LIVING THE DREAM ✅

Twenty Three: The hotel, the conversation and the confession

The plan was to wait outside the hotel for Austin to arrive. Hannah, the master planner, had promised that he'd get Austin there by all means and Mitchell was getting impatient.

She was dressed to kill - no, murder. She'd even paid money to a hairdresser to perm her hair because Hayley once said that permed hair looked good on her. She applied some makeup, wore high heeled shoes she hadn't worn in years since she had nowhere to go and got herself an Uber to the hotel - as according to Hannah, if Austin saw Mitchell's car at the hotel, it would look suspicious.

Now, it was ten minutes since she arrived and Austin was nowhere to be seen, Hannah's phone was unreachable and all that made her worry if Hannah had picked up Hayley from Vine in the first place.

A worker at the hotel approached her after minutes of watching her standing outside like a signpost.
"Is everything alright, ma'am?"

"Oh, yes," Mitchell waved the man off. "I am waiting for someone. They must be caught up in traffic or something- oh, never mind. He's here."

Austin stood there, the sleeves of his shirt folded and the first two buttons open. He looked like he'd been running. That was until he lifted his eyes and they landed on Mitchell. He quickly averted his eyes and stepped back, one step after another.

"Is that him?" the hotel worker asked. "It looks like he doesn't want to be here. Good luck with him."

Mitchell took the chance to call out his name before he disappeared into the crowd.
"Austin! Can you please wait?"

Surprisingly, he stopped walking. Even when he didn't look up, waiting meant that he was going to listen.
"Hey," Mitchell smiled at him when she'd reached where he was standing.

"Hi," Austin replied

The next few seconds were awkward. Mitchell suddenly didn't know what to say. She'd rehearsed everything but words seemed to have gone on a flight miles away from her brain. Nevertheless, she had to say something. Else, Austin would leave.
"I'm sorry-"

"I'm sorry-" Austin said at the same time

"Sorry?" she asked, surprised. "Why are you sorry?"

Austin fumbled with his fingers and sighed.
"I'm sure you didn't expect me here and I'm sorry that you had to see me. I swear I'm not stalking you. I'm here for Hannah and I didn't know that you'd be here."

"But, I knew that you'd be here."

Austin's eyes quickly snapped to hers, lightning speed. "What?"

"Hannah isn't here. I am the one you were supposed to find here."

"Oh, God," he groaned. "I should have known. You know, you don't have to agree to everything Hannah says. She can be persuasive but you don't have to do this. I understand the way you reacted and you don't have to meet up with me because Hannah thought it might be a good idea-"

"Seriously?" Mitchell scoffed. "You think I'd let someone force me into wearing this?"

Austin chuckled. "You look good."

"Thanks. But you know what else looks good? The food in here."

"You have reservations?"

"You have Hannah to thank for that. So, what do you say? We go in there, eat that food, drink some wine and talk about the depressing shit later?"

That earned her a huge smile. "That sounds like a plan."

Slipping her hand into his, she led them to the entrance where she presented her reservations and then, they were led to a table of two. Like the day it was, there were candles, red wine, roses and a couple of other lovey-dovey shit on the table.

"Wow," Austin gaped. "I feel so under dressed. Someone should have given me a warning?"

"Would you have come if someone warned you?"

"It sounds unbelievable. But I would have. I'd have talked to you sooner even but you were mad and you were right, I went too far."

Mitchell extended her hands across the table to hold Austin's. "Like I said, we will talk about the depressing shit later. How about we talk about how they are literally playing Celine Dion? Isn't that cool?"

"I mean, yeah. Celine Dion is our thing. That performance of yours from that night when we met, absolutely unforgettable."

"In my defense, I didn't think that anyone would see me. I do those quite often actually."

"Oh, really? Why haven't I seen them?"

"You think I'd let you see me do something like that again?" Mitchell scoffed. "You must be out of your mind."

"But I loved it."

"Doesn't mean anything to me. You won't be seeing that again."

"Oh, c'mon," Austin laughed, the sound echoing in Mitchell's ears. She missed him. She missed that. Their normal banter, his interest in whatever she was doing. "Talking of Celine, did you see her at the Grammy's?"

"Sure did," Mitchell answered and then took a sip out of the wine. "Damn, this is good. But yes, I saw Celine. She doesn't age, that woman."

The conversation didn't stop as they ordered, enjoyed their main course and dessert. Occasionally, Austin have her soft glances and looked away when he thought she wasn't watching. But she loved it. She loved his eyes on her. She loved him laughing because of her. She loved him getting nervous and blushing because of her. She also loved seeing his face light up because of a cheesecake. She swore that if the night ended well, she'd make him as more cheesecakes as he wanted if it made him light up like that.

"So," she started, clearing her throat. "I was interviewed today. By Marvelous studios."

"Oh. You are taking the offer?"

"Like you said, it's a good offer. I'm glad you replied that email for me. Like, I know I reacted so badly to all that and made unnecessary accusations, but we were friends and I should have trusted that you'd never do anything bad to hurt me intentionally. I'm such an idiot-"

"Hey, now. All that matters is that you and I are okay again. We are, aren't we?"

"Of course we are," Mitchell smiled. "But what about all those things I said? I called you a stalker!"

"We have a whole life ahead of us for me to prove to you that I'm nothing like that. But truly, both of us did and said shit we didn't think through and that's okay if we get past them and learn from them... I guess."

"I missed you, Austin."

"I missed you even more."

"You can't miss me more. I said it first!"

"Oh, is that what it is?" Austin challenged. "Alright, I'm in love with you. See, I said that first too."

Mitchell's eyes widened. Had Austin meant to say those words out loud or did he blurt them out?
"You what?"

"I'm in love with you," he said without missing a beat. "I love how you love, the way you love your sister, our Fitzgerald, our friends, all that. I love the way you sacrifice everything to make us happy. You sacrificed part of your house to put a roof over Hannah's head. You are so selfless and so talented because I haven't tasted anything sweeter than anything you make-"

"Oh, Austin," Mitchell interrupted. "You are so sweet and I love you too. But can you like shut up and kiss me right now? I think that's Hannah over there and she's gesturing for us to...wrap this up?"