More - A.M.

Chapter Fourteen

It was Austin's first day back at school, and I was glad. It was starting to get lonely there without him. I haven't seen him though, not since this morning. It's lunch now, so I sit at our regular table and wait for him. After a few minutes, which felt like hours, he finally appeared.

"Sorry. Lunch line was really long," he apologizes.

"No worries," I smile. He nods in response and we both direct our attention to our food. It was quiet, way too quiet for the both of us. Usually at lunch we're talking, joking, laughing, and probably annoying the hell out of everyone around us, but today it was silence. This is exactly what I was afraid of. We told each other how we felt and now it was creating some weird tension between us.

"So how's your day been so far?" He attempts at a conversation.

"Oh, you know, same as always. Boring. How 'bout yours?" I ask.

"People have been whispering about me because of the fight but other than that, same old, same old," he responds.

"What have they been saying?"

"Well, they all seem to be taking Tyler's side because he's so popular, so they've been calling me an ass, and saying that Tyler should've beat the shit out of me. Typical stuff," He shrugs.

"That doesn't bother you?" I ask, starting to feel bad that he was dragged into this mess.

"No. I did the right thing, they can think whatever they want."

I nod, not knowing how to respond to that. The awkwardness takes over again, and I have no choice but to let it. I don't think either one of us really knows how to deal with this new situation we've put ourselves in.

I gaze around the cafeteria, hoping to find something else to grab my attention. I don't have to look very far before my eyes land on something. It's Tyler and his stupid cheerleader. She's hanging all over him and she even kisses him in front of everybody, like he didn't just have a breakup a few days ago. I start to feel angry, maybe even a little bit jealous, but then I look at Austin and it makes me smile because I realize that I don't need to hang on to Tyler anymore. I'm moving on to something better.

"What?" Austin asks.

"Oh, nothing. Sorry, I just zoned out I think," I said.

"Oh," is all he says.

I wait a while before saying, "So.."

"This is really awkward," he laughs.

"I know. I was afraid it was going to be."

"I don't know why. I mean, we're still best friends so.."

"Yeah, but things are different now," I tell him.

"They don't have to be. We're making them different," he points out.

"Well it'd be kinda hard to go right back to normal like nothing ever happened. I think we were just so busy that we didn't really have time to think about this."

"It'll work out, I promise. It might be weird for a while, but we'll get through it. We kinda have to anyways if we want to be together," he shoots me a smile, and I return the gesture.

I blushed a little at the thought of us being together. Of course I had thought about us dating before but obviously I never acted on those feelings because I was with Tyler. Now that that's over though I have been thinking about me and Austin a lot. I honestly can't wait until we can finally be official. I'm starting to realize now that I want nothing more than to be his.

"Ella? Did you hear me?" Austin asks, waving his hand in my face.

"Hm?" I ask, pushing my thoughts aside.