Summer Strangers

Chapter Seventeen

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." 

Ashley Benson will be playing a very important character that you'll be meeting soon ;) Can you guess who!?

Austins's POV

I haven't slept like this in months. Since my dad left us and we watched our whole world corrupt in front of us, I could never get any real sleep. I would always wake up looking like I've never even shut an eye.

But just this once, this one time that I slept next to her, was perfect. Serene. The way her warmth radiated a peaceful aura around the bed not only finally made me sleep, but also perhaps healed me. I really don't know what this is, but I know that it's something that will eventually corrupt both of us. Because a feeling like this, so strong and powerful created by just one, simple girl, is the embodiment of corruption.

It reminds of the feeling mum always described. What she felt for my dad before all the fights and the emotional wars started. The way she described her life with him was a happy, pure parallel of what I'm feeling for Amelia right now. However, this feeling is not as good and pure as it feels in the beginning, because, because of it, it brought the means of my Mum's destruction when my Dad left. Her life became dull, and her vision of life was degraded to a dark embrace of emptiness. So even if my love for Amelia, that I have yet to admit fully, is healing me, it will eventually tear me apart. Because that's how love works.

It will fuck me up. Tear me down. And leave me empty and alone.

"Aa!" A scream wakes me up, and my relaxed eyelids start to flicker. When they finally open, the first thing I notice is the luminous, golden rays of the sunrise reaching inside the window, where it touches everything with its golden richness and finally sits on the beautiful figure it's embracing with its warmth.

Shit! I fell asleep, and she doesn't remember a thing...

I'm embarrassed to see that my arm is all over her sweet, half-naked body, and before I'm able to move it she pushes me off of her.

"Austin! What are you doing here?" She half-shouts, half-whispers in panic. I act immediately and before I know it I'm out of her bed, and on my feet, getting dizzy by the action. Oh shit. She's still in her swimsuit, and I can't help but notice how beautiful she is.

When she notices that her cardigan is missing she quickly covers herself up and stares at me, waiting for an explanation.

"I - I fell asleep," I admit reluctantly. I quickly grab my shoes and glue my eyes on the floor, refusing to meet her gaze.

"What happened last night? Did we-" She stops in panic and her eyes wide and wild. God, how much I wish...

"What? No, of course not! I just... you needed some company, so I stayed for a while until you fell asleep, but in the end, it seems like I did too." I can't stop myself from staring at her. She's stunned in place, her wild, embarrassed eyes waiting for an explanation I can't seem to give her.

"I - I gotta go."

I quickly slam the door shut, and I heave out a sigh. God, what is she doing to me?

My eyes widen in realization after I remember...

Blair is coming today... shit! I need to stop her from coming, I can't have her around just yet.

I quickly run in my room, making sure there's no parent around.

My room is just how I left it. Messy bed, open window, and open desk light. I throw my shoes to the side of the room, and approach my bed, sitting on the comfortable, blue sheets.