Yours Truly, Austin Post - Post Malone

55

Over the weeks that follow Ava clears out her apartment and hands over the keys to her landlord. She has her own spot to park her car in the garage, a spot she places her works bags when she gets home with Grayson, her own morning coffee mug - that dancing sausage dog Gracie had made her, a place at the table, and a place on the couch in the den. This house has always felt like home and with Carter's last picture now firmly in place on the wall she stands in front of the picture she took of Gracie at the concert they went to so many years ago. "If you ever sent me a sign that you did not want this, that this is not my place I would respect that...I would go. I love you so much, Gracie. You, me, Carter, Austin, and even little Gracie have had to live through very tough experiences, experiences that still don't make any sense. But, I can't help thinking you would have found the goodness in it somehow. I will love your boys with everything I have and I will cherish this home and what it stands for in the years to come," Ava whispers. "She is happy, Peach, I can feel it...and Carter is fat," Austin says with a soft chuckle coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. "She is so beautiful," Ava says smiling as she looks up at Gracie as she leans into Austin. "She is. It's her soul though. The more you get to know her the more beautiful she becomes," Austin says.

"True...except for that left eyebrow, Lucky I took a side shot and you can't see it in this picture."

"Excuse me?"

"That left eyebrow. It always looked a little crazy. We would giggle about it for hours."

"I will have you know I was very skilled in the eyebrow arch."

"If you say so..." Ava says walking off to the kitchen with Austin following closely trying to defend his honor when it comes to arched eyebrows. "Dre was there. Dre, tell Ava how good I was at doing Gracie's eyebrows," Austin says to Dre who is sitting on the floor doing a puzzle with Grayson. "You talking about that left eyebrow? That thing always looked a little crazy," Dre laughs. "What?! It was perfect!" Austin defends himself. "It was perfect, she loved it and refused to ever let me fix it," Ava says wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a kiss. "It was perfect," he mumbles laughing into the kiss.

"You ready?" he asks pulling back. "Yes," she says grabbing her bag and helping Grayson into his coat. "Me too," Dre says standing and flexing his muscles, "pumped these bad boys up this morning, we are ready to move some furniture," he says. Austin and Grayson roll their eyes and Ava lets out a soft laugh as they walk out to Austin's oversized truck. They are choosing bedroom furniture today, Ava had been combing through websites for weeks and she thinks has an idea of exactly what she wants. Austin had suggested she get a designer in to do it but she wants to do it herself - it's a personal space and needs a personal touch. They have already chosen the paint, a light almost white blue, and the three of them had spent the weekend painting the walls before the floorers had come and installed natural wood floors.

Ava directs Austin to a large furniture warehouse where she had seen the bed that she has her heart set on. She squeals happily when she sees it still sitting there. It's a large dark wood slay bed with huge matching side tables and luckily Austin finds a large dresser that would be perfect under the new TV he had purchased. She also finds a large carpet by chance that has a mix of blues, yellows, greys, and white - it's perfect and so they add that to the pile. Austin finds a set of comfy grey arms chairs and a new large patio L-shaped couch - so into the pile they go too.

At the next store, Ava gets large heavy white curtains that the shop assistant cut to the measurements she has, and the bedding she gets is white, light blue, and white throw pillows and a heavy rich blue throw. She has printed out a selection of black and white photos so she gets white photo frames for them as well as lamps and some other pretty trinkets. By the time they are done she is itching to get back home and so is Dre, just so he can flex his muscles. Once home Ava and Grayson carry in the small stuff while Austin and Dre lug in the heavy furniture. Then Dre and Grayson swim while Ava and Austin set up the furniture and hang the curtains. "Move the chairs near those windows, please," Ava says. Austin moves them then Ava stands back and squints. "Hmmm, I am not sure...maybe to the left a little..." she says. Austin moves them to the left a little and Ava squints again. "No. They were good where they were," she says so Austin moves them back.

"Hmmm...maybe-"

"Peach, you're killing me here. You have made me move every piece of furniture ten times and we always end up back in the original spot. I love you, but it's pissing me off," he says trying to control his annoyance. Ava bites her lip and smiles at him. "Sorry, I just want it perfect," she says looping her arms around his neck. "Nothing perfect...but, that's what makes it perfect," he says grinning at her. "He's a poet," she giggles as he attaches his lips to her neck. "Well that's technically all songwriting is, just a poem with a melody," he mumbles, caught up in the soft skin on her neck.

"Go away now, the rest I would like to do on my own - I will call you when I am done."

"You sure?"

"Yes. All the furniture is done now it's just the small things to finish it off and I would like to do that on my own please."

"Ok," Austin says kissing her neck and stepping back then walking out with a grin. Ava busies herself with the bedding and trinkets as well as the photos she had done. She had done some other things and wanted to surprise Austin with them. It's late afternoon by the time she is done, stepping back she looks around - a smile creeping up on her face. This is now very much her and Austin's space. Like the rest of the house, Gracie is always alive in it but it's now part of Ava too. She pops into the closet which is more like a dressing room, it's huge, and checks on the surprise she has for Austin one last time then walks off to find him.

She hopes he loves the room as much as she does.