Waiting On A Miracle | Post Malone

2

Mitch's arm was slung over his shoulder, the effects of his four beers starting to creep up his spine as they walked down the dimly lit sidewalk to their next stop. "Fuck I'm glad you're here. I missed you man, feels like I haven't seen you in years!"

Eighteen months.

He hadn't seen anyone for eighteen months.

"Would be nice if it were under better circumstances..." He trailed off, eyes firmly planted on his heavy boots as they clicked on the sidewalk.

"Fuck, I'm sorry, you know what I mean." Mitch's voice immediately dropped, guilt seeping from each word.

"I know, I didn't mean it like that. He was your grandpa too." They may not have been blood, but Mitch and Jodie had been an integral part of the Post family for as long as he could remember. They had been there, standing by everyone's side through the biggest moments, whether it was celebrating or crying with them.

"I'm sorry you didn't get back to see him one last time. He was so worried, asking about you constantly." He thought Mitch was trying to make him feel better, offer some comfort to know that his grandfather hadn't forgotten him. Instead, Austin's load grew by another 100 pounds knowing he had not only let down his dad by not showing up, but his grandpa as well.

"Does he um... did he know?" Austin was praying his dad and Jodie had kept their promise and kept the details of the last eighteen months from him and the rest of the family.

"No. I mean he knew about ..." Mitch paused as two of their cousins came rushing up from behind them, trying to avoid anything being over heard. He waited until they had passed and joined the rest a few feet ahead before continuing. "Everyone knew what was reported, that's it."

"How did you bribe them to not ask questions?" Austin asked his brother, nodding towards the six wobbly men ahead of them, the effects of their two previous stops clearly hitting them.

"You may owe a few front row tickets and back stage passes." Mitch chuckled as he threw his arm back around Austin's shoulder. "Mainly I think they got mosta their questions out before you got in. Rich, mom and I have been fielding questions for a week at least."

"Alright ya'll, our next stop is just over the road." One of the older cousins Dylan called out to the group as they headed towards their third bar for the night. Austin watched as Mitch rushed to catch up to the group of them.

He had always been protective of Mitch, despite them being similar ages. Neither of them had had an easy time in school, Austin was just lucky he had found a group that he clicked with, that were weird enough to be into the same shit as he was. Mitch hadn't always been quite so lucky.

Austin was always conflicted when he watched the way Mitch interacted with the rest of the Posts, he had managed to find common ground with them and cemented solid relationships. In some ways he was jealous, he had been so busy chasing his dream and maintaining relationships from the other side of the country wasn't always the easiest feat. Especially when you never come home.

Watching them from the sidewalk now he felt like a total outsider. Some of these family members may as well be fucking strangers to him. Yet they were all more than happy to enjoy the money and gifts and whatever other benefits they could get their hands on.

"Holy shit. Look who it is?" Cody's voice snapped Austin out of his train of thought as he watched him and the rest of the cousins rush into the door of one of the quieter bars. It was one that had deliberately been left off Dylan's checklist, it was always 'servin' the shit beers and full of the stuck up girls' and not worth the effort.

"Oh shit." Mitch's face instantly fell as he immediately snapped to Austin. 

It was only a matter of time. He knew coming here that it was going to happen, he knew without question she would be here. She had every right to be, more so than he did.

His feet were planted heavily where he stood as he weighed up his next course of action. It was too late to run, his family had already bolted through the door, they had probably made their way over to her by now and explained that he was right out front.

His only next logical options were either to go in and approach her, or wait outside the window with Mitch and let her make the decision.

Walking would be the next logical step, he had to concentrate on forcing his feet to move his body closer to Mitch, in front of the window, into the glow of the street light. He had locked himself away from everyone for so long, of fucking course it would be his first night here that he's thrown into the spotlight like this.

Mitch was watching him closely as he approached, his eyes flicking every so often back into the bar, returning to him with more concern each time. "Have y'all..."

"Nope. Not for twelve months." He couldn't bring himself to look through the window. It had been too long and he wasn't nearly prepared for what he might see. "Are they?"

"Yep. All of them." Mitch confirmed, all six of their burley, intoxicated cousins had crammed themselves around her table. "What you wanna do?"

He was trying his hardest to think, to make some kind of decision. He didn't want to ambush her, but he figured that ship had already sailed. Having so many witnesses around could be beneficial for him as well. Then there was his dad, fuck, he couldn't let anything go wrong at the funeral because of him. If there was going to be a shit storm, better it be now than later.

His mind had been made up, he was as mentally prepared as fucking possible for this. He turned around, reaching out to open the glass door. "I guess we um..."

The sight of her alone winded him and froze him where he stood. She had always had that effect on him. She was sat in the corner of her booth, two of his cousins on either side of her while Cody and Dylan sat on wooden chairs that they had dragged over.

Her hair was longer, her skin a little more sun kissed than it had been when he'd seen her last, but it was her eyes that killed him.

Those eyes had been burned into his memory being red raw with tears cascading from them. He'd lost track of the last time he'd seen them dry. Every day of those six months they had been filled with pain and tears because of him.

Those eyes had been his favourite feature of hers, they were so big and wide and so expressive.  It had only taken one night for those reasons to quickly turn on him and make them his biggest fear.

Now, twelve long fucking months later those eyes were firmly planted on his. They were a little more tired, a little more guarded than he remembered and he tried his hardest not to let that shatter him further than he already felt, but they were still soft and empathetic.

They were still home.