[AustinCarlile] Live Forever

[AustinCarlile] Live Forever [ChapterEight]

Author's Note:
I promise the next chapter will have Austin-Devon moments. And, um, this is probably boring, but it's important. Anyway, I just want to get to the couple part but I can't rush and I hate that because I want to rush but I can't. Sorry, my little rant. Oh, and who likes Austin's point of view in the end? It probably sucks because I cannot think like a guy at all, but hopefully it's good, or decent at least..

“Did you ever think to stop talking?” TJ asks, raising an eyebrow, his tone dripping with amusement, his eyes holding annoyance, as if having three girls on the bus was more than enough, more than he ever wanted. He only likes the quiet types, the ones who appear shy at first, who open up to him over time, something about being the one she’s happy with, and it’s cute, sweet, he knows how to treat a girl, he just needs to find the girl who knows how to treat him. He knows nothing about what we’re talking about, nothing about what we were talking about last night, but he knows all about the encounters with Austin, and although he wants to hear about it, he doesn’t care to hear it this early in the day.

Rolling her eyes, Tatum sighs, running a hand through her dark hair, smirking slightly, wanting to say something, something sarcastic, something that would make him stumble over his words, but she doesn’t, she stops. “Do you want us to include you in our conversation, TJ? Are you feeling left out? We never mean to leave you out. Devon would be so angry with us.” Leaning her back against the edge of the counter in the bus, Tatum smiles softly at the shaggy haired boy; she too looks at these boys as if they're family.

Groaning, TJ shakes his head, still looking as if he just stepped out of his bunk, but he’s been up for at least two hours now, waiting, anxious, wanting to know what time we go on, what we have planned for the day, but he woke up early, and there’s at least another hour until we know what the day looks like for us. “It’s ten in the morning. Do you three realize that no one wants to hear a conversation at ten in the morning?” He’s crabby today, I don’t know why, what happened to make him this way, whether it’s something we did or simply just because he’s moody, but it needs to change, soon, because I'm not going to put up with it for the entire day.

That’s the problem, with this, with what we do, with seeing people constantly, with having to impress, with having to live up to expectations. There’s no room for emotions, no room for speaking our mind, for being angry, for wanting to say something that people could take out of context. “You know what; this is done, over, no more of it. TJ, go and get dressed and fix your attitude. Blaze, go with Hunter and whoever else wants to go and set up the tent. Tatum, go and do your job, whatever it is because I still think you're there just so Matt can stare at you. We find out times and stuff soon, so let’s get ready for the day and smile.”

Everyone moves slowly, dreading the heat that the day was supposed to be laced with, dreading the need to move, wanting to go back to sleep, all of us, but that’s not possible, and we all know it. “You’re so bossy.” Blaze grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest as she walks out of the bus, grabbing the clipboard resting on the counter as she goes, clinging it to her chest, stomping down the stairs, as if to make the point that she’s not happy about having to move around this early.

“Call your brother now. He’s waiting to hear how you are and how tour is, even though yesterday was the first day. Just call him, okay?” TJ says, his voice low, quiet, he becomes hyperaware of his words, hyperaware of his thoughts, but everyone on this bus, everyone in this little family of mine, they all know, they’ve been by my side throughout it all. He leans forward, opening the cabinet to pull out a protein bar, before walking to the back of the bus, to do whatever he wants to, never one to listen to what others tell him to do, especially in high school. Since middle school, TJ and I were friends, with Tatum we were the three musketeers, always the two of them goofing off and me trying to get them to focus, for at least five minutes.