Guest - Good point, and I promise, this will be revealed at some [other] point in the story.
xxSmileYoureBeautifulxx - You're right….but not yet.
-A&A-
Chapter 4.
-Austin -
I watched her as she slept on the couch, as I sat on the island, and decided on whether to leave or not, being as I told her I would. I shrug it off, and look over at the microwave clock and read the time.
Screw it. I decided to do one last thing before I left.
I made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and then left her note. It may have seemed a bit cliche and cheesy, but it was all I could offer. I looked over at her again, and it had seemed she had awoken, so I waited a few minutes to see if she'd wake, and then I decided to leave. I didn't belong here.
"What are you doing up?" she asks me, as I realized she had awoken, so I decide to stay.
"I woke up about a half an hour ago. Being a street kid, I don't sleep much," I tell her, as I sit down beside her on the couch.
"I forgot about that," she whispers to me, as she pushes herself up to sit up.
"How could you forget that? For three weeks now, you walked right by me," I stare, and look blankly at the TV.
"That wasn't the point, I was making," she defends herself.
"I'm aware. Anyways, I made you a sandwich, I decided to make you lunch, or in this case, breakfast," I tell her as I throw on my hoodie, and decide to let her know that I was ready to head back to the street. It was where I belonged.
"Stay. Eat something, and then you can leave," she tells me, knowing what I was thinking. I almost don't, and then I decided I had better. I also make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That was what normal teenagers ate for breakfast, right?
"Pizza or pb&j?" she asks me after she takes a bite of her sandwich. At first I wonder what she had meant, because, why would she ask about something she was eating.
"If you had to choose between pizza or pb&j for the rest of your life what would you choose?" she asks again, this time making the topic more clear. I smile because I already know the answer, but I take a moment to pretend I don't.
"That's a hard one but...pb&j. You can do so much more with pb&j than you can with pizza", I finally answer, and then get up to leave again. This time, she doesn't distract me.
"Don't you want to know my answer?" she asks me, as I assumed she gotten up to go the bedroom, and get ready for school.
"Maybe next time," I tell her, and finally leave, as I leave behind everything. Including my note, that I knew she'd find, when she was ready.
She already had a boyfriend, and I was never going to be her Roy Harper, and I would just have to accept that.
-A&A-
-Ally-
As I sat on my bed, I heard him leave. I didn't bother to stop him, so I decided to get dressed for school, since it was pointless to go back to sleep.
Pb&j it is, I thought, as I headed to the island. That was when I discovered something on the counter, and decided to look at it.
This isn't a cliche breakup letter, or note. Hell, I mean, you have a boyfriend, and I have the streets, and for one night I thank you for that. As I watch you sleep, I realize this won't make sense, but in a riddle it would. Broken boy meets broken girl.
- Austin.
He was right, it didn't make sense, but I remembered I had heard his sentence of broken boy meets broken girl before. I must have lost track, because shortly later I had received a text from Calum telling me that he'd be up to get me so we could bus together for school. I text him back saying that I would be ready.
A few minutes he shows up at my door, as I had noticed he had cut his hair, and I realize he gotten contacts, which made his eyes look a darker brown. His red Abercrombie & Fitch hoodie stuck out.
"Sorry, I bailed last night," he tells me, as steps inside the apartment, and I realize again that he ignored my artwork, as he always did.
"It's cool. You had practice. I get it," I tell him, as I meet his eyes, and give him a kiss. "What's with the preppy boy look? Last time I checked that didn't fit into the basketball team stereotype," I point out as I smile at him.
"There is no practicle stereotype for the basketball team. We can't all play for the Knicks or the Nets, but only a few of us can make varsity," he points out. "It's my senior year, and my last chance at varsity," he points out as we walk out of the apartment.
"Have you sent in your college apps yet?" I ask out of curiosity as we wait at the bus stop, and watch as other students from the local colleges, and high schools walk by, as the sun rises in the background.
"Yeah, I sent them in. Washington, Notre Dame, Michigan," he tells me as a bus pulls up, and we step onto the bus.
"For those schools, you'd need financial aid," I tell him as a few tourists come on, and then a few minutes later we get to our stop, and get off. School was only a couple blocks away.
"Why is this such a big deal to you?" he asks me as step onto the property of the school.
"Because, you're my boyfriend, and if I want to know, then I can ask," I tell him, as Dez and Trish join us, and Dez gives me a hug from behind.
"Hello Dez," I address him, and smile. The minor talk about Calum's college applications forgotten, and I didn't want to bring it up now. Dez and Trish didn't need to know.
"How did you know?" he asks faking that he was hurt that I knew.
"You've done the hug from behind since freshman year," I state. "It's been our thing since then," I added.
"So is it Taco Bell, and study sesh tonight?" Trish asks as we turn and head in the direction of our lockers. We all knew the answer, and wondered why he preferred Taco Bell over McDonald's, especially since McDonald's was the trademark of Manhattan, or at least our part of it.
"You know it Trish. It's what we do. Well except Prom King over there," Dez points out, as he stares at Calum in distaste.
"He's not King yet," trish pointed out in his defence.
"Admit it. You'll vote for him," Dez protested, and then slammed his locker shut.
"Guys, this isn't about that, and sorry you two don't approve of him, but he's my boyfriend, and he has other things to do," I finally snap defending him. It was bad enough that they showed their facade when he was around, but they didn't need to do so when I was with them.
"Fine. We'll let it go. I need to get to class anyways, I have a big test to worry about," Dez mentions, as Trish walks along being his lovesick puppy dog. Somedays, I just wanted to ditch. Maybe today would be that day, but I knew it wouldn't. Instead, I shut my locker, and head for art class, not that I needed it, but I knew it would ease my mind.
"Very different technique this week," Mrs. Woods tells me as she approaches me. Behind me pencil, I just smile, and then continue to work on my art. It wasn't anything special, just a picture of a broken boy, who I had doubted would ever see this, even though he walked the hallways of this school everyday.
Finally the bell rings dismissing class, and the countdown to the end of the day begins. One class passes, and then another. Lunch. which I decided to head off campus, and head downtown long enough to get outside my head, if I was quick enough, I wouldn't run into Austin, though I was sure he'd moved onto a different spot, and I'd probably never see him again.
"Need some company before you decide to do something stupid?" I hear the familiar voice of Calum.
"I wasn't thinking of doing anything stupid," I protest as I head back to him, and sit down on the bench outside the school doors. I couldn't look in his eyes though.
"I've known you long enough to know you can't look me in the eyes when you're lying," he tells me, as he starts to kiss me, and I don't push him away.
"You can join us at study session, you know. You have another week before you find the varsity results, and the Court Dance, so for one night, could you handle a night a with my friends and I?" I ask as I just remembered I had a pb&j sandwich in my backpack, as I get up, and head to see if I can find Trish and Dez.
"I did. I showed up the other night, didn't I?" he asks, which causes me to stop, and look back him for a second, and answer him, and then continue to look for my two best friends. Calum, and I would have to work something out.
-A&A-
"Everything alright between you two?" Trish asks me, as Dez hadn't shown up, and we assumed he was getting some food from Subway, or whatever he was craving for fast food this week.
"Yeah, everything is fine. I think," I tell her, though, I knew she didn't believe, but she pretended to do so. She didn't seem to want to push me, as much as Dez did at times. I then had an idea, as I jot down a note.
"I'll be right back," I tell her as I rip the note out of my notebook, and head in the direction of the library that I knew Austin would be at, if he ever decided to come back this way, and right as I head in the section where the DVD's were, I had received a text from Calum, telling to please come outside so we could talk, I slipped the note into a copy of Say Anything, and then headed outside.
What came next was something I wasn't ready for.
Austin.
This by far is the longest chapter by word count. (Can we go for five pages next?) That aside, we finally get to see a little more of Austin, who I hope will have longer POV's as the story develops, and I also gave an appearance by Trish. (More to come, I promise.) An insight of Calum, and a cliffhanger, or at least I hoped it seemed like a cliffhanger.
As for a play list, I promise, I at some point will put one together, and post it on my profile. This chapter however did have a mention of Safety Pin, which was the song that had started this story.