The Dare to Destroy ~Cashby~

Chapter 19

Austin's POV

"If you want to protect me..."

"What? Tell me what I can do Alan please." I begged, my heart starting to pound harder against my chest in antisipation. I'd do anything to protect him the best I could and I couldn't help but feel a little hopeful, but worried at the same time. "I-I'd do anything."

There was a pause, silence filling the air, I knew Alan well enough to know he was thinking, hard and having a debate with himself. And then the silence broke with three words that made me literally want to burst at the seems with joy. "Stay with me."

"Stay with you?" I really shouldn't have questioned it, but I had to be sure he meant what I thought he meant.

"Austin..." He sighed. "You know what I've just realised? All along, all we've been is pawns in Ronnie's games and we played right into his hands. That's all we've ever been...pawns and we where dumb enough to fall for them for various reasons. We let him play us off each other, use us against each other to tear us both down. And now clearly, the satifaction he once felt after destory me, destorying us, is wearing off, so he's finding new ways to play us against each other. He's using a mistake I made, my heartbreak, everything to make me vunerable. He's using you because he knows, if I saw you go back to them...it would just kill me that little bit more but he knows that you still love me and would do anything to protect me. I...I don't want to be pawns anymore Aust because you know what, in all these games, we...we found each other, and we made each other happy. We found love in a hopeless situation that could've only ended in failure and we let him ruin it. I-I don't want to be pawns anymore Aust, I just want to be happy again, and you are what made me happy."

I felt my eyes brim with tears of joy, I could barely believe what he was saying, it was almost too good to be true. "S-So...you want there to...to be an us again?"

"In short." Alan gave a small nod of his head and I literally just wanted to grab him and hold him as if my life depended on it. "But, the fact still remains you hid the truth for me Aust, you could've told me and saved all this heartache. You still lied to me and I-I still don't know if I can fully trust you just yet, but I'm willing to try, if you are. It's going to take a while, a-and we're going to pretty much have to go back right to the start, but I can't deny it Austin, I still love you, I'm in love with you, and I'm a complete mess without you."

I couldn't hold back the smile that spread across my face and I reached out my hand to him. "Hey, I'm Austin, you must be Alan, the new kid." Alan looked at me confused and I couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Work with me here Alan, going back to the start...but doing it right this time."

Alan's face lit up and he reached out and took my hand. "Yeah, I'm Alan, nice to meet you Austin."

"So, Alan, how you enjoying California so far?" I asked casually.

"Oh you know, the weathers nice but had a rough start. See, there was this guy, but he was like a total jerk and broke my heart, pretty much turned me into a wreck, but you know, shit happens I guess."

"What an asshole! Though I can't really talk, see I met this guy, not so long ago and I fucked up really bad. I was thee biggest fool in the universe and ruined everything. See, I used to be someone who wasn't so nice, in fact I was one of the school's biggest bullies, but that guy...he opened my eyes, and my heart to everything I had been doing wrong and...well, he made me want to change, not for him, but for myself. He made me realise that deep down I was only making myself more miserable and in turn I was making other people miserable. I-I didn't want to do that anymore, so I changed my ways and I never intend on going back. But sadly, I failed him, I was too scared to be honest with him, scared of what he'd think, so I tried to find away, tried to protect him, but I only ended up hurting the one person I never wanted to hurt. But, that...that is the old me, I'm a changed man and I've learned not to make that same mistake again." The whole time both me and Alan where trying to hold back laughter and smirks, it felt so surreal, but yet so...perfect. This was a fresh start for us and a chance to do it right this time.