Every Story Matters

25

♡ Scarlett ♡

Austin's parents are really nice. Although, his father doesn't talk much, I couldn't help but feel a little bit of tension in the air between Austin and him whenever he opened his mouth. Especial now, since we were currently on the topic of my future and what I plan on doing after high school. This, however, seemed to put Austin more on edge, which I couldn't seem to understand.

"So, Austin tells us that you want to become a writer?"

I swallow my mouthful of steak, and dabbed my face with a napkin before answering. "Yes, it's always been something I wanted to do." Besides me, Austin slips his hand under the table, and twines our fingers together. My mouth twitches up into a small smile as I continue to listen to Austin's mom.

"It's really good that you know what you want to do. In college, I think I switched my major like three times before I found the one I liked." She laughs at this and shakes her head at the memory that was probably replaying in her head. I let out a small laugh as well just to humor her, but the lighthearted atmosphere soon dissipates when his dad murmurs, "It's too bad Austin can't make up his mind either."

Austin stiffens beside me, his muscles going taught. And the way he's staring at his father sends a cold chill down my spine; I'm pretty sure that if looks could kill, his father would be ten feet under right now. My blood fills with worry when nothing is said. I look to his mom who looks the same way I feel. I try squeezing Austin's hand to calm him down, but it seems to have no affect on him in the slightest.

Austin's mom puts a hand on her husbands arm, and calmly says, "Honey, lets not do this right -"

Her statement gets cut off by Austin. "No, it's ok, Mom, he's right." He turns to me a bit forcefully, but offers me a smile. "There's just a lot of options to choose from."

I nod my head awkwardly. What am I supposed to do in this kind of situation? When no solution comes to mind, I do what any person would do: I sit quietly.

"Those options will decrease with more time, Austin." His father warns. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Once! Once is enough, Dad! And I was going to tell you guys later, but since we're on the subject, I chose where I want to go."

The atmosphere goes silent. Pin drop silent. His father's mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, and his mother is straight up silent. I'm no different. I'm as shocked as everyone else. When no one says anything, Austin huffs out a frustrated sigh, and storms up stairs. The sound of a door slamming sounds seconds after.

I look to his parents who are sharing an expression I can't seem to read. I quickly excuse myself, and shuffled my way up stairs. Once outside of Austin's door, I knock three times, hoping he'd open it. A muffled, "not now," was yelled through the door. I knock again, which resulted in the door being forcefully pulled back revealing an agitated Austin.

He sighs while letting me in, and closes the door behind me. Before I could get too far into his room, he takes a hold of my wrist, and pulls me to him. He buries his face into my hair, and takes in a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles.

I pull back only enough so I could see his face. "For what?" I ask.

He sighs and places his lips on my forehead. "I didn't want you to witness any of that," he mumbles, then looks back down at me.

I shake my head with a smile. "You don't need to be sorry about that." He doesn't need to be sorry about anything. Everyone has their own problems to deal with, and I get it. The dinner probably didn't go as planned, but I think it was good that it did, for it seemed like everything that needed to be said was said.

"I guess this is a bad time to ask you to be my girlfriend, huh?"

My heart skips a beat, and I stare at Austin agape, my eyes wide. "You wanted to ask me to be your girlfriend tonight?" I ask, my breathing shallow.

He lets out a nervous chuckle, and takes a step back. "I knew it was bad timing..." He shakes his head, and runs a hand through his hair.

I shake my head, but quickly realized how stupid that was since his back was currently facing me. I want tell him I want to be his girlfriend. That I've wanted to be that for a while now. But still shocked at the fact he actually wants to ask me, nothing comes out of my mouth, and I start to panic. If I don't act now, the moment might be gone. So I did something I wouldn't have done in a million years; I grab his arm, and in the heat of the moment, without thinking, I press my lips to his.

His body immediately stiffens and with each second that passes by without him doing anything, anxiety fills within me. His hands come up to my face, and cups my cheeks perfectly in the palm of his hands, and kisses me back. I feel him smile against my lips, and continues to kiss me. My heart flutters with happiness, my stomach churns, and my knees feel like they want to buckle any second.

We pull back, and share an admiring look with each other before he leans down again and pecks my lips once more. I just had my first kiss.

"So, I'm going to take that as a yes?" He quirks an eyebrow, a playful smirk playing on his lips.

I look at him dubiously. I think that maybe I should humor him by saying that I don't kiss just anyone on the lips, but I figured I'll have plenty of opportunities to humor him like that later. So instead I wrap my arms around his neck while he rests his hands on my hips, pulling me closer. "Of course." I go up on the tips of my toes and place a kiss on the tip of his nose.

His eyebrows scrunch together, and a peculiar look crosses his face. "What's wrong?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows as well.

He shakes his head. "Nothing..." he pauses, uncertainty crossing his face. "It's just...when I kissed you on the nose earlier, you seemed...bothered? Or disappointed?" His face scrunches a little. "I don't know...it sounds ridiculous now that I'm saying it out loud." 

I honestly didn't think he noticed. I thought I was doing a pretty good job at hiding what I was feeling. Guess I was wrong. "No, no, you're...you're right," I start, "If I'm being honest, I always had this thought that you didn't kiss me, like on the lips, because you didn't like me that much to do so. It just always bummed me out." I heave out a sigh, preparing myself for what I'm about to reveal to him. "I've...wanted to be your girlfriend for a while, and I don't know...I guess - I-"

Before I could finish my rant, he leans down and kisses me. We pull apart and an amused grin is playing on his lips. "You talk too much." I glare at him, to which he only laughs. "I didn't kiss you that way because I wanted to do it right. I knew it would have been your first so, I wanted to wait till, you know..until we were official. But that plan backfired when you jumped me."

I feel my cheeks flush red with embarrassment, but a smile still playing at my lips. I still can't believe I did that. Austin lets out a low chuckle and pulls me closer to him. He puts his forehead against mine, "it was totally worth it," and kisses me.

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