The Summer Bucket List

Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Austin's POV

I wake up but don't open my eyes. I feel someone lightly brushing their thumb against my knuckles and then register that Ella is telling me a story.

"-so then I told her you can't just take that and she said I can do whatever the hell I damn well please." Her saying this causes me to chuckle and I open my eyes.

She looks tired and her eyes are red. Her cheeks and lips are both red and puffy indicating that she was crying. I look at her eyes again and it looks as if she is on the verge of tears.

Even though I know that she thinks she looks like crap, she still looks perfect to me.

"Hey." I say and a single tear spills out.

"Austin! Oh my god you're alright!" She exclaims and stands up to give me a hug causing me to groan from the pain. "I'm so sorry." She says and quickly pulls away sits down.

"It's alright, for you the pain doesn't matter." I tell her and she kisses me gently. "So what happened to Jordan?" I ask the first question that comes to mind even though I kind of don't want to hear the answer.

"He got arrested. I don't know why he wouldn't, he almost killed you!" She says and tears start to roll down her cheek.

I take this opportunity to reach up and brush them away. She then grabs my hand and holds it to her face not wanting to let go of me. She lowers her hand but keeps mine in hers as she places it on the bed.

"Everything is going to be fine." I tell her. "I'm going to protect you. You should never have had to go through what you went through yesterday."

"I know it'll be fine, you're alright." She says and I chuckle. "What?" She asks.

"Did you doubt that I wouldn't be? I could never let you be by yourself. I would never allow that." I tell her and she laughs.

"That's good to know." She says.

"Can you tell me a story?" I ask trying to distract her.

"Um sure. What do you what to hear?"

"Tell me about something that happened at school last year."

I looks up and I can tell she is trying to find a funny one. "Oh ok so do you know Jasmine?" She asks and I nod. "Well she liked this guy last year, Tom, but he's like really popular, and you know me and my friends, we aren't really. Anyways one day we were walking to class and you know those double doors that have the pole in between?" She asks me and I nod again. "Well we were walking towards the doors so we could go upstairs to go to class. Anyways Jasmine walked straight into the pole as Tom and his friends were walking down the stairs." She tells me and I laugh.

"That must've been horrible for her." I say and Ella chuckles.

"It was and she had a huge bruise in the middle of her forehead for the rest of the week. Plus Tom was in two of her classes so she had to go everyday knowing that he was there thinking she was an idiot."

"Did he actually think that she was an idiot?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"Actually no. Apparently he had liked her for a while and he though it was cute in a funny way how she ran into the pole. Anyways on the Friday after the incident he asked her out and they've been dating ever since."

"That's amazing! I love stories like that. Can you tell me another story?" I ask like a little kid and she searches her head for another one.

"Well my friends and I were on our spare and we were bored, so we went to my friends class and couldn't decide whether or not to bug her. So Natalie goes to knock on the door and Sarah tries to run away, but the floor was wet and I swear it was like one of those cartoons- Sarah was running on the spot tilted, and then she just fell straight down." She tells me another silly story about her friends.

I can't help but laugh because I know most of these girls, and they're all very clutzy and these are things that they would end up doing. Whether on purpose or by accident, Ella and her friends are very accident prone.

"How about one about yourself." She gives me a look that says she doesn't want to but she will.

"Umm. I stole Bailey's gum in the hallway at lunch, but she didn't want to give it to anyone because she was almost out. She decided to start chasing me down the hall. So as I was running I wasn't looking where I was going and I ran into a locker. Boom. Down I go. A teacher came over to us and said that if we made a disruption like that again that she'd have to report us to the principal's office. My friends and I all laughed when she left and to this day continue to make fun of her." She laughs remembering when this happened.

I sit there watching her. She looks so beautiful and I think it's time that I tell her. "Ella?"

"Yes Austin?"

"I heard you yesterday." She gives me a look of confusion. "When you said that you love me." She looks down and blushes.

"I didn't know if you could hear me or not." She says and sounds embarrassed.

"Don't be embarrassed. It's alright." I tell her. "Because I love you too." She looks up at me.

"You do?"

"I have for a while now."

"I don't know why it took you almost dying for me to realize these feelings for you Austin. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry." I tell her. "I know this isn't the ideal spot or time to ask someone out, but Ella, will you be my girlfriend?" I ask her.

"Of course you goof." She laughs and kisses me.

The door opens and Hunter pops his head in giving Ella and I time to break apart. "He's awake!" He says and everyone walks in.

I look at Ella and although she is sleep deprived she still manages to have a smile on her face and it looks perfect on her.

(A/N: This was a bit of a lighter chapter. What did you think of the silly stories? Am I the only one who is happy about Austin and Ella's relationship? Leave answers below. Only two more chapters then the epilogue! Crazy I know! I hope you guys enjoyed this and until next time.

TTYL!!!!

-Kimberleigh