Deep Down

It's All About Me

         I was silent the rest of the way back to the hotel, the letter weighing fifty tons in my back pocket. My mom and Dave had a nice conversation going about our next trip after we left Chicago: home. And when I say home, I don’t mean Miami. I mean Texas. Home is where you’re supposed to feel welcomed and loved, right? Then why don’t I feel that way when I’m in Miami? Sure, I love it there a lot. It’s where my management team is and it’s where I can pick up any girl I want. But then again, that could be anywhere. I smirked to myself, but it quickly faded when Natalia popped into my head. I scrunched my eyebrows together and stared at the floorboard of the car, getting lost in my thoughts.

        “Wouldn’t that be fun Austin?” my mom’s voice ripped me away from my thoughts of Natalia and Rosalie’s letter, and how much I honestly didn’t like Miami as much as I liked San Antonio.

          My eyes snapped up to meet her curious stare, a smile on her lips. “Sorry, what?”

        “Wouldn’t it be fun to go back home for a little while? I bet you miss your friends. How are they anyway? You never talk about them anymore.” She questioned.

      Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dave look at me in the rearview mirror, indicating that he wanted to know too. I bit my bottom lip and conjured up a lie.

        “They’re good.” I plastered a fake smile on my face which my mom returned with a real one.

       I cast my eyes back down to the floorboard, ignoring Dave’s constant glare. I had, in fact, no idea how my friends were doing. I hadn’t talked to them in weeks as a matter of fact. It’s not like they didn’t try to talk to me, because they did. But the texts always went unanswered. I wasn’t purposely ignoring them, I was always busy at the time that they text me and I promised myself that I would text them back later but once I got back to wherever we were staying, I was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. It was an ongoing cycle.

      So I fished my phone out of my pocket and pulled up my text messages. I tapped Alex’s name and the messages popped up on the screen. Message after message from Alex that went unanswered came up. A pang of guilt punched me in the stomach and I did my best to wash it away. Alex was my best friend; the last thing I wanted was to ignore him like this. So with shaky fingers, I typed a simple, “hey” and hit send, bracing myself for the answer that I was going to get. I clenched my phone in my hand, willing for it to let out a soft chime to indicate I had gotten a text from him. But ten minutes later, even as we pulled up to the hotel, my phone didn’t go off. I waved it away, trying to convince myself that he was busy.

      I threw open the door and climbed out of the car, slamming it shut behind me. I went around to the trunk and grabbed my guitar out and made my way toward the front door, not bothering to wait for my mom and Dave. It was then I remembered that they have the key to our room. And I got lost last time. I huffed and waited for them to walk through the door. My mom was tapping away on her phone while Dave gave me a questioning look. I tried to act like I didn’t see it but we both knew that I had.

        When we got back to the room, I went straight to mine and Dave room and plopped down on the bed, facedown, letting out a groan. I reached for my phone to see if Alex had text me back but still nothing. I slammed my phone on the bedside table and buried my face in the pillow. I was beyond tired, my appetite not as strong as before.

       The door creaked open and Dave walked in, tapping away on his phone. He kicked his shoes off and sprawled out on his bed, not even acknowledging me. Didn’t he know I was upset? I cleared my throat, causing him to glance up from his phone for a second before returning his attention back to it.

        “Hey buddy.” He said, enunciating the words.

        “Who are you talking to?” I asked, truly curious.

        He contemplating answering me but did anyway. “Rocco.”

        I ran a hand nervously through my hair. This couldn’t be good. “Why?”

     He locked his phone with a, ‘click’ and smiled triumphantly at me, like he had won a million dollars. Which, knowing Dave, he might have.

      “Because we have a surprise for you.”

      “Really?” I shot up in bed, hoping that this little surprise would turn my day around.

       He nodded that creepy smile still on his face. “We’re staying here for a while.”

     My smile slowly faded. It was replaced with a bewildered expression. Why would we stay here longer than necessary? I asked him exactly that. I should’ve been surprised by his answer, but I really wasn’t. Because this is the kind of thing that they would put me up to.

     Dave held up a finger. “One word. Rosalie.”

     I groaned and threw myself back on to the bed in a heap, face down on the pillows again. “Why?” I said, although it was partially muffled by the pillow.

   “Because she’s sick, Austin,” he said, his voice suddenly stern and serious, “and we want to make her as happy as possible just in case.” He trailed off, his voice getting weaker.

    I clenched my teeth and jumped out of bed. “What about what I want, Dave? Have you even thought about that?” I demanded, my voice becoming louder by the second.

     Dave stood up and towered over me. “It’s been nothing about what you want, Austin. Have you ever thought about that?” he questioned before turning for the door. He placed his hand on the doorknob as he turned back to look at me.

    “I don’t know what’s happened to you lately but you need to get yourself together. Preferably before tomorrow morning because that’s when we go back to the hospital.”

      He left before I got the chance to argue.  

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A/N- I'm aware this is ten times shorter than my normal chapters and I apologize :( but the next chapter will be Austin's experience at the hospital again so it should be longer! What do you think will happen?

Also, I'm not planning on incorporating the crew in this story. Like, they won't be a big part of this. They might be mentioned every now and then but they probably won't be major characters.

Oh and btdubs...I just bought rodeo tickets to go see Austin and Demi. Brb, crying.

and two words: Conor Maynard. DISCUSS <3

VOTE AND COMMENT <3 The next chapter could be dedicated to you!