Recollections

The First Time He Introduced Me As His Girlfriend

The First Time He Introduced Me As His Girlfriend
(song of the chapter: I Want to Write You a Song // One Direction)

"You nervous?" Austin asks me from his spot in the drivers seat.

"A little." I admit.

"Don't be, they'll love you." He assures me, reaching over and lacing his fingers with mine.

"But if they don't love me, then you'll throw me out like yesterday's paper." I laugh lightly at the thought of Austin's friends telling him they hate me.

"If they don't love you, I'll have to put them in a psych ward because they'd be insane." Austin laughs along with me.

A comfortable silence falls between us and I gaze out of the window as I listen to the soft tunes playing in the background. The car comes to a slow as we pull into the driveway of his friend's house. I've already met some of Austin's friends, most of whom I already knew through Elena, but this will be my first time meeting most of them. Considering it's a super bowl party that's being thrown, I wasn't too stoked to come, but I jumped at the opportunity to meet some of them.

We pad up to the front door, Austin's arm easily slung around my shoulder. With his free hand, he presses the doorbell lightly and we hear commotion within the house. The front door opens and we're standing face to face with a tall, light haired guy, who's smiling from ear to ear.

"Austin." He announces, extending his hand to do that odd man-handshake that I don't know much about. Austin's arm falls from my shoulder as he returns the gesture.

"Erin this is Clayton, Clayton this is Erin, my girlfriend." Austin casually introduces us.

Clayton's smiling at me and his eyes are running up the length of my body as he tries to figure me out with one look. I, however, am too caught up in Austin's words to care.

Girlfriend.

Girlfriend.

I mean, we're obviously more than friends but we never really put a title on it. Weirdly though, I'm not upset rather I'm creepily happy about this. My teeth are exposed to Clayton because I'm smiling so hard. Clearly neither of them understand the cause for my over excitement so I try and play it off.

"Wow the famous Clayton huh?" I joke.

"In the flesh." He smirks, gesturing towards himself. I see the red jersey he's sporting and decide to mess with him a little.

"Can I just say, I've heard so much about you. Though you forgot to worn me he's a Buccaneers fan, Austin." I wink and Clayton chuckles, nodding softly to Austin as if to signal his approval.

"C'mon guys, let's head in so you can meet everyone else." Clayton suggests, resting a hand on both mine and Austin's shoulder.

**

The rest of the Super Bowl party flew by and I had a blast chatting with all of Austin's friends. Most of the guys were too invested in the game to contribute much to the conversations, but the girls were all very funny. Occasionally during the slower parts of the game the guys would tease Austin about me, saying that I was a lot more attractive then he'd lead them to believe.

It's fairly late now and everyone's starting to trickle home. Austin rises to his feet and lifts me up with him by the hand. "You ready babe?" He asks, and I nod.

"You guys be safe." Clayton calls to us as we exit the house.

"Course." Austin calls back.

"Always wear protection." Clayton jokingly adds.

Austin chuckles and rolls his eyes. "See ya Clayton."

We both climb into the car and Austin murmurs that he'll drive me home. His hand falls into place on my thigh as he drives, words soar from his lips as he quietly sings along to the radio. My head falls back against the seat as I listen to him sing an amazing John Mayer song and a soft smile sneaks onto my face as I close my eyes and enjoy this moment of bliss.

"You're smiling." Austin points out after a while.

My eyes flutter open and I tilt my head to look at him. "You called me your girlfriend."

"What?" My statement seems to have thrown him off.

"I don't know, you stated a fact so I did too." I explain.

"Yeah, I guess I did call you my girlfriend." Austin redirects the conversation to the comment I made a moment ago. "Is that okay?" He asks.

My smile is wide and I glance through the windshield at the red light in front of us. I lean across the console and with one of my hands I turn Austin's face towards mine. Without hesitation I press my lips to his and let my happiness seep into it.

Pulling back, I relax into my seat just as the light ahead of us turns green. A deep sigh comes from Austin's mouth as he begins to drive again. I lay my head back on the seat and allow my eyes to slide shut again.

"That's more than okay." I softly confirm.