Dial Drunk - Post Malone

5

The weeks that follow are not a struggle when it comes to his music. The songs literally pour out of him. The words are scribbled onto the page before he even thinks about them and the melody always flows out easily after that. They have written seven new songs bringing their total to twelve which he thinks is pretty good considering his heavy schedule that he is still committed to - interviews, appearances, shows and meetings. Corporate people love meetings. His days always start well before 5 am and always end after midnight, but his favourite days are when he gets extra studio time. Extra studio time means extra Levi time, and he loves Levi time.

He had hoped that his fascination with Levi would wear off over the weeks they spent together and by all accounts, the amount of time they spent huddled together on the couch and in each other's faces one would think he would grow tired of her. That the sparkle in his eye would fade and the rose-tinted glasses he always seemed to wear around her would disintegrate.

What happens is the opposite.

He thinks about her more and more. His sign language gets better and better. They get closer and closer. He falls in love deeper and deeper.

All this happens while she gets happier and happier with her stupid perfect boyfriend whom Austin hates with a passion even though he has never met him. He does sweet little things for her like making her lunch and sending it to the studio, he includes lunch for Austin and Grassy too because they are her friends. Austin never eats the lunch and glares at Grassy when he does. One day he sent over a love-o-gram where a woman dressed as cupid read her a poem. Austin hated it, Levi blushed, and Grassy fell in love with Cupid and begged her to shoot him with her bow and arrow. It disrupted their whole session and now Austin believes Mr stupid Perfect is trying to sabotage the album - you can't convince him otherwise even when Levi tells him that her boyfriend is a fan and can't wait for this new album to add to his Playlist.

But Austin can't do anything. If he says something he runs the risk of Levi walking out and never speaking to him again because not only is she happy and all starry-eyed over her pathetic boyfriend, but Austin is tecnally her boss. If he had to tell her how he feels she might take his offer to have her work for him the wrong way. She will no doubt see him as a manipulative sleaze ball and in the same category as Satan. He has no choice but to push his feelings down, way down, and pretend that he is content with being her friend. She trusts him now and he does not want to let her down. He wants to make sure she stays for a long time, forever, and if that means a close friendship is all they can have then so be it.

"Austin..." Dre's voice breaks his train of thought. "Huh?" he grunts. "You OK man? We are at the studio..." Dre says looking a little worried. Austin sits up and looks around, he was so lost in thought he does not even remember leaving the radio station he had just finished an interview with. "Yeah, just a little drained," he says climbing out of the SUV. "Well, you have the weekend off. I made sure to block it out so you have some downtime. Sorry, it couldn't be more time," Dre says. Austin grins at him and reaches into the glove compartment. "I know. I booked a tiny cabin in the woods by a lake just outside LA," he says holding up the flyer for the cabin. "Good for you, man," Dre says patting him on the back as they walk in.

Dre heads into one of the offices while Austin makes his way to the studio. Would he be overstepping if he asked Levi to join him this weekend? The cabin is small and Cosy, it's the perfect place to get a bunch of songs written and the flyer says it's the perfect place to fall in love, maybe that can happen for her too out there. He doubts the boyfriend will be happy with the idea, but he is a jerk who is trying to ruin the release of Austin's album so he doesn't care.

Levi and Grassy are in a deep discussion when he walks in so he flicks the lights and his stomach swoops when Levi turns her head and flashes him a huge smile. She is so beautiful and sweet. His eyes catch a huge bouquet of flowers on the desk behind her and his mood darkens slightly, but she looks so happy today so he will push his shit aside. "Those are pretty," he signs and points to the flowers. "They are. I love them, they are from Logan," she signs. Logan. The boyfriend. Logans are always mindless gym nuts, but she is not the type to date a gym nut. Austin doesn't know what Logan looks like but he bets he looks stupid.