Dial Drunk - Post Malone

24

He checks his reflection in the mirror, avoiding eye contact with himself - Grassy's words may have a hint of truth to them then he smooths down the dark blue material and takes a sip from his hip flask. He doesn't want Levi to feel it on his body so he slips it behind the toilet after taking one more sip. Then washes his mouth out and sprays more calone. The lounge is still empty when he steps out of the bathroom so he sits down on the couch and waits for her, growing a little more nervous with every passing second.

When he hears the bedroom door open he shoots up and turns to face it, his lips parting as his breath gets caught in his throat. Levi steps out of the room in a long satin champagne cami dress. It had looked amazing on the model, but on Levi it's breathtaking. She smiles at him as she bites her bottom lip. "Levi...I have never seen a more beautiful woman. You look amazing," Austin signs. Levi dips her head, her cheeks blushing pink then looks back at him with a shy smile. "Did you pick this out?" she signs. Austin nods, "All by myself...I am going to go back and get one in every color for you," he signs back. Her shoulders shake as she laughs and moves closer to him till she has to crane her neck as she looks up at him. "Look at you in a fancy suit, you certainly know what you are doing," she signs.

"Cece will beat me if I ever attempted to wear an ill-fitting suit."

"She is not the only one."

"Only tailored suits. Got it," Austin signs with a grin. "Ready?" he asks. Her smile wavers and she hesitates. "You sure about this? I know people see us together all the time but they chalk it down to me being part of your team. Your songwriter. If we go out for dinner alone dressed like this...people will know. It would be our first public appearance. You ready for that?" she signs. "No. I am not ready for that. Not because I don't want to show you off to the world...I want that, I want everyone to know I have been taken by you. But, I am selfish. I don't want to share you. My life has become so public, there is very little I can keep private. I would like to keep as much of us private as possible. I want people to know about us but I don't want them to see us during intimate moments, I don't want to share that. I hope you understand that," he signs.

"I understand that. That's why I asked. I want that too. We can just eat in here...we can make it all nice and eat in our pretty clothes."

"Your dress is pretty. My suit is manly. And you should trust me, sweet," he signs then puts out his hand for her to take. She frowns, confused, but takes his hand then he leads her to the elevator and presses the button to the roof of the hotel. Levi frowns and smiles at the same time, but she doesn't ask any questions and when the elevator door opens her face smooths out and her lips part in her wonder at the sight before her.

Austin has chosen this hotel for this specific rooftop. It's a garden, well more like a rainforest with thick busy plants that have grown well over their heads. The foliage is so thick you need to stick to the little pathways or you might just get lost. He had paid the hotel to decorate the entire rooftop so the plants have little twinkling lights running through them and the bits of the sky they can see through the greenery are laced with large round lanterns that gave off a soft amber glow. Levi is not doing anything but staring so Austin takes her hand and pulls her gently out of the elevator and down the little pathway, deeper into their private little forest.

Eventually, they come to a clearing, where you can only just see the city lights peeping through the bushes, but Austin does not think she has noticed that as she looks around at what he had done. It's a simple set-up, but even he will admit the people he begged and overpaid to set this up at the last minute had outdone themselves. In the centre of the clearing is the couch from the studio back in LA, it's the couch they had spent endless hours huddled on while writing, the couch they had spilled secrets on and had very private moments on, it's the couch that carried them away to a little bubble only the two of them existed in, and the couch he sat on when he first realized he had fallen in love with Levi Scott. To most, it's just an old weather-beaten couch, but to them is where it all started.