I stared impatiently at the clock on the wall, waiting for the bell to ring so I could get out of what many people would call this place; torturous hell, or better known as school. Today was just one of those days that seemed to drag on and on forever, not wanting to end. I wanted to get home, really because I was finding myself going to go hang out with Austin. I know, surprising, but after the party the other night, he hadn't stopped talking to me after that. He texted me all the time, making me laugh with stupid jokes or roll my eyes at the stupid flirty remarks he made, but it was cute. I found myself enjoying being around him, and I wanted to be around him more often. He was so contagious...and good looking.
As soon as the bell rang, I shot up from my seat and quickly gathered my things before heading out the door behind a few people. I went to my locker and dumped my books, quickly finding Kellin. He was going to Vic's house, and Austin was going to be there too, so we decided we would meet up there before he took us to the mysterious place he refused to tell me about. It left me excited, though.
"Hurry up, you're slower than a grandma." I grumbled. Kellin was slowly taking his time, putting away his books and grabbing the ones he did need for homework.
"I could just make you walk, you know." Kellin said, I laughed and shook my head.
"But you wouldn't so let's go!" I said way too loudly and excitedly, but I didn't care. I grabbed a hold of his wrist and pulled him along out of the building and to the parking lot.
"Stop pulling me or I really am going to make you walk." Kellin threatened, but I knew it was empty. He may have threatened things around, but he wasn't serious. I knew when he was, and right now he wasn't.
"Well come on," I said, pushing him towards his side before I went over to mine. Kellin grumbled under his breath as he pulled his keys out, unlocking the car and allowing us both to get in. Instantly he started it up, rolling down all the windows and backing from his space then leaving the school.
We drove to Vic's house, laughing at each other as our hair messed up and we song purposely off key to the songs playing over the radio. It were times like these that I actually loved, because not only was I distracted from everyday life, I was being weird and stupid with my best firend, which were becoming very small now, sadly.
Kellin pulled up outside of Vic's house, honking his horn for no real reason, but he earned attention from the neighbors who were outside. I rolled my eyes at him and got out, following Kellin outside as he too got out. We went inside, Kellin yelling for Vic and Austin to come downstairs.
"Hey, babe." Vic said, entering into the living room where Kellin and I were stood. Austin followed along behind him, a stupid smirk on his face as he looked at me.
"Hi," Kellin mumbled softly, grinning at Vic. Honestly, I couldn't be more happier for them both. Vic treated Kellin like he was the most valuable object in the entire world, and he always put him first. I was so happy that my best friend found someone that treated him better than any of the other guys he's been with. They were either real big jerks and demanded too much, or they thought too little of Kellin and didn't put his feelings first, but not Vic.
"Nice to see you Princess," Austin said, smirking at me more. Vic and Kellin wandered off towards the couch and sat down, smiling at each other. I rolled my eyes and bit back a smile. I hated to admit it, but I actually missed hearing that nickname. He hadn't really called me that for a couple of days, and it was so ridiculous, but I liked it.
"Whatever, are we going?" I asked, stuffing my hands into my pockets. He chuckled and nodded.
"Yes, just a second." He said and left, heading back upstairs. I was stood awkwardly by the door, watching as Vic and Kellin talked on the couch. Soon enough, Austin came back downstairs, a shit eating grin on his face. I was kind of scared. He hadn't told me where we were going, and he could be trying to kill me for all I know, but deep down I knew that was insane- logical, but insane.
"We're going to be gone for a few hours, we'll be back later." Austin said, nudging me as he opened up the door and turned back to Vic and Kellin.
"Okay, whatever," Vic dismissed, waving a hand.
"Take care of him. He's precious cargo." Kellin said, turning back and looking at us. Austin snorted and nodded, saying another goodbye before shoving me out of the door. He walked past me and tugged at my hand, pulling me along.
"Come along now Princess, it's time for our adventure." Austin said, grinning at me. I rolled my eyes and allowed him to pull me down the street while refusing to tell me where we were going.
"Why couldn't we have take a car?" I asked. We had been walking for a good twenty minutes now. I was growing a little tired, but hearing Austin laugh as he told stories about the times between him, Aaron and Vic were keeping me energetic.
"Because," he told me simply, "where we're going, we can't get to with some car...well, we can but it's simpler to walk." I sighed and groaned softly.
"How much longer then?" I whined. Austin smirked at me.
"Only a few more blocks Princess, but I'd more than happy to carry you." He said, but I wasn't so sure if he was being flirty or not, so I didn't say anything back, only continued to allow him to pull me along until we reached a road that looked nearly deserted. At first, I was hesitant and resistant. I dropped Austin's hand (to which I had been holding the entire walk, it was really nice) and looked at the cracked road that had many pot holes. Austin stopped walking too, turning to me and grinning.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of a little wandering." He said, smirking. I rolled my eyes at him, briefly glancing in his direction before looking back at the road and as far as I could see before things blurred off.
It wasn't that I was scared to go, because I wasn't, but I was more afraid of the fact that I had no idea where we were going and what to expect. I didn't know who or what was going to come out of that tree lining. I didn't know what was going to happen, therefore I was hesitant and I didn't know if I wanted to go or not, but I knew I could trust Austin. He seemed like he could fight, so if something were to possibly happen, I just hoped he would save me because I sure as hell knew I wouldn't be able to save myself.
"I'm not, let's go." I muttered, Austin smirked and took my hand again, tugging me along once more. I had to admit, I liked holding his hand. I liked the way it was bigger than mine, so his fingers overlapped mine a little and he held my hand tightly and gently at the same time, and as if it were a subconscious act, he would rub his thumb back and forth gently against the back of my hand, sending shivers through my spine and causing butterflies to erupt inside my stomach. He wasn't so bad, I guess.
We along the road the road for what seemed like forever. It seemed to go on forever, and I wasn't very surprised whenever no cars passed by. The road, as far as I could see anyways, was deserted. No one lived here, and the houses we did pass were being swallowed up by vines and looked as if they could have collapsed and caved in at any given moment.
Eventually things changed. I thought we were going to continue along the road as we reached railroad tracks, but I was wrong. Instead of continuing forward as I had thought, Austin tugged me along down the tracks carefully, making sure we didn't both trip. I was confused as to why we were now walking on tracks, and I prayed and hoped with every fiber in my bones that a train didn't come from any of the both directions. The thought made me feel really nervous and Austin must've sensed it because he turned to me, smiling warmly- and not his usual smirk or flirty kind of smile, this was actually really comforting and trusting, making me feel weak at the knees and causing me to smile small back.
"These tracks aren't used anymore, so there's no need to worry." He told me, and that helped so much more. It eased the nervousness nipping at my insides and calmed my quickly beating heart. I nodded at him and sucked in a breath and letting it out. Austin chuckled at me and gripped my hand tighter, pulling me along quicker.
We walked for what seemed like forever. The sun was actually beginning its course in setting and it made me wonder how long we were going to be continuing until we got to wherever we were going. I was starting to grow impatient, too. I was almost tempted to tell Austin to take us back, but then that'd be a long walk back home, and I was sure we were almost to wherever he was wanting us to go. I'd just have to force myself to continue on and hold back my groans and whines of protest.
I think we had finally arrived. Austin pulled me down another set of tracks before we finally arrived at what seemed to be an abandoned train yard. There were still train cars sat on the tracks, and people were stood on both on top and inside them, cheering and laughing as they drank beer. There was even a bonfire sat in the middle of the train yard, burning bright.
"Where are we?" I questioned, looking around wide eyed at the group of people who were here. Austin smirked at me, giving my hand a squeeze.
"We, Princess, are at the abandoned train yard."
。。。
I was having a good time, like, a really good time. Austin had introduced me to some people who were either Seniors in high school, just like me, or were graduates just like Austin but still had that partying in them. There was Lynn, Alex- and I had learned his boyfriend, Jack went to school with me, Tony- and one boy who I had learned was Vic's brother, Mike and Tay, and Phil was here too. There was also many other people here too, but Austin wanted me to meet them considering they all had graduated with him, except for Mike, he was a year younger than I was, and so was Tony.
I had hung around Lynn, Alex and Phil for awhile as Austin left to go and talk to some people he knew. Now I was sat alone on top of a train car, laughing as I watched Phil dance around the fire. He was apparently really high, and I learned that he was a stoner, which was really funny. He was really cool and funny, he joked a lot and made you laugh no matter the situation. Lynn and Alex had gone to mingle with some other people, too. They had invited me to come a long also, but I didn't want to talk to anyone else really. I don't think I would be able to remember any more names.
But I wasn't alone for long. Austin climbed up, a beer bottle between his teeth as he managed his way up. Once the beer bottle was removed, he smirked at me and sat down beside me.
"Why are you alone Princess? I thought you were hanging with Phil and the others?" He asked me.
"They went to talk to some others," I said, shrugging as I sipped on my drink. Austin nodded slowly, staring at me, grinning.
"Your cheeks healing up," he said, lifting his hand and brushing his fingers along the skin. It didn't hurt as much anymore. Kellin had been doing a good job before school every morning ever since after the party of putting make up on me to keep people from seeing it and asking questions. It was a good thing I had a best friend who was talented enough to help me with this.
"Yeah, it doesn't look as gross anymore." I said, biting my lip. Austin snorted and shook his head, smiling at me. He was looking at me so strangely, this glint in his eyes that made me want to question him, but that so annoying, shrilling voice pierced through the air causing us both to look away from each other and down to where a stumbling drunk Shay was stood, looking pouty.
"Babe! You didn't come and say anything to me!" Shay whined, crossing his arms. Austin sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Go find Justin, Shay. He's over there." Austin called down to us, Shay huffed and rolled his eyes, stomping away. What was his problem?
I watched as Shay left, going to whoever this Justin person was. Shay obviously didn't like me, and for whatever reasons, I had no clue. I must've done something to him once in my drunken state, because he seriously didn't like me. It was like he hated my entire being, but I really had no idea what I did.
"Are you two dating?" I found myself asking and instantly feeling embarrassed for doing so. Austin turned to me, and at first I thought he was going to yell at me, or just something, but instead he laughed, snorting and shaking his head.
"No, definitely not. He's- no," he chuckled. "Shay gets clingy when these drunk, and it's usually me or Justin he comes looking for. Justin's the one that takes care of drunk Shay, I just hand him off," he said, grinning. I nodded slowly, frowning a little.
"You are jealous, are you?" Austin asked, smirking. I looked at him with wide eyes and shook my head.
"No, of course not! You're insane." I said and drank some of my beer. He still stared at me, staring with that stupid smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes at him and looked away, watching the people interact around us.
"Where's your brothers? I haven't seen them in a while." Austin said, leaning back on his hands. I bit my lip and stared down at the bottle in my hand. I guess he didn't really know, and it didn't hurt much that he asked, I just hated talking about it. I could still hear Alex screaming as they left and it still broke my heart and guilt ate away at my insides.
"I'm being forced to stay away from them," I said softly. Austin looked at me confused, silently asking for me to explain. "The other day, before I showed up at the party, I had gotten home from school and both my parents were at my aunt's house. My dad was telling me that my siblings and I were going home, that we needed to go upstairs and pack our things, but I flat out refused. I wasn't going with them, not after all the shit that's been happening, I wasn't going back with them just to end up right back where I am now," I told him and continued. "So, my dad got pissed, hit me and then told me I wasn't allowed to be around our house again or else he'd do much worse. It's only been a few days, but I haven't had the guts or courage to show up and say something or do anything, really."
Austin looked so shocked, much like Kellin had the other night, but he also looked angry. "Your dad's an asshole," he muttered, shaking his head.
"I know," I whispered, staring down at the gravel below us. I still felt so ashamed of myself, but I was trying so hard to push those feelings away. I hated having those kinds of emotions dawning on me, but they wouldn't leave.
"I don't like seeing you upset," Austin said softly, leaning close to me. He nudged my shoulder with his own and kept doing it until I looked at him. His eyes held a small amount of sympathy, but I could tell he was trying really hard to lighten the mood. Austin was staring at me deeply, a smirk on his face.
"Your eyes...they are so boring." He said, I glared and shoved him as hard as I could before scooting away from him. Austin snorted loudly and pulled me back, pressing a wet kiss to my cheek.
"I'm only joking Princess, your eyes are beautiful," he chuckled before pulling away. "Come down by the fire with me." He asked me softly and I couldn't help but nod. We climbed down from the train car and walked over to the bonfire where a few people were sat, chatting and kissing. Austin sat close to me, sometimes wrapping an arm around my shoulder as he talked to the few that were here, or he simply touched my hand.
Either way, I came to the conclusion that Austin made things better. He took away the feelings that ate away at my insides and made me forget about things for the hours that we were here. I felt okay, I felt happy.
。。。
I have no clue what happened towards the end, but this chapter is long and I love it, SO LOVE ME.
more to come...