How To Stay Afloat (BxB)

Chapter 28: Partners in crime

Austin closes the door behind me and I look around, squinting my eyes since it's dark in here. We're in someone's bedroom.

"Whose room is that?" I ask Austin nervously.

"Matt's. He probably doesn't care." He says. How can he talk so normally while he's stoned out of his mind?

"Didn't you say you weren't friends anymore?" I wanna know.

I watch Austin lock the door. "We're not really friends anymore, but we still talk to each other." He explains.

Doesn't talking mean the same thing as being friends?

"Have you been up here the whole time since we arrived?" I ask him. I wanna know if my search was in vain this whole time.

Austin grins. "What? Are you scared I saw Jessica and you?" He asks me.

Oh shit. Oh no. That's exactly the misunderstanding and drama I was talking about.

"No, it wasn't like that at all." I blurt out. "No, you see-"

Austin interrupts me with a chuckle. "Wow, I was just making a joke because Matt told me she's trying to hook up with you. You were too polite to say no, huh? What happened?" He asks me.

"I- I didn't. Nothing happened. She climbed on top of me, but I pushed her away, I swear." I tell him, panicked.

Austin folds his arms over his chest. "She climbed on top of you and you pushed her off?" He asks, raising one eyebrow.

"Yeah, seriously. She was super drunk and obviously didn't understand it when I told her to stop." I try to convince him.

"Calm down. I believe you. You told me you are gay. Jessica doesn't really look like a guy, so I'm not too concerned. I trust you." He says, flashing me his most gorgeous smile.

"But I don't really trust her. Matt said she always goes after guys that reject her." He says, squinting his eyes.

He trusts me? And I'm out here freaking out over him eating brownies with Harry. I certainly didn't think I was the jealous one of us.

"Are you okay? She didn't do anything you didn't want, right?" He asks me.

"Of course not! But I wouldn't have had to deal with her if you hadn't left without telling me. Why did you just leave?" I ask him a little angrily. "You didn't talk to me at all tonight."

He furrows his brows. "You were giving me an attitude all night and you told me not to come too close to you. I was just doing you a favour. If it weren't for that, I would have sat next to you." He explains.

"Yeah. But I mean, you can come sit next to me without making it obvious that we're more than friends." I argue.

"Well, how close am I allowed to come to you when we're in public?" He asks me, stepping a little closer.

"This close?" He asks, standing an arm's length away from me.

"Yeah. That's fine." I answer.

He takes another step forward, so that his chest almost touches mine. "What about now?" He whispers.

I start laughing. "Austin, I'm trying to be serious."

"Too close?" He asks me. His face is so close to mine.

"Yeah, definitely too close." I say, chuckling.

"Okay, how about if I just say 'no homo'. That would work." He suggests jokingly.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, that would work."

"So I can do this?" He asks and gently strokes my cheek with his hand. "No homo." He says again. "Now no one knows that we're more than friends."