Hearing You Say I Love You

*~*Twenty*~*

•AUSTIN•

"Thank you ma'am. Yes ma'am. Of course" the pleasantries spilled from my mouth amidst the crowd of overly excited fans who were doing the best they could to have just a minute with me.

"Thank you so much Posty! I love you" a petite blonde smiled at me, a smile I've seen so many times. The take me with you smile. I've grown accustomed to it over the years, and may have entertained it once or twice but right now the only smile I wanted to see was Oakley's.

"Love you too, thank you" I smiled doing my best to be kind but also keep my distance, some people were downright crazy and I wasn't getting messed up in that shit.

"Post we gotta go man" Pat said discreetly in my ear while simultaneously ushering me up towards the small stage and towards the secluded tent set up in the back that served as the backstage area.

"Shit I can't wait to get on the plane and get the hell home" I muttered, pulling my in-ears out and plucking the receiver from my back pocket.

"I would've guessed as much, you've been like a kid in a candy store all fucking day" Pat laughed grabbing the balled up wires, in-ears and receiver from my hand as I grabbed a towel running it over my sweat tainted skin.

"So do I have time to shower" I asked, throwing the towel over my shoulder and resting my hands on my hips.

I raised an eyebrow when no one jumped to answer my question, Jay clearing his throat in the corner not going unnoticed by me as I glanced over at him to see him scratching his neck and looking away. I swallowed hard, that wasn't a good fucking sign. I huffed looking at Adam who was nervously texting on his phone and Smitty who well...Smitty was being Smitty, his high from the show wearing off and tiredness setting in. Regardless, the air in the room went from excited that the final show was done to a tension that I was able to cut with a fucking knife.

"Alright" I sighed, running a hand through my hair and shaking my head, a quiet laugh filling the awkward silence. "What the fuck are y'all not telling me now? Did you extend the fucking tour or something?"

That anger that boiled over in me at the studio when Jay took it upon himself to book this whole fucking thing in the first place without even asking me started to course through my veins. I had thought that we made a fucking agreement, that I would start having a say in my fucking career. Yet here I was still feeling like I was being left in the fucking shadows.

"Anyone?" I laughed holding my hands out to the side.

"We can't leave tonight man" Jay said looking over at me rubbing his neck. "We are leaving first thing in the morning and we should be back in Salt Lake around seven in the morning" he sighed, sliding his hands in his pockets.

"Great" I smiled, giving him and the rest of the room a thumbs up, grabbed a beer and left the tent with Pat in tow.

"Austin" he yelled, my ears hearing him but my brain telling me to not even stop and listen.

I popped the top on my beer can, draining half of it in one long gulp, my hand dipping into my pocket pulling out my pack of smokes, opening it with my mouth and pulling one out with my teeth, something I have mastered over the years. I sat my beer on the yellow pillar blocking off a certain area in the parking lot, my hand cupping the end of the cigarette that I lit to a glowing amber and blew a cloud of off white smoke against the velvet of the night sky.

"Austin" Pat said, the scuff of his shoes on the cement signaling his presence as I gave him a sideways glance. "Listen man, I'm sorry I know how bad you want to get home. But Chris was chartering another flight and he can't fly again until tomorrow morning" he said.