Room 116 (Austin Carlile + Alan Ashby)

VII

Three weeks from that day, something really weird happened. Austin and I were on mutual terms again making it easier for us to talk and to do things together. I'd missed going to the woods and going to the lake so I suggested to Austin if he'd like to go with me.

Austin came out of the washroom, scrubbing his hair dry of water. He then dropped towel on his head for it to soak up. "Well, what d'ya say?" I asked and he nodded. "I'm up for it." he smiled and I stood up, delighted. "We can go in a bit, seeing as your hair is wet and it's cold out. Don't want you catch cold or something." I smiled innocently and Austin's cheeks went slightly pink. He nodded and sat on my bed, clearly not having the effort to climb up to his.

I quickly changed my shirt into a sweatshirt and grabbed my jacket. I sat besides Austin for a while looking at his hair. "Why is it taking so long?!" I grumbled. Austin laughed. "Alan, it's not going to dry that fast. Besides, who cares, let's go!" he exclaimed so I obeyed, eager to go to the lake anyways.

--
My backpack became heavy on my back so I set it down besides a pile of rocks as Austin trudged on ahead. Clearly I was a bit more excited than him but he still liked it. I could tell.

The lake was beautiful. It was almost like a shore except instead of sand, it was dirt. The waves pushed in like the sea as it rocked side by side and hit the parallel side. Austin minded my bag as I ran further in search of a pretty rock. I'd always loved rock collecting and this seemed like a great opportunity.

I skimmed over the aggregate and pebbles until I found a small purple shimmer along the side. I ran my hands over to see if it would pull out and it pretty much rolled over as soon as my fingers went over it. It was bigger than I thought but it looked like a lavender crystal and it was beautiful.

When I looked over to Austin, he seemed to have dropped my bag and was picking it up. I laughed and called him over. He began to walk over and I examined the rock a bit more. I held it up to the peeking sun through the clouds and watched as the shimmer ran around the rock.

"Look, it's so pretty." Austin smiled and nodded. "It actually is." he proclaimed and I smiled at his attempt to seem interested. I put the rock in my pocket and walked over to my bag to put it on.

I sat down beside the large rock that my bag was on and Austin followed. The sound of the water soothed the chilly atmosphere. It felt like we were floating. I sighed, I might've been right here with Austin, but I missed him. I don't know if it's because I missed him carnally or just because I loved him. Correction, I love him.

I looked at Austin and squinted my eyes as the sun decided to shine through a gap in the clouds. He was watching the water, oblivious to the fact that I'd been practically starting at him.

Gently, I ran my fingers over his hand and pulled it onto his knee. He was obviously alarmed now and watched as I weaved my fingers through the gaps of his. With a slight squeeze I whispered: "Is this okay?" He seemed to have hesitated but he nodded slowly. "Thank you," I began and he looked at me questionably. "For acting regular with me and making everything comfortable." I smiled genuinely and I noticed his hand became slightly sweaty.

"I-It's okay. I owe it to you." he mumbled and I smiled. My instincts and sense of morality seemed to eradicate as slowly, I leaned closer and closer to Austin's face. I was completely lost in the moment and failed to realise how stupid what I was doing was. But still, I wanted it so badly.

Coming closer, I met my eyes to Austin's and they looked worried but longing. He moved slightly closer until our lips brushed just a little bit and a small kiss emerged. That was until we both realised that it wasn't a good idea and moved away from each other. Just touching him again made me realise how much I missed him.

"I'm s-sorry." I muttered. "Don't be.. Let's go. It's getting cold." Austin said while getting up. I nodded and followed behind him as I trailed behind him holding loosely to the back of his hoodie as I'd created the habit to do every time we'd come back from here.

--
As we returned back to the malevolent Room 116, I fell to my bed with my backpack. I opened one zip pocket where I'd kept my new rock which I wanted to keep on my bedside table. Digging in for my rock, I felt the texture of paper on my skin. What? I hadn't kept anything in here. I pulled out my rock and held it in one hand as I took out the paper.

Setting the rock down on my bedside table, I looked at the folded piece of paper. Austin was humming from the top of his bed and I planned on telling him about this after I'd seen what it was because I knew exactly what I thought it was. It was a note. I unfolded it and read the decent handwriting.

"Hey, Alan, this is from someone you don't exactly know. I can't dwell on what I want to say like this, but it involves you being quite special. Meet me around the back of the shacks on the side of the biking paths at 8 tomorrow. x"

I blushed reading it. What the hell? A secret admirer. How did they get that in my bag? It couldn't have been Austin, he was with me the entire time and I'd have seen him: writing the note and putting it in my bag. It was obviously someone from here.. Ah, it may have been when I was showing Austin the rock I'd found. Austin was in the way of my view of my bag so there's no way I could've seen them.

This was so weird. There's only like three girls here and I haven't spoken to them once. Neither have I spoken to any of the guys except for a guy called Oscar who I spoke to in line for breakfast. "Austin!" I called and he replied from the top bunk. "Yeah?"

"Come down here, look at this." I said, holding the paper in my hand. Austin climbed down and took the paper from my hands as I motioned it towards him. I watched him read it and analysed the way his lips parted slightly as he obviously couldn't read in his head. "W-woah, look's like you've got an admirer. The 'x' really sealed the deal." Austin muttered as his cheeks shaded pink. Could it be that he was jealous? "Hey shut up. It's so weird.. Shall I go?" I questioned and Austin thought about it and then nodded.

"Sure, can't leave the guy hanging." he said. I shot him a look. "The guy?" I asked and he chuckled. "I meant it in general terms."

"I don't know. I'm kinda scared. What if they call me over to beat me up?" I whined and Austin shook his head. "Man up." he grunted before going over to the washroom. I sighed and lied down on my bed and put the letter besides me. How could anyone like
me? I still don't understand why Austin liked me to be honest. I mean, I'm not that bad but generally, I don't even like me.

(tbc, and i can smell an argument..)