Family Friends (Taylor Swift Fanfiction)

Chapter Forty Seven

The cold New York air pricks my skin and a shiver runs through my body and down my spine. Tugging gently at the loose grey cardigan that was slipping off my shoulders, I try to regain some warmth. It was almost midnight and I was alone standing on Taylor's balcony. I could hear the thudding beat of the music from the party happening downstairs and the distant noise of cars on the road below. It was New Years Eve, none of us had planned on staying this long in New York but  Libby was still in hospital and I couldn't bare the thought of leaving her.

"What are you doing all alone out here?" A soft voice asks me. Spinning around I see Austin standing in the doorway, the light from Taylor's bedroom casting a shadow on the decking. He was dressed in a loose white T-shirt and black shorts. He held some form of liquid in a red Solo cup, which he placed on the Taylor's small outdoor table before walking over to me.

"How did you find me?" I stutter out my breath catching as Austin steps closer to me, his hands finding my hips. I feel his warm skin meet mine through the little black dress I was wearing. The dress had cut out sections all the way down the side and the loose grey cardigan I was wearing wasn't doing much in the way of covering them or keeping me warm. I felt it was slightly to revealing for New Years Eve party but Taylor had insisted it was fine. To be honest I hadn't even wanted to go to this party of Taylor's in the first place, but being Taylor she had forced me to go.

'Audrey you haven't left my apartment in a week, the only people you've talked to are our families." I start to protest but Taylor cuts me off, " the hospital doesn't count. It'll be good for you Auds. I promise if it gets to much you can leave."

"If you needed to breathe, I knew I would find you here," Austin says with a shrug. "People are asking about you in there Audrey. You can't hide out here for the whole party." Why would people be asking for me? I am probably the least famous person in the entire building besides maybe Tiger who was supposedly asleep. I know that if I step back inside I am bound to ruin yet another celebration.

" What if I want to?" I snap back, but immediately recoil as Austin's face flashes with hurt. "Sorry," I mumble.

Austin starts to reply when a shout from downstairs makes him jump- "TEN!"

"Looks like the count down has begun," he says as the shouting continues. Little flakes of snow were landing in his hair and his breath was making swirls of white in front of my face.

"Six," I whisper with them.

"Five," Austin whispers back, his face inching closer to mine.

"Four," his hands leave me hips and cup my face.

"Three," I can feel his breath tickling my nose.

"Two," our eyes meet.

"One," he brushes his lips against mine gently before locking them. I let myself dissolve into the kiss, blocking out the fireworks shooting off the roof nearby or the cheering getting increasingly louder downstairs. It's a kiss that makes me forget everything swirling around in my mind and my dark thoughts from earlier seem to just disappear.  He tastes like peppermint mixed with a hint of alcohol and I smile into the kiss because it's perfect. Everything is how it should be right in this moment. Austin pulls away slightly and I open my eyes. He's smiling at me with a tiny bit of my red lipstick staining the corner of his mouth.

"Would it be wrong to say I love you?" He asks touching our foreheads together and my breath catches in my throat for a second time tonight.

"You love me?" I ask back shyly my hands finding his.

"Only if you'll let me," he says back and I can't help but laugh at how cliché the whole thing is.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing," I say biting my lip to stop myself from giggling again. Giggling? Really Audrey?
"So am I allowed to love you?" Austin asks again.

Smirking I reply slowly, "only if I'm allowed to love you back." I think in that moment I fully understood the words of Taylor's love songs and what it means to fall in love with someone. I felt free...and then I felt like flying.

                                                                         ***

I clutched Libby's hand tightly as she walked shakily next to me down the bleak corridor. She seemed smaller than I remember, her head barely reaching my navel. We were on our way back to her assigned room where Mom was waiting with a bag of clothes for her to change into.

"Can I wear your Taylor T-shirt?" Her quiet voice asks me. We were leaving for Chicago tomorrow after spending an extra four weeks in New York making sure Libby had a full recovery before flying. She had woken up on the 8th of January much to the doctors surprise. The immense joy and relief I had felt when Mom got the phone call was beyond anything I had ever experienced. The weight that had been implanted in my chest since the accident lifted and my head felt clear.

"I don't know?" I say, "can you?" 

"Yes!" Libby says excitedly jumping up and down next to me. "Yes I can."

"Mommm," Libby yells letting go of my hand and racing off down the corridor towards her room.

"Gosh Libby, what?" Mom asks appearing in the doorway, her hand clutching a pair of denim skinny jeans.

"I'm wearing Audrey's Taylor top!" Mom looks up at me slightly surprised and raises an eyebrow. I nod confirming that yes, Libby was allowed to wear my most prised possession. That even now after everything still remains as precious and dear to me as it did that day all those months ago when I caught her wearing it. The only thing that has changed is now on the back of the shirt it reads in Taylor's hand writing,

To Audrey,
The little sister I never had.
Love you always,
Taylor

"Come on Audrey, where leaving now," Libby says definitely tugging on the corner of my sweatshirt. She was now dressed in clothes I hadn't seen her wear since last year. Her blue issued hospital gown lay discarded on the floor in her white washed allocated hospital room. I glance behind us one last time, taking in everything before I try to repress it all. Libby and Tiger had both missed two weeks of school, I had missed my flight to San Francisco and Mom had taken a lot of time off work.  Somehow it still felt it was all my fault  and no matter how many times Taylor told me it wasn't I couldn't shake the feeling away. 

"Let's hope we never have to come back here," Mom says through gritted teeth as she signs Libby's release forms at the front desk.

"I hope we never have to come back here to," I say quietly under my breath. I feel Libby squeeze my hand under the bench and I smile knowing that she was safe and sound beside me.

"Let's go find Tiger," she says as we leave the hospital and I feel a pang in my chest watching her stand there on the pavement in the snow outside 170 William street acting as if nothing had happened.   

Hey Guys!
This is the second last chapter! I have a lot to say but I'm gonna keep this short.
First off, I just wanna say thank you! You guys have been so committed to this story and it's coming and goings. Every vote and every comment you guys leave means a lot to me. I started this book little over a year ago with an idea and I'm so excited and glad it turned into this. 
Secondly, yes this is the second last chapter. There will be one more chapter and an epilogue. There will not be a squeal to this book in the near future or if at all. I'm super sorry, but I have heaps of other works in need of finishing first.
Thirdly, if any of you guys have mad cover creating skills, tell me because I do not haha.
That's all for now!
Love you all,
Cait xxx