Opened Skies ~ An Auslly Fanfic

Chapter 3

I don't want to seem like a ten year-old, coming back to the window every five seconds to see if they're there yet. To avoid the temptation, I decide just to not even go downstairs until I actually hear Raleigh tell me their car has pulled up.  

And when she does, my heartbeat seems to slow. Inside the car, will be Austin. Austin Moon. It's been two years, and now, all of the sudden, he's outside my house. 

I open my door. Dez is pulling two bags out of the trunk, and Sabrina is only getting out of the car. Their car is no less orange than it was two years ago. As a matter of fact, I think they might have even repainted it; it seems brighter. What isn't bright, however, and I realize this the second she opens the door, is Sabrina's hair. 

It's a sort of a drab brown. Kind of like mine, but on Sabrina...it doesn't work. It's not Sabrina. It's like she's doused the fire inside of her. I don't know who managed to convince her to dye it, but if I were her, I wouldn't change it for the world. 

Dez looks almost exactly the same. At least his hair is still blazing. And the same freckles, same tallness, and everything, although maybe his face has a bit of an older look to it.  But only slightly. 

I'm really not as interested as I should be to see them. As they walk up to my home, instead of stepping forward to greet them, I raise on my toes to peer over their heads.

And I don't see anyone. I scan the area; hopelessly thinking that maybe he just wanted to look around. 

There's something about the way Dez is looking at me, when I mentally ask him where Austin is. Even from a few yards away, my questions are all answered. 

There's nothing to look around at here, no reason to venture off. It's just trees. 

I don't know why he didn't come, I don't know whether it was last minute, or if Dez maybe even told me Austin was coming before managing to convince him. 

I just know that he's not here. I needed him here. 

~

Raleigh, despite her complaints about my grandparents room yesterday, doesn't mind sleeping there for the next few days, so that Sabrina can sleep in her bed. Eli has a second matress set up in his bedroom, for Dez. It occurs to me that if Austin had come to visit, he'd have nowhere to sleep. But that doesn't matter anyways. 

"This place has not changed. At all," Sabrina states. I roll my eyes.

"You're telling this to the wrong person, Sabrina. Like I don't remind myself of that every day." 

"You're so unlike your sister."

"What makes you say that? Not that I don't agree one-hundred percent, but why are you suggesting that?" I question.

"Because...she never does anything she doesn't want to do. She always gets what she wants one way or another. You...you just sort of let things happen, whether you like it or not." I wince, because of how honest and true this observation is. 

~

There's really no way to make my home interesting. There are orchards, there are forests, there is my house, and I know even if it's what my cousins were expecting, it's not what they're cut out for. 

There is one plus to them being here, though. Raleigh and my mother have toned it down. Well, actually Raleigh is the exact same when it comes to exploding at her, but mom is so much more tolerant when we have company. 

~

I don't have a driver's license, so normally I couldn't take a break from the orchard even if I wanted to. But now I'm surrounded by people willing to drive, so everyone can easily take the eight-minute ride to Plum, the unfortunately-named small town six miles away.