A Very Warped Summer (Austin Carlile / OC)

Chapter 17

"So, spill," Danielle threw her legs across the couch in the Of Mice & Men's back room, watching Sports Center on the large flat screen propped on the wall. "What was your lovely old high school crush doing back in your life?"

Austin let out a small laugh, lifting her legs and sitting next to her before letting them fall again in his lap.

"Where to start...well, Alan was climbing back on the bus with this strange look on his face. Before I could ask anything, she came through with this grin on her face. I didn't even know what to say when I saw her; my jaw just dropped.

"After bringing her outside and calmly asking what the hell she was doing in Indiana knocking on my tour bus door, she gave me this whole bullshit apology story and told me that all she wanted was to be friends again. I—giving into that story—forgave her and we all went out to eat. That's when we ran into you.

"My intentions were to talk to you after we got back and tell you what happened. When I saw you storming toward me with that incredibly—and might I add, sexy—pissed off look, I knew I was already in deep shit. And then, there came the endless questions from Alyssa."

Smiling deviously, Danielle leaned against the wall behind her and crossed her arms over her chest in a confident way. "Let me guess: she was jealous."

"Oh, completely," Austin said with a laugh. "She asked why you were so annoyed with me hanging out with her. Then, she asked if I was dating you. You had just dumped me on my ass, so I didn't even know how to answer her. Then, she began pointing out that you and Vic seemed to have a thing going on since you two were hanging out so late by yourselves and that just made me more upset."

"Whoa!" Danielle stopped him, putting her hands up in defense. "You honestly thought Vic and I had something going on?"

Austin shrugged. "I didn't really know. Plus this morning you went out with him and Kellin for breakfast and that added on to my anxiety. How was I supposed to know what you were doing together? For all I know you two could have been holding hands or..." he stopped, a sour look on his face.

Danielle pouted at him. "You know Vic still intimidates me. He's nothing more than a brother to me—the reason we were out together that night was because I was explaining to him what Trace did to me; the whole pictures situation."

She watched Austin's knuckles turn white as they curled together in a fist. He shook his head, staring straight at the wall. "Why didn't you tell me about that earlier?"

"Hey, you're not done with explaining what happened with Alyssa!"

Austin let out a laugh, his muscles relaxing. "She was going off about you and I suddenly became so angry that I started screaming at her, telling her how much you meant to me and how you're one of the greatest girls I've ever met. After that, she tried to calm me down—by excessively hanging onto me." Austin shivered. "And then...she kissed me.." his eyes hesitantly gazed over to Danielle, who just stared at him. She knew she didn't have any reason to be angry, she's the one that pushed him out of her life while all of this was going on.

Austin breathed more easily and continued, "She clung to me like a child does with his mother. And when I decided to cool off back in this room, she followed, talking to me about old memories. She told me 'how much she had been thinking about me' and how much she 'wished she could go back and change her mind about me when we were in high school.'"

"So, basically, she tried to fuck you." Danielle stated flatly.

"Yeah," Austin said hesitantly again, "I told her I wanted to be left alone. After sitting there in silence for a few awkward seconds, she left. And then the next day before our set, I told her to get lost."