Battle of the Captains

AUSTIN'S POV

Battle of the Captains

Austin's POV

I couldn't screw this up. Today was not the time to make insensitive jokes whether I meant it or not and I knew that everything had to be perfect.

She told me not to pick her up. Even after laying down both our feelings on the table, risking everything, she still wanted to play hard to get. I would have been lying if I said that I didn't like it because that girl knew I loved a challenge but after a while, it was getting tiring and I was beginning to wonder if this thing would ever stop being a game.

I loved her. She knew that. I had told her that, risking my reputation and my pride but the look on her face, the confused one filled with some hidden happiness and hope, was worth all of it.

It didn't matter if she didn't love me back. She liked me for sure because she'd run away when I mentioned it the day everything got turned upside down. She didn't have to love me yet because I'd make her see, today, that I was worth loving and I'd spend everyday proving to her that she wasn't just a game for me. It started that way but it was going to end with our happily ever after.

I fixed my tux, making sure that nothing was out of place or I'd ruin everything.

"Austin!" my sister pranced into my room, looking me with a bright smile. She'd always liked Kody and she couldn't be happier that I was taking her to the dance and she hoped, just like I did, that Kody Taylor would take me because she meant the world to me and she seemed like the only one blind enough not to see it.

"How do I look?" I asked, putting my arms at my sides.

"You're sweating," she said. And I was. Sweat droplets had been sliding down my face since the moment I had changed. I wiped them off with my sleeve.

"Sorry, I'm kind of nervous."

"You don't have to be nervous," she told me. "If Kody doesn't take you back, then maybe she isn't worth it and she's probably playing you."

But Kody was worth it and for that, I did have to be nervous. But Macy had said 'if she takes me back'. I didn't even know if she knew that I was even hers to begin with. But I was. I realised what I should've known years ago, the reason no one could ever have me was because I was already taken. I chose her even before I knew I liked her.

"I played her," I told my sister. "I wouldn't blame her if she decides it's payback time."

"I think you two have had enough payback times," my sister said, sounding wiser than her years. "Do you really love her?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"You can't think so," she crossed her arms. "It's either you love her or you don't. If you can't choose then you're wasting your time and your effort." And my pride and my dignity.

"I do love her."

"Well, I think she loves you, too."

"How do you know that?" I asked, hope filling every inch of my body as motivation to go on with the night.

"I saw her yesterday. She loves you. I know it. I mean, who doesn't love you?"

I shrugged. "Her?"

"Stop making yourself feel bad."

I pulled my little sister to me and hugged her, an affectionate action that I hadn't really given her in years.

Kody broke me– probably the same way I had broken her– but I knew that she was the only person who could put my back together. And if she accepted me, I'd never ask anything from her again. She could win every argument, every game, every bet and every dare because, though she didn't want to accept it, she'd already won me– all of me– and I only ever wanted to be hers.