How Not to Fall In Love

Chapter 26

We left his friends close to eleven-thirty. I was somewhat surprised that they stopped drinking beer hours ago and switched to soft drinks and water. I hoped it was because they had to drive home. Because let's be honest here, high school boys don't think of those responsible things. The more I thought about it, the more I questioned why they switched. Maybe they saw Austin wasn't drinking and decided to stop drinking themselves. Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad they stopped early enough before they tried driving home. 

Almost forty minutes later, Austin pulled into my drive before I had a chance to realize where we were. "Oh, I didn't expect you to remember where I lived." I stared up at the light peeking through the curtains. Sadness that the night was ending swept over me, and I prayed that it didn't show on my face. 

"Rylee, you don't remember, do you?" Austin glanced over at me. 

My brows furrowed. "I guess I don't remember." 

"I live a couple of houses down." He smiled.

Then it hit me, and I felt like such an idiot. "Ohh...Yeah." I reached down and grabbed my purse off the floorboard. "I had a great time tonight." I opened the car door. 

"Let me walk you to your door." Austin opened the driver's side door. By the time I got out, he was around to the passenger side and started to close the door. "What are you doing tomorrow, Rylee?" He held out his hand. 

"Tomorrow? Nothing. Why?" I asked, taking Austin's hand as we walked to my front door. 

"I was going to see if you wanted to do something tomorrow afternoon." 

"I'd love to do something tomorrow." I smiled. 

"Great. I'll pick you up around one." He turned to face me. "I had fun with you tonight, Rylee." He raised his hand, touching my cheek. 

"Hayes! You fucking piece of shit!" A familiar voice yelled out of a truck racing past my house. 

Austin dropped his hand, jumped off the porch, and ran to the edge of the yard, looking down the road. "Fuck!" He yelled. 

"Who was that?" I asked, walking down the steps toward Austin. 

"Blake and his dickhead friends. They know where you live now. Damn it!" He grabbed his phone out of his pocket. "I had a feeling this was going to happen." His fingers glided across his screen. 

"Who are you texting?" I asked, looking at him and then down both directions of the road, waiting for Blake to race by again. 

"I'm texting my mom, telling her that I'm staying at Logan's house tonight. I'm not leaving you alone tonight." He glanced up from his phone. 

"I will lock the doors." 

"I'm NOT leaving you alone, Rylee. I'm sure they know that you're home alone and just waiting for me to leave." The crease between his eyebrows deepened. "You don't know Blake and his friends. They're a bad bunch." He grabbed my hand, and we headed for his car. 

"Where are we going?" I asked, getting in his car. 

"We're meeting Logan in the school parking lot." He closed the door and walked around the front of the car, looking toward the road. Then, he started the car, backed out of the driveway, and sped off down the road toward the school. He placed his hand on top of mine, squeezing it gently to let me know everything would be okay. I wanted to believe him that things would be okay, but I had a terrible feeling that this was just the beginning. And if this were the beginning, would he stick around or bail when things get really rough? I stared out the window at the dark houses holding sleeping families while roaming the streets late at night, trying to figure out what was happening. As much as I liked spending time with Austin, I wanted to be home in my nice, quiet house, not worrying about screaming for me to come downstairs to yell at me for something.