Set My Whole World On Fire (Austlan Cashby)

A Place Where I Feel Safe

Hey guys! I really really love this story for some reason, and I hope you do too!

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"I... Um... Yeah I'm fine. Why?" God, I was such a terrible liar.

"Because it's almost the end of the school day. Mr. Kiezner was worried about you, so he sent me to see if you were okay." It's the end of the school day already? How did I skip two class periods and not realize it?

"Well... Tell him that I'm fine. I just had to take a break and stuff. Do you want me to walk you home?" I kept putting pressure on my cuts, hoping they would stop soon. I would be so fucked if he found out.

"Yes please. There's like ten minutes left of class, so I'll just meet you by the front doors okay?" He said and left.

Tears started to fall down my face. I don't know why I was acting like this. It was probably just the shock of almost being caught. Yeah, that was it.

I fixed myself up as best I could in ten minutes and headed towards the front doors. When Austin walked up to me, I smiled. He was a really nice guy.

We started walking home; neither one of us bothering to say a word. That was until I recalled something from earlier.

"Hey man, I never really got the change to thank you for defending me when Haley started to get on that fag crap. No one's ever done that for me before." He smiled and put his arm around my shoulder.

"It's no problem. The look on her face when I told her I didn't like girls was classic!"

We laughed together, but I secretly wondered whether not he meant that. I didn't know if he said it just to get her off our back or if he actually likes guys. Of course, I was way too shy to ask him.

Five minutes later, we ended up at his house. It wasn't very big, but it sure looked homey. He invited me inside and I happily obliged.

"Dad I'm home! I have a friend with me too!" He yelled up the stairs. I heard footsteps and saw a man smile down at us.

"Hey boys!" He walked down and shook my hand. "I'm Austin's dad. What's your name son?"

"Um... I'm Alan. I live like a block away from here." I shuffled uncomfortably.

"Well, it's very good to meet you. I'm happy that Austin made a friend on his first day! You can help yourself to anything in the house. Just don't steal anything you might be sentimental." He winked at me and walked back up the steps.

Austin showed me around his house. It was like I said before. It wasn't very big, but god dammit it was homey.

We went to his room and I automatically went and sprawled myself out on his bed. He laughed at me and sat down in a chair by his desk. He definitely had a lot of junk in his room. Knick-knacks and sheet music and lots of pictures of him and his mom.

"Are you and your mom close?" I asked him. His muscles tensed, but he smiled.

"We were. She passed away a couple years ago. She had a heart condition." The only thing I could really do was put my hand on his shoulder. I knew what it was like to lose a mother.

"Do you wanna watch a movie?" I was thrown off-guard by the sudden change in subject.

"Sure!"

We sifted through movies until we decided on something Disney. Beauty and the Beast to be specific. It had been so long since I had watched a Disney movie, and I was pretty pumped about it!

We laid down on his bed and watched the the animated characters dance and sing on the screen. Austin's eyes seemed to sparkle throughout the entire thing. It put a smile on my face.