INTUITIVE, austin butler

11

"Ok," A gust of smoke leaves my mouth and I fan it away, "I'm done." I hand the blunt back to Austin after taking some wimpy hits, knowing it will be plenty for me.

"Hm," He takes it from my hands and takes another puff, "You're not a good smoking partner."

"It's a good thing I don't want to be your smoking partner." I press my lips together giving him a flat smile. I turn around, leaning against his deck railing with my back faced to his yard.

"So mean." He smirks at me and lets out a puff of smoke. I've never understood how people can just smoke a whole blunt by themselves. That would send me straight into a coma.

"No, not mean. Just honest." It's true. I've never once in my life considered myself rude, I just tell people exactly how it is.

"You gotta' admit," He taps the blunt on the edge of his deck, knocking off some of the ash. "You're a little rude, Ri."

A nickname. Wow.

"You just think I'm rude because I'm a woman who knows how to stand her ground." I point a finger at him, to which he immediately shakes his head.

Austin takes a slow inhale, and the effects of the drug must be hitting because everything is much quieter and slower. "You have an attitude, and you know it."

"Well, yeah, I have an attitude, I'm not rude though." I look up at Austin, his jaw moving back and forth as he thinks. I hate that I notice his little habits like his lip biting and the way his jaw clenches when he thinks. "You know, I've been meaning to ask you why you did what you did the other day."

"What did I do?" He looks from me out to his backyard and fiddles with the blunt in his fingers.

"When you blocked the people from seeing me at the coffee shop." I lean my right hip against the railing so I'm completely facing him now.

Austin looks at me briefly, "I already told you why." He basically whispers and leans down on his elbow.

"You gave me a half ass answer." I laugh softly.

"Let me put it this way," He flicks the blunt again, "Why did you watch Sadie for me today?" He raises his eyebrows at me.

I swallow, "Because you needed it." I slightly stutter, not truly knowing why I decided to help him. "You sounded like you needed my help."

"There's your answer." He places the blunt back in his mouth.

"But, you," I shake my head trying to get this straight. "You hate me."

"I think you hate me, more than I hate you." He huffs out a laugh.

"Well, yeah," I shake my head and reroute the conversation, noticing that Austin tried to shift it. "But me helping you with Sadie is a lot different. She's nothing like you, and me watching her didn't require me being around you."

Austin says nothing, just nods his head slowly.

"You stood, in public, and wrapped your arms around me to help me. You have to understand how that would confuse me." I try and explain to him but his face is expressionless. "Even just a few weeks ago you would've left me there to rot."

"I guess I've had some major character development recently." He jokes around, which honestly ticks me off.

"Austin, I'm being serious." I look at him with intent in my eyes and he just nods. He just fucking nods. I stare at him for a while, bathing in his silence, and waiting for a response, but there never is one. "Ok, or say nothing... That's fine too."