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Chapter 17- Just Let Me Have You

Dedicated to juliadolegiewicz_ because her comment absolutely made my day! Enjoy :)

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It takes me a few seconds but I finally manage to break eye contact with Katie. I turn my head and finish walking over to the lunch line. Everything looks terrible, like always. I'm about to pick something when my phone rings. I look down at the number and feel my breath get caught in my throat. 

"H-hello?" I stutter as I walk out of the cafeteria.

"Yes, is this Austin?"

"Yeah."

"Mahone?"

"You called me, shouldn't you know who I am?"

The voice on the other end of the line chuckles and breathes deeply. "That's an excellent point, Mr. Mahone. You're just as snappy as you were the last time we spoke."

"Thanks?" The voice chuckles again and I sigh in frustration. "Can you just get to the point? My lunch break is almost over." Which by the way is total bullshit. Lunch started like 5 minutes ago.

"Ah, yes. Well Mr. Mahone, we listened to you, and we would love to do business with you. You're quite amazing and we want you to be out here as soon as possible."

"Oh.. Okay.. Um, when?"

"You fly out tomorrow!" I can hear the eagerness in his voice.

"Tomorrow?!" 

"Yes. Your flight is booked. Go home and pack your things. When you get here tomorrow, there will be a car waiting for you that will take you to your hotel and we will see you the day after. And as for school, don't worry. We've got it covered. See you then, goodbye."

The line goes dead and I shove my phone back into my pocket. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited I guess, but they gave me such short notice. That was totally fucked up for them to do. And how long am I going to be gone? I don't know how much shit to pack, or what to pack for that matter. I don't know what I'm expected to wear or anything. But, then again, they want to work with me. They called me. Both times. I should be considered the guest of honor or something. Anger suddenly bursts inside me and I feel my face heat up. Like I said, I'm excited, but they should have given me more notice. I want to make things right with Katie before I leave. That's going to be extremely hard to do in less than 24 hours. Hard, but not impossible. 

"Austin?" Speak of the devil.

I turn around to face her and feel the anger wash away. "Katie," I breathe out.

"A-are you okay?" Katie wraps her arms around herself and looks down at the ground.

I sigh. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?"

"Are you sure? I saw you walk out here all the sudden and you looked sort of-"

"Why do you care?" That comes out in the wrong tone of voice.

Katie looks at me with her eyes wide. Her lips start to quiver and her eyes gloss over, making her look like she's about to cry. I didn't mean to say it like that. It came out as more of a snap when really it was supposed to come out as nothing more than just something I was curious about.

"You know why I care, Austin," she whispers. A tear runs down her face and I find myself wiping it away with my thumb. She continues to look me in the eyes and I can't tear my gaze away from hers. "I didn't want this Austin. I just thought it would be best for both of us." She says, still in a whisper.

I sigh and bring my other hand to her cheek and cup her face. "Can we get out of here?"

She nods and I smile. I let go of her face and start to walk to the parking lot. Katie follows closely behind me and eventually she's walking right beside me. We get to my car and I unlock it. She gets i slowly and sets her bag down at her feet. I start the car and just sit there for a few minutes with my hands on the wheel.