Why Wait?

12

~~~Strike's dressing room~~~

"Oh, come on," I say after Luke beat me once again. "You're probably cheating."

Luke laughs as his brothers walk in the room, followed by Austin.

"Hey," Austin says to me.

I give him a small smile but look away. "Hi."

He sighs. "Do you want to go out for lunch with me?"

Meaning you actually have time to do something now? I think to myself.

Alex laughs and everyone was looking at me with wide eyes.

Austin's jaw was clenched.

"What?" I ask. Then my own eyes widen. "Did I say that out loud?"

Luke lets out a chuckle and nods. "It's okay though. We barely heard you."

I purse my lips but nod anyways. Luke hands me the remote again and we play for a few minutes.

I was really close to beating him this one time but then Ty started tickling me and it made me drop the remote, making me lose in the process.

I glare at Ty. "What the heck? Did you not see how close I was?"

Luke was too busy dying of laughter beside me. Which is crazy. If laughter is considered medicine, how can you die?
But anyways, that's beside the point.

Ty made me lose and I was really close to actually winning my first game.

"Sorry," he says, with a smile on his face.

I groan and give the remote back to Luke. "I'm done. We can do it again some other time."

But he was too busy laughing to actually answer me.

Rolling my eyes, I head out the dressing room. Austin follows me out.

"Kelli," he says, gently grabbing a hold of my arm.

I turn to look at him. "Yes?"

"Lunch?" he asks hopefully. "I still have an hour before I have to go back to rehearsals. And I found a Chic-fil-A close around here."

I think about it for a few minutes. It's been a few days since me and Austin actually talked. He's been busy with interviews and concerts and stuff. And ever since that day at the hospital, we haven't really been the same. "Sure," I finally say.

He smiles at me. "Great."

~~~Chic-fil-A~~~
"So I saw your interview last Thursday," Austin says after a long awkward moment, putting a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.

I give him a look. "Did you hate it?"

He smiles, shaking his head. "You did great. Everyone loves you."

We stay silent for a few moments.

"So what are you doing for your one year?" he teases after a while.

"You knew?" I asked him, feeling slightly relieved that I wasn't keeping a huge secret from my brother.

He rolls his eyes. "Of course I knew. I know everything."

"Self-centered much?" I tease. "But to answer your question, I have no idea what Alex and I will be doing for our one year. Mom and MarieAnne have to script it."

"Why can't you guys plan it?"

I shrug. "Because none of this is real. Actually planning a date has to actually mean something."