The only way I knew it was him, really him, was by his voice and that shaggy blonde hair. The rest of him was a complete crazy mess. His clothes were cut up on him, showing off cuts on his skin with dried blood. His face was covered in dirt, and it looks like he's been living with the wolves instead of running away from them. His expression matches how the rest of him looks; crazy.
Thomas' mouth drops and he instantly drops my wrist from his grip and stands there, completely stiff. I have a feeling bruises are going to appear from him later, but that's far from my worries right now.
I stare at Austin, but his eyes are on Thomas, and I feel like he may pounce on him at any moment, "Austin!" I say.
"What the hell is going on here?" He asks; his eyes still on Thomas.
"Nothing now, since you interrupted…" Thomas says calmly.
I turn to him and my mouth drops. Is he seriously going to make it sound like we were about to kiss because we both wanted to? No way would Austin believe that… Would he?
"He didn't interrupt anything!" I shout towards Thomas. He turns to me with a cold look, and it makes me feel like he would have grabbed me by the neck and killed me right there if Austin wasn't here.
I want to run over to him, hide behind him so I could feel protected from Thomas. But I feel like I'm afraid to. Is he the same person as he was the other day, and why does he look so crazy? I stay still in my spot, feeling like I'm not going to be safe anywhere now.
"It sure looked like something." Austin says threw his teeth.
My heart feels like it stops right there. Does he really believe that Thomas and I have something? I know he doesn't know exactly how I feel for him, but I just thought he kind of knew, "What it looked like was Thomas about to take advantage of me!" I say.
"You wish!" Thomas snaps at me.
"Not in a thousand years!" I snap back at him. Austin looks from him to me, and then he looks like he's thinking about all of this.
"Thomas, what the hell are you thinking?" Austin asks, walking over to stand in front of me. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I have my protector back, I have Austin back. I stay behind him and attempt to look over his tall shoulder at Thomas, who stands there dumbfounded.
"She threw herself at me." Thomas says.
"What!" I scream from behind Austin.
"That's not what it looked like to me." Austin says.
"Whatever." Thomas says and turns around to walk away, but Austin walks over to him and grabs him by the shoulders.
Thomas goes stiff and avoids Austin's eye contact, "If you ever try to take advantage of Ally like that again, you're going to wish you died when the plane crashed." Austin says right into his face, and he sounded scarier than I ever imagined.
Thomas just nods, and when Austin lets go of him, he runs away back towards the plane. I just stand there and watch Austin turn around, and then just look at me. I look into his eyes and I can't tell what he's thinking, and it bothers me.
"Are you okay Austin? I've been looking for you and I've been worried sick." I tell him.
"I'm a little banged up, but I'm fine. I got lost but obviously I found my way." He says kindly.
"I'm glad." I say, "And you came at the perfect time." I tell him.
"Yeah, what the hell is going on?" He asks me.
"I don't know; Thomas was always so nice to me. And all the sudden he's around me all the time and trying to kiss me and freaking out because I like you and" – I stop right there, because I realized that I just said I liked him, and his expression doesn't change, because I think he just knows.
"I can't believe he'd do something like that." Austin says and shakes his head.
"I know me either. And I haven't felt normal or safe back at camp since he's started this. I've felt so alone without you." I tell him.
"I haven't felt right being apart from you either." Austin says, "But I'm back now, and I'm here for you. We should go back to the plane and see what's going on." He says.
I nod at him and we walk back together in silence, which I don't really understand. I want to ask him so many things, but I can't find the right words to ask, and I guess he just has nothing to say to me either. But when we get back everyone runs over and gathers around him (minus Thomas of course) and flood him with questions. Sammy hands him new clothes and Dannie runs over to the first aid area they set up and grabs a wash cloth to clean him up.
He's so distracted by all his attention I decide to leave him alone and go in the plane. Thomas stays far away, so I feel safe being alone for now. I curl up into a ball on my sleeping area and decide to put Austin's blanket on me until he comes in to go to sleep. I find myself excited. Excited that Austin is going to be back lying next to me, and that emptiness is going to be gone. It almost makes me forget that I'm still stuck, who knows where, with a random group of people.
I find myself drifting off to sleep slowly, and I can't even keep my eyes open for longer than two seconds. Eventually, I can't fight it anymore and I let myself go, but I wake up not too long later, because I feel someone's arms wrap around me, and I freeze, suddenly afraid that It was Thomas, but I turn around to face him, and it's Austin. He smiles at me, and keeps his arms around me tightly. I rest my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. He puts the blanket on top of us both and I feel warm and safe. I fall asleep fast again, and when I wake up, I'm still in his arms, except my head rests on his collar bone while he lays flat on his back.
It's bright, so I know its late morning. I lift my head up slightly and everyone's awake already, and I smile. For once Austin stayed sleeping with me instead of getting up with everyone else. I put my head back down on his chest and listen to his heartbeat, and his slow breathing. It's really comforting, and I probably would have fell back to sleep right there if I wasn't already so rested, so instead I take this opportunity to watch him sleep like I did that time before.
He wakes up soon after, blinking a bunch of times and stretching slightly. He looks down at me and smiles, "Well good morning." He says.
I return the smile, "Morning." I say.
"Have you been watching me sleep you weirdo?" he asks and then laughs.
My cheeks turn a shade of red, "Me? No." I say.
"I was just kidding; I've watched you sleep before too." He says.
I just smile at him and roll over on to my back away from him, and we both lay the same way next to each other, and stay silent for a while… until I break it, "So, what happened to you other there?" I whisper, almost afraid of his reaction to the question.
"Well, I ran from wolves a lot, and fell all over the place, that's why I'm so cut up. I also had a run in with a rattle snake, but thankfully I got away. I stayed in some small empty beat up shack I found one night, and the rest I spent under the trees." He says.
"That's so scary." I breathe.
"I know." He says.
"Well I'm just glad you're okay and you're back. I finally got a good night's sleep." I say.
"I'm glad I comfort you." He says.
I roll over on my side and support my head on my arm, "Me too." I say.
He mimics me and we're face to face. He rests his arm on my hip and we stare at each other. I swear I get totally lost in those eyes of his, and his angel like face is so alluring. I forget about everything around me when he looks at me like this, and then before I know it, he leans in and presses his lips to mine. It's like some electricity goes through both of us, and I swear I get chills. He kisses me softly, our lips moving perfectly in sync with each other.
When he breaks away, both of our faces kind of turn into shock, or realization of what just happened. I realize this is our first real kiss since the kiss he gave me before we crashed. I wasn't even sure about that kiss, wasn't sure he wanted it, but this kiss, I could feel the want from both of us.