Introvert

22

The girl laid on her floor staring up at the ceiling. She had just tried to face time Austin, but had no luck. She wanted to talk to him. Dylan missed the golden haired boy at school and wanted to see why he hadn't come. The sound of footsteps filled her ears. Multiple footsteps to be exact. Dyl rose from her position on the floor and wandered over to her door. Cracking it open just a hair, she peeked through to see the boys heading to Brandon's room. Her fingers pressed against the wooden door. 

A good twenty minutes had passed. The girl stared down at her phone in anticipation. She was expecting a return call. Silence rung in her ears. Dylan couldn't help herself. Her phone was soon pressed up against her ear. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. And then the sound of Austin's voice. Voice mail. Out of frustration, the artist ripped the phone from her ear and tossed it onto her bed. It bounced off the bed and hit the wall. Following the thud came a scream. 

Austin was ignoring her. She knew that. Yeah she had only called twice except he always answered. Or called back within 15 minutes. There had to be a reason. Dylan thought that the reason was her. She thought she had to have done something. Falling face first onto her bed, she felt like crying, yet there were no tears. 

Her door creaked open. Brandon stared down at his little sister. There was no one else home so the scream had to be hers. "Are you okay, Dyl?"

Dylan lifted her head from the No Face pillow and looked at her older brother. He stood leaned against the door way. His face didn't look worried, but his eyes did. "Um.. yeah... actually no. Was Austin at school today?"

"Yeah I saw him this morning, why?"

"No not like this morning, like this afternoon. Like after fourth period."

The boy's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.  Dylan had asked Ed earlier if he had seen Austin. She received the same response. In the morning. No one had seen Austin after her free period.  "No I don't see him after third. Sometimes after school, but today I had to drive Char home." 

The corners of her lips turned into a frown at her brother's words. "Do you know if any of the boy's saw him after fourth then?" He shrugged his shoulders. Brandon turned on his heel walking back to his bedroom. The three boys stared at him. 

"Is she okay?" Edwin asked. 

Brandon gave a quick nod, "She wanted to know if you guy had seen Austin after fourth."

Ed's ears perked up at that. He knew that something just happened. The scream. Austin. Edwin was already at his feet when Zion's voice started to speak, "Yeah, I saw him when school got out. We were talking and then he saw something and took off." Everyone stared at Z. That wasn't like the singer. He wouldn't just stop mid-conversation. Brandon was about to leave.

"No I'll go talk to her. I know what this is about." Edwin stopped Brandon from moving. He pushed past him through the door. The brother looked at Ed with confusion. "I'll explain later." His voice was a soft whisper. With a quick nod of the head, Brandon left the doorway. 

Edwin walked down the hall to Dylan's room. His knock was soft and he could hear the muffled 'come in'. The two's eyes met. "Ed I think he's ignoring me, but I don't know what I did wrong."

"Dyl, I don't think you did anything wrong. Z said that he was talking to Porter when school got out. Supposedly they were in mid-conversation and he saw something and just left."

"Okay so he just didn't go to the art room."

"You told him?" The girl nodded. 

"I more like texted him." She grabbed her phone from the floor and clicked onto her messages. Austin's was the first one. But there was no message. She never sent it. "I never sent it." Her eyes lifted from the bright screen. She tapped the screen trying to scroll making sure it wasn't there. Then the realization hit her. "He must have thought we ditched him."

The boy who stood across from her stared at Dylan with wide eyes, "That explains everything!" 

"I need to apologize.." she paused to take in consideration that Porter was ignoring her. Edwin could see the wheels turning in her brain. 

"You might just have to apologize tomorrow when you see him." A small sigh escaped the girl's thin lips. Her friend was right, if Austin wasn't going to answer now, then she would just have to speak with him in person.