Chapter 2 #5
I looked down at my yellow sundress, as if remembering what I was wearing. It suddenly seemed too bright for tonight. Too out of place.
“It’s okay,” I replied. “You’ve helped enough.”
“I’ll be downstairs, A,” Levi said, casting a quick glance between us. Austin didn’t respond as Levi left the room.
“We didn’t actually do much, Yellow,” Austin said, shaking his head. He glanced around before walking over to a chair beside the bed. He sat down heavily, elbows on his knees, his head lowered.
“You did,” I told him with a sigh. “You don’t even know us. But you helped.”
He tilted his head at that, like he didn’t understand why it mattered. “I don’t like seeing girls treated like that.”
“No one should,” I said. “But people do. They turn a blind eye.”
“Not me,” he said sharply.
“So it seems.” I stroked Cherry’s arm gently, pulling the blanket up around her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
The question surprised me, even though it shouldn’t have. He’d been looking at me like that, like he was worried, ever since the party.
“Nothing happened to me,” I said with a shrug.
Austin paused. His eyes lingered on me, considering something. “You know that drink was meant for you, right?”
I exhaled. Of course I’d thought about that. It was a tickle at the edge of my mind I’d been trying not to scratch. “I know.”
“So,” he said again, “are you okay?”
I breathed out slowly. I tried to gather the right words to explain how I felt. Or at least not sound completely insane. “Do you believe in fate?” I asked, avoiding his gaze.
“Fate?” he echoed, surprised and amused.
“Yeah. Destiny. The plan of life. Whatever you want to call it.”
He was quiet for a second. “Let’s say I do, for argument’s sake.”
I let out a small laugh. “Okay, sure. So… I try to think of it like this: everything happens the way it’s supposed to.
Have you ever thought about how, if your parents had just gone to sleep the night you were conceived, you wouldn’t exist?
Or even more specific—if they’d done it one minute earlier or later, you’d be a completely different person? ”
Austin raised his eyebrows. “Well, I didn’t expect this conversation to involve my parents fucking, but… sure.”
I smiled faintly. “I know, it’s weird. But seriously…
what if? What if two soulmates didn’t stop for coffee at the same place?
What if someone didn’t get caught at a red light and drove into a head-on crash?
What if the person who discovered insulin had ended up a janitor instead of a doctor?
Everything’s happened because it was meant to happen. ”
Austin looked at me sideways. “Okay… and what does that have to do with tonight?”
“It means it didn’t happen to me because it wasn’t supposed to.
Maybe fate knew if Cherry drank that drink, I’d find her in time.
And if I had, maybe fate knew Cherry wouldn’t have.
It happened the way it was meant to happen.
I can’t waste energy on ‘what ifs’—because it wasn’t ‘what if.’ It was ‘what is.’” I sighed.
“Cherry’s okay because fate knew what she was doing. I trust fate.”
Austin was quiet. Then his voice cut through gently. “Why do you think fate put me in that room, then?”
My thoughts spun for a second, I hadn’t expected the question. I nodded toward Cherry. “I guess you were meant to save her just as much as I was.”
Austin didn’t respond. He just stared at me like I was something to figure out. Like I was a river and he was trying to see what lake I had formed from.
“You’re different, Yellow,” he muttered, shaking his head.
“Not really,” I said.
“No, Yellow,” he repeated without hesitation. “You’re different.”
“Can I ask you something?” I said into the air, the question that had been burning a hole in my brain since the day I met him.
I took another look at Cherry, whose face was still peaceful as her breaths gently left her nose.
I turned away from her at last, feeling confident that she was fine for the moment.
“Sure,” Austin said instantly, though the corners of his eyes crinkled as he said it, like he was hesitant about what my question might be.
“Why were you at that house last weekend?” I asked him, my eyes not shifting from where they had focused on his face.
I’d gotten pretty used to the patterns of addicts.
After all, my own flesh was one. Holden had been using for months before I finally caught on, and looking back, his addiction had been written all over his body.
But especially his face. His lies had gleamed like fireflies against the blackness of a starless night.
I was blind to them then, but in hindsight they were so brilliant they couldn’t be missed.
And that’s what I was looking for in Austin’s face.
Sure, he might be a nice guy, he might have all the green flags of his removal from the toxic rape culture we all live in, and he might be good looking in just about every way…
but if he was an addict, it was an instant stop.
“Ah,” Austin replied, looking down like he was ashamed of his own presence there. “I knew someone there.”
“You know what I’m asking,” I cut to the chase, raising my brow at him. He looked bothered at my question, but not bothered that I had asked. It looked like he was bothered at the fact he had been there at all.
“Nah,” he swiped his nose as he said it, but I was almost too busy looking into his eyes to notice the small movement. He didn’t look like he was lying, but I was still hesitant.
“No?” I repeated his answer.
“I don’t use that shit,” he explained, shaking his head. “I never have. My choice of medicine is strictly herbal.”
“Weed?” I asked him, and when he nodded, I pursed my lips.
“You don’t like that?” Austin smiled as he said it, a subtle smirk playing across his face.
“I don’t particularly like any mind-altering substances,” I shrugged, “but I won’t hold it against you, I guess.”
“You’ve never been high?” Austin spoke like it was unimaginable that someone could go their whole life without smoking weed.
I sighed, debating how much to tell him. “A couple of times.”
“Let me guess,” he let the words out like a breath, “once your brother got into drugs, you went straight?”
I perked up my brows, a small giggle leaving my lips. “I think I’ve always been straight, but I guess there’s still time to switch teams. You never know.”
Austin’s stunned face turned into one of laughter within seconds. He did the same thing he’d seemed to be doing all night, watching me in bewilderment. I just wasn’t sure what he was bewildered with.
“I don’t picture that happening anytime soon,” he told me.
“I guess you’re right though,” I said, circling back to his original question. Maybe Austin was as good at reading people as he claimed to be. “About going straight.”
“I usually am right,” he said quietly. He lowered his head, looking up at me from beneath his brows.
I dropped my gaze almost immediately. Why did I have to fight the heat rising to my cheeks?
“It’s almost one,” Austin continued after glancing at his phone.
“Are you going to sleep here, or do you want another room?”
I sighed, glancing back at Cherry. She was sprawled out over the bed now, and even though I knew sleeping beside her would be uncomfortable, I also knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep away from her. I’d be checking on her constantly anyway.
“I’ll be fine here,” I tilted my head down toward the bed. “But Austin?”
“Hm?” He looked at me curiously.
“You never really answered my question,” I said, watching as his face changed ever so slightly. “About the house.”
Austin was silent for a second, before blowing air from his mouth. “Listen, Yellow…”
But he couldn’t finish, because the sound of the front door opening and slamming shut interrupted him. I watched Austin as a look of mild alarm passed across his face. He began to stand, looking toward the door of the room we were in.
“Austin!” a girl’s loud voice filled the air as whoever it was called his name.
I looked at Cherry first, before realizing nothing was going to wake her up at this point.
Then I looked back at Austin. The alarm lifted from his face almost immediately.
A small smile grew on his lips instead. He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair as he fell back against the chair.
“Sorry,” he directed at me, leaving me even further confused.
“Austin!” the girl’s voice sounded again. “I know you’re here because your car is in the driveway. You shouldn’t have given me a key if you weren’t going to greet me at the door.”
Key? Maybe this was his girlfriend, and it sounded serious. Pressure rose in my stomach at the thought, because I certainly didn’t want anyone’s long-term girlfriend finding me in their boyfriend’s guest room.
“Austin?” she called again, her voice moving up the stairs. “Oh, there you are.” She must have been able to see us before we could see her. “You didn’t answer any of my texts, you asshole.”
And it was then that she walked into the room.
She stunned me immediately with her beauty.
She had long, dark hair, and I could see her eyes were green even though she was feet away from me.
With facial features that could be seen on any model in the world, she was instantly intimidating.
She walked into the room as though she was floating on clouds.
She was absolutely gorgeous by anyone’s standards.
“What the hell are you doing up here?” she asked, looking at Austin before she cast her eyes on me, and then on Cherry asleep on the bed. Her eyes widened, and she looked back to Austin. “Oh. Oh. Oooh.”
I glanced between the two of them, trying to determine whether this beautiful girl was about to beat my ass.
“Sorry, man,” I heard a male voice, breaking us all from the awkward spell we were caught in.
A guy came into the room next, shaking his head like he was in on a secret I didn’t know about.
But this guy… I knew him. I tilted my head as he walked in, his eyes casting over the three of us individually just like the girl’s had.
A hint of familiarity passed over his features as he looked at Cherry and me.
We went to Hawking together. Or at least we did, until he was expelled.
We weren’t friends, but I knew of him, just like everyone at our school did.
He was popular before he got expelled, and he was popular after, too.
I watched as his hands wrapped around the girl’s waist, and she sunk back into him in the most natural way.
She smiled instantly at his touch, leaning back so she could kiss his cheek, and it suddenly clicked.
It was Zane, of course, and the beautiful girl he’d met at his new private school.
Even though he didn’t go to our school anymore, the halls had still burst with gossip about him.
“Seren,” he said softly. “Looks like Austin has company.”
“I can see that,” she mused, offering me a small smile. “I have about three hundred questions, Austin. Which would you like first?”
“Uh, Seren, love,” Austin let out. Love? What kind of freaky love triangle did I walk into?
“Don’t love me,” Seren started, and she was about to say something else when Austin rose from his chair.
He walked over to her, looping his arm around her neck and pulling her back through the door.
Zane chuckled, wordlessly following them.
“No,” she protested, looking back toward me.
“I want to talk to the pretty blonde girl that’s in your bed. ”
“That’s not my bed,” Austin muttered as they left the room. I heard their footsteps echo down the hallway, drifting further and further away. I heard Austin whispering. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was telling them. Boy drugged girl, girl and her friend needed somewhere to sleep…
“Okay, okay,” I heard the girl mutter. “But can I talk to her? Please, please, please?” I tilted my head at her words, wondering what she had to say.
“Seren, babe,” I heard Zane’s voice next, closer now, like they were walking back toward the room. “Let her be.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?” she muttered.
“I’m always on your side,” he said with so much love in his voice, “but it’s not your business.”
“You’re both boring,” she sighed.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Austin told her. I could tell they were right outside the door now.
“Fine,” she said, but then her head popped into the doorframe.
“Hi, I’m Seren and Austin is my best friend,” she said excitedly. “Blair, right?” Her body was moving like someone was trying to tug her away.
“Hi,” I said slowly, but a smile spread across my lips as I watched her. “Yeah, I’m Blair.”
“Austin is the best,” she was speaking fast, like she knew whoever was tugging her was about to succeed in pulling her away any second. “He’s seriously the best, he’s the nicest ever in the whole—okay, okay, fine, I’m going,” she gave me a last wave before she finally disappeared from the room.
Austin walked in a second later, a sheepish look on his face like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. He shut the door behind him, shaking his head toward the ground.
“Sorry about that,” he told me. “She’s uh, yeah, that’s Seren.”
“Your best friend?” I asked him, quoting her words. “I would have assumed that was Levi.”
Austin laughed, looking at me finally. “Levi’s a good friend, for sure, but… she’s my best friend. We have… well, we have a unique friendship. She’s special to me.”
“That’s sweet,” I told him. I could see it in his eyes just how much she meant to him. He spoke of her like one would speak of their baby sibling. “She’s honestly like the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Austin nodded, not like he was agreeing, but as if he had heard those words a thousand times before. “She’s beautiful.”
“I’m a little jealous,” I said the thought before I realized how pathetic I sounded.
Austin tilted his head at me, his eyes softening even further.
“Seren, she’s… have you ever seen pictures of a hurricane over the ocean, right before it rolls in?
It’s gorgeous, of course. The way the dark clouds form against the blue of the water.
People spend their entire lives trying to get the perfect picture of it,” Austin told me, and I wondered what he meant.
“But,” he continued. He was still staring at me. “I much prefer the rainbow that forms after a light rain, instead.”