Useless and Disappointing

Austin woke up and rubbed his eyes, amazed that he had woken up about twenty minutes early. Rising from the couch to stretch, he noticed that somebody was in the kitchen making breakfast. Could it be that Shelby was actually cooking for him? He walked towards the kitchen slowly, unsure if he should enter. Peeking his head around the corner, he noticed that it wasn't Shelby, but a woman who he assumed was his housekeeper. His heart dropped. For a minute, he had thought Shelby was going to actually be productive

"Oh, Mr. Ames, your wife left early this morning, but didn't tell me where she went," the woman replied as she tended to the hot stove .

"That's okay, thank you. I was just checking to see who was in here."

"Alright. Are you hungry, sir?" she questioned, offering the skillet she had just finished.

"Austin hesitated. He didn't feel like wasting time sitting down to eat breakfast, yet he felt bad that she had put in so much effort to make him a nice breakfast. Austin finished his meal within a few minutes, and then hurried out the door. As he walked onto the driveway, he saw two sports cars parked, one a 1967 GT 500 Mustang, and the other, a 1956 Porsche 550 Spyder. He chose the Mustang and smiled as he entered it. He had a passion for cars, especially Mustangs. When he was little, he had even collected all of the miniature car models except for this one.

After arriving at the diner and parking, Austin sat in his car, terrified to go in ."Here goes nothing." He stepped out of the car and approached the door slowly. Looking around, he noticed that the place was packed. Luckily, there was one table left and Austin quickly hurried to it and sat down. To keep his mind off of the mission at hand, he grabbed a menu and then let out a small laugh when he saw something familiar. "Sushi and donuts?" Of course, it wasn't helping the situation, just reminding him of what he had lost.

"Well, Austin Ames. What brings you in here?" The voice broke his train of thought and he looked up from the menu to see Sam glaring at him. "I didn't think a big shot like you would ever come in here."

"Um..., Sam, I actually came to see you." Sam stared back at him with confusion.

"What do you mean you came to see me? You haven't talked to me since high school, Austin." Austin looked down at the table, feeling ashamed of what he had done to her in this life.

"Look, I came to tell you that I was a fool. My decision to not go after you at the football game was a mistake."

"Right. Why would you even want to think about me? You have Shelby. It was your choice to stay in your pretend world. I gave you a chance to come after me, and told you that waiting for wasn't an option."Austin stared back at her, knowing that everything she said was right."You have everything you could ever want. Besides, I'm married now, so there will never be an us." Austin's eyes widened the moment he heard the word "married". He knew that if he was stuck in this life forever, he and Sam could never be.

"Married? To who?" he asked with curiosity.

"That doesn't matter, Austin." She sighed. "You know what? I was right about you when I said, 'Useless and disappointing.' You're about twelve years too late." Sam stormed off to serve coffee to some customers a few tables down. Austin inhaled sharply. This was the worst day of his life. All he could do was lean over the table, bury his head in his arms, and cry. All of a sudden, Mike from the bar showed up at his table from out of nowhere.

"Well Austin, find anything surprising about your new life?" Startled, Austin lifted his head..

"Yeah. This sucks, Mike. My own wife hates me," Austin replied, wiping the tears from his face.

"Well, can you really blame her? After you didn't go after her, she went on to Princeton without you, while you took the scholarship to USC, married Shelby, and helped your dad expand his business. You told me that this is what you wanted ."

"Well, I...I know," Austin replied, rubbing his face. "I just wish I could be back where things made sense."

"That's not how it works, unfortunately."

"So I'm stuck here. Is that what you're saying?"

"No, but I can't send you back. Only you can do that."

"How am I suppose to do that?"

"Austin, I can't tell you how. That's up to you to figure out." Austin turned his head to see if Sam was coming back to his table. He sighed when it became obvious that she wouldn't. Looking back, he discovered that Mike had disappeared. "Great. Now what am I supposed to do? "With a sigh, he left the diner and began walking out to his car. He was about to get in when he noticed another familiar face. "Hey, Carter. How's it going?" Carter turned around, surprised to see him.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

"I was in the area and decided to stop by," Austin replied, offering his hand for a handshake.

"Austin, don't take this the wrong way, but after what happened between you and Sam, I don't really want anything to do with you either."

"What? Come on Carter, I'm different now. I came to make peace with her."

"Well, she's moved on. Maybe you should too." With that Carter walked away and entered the diner without saying goodbye. All Austin could do was stand there in heartbroken shock. The two people who meant the world to him wanted nothing to do with him. Looking through the window, he watched Sam and Carter talk, apparently not realizing that he was still outside. He got into his car and sped away angrily. At that moment, he realized that his life with Sam wasn't as bad as he'd thought. Was it to late to go back?