It's love that keeps fueling me(Austin Carlile fanfic)

Chapter 3: Got me on my toes

Note: Noah is based off my real life ginger best Friend. Maybe I'll put up a picture of him if he's cool with it :P

Audree POV

Me and Noah had gotten to LAX about an hour ago, it was 15 minutes to 9:30. Austin's plane would be here soon, and I was nervously sipping on a iced chai latte that Noah bought for me at a little Starbucks cart. He had one for himself and one for Austin. I was excited earlier, but now I became more and more freaked out as the time ticked away. I didn't know why, it was Austin for goodness sake! Oh my gosh it was Austin, he hadn't seen me in awhile.

Would he be happy when he saw me? Would he hug Noah before he hugged me? Would he possibly notice that I wore more make up than usual and that I hadn't brushed my hair at all today? Why was I worried about all this?!

My eyes were deadlocked in front of me when I noticed a pale hand snapping it's fingers in front of me. Then I saw the vivid green eyes and a voice cooing "Raaaay, RAY!" Noah's nickname for me was Ray because when he first met me in grade school, he pronounced my name Aude-RAY. 

I focused into his eyes and gave him a smile. "Yes, my lovely amigo?" He pulled the now empty Starbucks cup away from me and flung it into a trash can. "You've been sucking on air for about 5 minutes with this glazed over expression in your face. You okay, Ray-ray?" I hesitated for a moment. Noah didn't know I liked Austin, he would probably rag on me if he found out and ruin it...."I'm a-okay, you darling redhead, you." I smiled even wider, hoping he wouldn't realize I was bullshitting him. He gave me this unreadable look. "Eeerr fine...It's just you've been in this occupied state for a few months and lately you've been all lively and hyper for a few days. Now you're in this weirder funk..."

"Funk?! What kind of word is funk?! Please, I've just been bipolar cause we're finally graduating from that hell hole of a school!" I was as passionate with my words as I could be to seem more like myself. I was in a funk, over Austin. My feelings were just more confusing than they were before cause...well, cause of him. I didn't know why. Noah sighed and resumed drinking his own coffee. I looked at my phone screen. 9:23. Just a few more minutes.

I decided to go up and check myself in a bathroom. I got there and gave myself a long hard look in the mirror. My skin was as pale as ever, but there was more pink in my cheeks than normally. My lips were covered in a soft pink gloss, and I stared straight into my own glass blue eyes, My eyebrows scrunched together as I further examined myself and I smiled to make sure my teeth weren't obviously stained from the coffee I just drank. I decided to tie up my unruly black hair into a knot onto of my head. I didn't like how I looked at the moment, but I concluded I was presentable.

I took out my phone and looked again. 9:31. The plane had landed!

I rushed out of the bathroom and went back to Noah. We looked at a directory and started to walk in the direction of baggage claim. I wanted to run away and run towards him, but I calmly walked forward. He captured my attention, even when I couldn't see him in front of me. We were getting close, and I noticed I was defiantly walking faster than Noah was. I saw all the masses of people running to and fro, it was like the party the night I met Austin. Except I was walking into the people, knowingly looking for that beautiful boy. My heartbeat made a pitter patter sound in my chest and I felt adrenaline rushing through my veins. My head snapped all around, looking for a tall and slender figure with a few tattoos on one arm.

I saw a body at the farthest baggage claim with a small carry-on slung onto one arm and a large rolling luggage trailing behind him. I gasped. He hadn't seen me but I walked straight towards him. I held myself back. His head looked up and for the first time in 3 months, my blue eyes gazed straight into those happily familiar amber ones. The dazzling smile that I loved graced his face.

I lost all control and went into a full sprint. I closed the distance of probably 40 feet in mere seconds, driven completely by happiness and longing.

I jumped into those arms which had dropped all belongings to the side and were outstretched and waiting to catch me. They closed in around me as my body collided into his chest. Warmth radiated throughout me as I was finally back in my safe heaven. The arms wrapped tightly around my waist and lifted me off the ground and spun me in a circle. Dizzy, my arms gripped around his tall neck harder as my toes finally touched the floor again and I stretched to keep myself up. We were like that for minutes, and his familiar scent flooded over my senses while my face was buried into the crook of his neck. I didn't want to let go, but I parted to look up into his face. No words were said, but nothing needed to be said. We were both happy, no, overjoyed to be with each other again.

Noah finally found us and ended our moment when he tackled Austin. "Buddy, I've missed you, man! It's been so long since we've chilled." Austin chuckled but still looked at me. "Yeah, I know. It's good to be back." He returned Noah's bro-hug and picked up his belongings. We walked towards an exit and returned to the my Black Honda accord parked in the back. Noah kept babbling obliviously while I helped Austin put his stuff in the trunk. The a strong hand grasped my shoulder. "I'm really happy to see you Audree. You don't even realize how much I've missed you..." Austin trailed off in a hushed tone.

I bit my lip. "I know. I've you a lot as well." His hand lingered on my shoulder for a bit and I was glad I was facing away from him so he couldn't see the red on my face.

"H-Hey Noah, you wanna drive back this time, also?"

"Um, sure, but I thought you wanted to?" I did, but I was still dizzy. And not from that spinning I had minutes ago.

"No, I don't feel like it anymore. But we should stop by like a Taco bell or Subway. I'm starving."

And with that we went off. I decided to sit in the middle seat in the back and let Austin sit shoutgun. Noah was the one mostly chattering endlessly with Austin as we drove, but often times I would often look into a mirror and see Austin looking at me. He would give me these little smiles and such when it happened and I would give him a shy smile in return.

It went on like this, even when we did get food. We had to stop by Noah's home and dropped him off. I took over the wheel. For some reason, I was still nervous now being alone with Austin, which I never felt before.

"Hey, Audree."

"Hmm?"

"I can crash at your house tonight, right?"

"Of course Austin, you know you're always welcomed."

" 'kay. Um, Audree?"

"Yes, Austin?"

"You know you'll always be my closest friend, right? Ever since I was in Ohio, I realized that you're one of the most important people in my  life. I never want anything to come in between us, no matter what. Being in Ohio away from you made me realized that I," he pasued. What was he getting at?

"I...l-love you, because...you've made me strong. We made each other strong 'cause we both understand each other in a way no one else does."

I paused. "Yeah? I love you too, Austin, you know that. But" I nervously laughed. "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

Another pause. Okay, I was getting annoyed with all these pauses.

"Just promise me you'll...always be my side, okay?"

"You didn't have to ask me that. I was planning on to anyway." I admitted softly.

"Well, I'm glad." I felt him relax next to me.

As we finally got home, I rushed upstairs as Austin hollored good night at me. I quickly changed and took my make up off and fell into bed. But I didn't sleep for a long time, cause my feelings made me toss and turn and my thoughts raced. I was happy Austin was back. But I was confused now more than I ever was.