Hearing You Say I Love You

~*~Ten~*~

•OAKLEY•

Today was finally the day that I was going on my date with Austin. I had to admit when he told me that I was going to have to wait a week, I couldn't help but settle into the mindset that it was his way of letting me down. I knew that he had stuff he had to do and I couldn't hold that against him, but it did ironically fit well with him asking me on a date and me telling him I was deaf. Which I guess is why I'm so surprised that I'm standing in my room, deciding between my yellow sun dress with red flowers or a pair of Wranglers and a crop top to finally meet him in person. Deciding on the sundress and my Tori Burch sandals to show off my fresh pedicure I let out a happy sigh.

Over the week he was gone he made sure he let me know that me being deaf was the furthest thing from a deal breaker. Every morning I woke up I had a sweet good morning message. We talked before his sound check and after while he was playing pong with his buddies backstage at stagecoach. I wished him good luck and swooned over his performance on TV texting him all my favorite parts and congratulated him on a job well done. He even had me blushing when he told me he couldn't wait to get me to a show to sneak in his good luck kiss before he went onstage and his you did great kiss when he got finished.

Of course I didn't object to it, actually I wanted that more than anything even if his celebrity lifestyle kinda made me nervous as all get out.

He was sliding sweet things into our conversations like that more and more and I wasn't sure if it was because he was gone, was trying to prove that my hearing wasn't an issue for him or if he was really falling down the rabbit hole right along with me. But whatever it was I didn't want it to stop. It felt so good to finally be talking to someone who seemed to have an interest in me, in all of me. I was always a person in tune with different aspects of themselves than most people, and there was one thing for certain that I knew he did to me. He made my heart beat at a faster, happier and lighter rhythm and I didn't want that to go away.

He didn't really say what else he was doing in California after his performance at StageCoach, and I didn't pry. We were only going on our first date and in my opinion it was none of my business to ask him about things that he didn't want to share. All he said was it was something important that he should've done a long time ago and I left it at that. He was kind of quiet that morning and then he disappeared for a few hours but when he came back he seemed different. Happier. It made me feel better knowing that whatever was burdening him was lifted from his shoulders.

I turned the bathroom light off pulling off my tank and sliding out of my black jean shorts grabbing for my strapless pushup bra to replace my sports bra before sliding into the dress. Paige was coming to pick me up for the date today and of course she wanted to come in and meet him, but I immediately told her no. I turned it into a joke of sorts telling her that I was twenty nine and I didn't need a bodyguard with me to meet my date. She tried her best to persuade me otherwise, but I wasn't ready for that yet. I didn't want her finding out that Austin was really Post Malone to ruin the date. I'd save that for another time.

But, in typical Paige fashion, she still had her rules. She was waiting until I walked into the restaurant and if I didn't come back out in ten minutes she was going to text me and if I sent her a thumbs up emoji she was going to leave and if I sent her a thumbs down emoji she was going to come in and save my ass as she put it. I hated to bust her bubble but I don't think that I was going to be sending any thumbs down emojis today.

He seemed to have put a lot of thought into the date which was already a step in the right direction, because no one else did anything remotely close to that. Everyone else just went with the generic meet up at a bar and have drinks and sit in awkward silence. But not Austin. He chose his favorite restaurant in Franklin. A small burger joint called Grounded. He said it was perfect because it was quiet and small and I hope he knew how much that meant to me.