Changed Since Texas / Post Malone

4.9

Charlie's POV

We laid in each other's arms, tucked under the messy covers of my bed, neither of us saying a word, rather opting to steal sweet chaste kisses from each others lips. Even though there was no denying he was actually here in my bed with me and I wasn't dreaming of his presence next to me, everything about laying curled into his side listening to his steady heartbeat felt surreal.

I was happier than I had ever been, firmly believing that taking sometime for myself and stepping away from our relationship for almost a month justified my happy state, making me realize that I really do need him in my life in more ways then just my best friend I've grown up with. But, despite my happiness that he was here a huge part of me was still extremely nervous.

The last time he showed up to surprise me a month ago things had started out just like this. The both of us in our little bubble of paradise, declaring our love to each other repeatedly before making our way to his hotel room, the both of us confessing how we should've never put our relationship to the back burner before we made up, our bodies rolling between the sheets in a blissful sea of paradise. Plans for our future were made as we prepared to spend our life together happily until everything came crashing down around us as I was left in a pile of the pieces of my broken heart before deciding to cut him out of my life to give myself time to heal.

My mind started to race as I felt my anxiety start to consume every part of my body, my demeanor changing from floating on a cloud of happiness as it transformed into a sea of what if's, a place I have become all too familiar with when being with Austin since the time we were in our brief relationship after his high school graduation. I quickly pulled myself from his embrace, sitting up in my bed as I wrapped the sheet around my naked body, resting my head in my hands. It wasn't a surprise to me that Austin caught on quickly, leaning up on his right forearm as he reached his left hand out to me, his index finger resting under my chin as he tilted my head up to look at him.

"Charlotte, what's wrong baby girl?" he asked me, my eyes gravitating towards his to see that his blue irises were clouded over with worry as his thumb gently grazed my jawline. I smiled at him as I shook my head back and forth, letting out a small laugh as I reached up to grab the hand that was resting under my chin clutching it firmly in my own.

"I haven't changed my mind, at least I'm 90% sure that I haven't" I said with a chuckle, mostly because I knew that I wasn't making the situation any better. "But would you understand where I was coming from if I said I was nervous?" I asked him, my eyes dancing across his face as I absorbed all of the changes in him since the last time I had seen him, most of them being miniscule, but exhaustion seeming to be something that was looming in the darkness.

He pulled our laced fingers up to his mouth, pressing his lips gently on top of mine the fingers of his right hand grazing over the skin of my lower back. "Yes baby girl, I absolutely know where you were coming from. Last time started just like this before it crumbled before our eyes in a matter of hours" he said, a small laugh leaving my mouth.

"Since when did you become a mind reader?" I smiled at him a soft chuckle leaving his lips, his gaze floating down to look at the mattress before he brought them back up to lock with mine.

"Because that makes me nervous too Charlotte. We haven't really had a squeaky clean track record, but I know I have to be with you. My life just doesn't feel right without you in it and I mean more than as a friend" he said, my breath catching in my throat as I heard his words, making it seem like he and I had some how transformed into the same person since our bodies reconnected in the most beautiful ways possible.

"We have more than us to think about this time too Austin. We have Austy to think about now" I said to him, my head tilting to the side, my thumb running over the peaks and valleys of his knuckles as I looked at him with a small smile on my face.