself into a chair.
"Morning, Sleeping Beauty." My mom says sliding her cup of coffee over to me.
I fake a laugh and take a sip.
"How late were you and Austin up?" Nathan asks.
I groan. "He left around two I think, but I was awake longer. Till maybe 4."
"Why were you awake so long?" He asks.
I look at him. 'I've always had sleeping issues. Especially when I'm nervous or anxious about something."
'Are you nervous about something Cal?" My mom asks.
I sit up more alert now. This is not the conversation I want to have with my new stepfather around. "Sort of. But it's not that big of a deal." I stutter out.
As if understanding Nathan stands up. "Well I better get to work. I'll be back in time to say bye before you and Austin leave." My mom stands up and hugs him. He softly kisses her before walking towards me.
I stand up; he stands there awkwardly. "You can hug me goodbye Nathan." I say laughing.
Nathan laughs and quickly hugs me before grabbing his work stuff.
"Bye Nathan." I say.
"Bye Calli. Bye Kelly. Love you."
"Love you too." My mom calls.
We sit back down at the table. "Ok Calli, now spill."
I groan and lean back in my seat. "I really didn't want to have this conversation. I was hoping I could completely avoid it."
My mom's eyes widen. 'Oh is this that talk?" She seems flustered, as if she thought we'd never have this talk.
I nod my head.
"Ok." She sighs. 'Well what do you, uh what do you need to know?"
"How do you know if you're ready?" I ask. "I mean like really, one hundred percent ready."
"Well that's up to you, and your heart.' She says. "There's no pressure right? You're not being forced?"
"No!" I exclaim. "Austin and I haven't even talked about it yet. It's just last night, the thought popped into my head. I feel like I'm ready, but I just don't really know."
"My advice, as awkward as it will be, talk to him." She reaches across the table and takes my hand. 'To me, I don't think you're ready. I think you and Austin need to sit down and talk about it. Or just wait it out a little bit longer."
"But what if he really wants to, and I'm still not ready?" I ask softly.
"If he does, he'll still be willing to wait for you until you are." She looks into my eyes. "Sweetie, Austin loves you, I know that. I also know that he respects you. So he won't care either way. He'll want to make sure you really are ready."
I smile and walk across the table to hug my mom. 'Thank you mom." I whisper.
"Of course baby." She says softly stroking my hair. "So what were you two doing last night that made you think of this?"
Now it's my turn for my eyes to widen. I pull back and start stuttering. "Well we were just, you know, making out, and our hands just, you know, started wandering and stuff." My eyes look anywhere except at my mom.
"Sweetie you need to relax." She says laughing. "You're acting like I'm about to convict you of murder!"
"You might as well be! You're a freaking lawyer!" I exclaim laughing with her. I can feel the redness in my cheeks fading away. "Now if you'll excuse me I need to start packing."
I start walking towards the stairs.
"You haven't even started packing yet?" She calls toward the stairs.
"Nope!" I yell, popping the "p.' I make my way into my room and set my suitcase on the bed. I spend over an hour throwing things on the floor, when Austin walks into my room.
"Hey baby." He says coming up behind me and kissing my cheek.
"Hey." I say, still staring into my closet.
"And this is why I told you to start packing earlier this week." He says sitting on my bed.
I turn around and put my hands on my hips. "Well you should be a good boyfriend and help me, and not mock me."
Austin chuckles. "You're cute when you pout."
I roll my eyes at him and try to turn around, but he stands up and walks over to me. He puts his hands on my hips and pulls me back towards the bed. He lays down and lays me on top of him so that I'm straddling him. My hands land on either side of his head, and his hands rest on the sides of my hips. I lean my head down and we start kissing. I move my hands into his hair; his hands slide up and go under the hem of my shirt. I get the same feeling I got last night, where I just want to rip his clothes off right now. I pull him over me, so that we flip over. Austin's now on top of me, kissing my neck. My hands move to the hem of his shirt and quickly pull it off of him. He leans back down and slams his lips to mine. Austin's hand moves to the outside of my thigh, and the other rests on my neck. I keep my legs pressed against the sides of his body. My hands go back to his neck, holding him closer to me.
Austin pulls away, his breathing heavy. "Ok, I need a break.'
I lay my head back down breathing just as heavy as he is. "Yeah, me too."
Austin stands up and pulls me up with him. "Where'd you throw my shirt?"
I look around and it vanished under the abyss that is my clothes. "We'll find it after you help me pack."
"You just want an excuse for me to walk around showing off my abs don't you?' He asks smirking at me.
"I mean its a plus.' I say winking at him.
Austin pushes my forehead, turning me to face the closet. "Start packing freak."
I stick my tongue out at him, before grabbing random clothes from my closet. Austin and I spend the next three or four hours packing my suitcase. I'm only going for a week, but finding clothes is so difficult; especially when Austin won't tell me what we're going to be doing there.
Finally it's five-thirty, Austin and I are loading up his mom's rental car and saying goodbye to my family. Grey gives me an extra long hug.
"I miss you Calli." He says into my stomach.
"I'll miss you too bubba." I squat down so I'm at his level. "I'll see you in seven days okay? And you can call me, just ask mommy alright?"
He nods excitedly, and squeezes me goodbye one last time. Austin and I load the car with Dave and Michelle. Thankfully our flight isn't delayed, so we load right a way. We load the plane at seven o'clock, and land shortly after midnight. It's almost one in the morning by the time we make it to Austin's house.
The next morning is when all of the fun starts. Austin and I seep in different rooms that night. I wake up the next morning, hearing lots of male voices. Thankfully there's a bathroom connected to my room, so I quickly take a shower and make myself look presentable. I blow dry my hair and walk around the hallway, following the voices.
The first thing I see is Austin, then I see three other guys standing by him. I sneak a peek at the three of them. One of them has hair pretty much in his eyes, he also has a beanie on, next to him is a guy with lighter hair, that's spiked. On the other side of Austin is a guy with super short dark hair. When they see me they all stop talking.
'Austin is this your new lady we've heard so much about?" The one in a beanie asks.
Austin smiles and walks over to me, taking my hand. "Yes it is. Guys this is Calli." He points to each of the guys. "Calli that's Alex, Zach and Robert."
I smile and wave nervously. 'Hey guys."
"She is really pretty, Austin." Robert says.
"Even prettier than you lead on." Zach says laughing along with Alex and Robert.
I look up at Austin and his cheeks are bright red. He looks down at me and smiles. "I like talking about you."
I laugh. "I can see that."
The five of us sit around the table talking. I'm a little hesitant getting to know the guys, but they make it easy to talk to. I swear there's never a moment I'm not laughing. Finally we decide on what we're doing today. We all agree on going to the beach, since I've never been; which surprises the guys.
We're on the way to pick up Alex's girlfriend Sarah, and they're still going on about me never going to the beach.
"How have you never gone to the beach?" Robert asks "You're what? Seventeen at least, right?"
"Yeah I am." I say. "I'm from a small town, and the only time I've ever left it is for dance contests. And then for Austin's tour. That's it."
"What's the furthest you've ever been from home? Besides Austin's tour." Alex asks.
I think for a moment. "Probably Austin or San Antonio. But that's only for the big contests."
They stare at me.
"What?" I ask, my face growing red.
"San Antonio is literally twenty minutes from your town, and Austin is only an hour away. That can't be the furthest you've gone." Alex says.
I chuckle. "Well it is."
"Be nice guys." Austin says putting his arm around me. "It's not her fault she lives is such a sucky town."
I elbow him in the side. "Shut up. I love my home.'
"That's right." He says. "That's why you can't wait to leave."
I roll my eyes and push his arm off of me. Finally we pull up to the hotel Sarah's staying at. She climbs in the car and we make our way to the beach. We pull up and the guys unload all of our stuff. Sarah jumps on Alex's back and they walk ahead, Zach and Robert follow closely behind pushing each other into anything. Austin walks slightly in front of me, I walk behind him with my arms crossed across my chest.
I've always been self conscious about the way I look, and being on a beach in Miami isn't helping me. Everywhere I look there are girls in skimpy bikinis showing off their perfect bodies. I'm wearing a bikini as well, but I have on blue jeans shorts and a tank top. I look up from staring at the ground to notice Austin standing next to me now. He takes on of my hands and softly kisses it.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"It's nothing." I say trying to laugh it off. I brush my hair behind my ear, and chew on my lip.
Austin stands in front of me, putting his hands on my hips. "You're lying, and you're giving it away too easily."
I cross my arms. "And how am I doing that?"
Austin smiles. 'You're chewing on your lip, and you played with your hair. You do that when you lie."
"No I don't!" I say, brushing my hair again. I sigh. "Ok maybe I do."
Austin chuckles. "Now tell me what's wrong."
I look away from Austin. "I don't feel pretty enough. All these other girls here that are going to fight for your attention. I just, ugh I don't know. Maybe I'll just leave." I start to walk away, but Austin grabs my hand.
"Calli you aren't going anywhere." He says. He pulls me closer to him and puts both hands on my face. "Calli you're so beautiful. Those other girls can fight as hard as they want. But none of them are you." His hands move to the hem of my tank top. Slowly he starts to pull it off, showing my bikini top. He stares at me smiling.
"Ok Mahone!" Zach yells. "Public beach let's keep our clothes on."
I blush and take my tank top from him, but he grabs it again.
"Nope. You aren't getting this back any time soon." He says taking my hand. We walk towards the rest of the group and sit down.
'Better watch her Austin." Robert says. "Someone might snatch her up."
Austin laughs and puts an arm around my shoulder. "Not a chance. Right babe?"
I smile and kiss his cheek. "Right."
We've barely sat down and started talking before fans of the boys come up to us. There's a huge mob of them and the boys spend almost an hour signing autographs and taking pictures. Sarah's included in most of the pictures, but I sit back hugging my knees. Austin looks over at me and mouths sorry at me. I shake my head and smile at him. Some of the fans notice and I get dirty glares.
A couple of girls leave after they get their pictures. They make a point to walk by me.
"You're Calli right?" One of them asks.
I nod my head and smile.
"Careful not to get stung by jellyfish, someone will have to pee on you." The other says.
"But you already know what it's like don't you." The first one says winking at me.
Tears sting at my eyes as they walk away laughing. Sarah sees and comes over to me.
"Hey Calli what happened?" She asks putting her hand on my shoulder.
I quickly wipe away the tears. "Was it this hard for you when you first started dating Alex?" I ask. "Did someone throw urine at you, publically humiliate you, insult your family, purposely try to ruin your dance career, and send you death threats?" I sniff and wipe off the next few tears. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap."
Sarah smiles at me. "Don't be sorry, I completely understand."
"This just really sucks." I sigh. "I love Austin so much, but sometimes I wonder if dating him is worth all this pain." I look over at him with Robert, Zach and Alex. They're all playing football, having the time of their lives.
"I know how you feel." Sarah says. "I went through sort of the same thing."
I look at her and sniff again. "Really?"
She nods. "Yeah. Lots of fans were jealous that I'm dating Alex, they still are sometimes. It was hard the first couple of months, but eventually you learn to ignore it, and they slowly start to stop."
I nod my head, feeling slightly better, but not completely. Sarah wraps her arms around me.
"Don't worry, Calli." She says picking up my phone, and putting her number in it. 'You can call me whenever you want. I don't want you to feel alone because of this."
I smile and hug Sarah again. "Thank you. That really means a lot."
We spend the rest of the day at the beach. It turns out to be a lot of fun. Sarah and I bond really well while the guys, mess around. Over the course of the next few days Austin and I spend all of our free time with them. Our last night there Austin and I spend time alone, and have a romantic dinner together. He cooked everything, and had music playing in the background. Candles light the background.
We go up to Austin's room and lay on his bed. He softly kisses me. I lay on my back, as Austin leans over me. His hands slide up the hem of my shirt, pulling it off. My hands move to his shirt and pull it off. Austin starts kissing my neck, as my hands fumble with the belt on his jeans. His hands move to my shorts and unbutton them before pulling them off. His pants come off next.
He pulls away breathlessly. "Are you sure?" He whispers.
I nod my head and lean my head towards him. "I've never been more sure of anything."
Austin smiles before leaning down, and kissing me passionately.