Die For You (Ten Days With Austin Sequel)

Is This Love?

Austin's POV

I feel like shit at the moment. My girlfriend has dumped me and I've bumped into my ex. Fucking fantastic.

I'm laying on my hotel bed looking up at the ceiling with thoughts about Esme flying through my head. I haven't seen her in four years but she's aged, she looks three or four years older than she is. Her eyes were sunken deep into her face like she hadn't slept properly for a while but her attitude was the same; angry and frustrated. I decide to ring her, I hope she picks up.

"Hello?" she asks.

"Hi, you have caller ID y'know. It's Austin. You sounded like you didn't know who's number this was." I say, joking.

"I deleted your number so I didn't know." she replies flatly. Ouch.

"About earlier, I-"

"I don't want to talk about it." she says, cutting me off.

"Ok. I just wanted a catch up with you. Are you around tomorrow?" I ask her.

"Yeah...you can come to mine if you want." she sighs.

"Thanks. I promise I won't take up a lot of your time." I say down the phone. I can feel the smile on my face getting wider.

"Ok, I'll text you the details." she says and hangs up.

I get a text from her five minutes later with her address and I thank her.

After nearly four years I get to meet Esme again. I've been waiting for this day for years.

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Esme's POV

"He's what!?" Alaina exclaims once I tell her that Austin is coming to my flat today.

"He said he wanted to talk to me so I said ok." I tell her.

"You confuse me so much, girl. One minute you hate his guts and the next minute you're inviting him over to your house!" she says.

"It's gonna be fine, he said he won't be long and if needs be I can always ask him to leave." I tell her.

There is a silence down the phone so I don't know whether she heard me.

"Yeah, well...good luck with it, if you need any help or advice I'm just a phone call away." she says finally and we say goodbye to eachother.

It's 10 o'clock. He'll be here any minute now. I pace up and down my kitchen thinking about what could happen. He could be really nice and it won't be awkward or it could be really awkward and I'll just want him to leave. I don't know what to think.

My stomach is doing somersaults and I'm feeling sick, I wish I hadn't invited him over now, especially to my home. I know he's never late for anything so I don't have to worry about that.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by the sharp piercing sound of the doorbell. I practically run to the door and let him in.

"Hiya." he greets me and smiles. I give him a smile back and he comes in.

"This is a cute place, how long have you had it?" he asks.

"A couple of years." I reply.

"Are you still in touch with Alan?" he asks once sat down on the sofa.

"Yeah, he came and visited me in hospital a while ago and we text quite often...why didn't you visit me in hospital?" I ask.

"I didn't think you would want me to. We're not on the best of terms." he says.

"I wanted you to visit me. We may not be together but we can still be friends." I say.

"I'm sorry. Why were you in hospital?" he asks.

I knew I'd have to explain it. I take a deep breath and sit down next to him.

"After you left I kinda got depressed again and then it went downhill from there." I tell him. His eyebrows furrow, like he's confused.

"Why were you depressed?" he asks me.

"I don't know. I just didn't know what to do with myself and I felt like I had no reason to live." I explain.

"And it was my fault?" he asks rudely.

"It was both of our faults. My fault for cheating on you and your fault for leaving me, can we stop talking about it now? Because to me it seems like the only reason you came round was to interrogate me." I raise my voice.

"And this is one of the reasons we broke up! You're so difficult! I just wanted to know and you're acting like it's a big thing!" he exclaims.

"It is a big thing, it's a huge thing! Because of it I was in hospital for two and a half years, because of it I had attempted suicide again and because of it I'm only now just fixing what I lost and what is broken." I explain, frustrated that he doesn't understand.

"Ok, fine. I'll be on my way home then." he says and I lead him towards the door. I know he wants me to stop him and ask him to come in but I'll let him do that himself.

"Esme...please. I just need to tell you one thing." he says desperately.

"What?!" I sigh.

"I...I still love you." he says quietly.