The Silver Spooners

Nine

9

PICTURES LAST LONGER

Austen

"FLYNN, I SWEAR to God, get off me!" Austen shrieked, holding her hands up to block her face.

Beck, Flynn, Austen and Wren had been playing a messy game of lacrosse in the van Laurent's backyard for a solid half hour.

Austen had been trying to keep up with the boys, as usual, but was limited in her short floral skirt.

The temperature had continued to drop as it got darker and eventually she suggested they go inside before dinner started. Flynn expressed his frustration for her wanting to abandon the game by tackling her to the ground.

Austen and Flynn had been wrestling almost the entirety of their friendship, which started when they were seven, but the appropriateness of the act had changed majorly since they had started high school.

He had pinned Austen's arms down on the cold grass so she couldn't move and smirked.

"Are you seriously quitting on us now, Calloway? Don't tell me you're stopping because Wren and I are beating you and Beck by six points."

Austen tried to pull her legs out from underneath him and sighed, frustrated. He was practically sitting on them and Flynn had gained some serious muscle since sophomore year.

"You're so annoying." She whined.

He rolled his eyes. "I hate it when you do that with your voice. Now that's annoying."

Flynn relaxed his arms and Austen took that as her queue. With all the strength she had in her she pulled her legs out from underneath Flynn's which caused him to lose his balance.

She shimmied away from him on the grass, silently cheering in her victory when she felt a pair of cold hands clamp on her thighs, pulling them back towards where she had just been.

"We're not done yet, Calloway." He said, teasingly. But his expression changed when he realized what position they were in.

It went from fun to something different in a split second, but to Austen it felt like longer than that.

Flynn was hovered above her like before, but their faces were lined up better and his hands that were practically hypothermic were gripping her thighs.

Her skirt had ridden up and her hands were on his back, where they had been thrown when she had been yanked back.

She couldn't read his expression like she usually could and that was what she was thinking about when he let go of her almost immediately and stood up.

Everything was kind of fuzzy but she was sure she heard him say something like "I keep forgetting you're such a girl."

She shook her head and stood up, cracking her knuckles.

"I have to say, I have improved in figuring out ways to get you away from me, Flynn. Now I know that almost beating you in wrestling is one of them." Austen tried to keep the shake out of her voice, but it was still lying under the surface.

Wren rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed. "Can we get back to the game now?"

"Yeah, we can do this without Austen. She was slowing me down anyways." Beckham joked, tipping his head towards her.

Flynn and Wren nodded before going towards the goal to retrieve the ball.

Beck watched them walk for a few seconds before turning to Austen. What's wrong? He mouthed.