Waiting On A Miracle | Post Malone

7

He'd been back in Utah for two days.

He thought coming home again he would settle back into his hermit existence, being comfortably locked away from the world again. Instead he felt trapped. He had been okay in Texas, had managed to be out in the world and keep his sobriety, maybe he didn't need to lock himself away like he'd thought.

"So... you made it through in one piece?" Brooke was sitting beside him in his yard on one of the wide wooden chairs overlooking the mountains.

Kendra loved those mountains and these chairs.

"I did." He smirked, somewhat relieved, somewhat proud.

"Was it as bad as you thought?" Brooke asked as she sipped her cocoa.

Kendra hated cocoa, she hated any hot drinks that weren't coffee.

"Parts were, some parts were easier I guess."

"How was the funeral?" Brooke relaxed a little more into the deep mahogany as her eyes focused on the mountain range in front of them.

"It was good." He took a sip of his coffee, the morning sun shining bright into his eyes as a harsh wake up.

"You're really going to make me work for it today aren't you Austin?" Brooke teased with a smirk. 

"I'm sorry." He breathed out as he lit up another cigarette, thankful that Brooke had finally gotten used to the smell and the constant cloud of smoke that followed him.

He probably should have tried to give up this habit whilst he was ridding himself of the others.

"It was a lot. Seeing Kendra, seeing dad and Jodie and the rest of the family. I guess I'm still processing it all myself. The funeral was nice, quite a few people came which was good to see. The wake after was just close family at his favourite restaurant in town." He sighed as he spoke, reminding himself that the past few days had actually happened and hadn't been some weird dream he had been caught in.

"And how..." Brooke started again.

"Dad's okay, we barely spoke the whole time I was there. Jodie's Jodie, she was fussing over everyone and is worried about dad. It was good to see Mitch, we hung out a bit which kinda made the trip bearable."

"And Kendra?" Brooke asked tentatively.

"We parted on okay terms." Austin nodded, blowing out a cloud of smoke.

"That's good Austin, that's what you were worried about right? What you wanted?"

"Yeah." He lied. He would never be okay with anything to do with the word 'parting' in the same sentence as her.

"Have you heard from anyone since you've been back?" Brooke asked after another sip of her cocoa.

"Just work shit." He shrugged off, ashing his cigarette in the tray beside him.

"Have you reached out to anyone since being back?" Jesus she wasn't backing down today.

"Brooke, what would I say?"

"People care about you Austin. I care about you. It's okay to let us in, to let us help." Brooke leant forwards, placing her hand over his forearm as she spoke.

"I know, I'm sorry. Would you come for a walk with me?"

****

"Holy shit you actually opened the door!" Mitch exclaimed as he pushed past Austin into the house before the door was slammed in his face.

"I invited you here." Austin closed the door behind his brother before following him into the foyer.

"That hasn't made a difference the past few times." Mitch punched back, his eyes darting around the house as he took in all the details. "Jesus, what is this a shrine? Nothing's fucking changed."