Challenge :A.C.M:

12.

:griffin:

The heavy mass of people around me cheers loudly as the final buzzer rings, signaling the end of the game, but the start of the teams journey to Championship. The states are next for our team, and by the looks of it, the team weren't the only ones who were ecstatic about this. I walk down the bleachers and stand by the gates, waiting for Austin to come. I see him begin to walk towards me, talking to one of his teammates. The two of them get stopped by a group of girls and I roll my eyes as they might as well have 'I'm desperate' scribbled across their foreheads in all caps with how they're acting.

Austin engages into conversation with them, the girls giggling uncontrollably, and flipping their hair at every smile he gave them. The short little blonde one runs her hand down Austin's arm, and he stares down at it before looking back at her. His expression saying he's not used to that. Which bothers me, he's become so used to me not wanting to be touched, or touching him that he's not used to it.

The girls each give him and his friend a hug, and before they walk away. Austin and his friend continuing in my direction "Hey Griff" Austin grins "This is Alex, he's a good friend of mine" He motions to his friend and I smile small.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you"

"You too" He nods with a smile "I got to go, Jane's waiting for me" He says "I'll see you guys around" He says before running off.

"Enjoying yourself?" Austin asks as we walk out of the gates.

"Sure" I shrug "Not as much fun as your groupies though" I roll my eyes and he chuckles.

"There's no need to be jealous Griffey" He teases and I scoff.

"I'm not jealous, I have no desire to reek of desperation and floral perfume" I cross my arms "I'm perfectly fine with smelling like depression and cucumbers"

"Well, I'm not sure where you got the cucumbers from, all I smell is depression" He retorts, laughing to himself.

"I'm rubbing off on you" I say, my jaw slightly agape "This is not good" I shake my head, climbing into the car as he opens the door for me. I put on my seatbelt and he climbs into his seat, putting on his.

"Hungry?" He asks.

"No, but you are, aren't you?" I raise an eyebrow and he nods, a goofy smile on his face "Well, can we get something to go, I want to watch the sunset" I grin and he nods.

"Let's get subs!" He cheers, backing out of the school parking lot and driving somewhere to get food. He pulls up to a sub shop and orders two subs, one for him and one for me, even though I told him I wasn't hungry. We get them in about five minutes before driving back to my house. I unlock the door and push it open, Austin following behind me. He shuts and locks the door behind us and we walk up to my room. I open the window and climb out onto the roof, sitting down, Austin sitting next to me.

We eat our subs mostly in silence, watching the sun as it begins to set, Austin breaking the silence "So, why'd you start here?"

"What makes you think this is my choice?" I ask, and he shrugs.

"What'd you get kicked out of your last school or something?" He asks, looking across at the horizon, the roof giving us a perfect view.

"It wasn't my fault the chem lab blew up" I raise my hands in defense "Told the bitch not to mess with me" I shrug, and he looks at me with widened eyes, making a laugh fall from my mouth "I'm kidding" I laugh "I was homeschooled and my mom thought it'd be good to have social interaction before I go off to college"

"That wasn't funny" He nudges his shoulder with mine, and for once, I deal with the sensation, and truthfully, it wasn't the worst feeling ever.

"It's beautiful" I change the subject, speaking about the sunset.

"Yeah it is" Austin agrees, and I turn to look at him, seeing his eyes glued to me.

"Oh god" I fake gag, rolling my eyes "Don't do that Jesus Christ, what is this? The Notebook" I cringe "Get back inside" I demand, climbing back into my window.

"You know, I like you. A lot" Austin mumbles "I like that you're not cheesy. It'll save me a lot of money on flowers, chocolate and teddy bears"

"Woah, woah, I don't like cheesy shit. Never said I didn't like chocolate" I raise my eyebrows and he chuckles. I sit down on my bed, crossing my legs and leaning back against my head rest, Austin sitting directly in front of me.

"So, why don't you like being touched? I'd like to know" He asks.

"I don't know, some things just happened and it just kind of changed me" I shrug.

"What kind of things?" He asks, and I let out of puff of air "You don't have to tell me, I'm just curious"

"Maybe some other time" I shake my head and he nods.

"Okay" He says, and then there's a long silence of the two of us looking around everywhere but at each other "You'll be at my other games right? We have two more until championship"

"Yeah, I'll be there" I nod, bringing my knees to my chest "When are they?" I ask.

"Not for another month or two, they want to give us time to practice" He answers and I nod "But championship is a few months away because they're bringing teams from all over"

"I won't miss it"

"I'm really glad I met you" He smiles "Even though you're a shit sometimes"

"I'm not the one who's a shit, it's you"

"No, it's definitely not me" He scoffs.

"I'm not arguing with you one this, you're the one who's a shit"

"We're both shit" He compromises, but I shake my head.

"Nope, I refuse to bring myself to your level of shittiness" I turn up my nose and he laughs loudly.

"I'm never going to try and be cute with you again" He fake cries and I giggle, shoving him by his shoulder, which makes his stop and stare at me.

"What?" I ask as a wide grin takes over his face.

"Nothing" He shakes his head "Absolutely nothing"