The Dare to Destroy ~Cashby~

Chapter 5

**Time Skip, Two weeks**

"You talking to me today?" Austin sighed, slumping against the lockers as I rummaged through mine.
"Sorry." I mumbled, biting down on my lip and refusing to look up.
"It's okay." He shrugged.
"It's not." I sighed. I guess you could say I'd been quite bi-polar towards Austin. One minute we'd be joking around, laughing, talking, the next I'd be acting like he didn't exists.
I didn't do it on purpose, it was hard letting someone in, if only a little again. I'd spent so long shut off completely, it was almost like I'd actually forgotten how to trust someone, and how to open up and how to even act towards someone who's supposed to be a 'friend'.
It didn't help he confused, and scared me at the same time. Why did he scare and confuse me? Well that was because, not only was I not too sure if I could trust him, I had trust issues as it was, and with his reputation it made it harder. But around Austin...just like back a couple weeks ago when we had that coffee...I found myself actually enjoying his company. I hadn't actually enjoyed anyone's company since I lost my parents. It scared me because I so badly wanted to keep him at arms length, maybe a little further. I wanted to be there for him, because of his mom, but I didn't want him getting too close to me. But around him...well, he brought out the old me for a moment. We would joke around, we'd laugh, I'd spoken to him more in two weeks then I'd spoken to anyone in a whole year. Being around him felt so natural and I felt like I was letting him get too close. So, every time I felt like we where getting too close, I pushed him away. I wouldn't speak to him for a good day, maybe two. I'd completely freeze him out. I didn't mean too, it wasn't intentional, it just scared me that he would get too close and I'd end up hurt one way or another along the way. That, or I'd end up hurting him when I left to go back to Boston, and given he was going to loose his mom, that wasn't something I wanted to do.

"I get it, honestly It's okay." He gave me a small smile. "No Shayley today?"
"Uh, no he text me this morning saying he was feeling sick."
"That sucks...he still doesn't like me does he?"
"Well, you did spend a whole year making his life hell...so you can't really blame him for being skeptical I guess. Though, after seeing the way Ronnie and that have started treating you, and that beating you got the other day, I think he's a little more convinced you're being honest." I let out a long sigh. "He'll come around."
At first Shayley really didn't like the idea of me hanging with Austin. In fact for the first couple days, Shayley refused point blank to be around me if Austin was. But I'd managed to convince Shayley to hear him out, and Shayley agreed to give him the benefit of the doubt, but keep his guard up, like me. Or, so I'd planned to anyway, but he had a way of pushing down that wall and it worried me.
"I hope so. So...can I sit with you at lunch today or are you going to leave me hanging?"
"I'll be there at lunch." I nodded.
"What about coffee after work tomorrow?"
"Sure." I smiled. We'd decided to make getting coffee after I'd finish work a regular thing. He said weekends could get pretty tough at home, with him and his dad being home, his mom being sick. He said there was usually arguments or it was just really tense and awkward, so it was nice just to get out for an hour. If it helped him, then I was happy to provide him with an escape.
"Cool, well, I'll see you at lunch?"
"I'll meet you in the usual place." I nodded again. "Have fun."
"Yeah...fun...school...classes..." He rolled his eyes and we both chuckled. "See you later." With that he walked off, leaving me to stuff my needed books into my bag, shutting my locker and make my way to my own class.

Austin's POV
I sat myself down at the lunch table waiting for that little ginger to walk through the door. A part of me expected him not to actually show up and I'd have to spend my lunch brake going on a man hunt to look for him.
Getting him to talk to me had been easy enough, but it was getting him to actually let me in and stop acting so damn bi polar with me that was proving hard.
Here I was, taking abuse and beatings from Ronnie and that, I was pouring my heart out to him for him to just freeze me out the next day. I got it, in a way, he lost his parents, and then he was shipped off to a whole new town and he friends turned his back on him. But what more could I honestly do? Maybe I wasn't being convincing enough? No, surely that couldn't be it, technically, aside from the whole 'I'm not actually friends with Ronnie and that anymore and I'm not using you'...everything I told him was the truth. In fact, that day, over coffee I'd told him more then I'd even planned too. In fact, over the last two weeks I'd opened up more then I planned too in this whole plan. I'd literally planned to tell him the bare minimum, but found myself telling him everything.