Love At First Sight / Post Malone

Chapter 23

Juliana POV

"Wait a minute, so you played the clarinet? Like Squidward?" Austin continued to tease as we both erupted with shared shrieks of laughter.

We had been sitting on my sofa for the past- I don't know how many- hours, laughing at the tops of our lungs as we got to know one another. I didn't think it was possible for me to feel so comfortable with a man that I had known all of two weeks. But there was something about Austin that summoned all of the good and wonderful feelings that I forgot I could even have.

"Shut up. You were also a band geek, I don't want to hear it!" I shot back, fake scowling as Austin chuckled near my ear.

"Correction J, I was lead guitarist in a metal band in high school. Meaning I was a badass." He emphasized, causing me to roll my eyes upward.

"Well excuse me Mr. Badass, I didn't know you could play the guitar." I said amusingly, this man impressing me more and more by the second. "You have to play me something sometime."

"I'm warning you, I'm pretty shitty at guitar. It's probably why my band broke up." He chuckled, poking fun at himself as the smile quickly faded from my face.

There it was. His constant need to sabatoge himself. My heart twisted into a knot everytime he made sly remarks, subtly bashing himself.

"Stop that."

I said at once, filling with frustration at his repeated bullying towards himself.

"Stop what J?" He questioned, clear confusion is his voice.

"Stop putting yourself down. Stop making yourself seem like you're not good enough. You don't give yourself nearly enough credit. You're incredible Austin. I'm sure you're incredible at everything you do." I pleaded, reaching my hand out blindly to cup his cheek.

His hand swiftly caught mine and placed it cautiously where I intended. His skin was smooth underneath the pad of my thumb, while the roughness of his beard sent a familiar thrill throughout my body.

"Jules, you're one of the only people that has ever spoken to me like that and actually mean it." He rasped, his words saddening me as he spoke. There was a softness in his voice, as if he were ever so gracious for my praises.

"Well you're not hanging around the right people then." I furrowed my brows, hating the fact that he thought so little of himself.

"Well maybe I found the right person to hang around." He subtly smirked, causing me to cheekily smile.

"Are you flirting with me, Hollywood?" I asked, shyly tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Yes Juliana, you should know by now that I am absolutely flirting with you." He muttered, that spine tingling voice causing me to helplessly squirm before him.

"Now how about you tell me your story beautiful, if you want to of couse." He asked calmly, as if he were asking me careful permission to let him in. "Why such a lone wolf?"

I usually was not one to open up to people so quickly. Actually, being closed off was my specialty when it came to men. But Austin was different. And I found myself going against each and every one of my new onset rules.

Rule number one: Never trust a man
Rule number two: Never let your guard down
Rule number three: Never sleep with a man that you can't see

Broke that rule, broke that one too, and... well not broken.

Not yet atleast.

"Well there's not a whole lot to tell. I've always been sort of an introvert. I preferred curling up with a good book or TV show rather than go out to some party. Not that I was invited to any of the parties." I chuckled as I shook my head, pushing my stupid "rules" to the back of my mind.