Lonely Nights and Sweet Talking - [boyxboy]

twenty-four

"This is it, isn't it? This is where you finally take me to kill me." I said, ducking under low hanging tree branches and stepping over large ones that had fallen. Austin and I were wandering a little ways into the woods, heading towards wherever he was taking us. Really, I was kind of scared. After the last time we snuck in somewhere and nearly got caught by the police, I was almost hesitant to go, but Austin reassured that nothing was going to go wrong and everything would be okay. I was making sure to hold him against his word.

"No, if I was going to kill you, I would have done it a long time ago." He said, grabbing and tugging my hand to make me keep up. I rolled my eyes and slapped his back.

"You're an ass, I don't know why I'm even dating you." I muttered, but I couldn't deny the butterflies forming in my stomach as I said we were dating. It was sort of weird, admitting that, but it felt good and I felt really giddy just thinking about it.

Austin didn't say anything back as he continued to guide me through the woods until we came out to a large clearing. There wasn't much here, a fenced off power box- I knew we both weren't that stupid to mess with it-, and a spray paint covered water tower.

"Princess," Austin stopped walking once we reached a few feet away from the tower. He turned to me, brushing hair out of my face and grabbing my hips. "Are you afraid of heights by any chance?" He asked.

I thought about it, and I guess I really wasn't. Then again I hadn't gone around, climbing high buildings, so the question was unanswered to me.

"I don't know, why?" I asked, my head cocked slightly to the side. We stared at each other for a moment, a smirk plastered on Austin's lips and a confused look on my face, until it clicked.

"Please tell me we're not doing what I'm thinking." I begged, looking at him frantically. Austin only smirked more and grabbed my hand, tugging me around the tower until there was a ladder, leading all the way up onto a platform that wrapped around it. I craned my neck, looking at the way up high tower. I didn't want to do this, I don't think that I could, but I did. I gripped tightly to a rung and pulled myself up, repeating over and over again in my head to not look down. Austin was right behind me as we climbed and I almost wanted to kick him off for making me climb this thing.

"Have I ever told you how gorgeous your butt looks, Princess?" Austin said, breaking the silence around us. I rolled my eyes, not speaking, although my cheeks burned as I thought about last night.

After a few minutes, my arms began to ache but I was close to the platform. The wind was beginning to pick up too, which made me cling to the ladder the more I climbed.

Finally I reached the platform and I crawled away from the opening so Austin could get up before I stood to my very shaky legs. We were really high up and I was afraid that if I moved too much or if one side of the tower was unbalanced, that it would fall over. I was overreacting, I know, but I felt so uneasy being up here.

"So I'll take that as a yes, you are afraid of heights." Austin said, grinning at me as I held tightly to the railing. I rolled my eyes at him, my grip tightening more, making my knuckles turn white.

"Relax, Princess, the water tower is sturdy." He said, coming closer until he was stood over me, looking warm and inviting. I nodded and slowly let go of the railing, just to quickly grab Austin's hand. He chuckled softly and kissed the top of my head then pulling me slowly around the platform until we were at the front- or what I would believe was the front since the town's name was painted there.

"Sit down, I'll be right back." Austin said, pointing at a spot, kissing my lips then hurrying back around. I heard him climb down, leaving me to be alone.

Sighing, I did as told and sat down, shivering as I felt the cool metal through my jeans. I wondered how long I was going to be left up here, or if Austin was going to come back or not. Maybe this was his way of getting rid of me? Or maybe this was some kind of prank and someone was going to jump out and scare me? I sighed again, shaking my head of the ridiculous thoughts as I continued to wait.

It wasn't long before Austin came back, panting out of breath, a slight smile on his lips and a picnic basket in his hands. He sat down beside me and opened up the basket, pulling out a large fleece blanket along with a thermos, two cups and little containers filled with fruit.

"What's all this?" I asked, spreading the blanket out across us both. Austin shrugged and smiled at me.

"I thought maybe you'd like something special. I mean, it was kind of last minute that I threw all of this together, but I figured it'd mean more than just going out to dinner and everything." He explained softly, sounding surprisingly shy.

"This is very sweet of you, thanks." I told him, kissing his cheek. Austin smiled again then continued to pull things from the basket before setting it to the side.

"I even made us chocolate since I figured it would be cold." He said and twisted the cap off the thermos and poured some hot chocolate into the cups. He handed one and instantly my hands warmed up as I wrapped them around the cup. Once again I kissed his cheek in thanks and sipped carefully from the cup

We sat in comfortable silence for awhile, eating fruit and drinking hot chocolate- which was an odd combination- while under the blanket, looking around the softly illuminated area we were in. You could faintly see the town's lights, which looked so warm and inviting.

"You know, my Aunt Melissa called me earlier today," I said, breaking the silence between us. I don't know why I was telling him this, but I felt like he deserved to know. "The police along with my parents are looking for my brother and sister."

"Did you tell them they were staying with Kellin?" Austin asked curiously as he popped a grape into his mouth.

"Well, I told my aunt and she promised not to tell my parents or the police, but she said that I had to bring them back to her house." I said, biting my lip. This felt like too much hiding, why couldn't mom and dad see that none of their children were happy to be there?

"Are you really just going to leave them in hiding forever?" Austin questioned, I gave a shrug.

"They don't want to be with them anymore, Aust. I don't want them to be with them anymore. My mom and dad..." I trailed off, shaking my head. Austin nodded and sighed, leaning over and kissing the side of my head. We dropped the conversation and moved onto something else while we are fruit and drank hot chocolate.

It was nearing midnight when we finally decided it was getting too cold to be staying out here. So we packed up all the stuff and climbed down the tower. My body felt so numb, especially my bottom, but Austin kept an arm around me to help keep me warm, which was very sweet.

Soon we arrived back to Kellin's house and I could hear the faint sound of the Tv on. I figured it had to Kellin, if not Vic too, since I knew the twins and Alex wouldn't be dumb enough to stay up this late.

"Do you wanna come inside?" I asked once we reached the door, Austin bit down on his, grinning as he shrugged.

"I guess for a few minutes wouldn't hurt." He said, though a "few minutes" turned into the whole night and we ended up spooning on the couch.