Through A Picture

Is this pretty much?

There could have been times when Jess was pretty sure she would never fell for someone younger than her. But you know: when you walk into the living room and the first thing you see is a shirtless Austin, even the most reactable programmes failed miserably. She was not even sure why she was there. Probably to show the guys all the new ideas for their logo and all those stuff image related, but Austin was right in front of her, dancing around in the living room with no shirt on, just a pair of skinny jeans and his old vans making him presentable. Jess could see the muscles on his stomach crunching and realizing at every step, his long hair twirling all over the place. She didn't even realize that Zion was right in front of her, trying to greet her. She got eyes just for Austin. And that was quite embarrassing. 
-Ehm, I think we lost her. 
-What?
Jess looked in front of her and saw the Canadinan boy watching her with a wierd smile on his face: what the hell was he thinking? She dind't want to know, so she just smiled back at him and walked straight to the dining table. As if she was in her baddest nightmare, Austin came up to her, with the largest smile ever that easily became a grin when he realized that she was starring at his abs. Damn. Jess flushed in a second and changed her way, going straight to the studio. When she arrived, consciuos that the guys weren't there yet, she took a deep breath: that day wasn't going to end well. She could feel it.
-Hi dear!
Nick appeared out of the blue and made her jump, actually proving that there were pretty few possibilities she would survive to that meeting. 
-Nick...
-Is everything alright?
The guy was sitting on the floor, playing with his phone and talking like he didn't properly care of the answer, but Jess could tell by some furtively glances that he was actually interested.
-Yeah... I'm fine. I mean: I think we have a lot og things to do and, you know... I just hope you're gonna like these.
Nick raised his head and just smiled. There was something about that guy, something about the fact that with just a look and smile he could make you feel fine. Reassured. 
A proper chaos came from the hallway and the rest of the boys arrived in the studio, yelling at each other something Jess couldn't understand.
Austin was still shirtless, but Jess imposed herself to look everywhere exept in his direction. Task that became quite impossible when he sat right next to her on the speaker. She was about to faint, she could feel it. 
-So: what's new?
Brandon was showing off some random dance moves and Jess thought that those guys weren't able to stay quiet and still even for a single second. She tried to get her head in the game and remember why she was there.
-Okay: we have a layout and some ideas for the whole band concept... Do you like the 90s?
-I'm a 90s kid.
She turned to the voice who had talked and almost choked: Austin was just a breath away from her face, his damn slim lips shaped in an innocent smile and his dark chocolate eyes skipping between her irises and her mouth. She blushed in less than a second and got away even quicker, almost falling from the speaker. Luckily, Edwin was sat next to the amplifier and reached out to catch her. 
-Yeah.. Okay. 
-So... When you're both done teasing each other, can we see something?
Jess just nodded to Zion, going crazy to understand what he was talking about, but she just showed them some logo's ideas from her phone and felt relieved when she got their approvals. 
-And now, the biggest news... Drum rolls please.
Austin provided them buy splapping the speaker and she stopped herself just a second before turning again in his direction.
-You got a manager and you'll get to meet him tomorrow!
The explosion of exclamations that followed the announcement made Jess more and more proud of herself: she was the one who talked to Christopher Shark Mouth for three hours in order to convince him it was the right time to start working seriously with the boys. Jess was still wallowing in her new achieved self-esteem, when a pair of warm arms caught her by the waist and lifted her up. She didn't even know how, but found herself surrounded by the thightest hug she ever recieved by a man. Wait: what?! Some weirdly well-known hand was scrolling through her hair and the other one was stuck on her back, hot like the sun on an August midday. 
-Thank you, JJ.
His voice was right in her ear, his breath tickling her neck in a way that shouldn't be allowed. Jess knew it, but she could help herself from stopping her hands on his chest, feeling his heart beating a little bit faster, but not as much as hers. That shoudn't happen. She shouldn't feel so damn good in his arms. But most of all he shoudn't have told what he did.
-Give me a chance. Please JJ.
No. That was the right answer. She just got her dream job, she didn't even know him at all, she was almost three years older than him and yeah: there was a bunch of reasons to just say "no".
She drew apart from him, even though it seemed the hardest thing she'd ever done in her life and looked around, thanking God no one of the other guys was starring at them.
Jess could feel Austin's eyes nailed on her back but she decide to ignore them and the sneaky thought that he was showing off his most adorable pouty face. Brandon appeared in front of her and caught her attention, talking about a friend of his, who was an awsome video maker and she said yeas, just to get rid of him quickly. She felt quite bad, to be honest, but she seriously needed to get out of that house soon. 
-Perfect. Tomorrow I won't be here for your meeting with Greg... Oh, that's your new manager name. But I'll come as soon as I can. Bye!
The guys just waved back at her and she found her way out in less than 15 secs, already anticipating the regenerative sensation of the fresh air on her skin. But a voice stopped her one step from the door.
-Why not?
Jess closed her eyes, trying not to turn around and face him. Cause that voice could just belong to one person and that person was Austin, with his cute accent and the deep note that came out only when he was talking quite seriously. It didn't happen frequently,  but when it did Jess thought she might even give up all her good propositions and admit she was damn into that soft, raspy note in his voice.
She realized way too late that Austin was right behind her so, when Jess finally turned around, she found herself face to face with him. His hair was a complete mess and Jess had to clench her fists to avoid any temptation. She was looking down and that was a complete no sense, cause c'mon: she was older than him, should have been more used to flirting and things like that, but the truth was exactly the opposite. She felt like a 12 years old in front of him, hoping for an embrace that could stop all the tiring mess inside her head.
His fingers found her chin and brought it up, so the only thing she could see was Austin's serious, beardless and astonishingly beautiful face.
-Why not, JJ?
She already knew that every one of the reasons she thought were absolutely valid, weren't enough for him, mostly because he was so young and carefree and all those things that made him so attractive. The only way to made him understand was focusing on the one thing he really didn't want to lose.
-We both know this wouldn't be good for your career. And that's the only thing that really matters right now.
She could see the desperate research happening in his mind just to find out a single good answer to that, but nothing seemed to come out and Austin ended up looking down on their hands, so close yet far enough not to touch.
-So: is this pretty much?
There was no playful shades in his voice and Jess thought it was quite ironic his word's choice. She didn't know what to say or do, at least not to complicate even more that absurd situation.
-I have to go now.
Austin raised his head and did the one thing Jess hoped he wouldn't have done: he smiled. Gently, sincerely.
She thought she'd never felt so torn apart between the necessity of running away and the desire of grabbing his face and kissing him.
She turned around and walked out the door, with no looking back.

She was sitting next to Kristal on the sofa, faking attention to a program on the telly that her roommate loved and she definitely found boring, when a text message lit up her phone. She didn't recognized the number but immediately understood who it was she she read the subject.
"I won't give you up. A xx 👻"
She threw the phone away, frustrated.
Her heart was beating way too fast for a promise that couldn't be kept.

Hi sweethearts!!
I'm so sorry for all this delay but work is getting me crazy 🙈 Anyway, on more important notes: how are you? This chapter is quite one of a kind... I didn't know where I was going to end when I started writing it, but I thought that Jess and Austin's relationship should be guided by rationality on one side and passion on the other.... What you thing is Austin going to do now??? Let me know 🙊
Have a wonderful end of the year and see you in 2018 🎉
Lots of Love xx

P.s. I give you this wonderful dance break 😏