Glass Hearts (An Austin Carlile Story)

What Makes A Man

Austin's POV

My hands trembled as I held the small sonogram pictures in my hand. Autumns name was printed across the top left corner. How could she not tell me? I felt my breath catch in my throat as it all hit me. The constant vomiting and exhaustion... it all made sense now.

I walked blankly to the living room and sat down on the couch, staring directly at the pictures in my hand. Autumn is pregnant. Autumn is going to have a baby. We are going to have a baby. I am going to have a son... or a daughter... I am going to be a father.

I don't know how long I sat there staring at the sonogram in my hands. I felt like I was in a dream. "Austin... why haven't y... oh..."

"When were you planning on telling me," I croaked out, barely being able to speak.

"I don't know," Autumn answered honestly. "When is the right time to tell your boyfriend of two months that you're pregnant..."

"Autumn... I.... ugh..." I felt so frustrated and confused. My head felt like it was going explode. So many emotions flew through me at once... happiness, fear, excitement, love...

"I understand if you want to leave me..." she whispered staring at the ground.

I set the pictures on the coffee table before taking Autumn's hands in mine. "Why would I leave you?"

"Because Austin... that's what people do... they leave." She looked down at our hands before mumbling, "maybe I should just get an abortion."

My heart sunk as the word abortion slipped out of her mouth. I stood up and cupped her face in my hands, staring deeply into her saddened green eyes. "I'm not going to leave you. I fucking love you Autumn. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone else in my entire life. I've loved you since that first day I asked you to go eat at that diner with me. Every single day I fall more and more in love with you. I don't care if we've been together for two months or ten years, I know that you are who I am meant to be with. When I think about my future all I see is your beautiful face. You are who I want to wake up to every morning for the rest of my life. I want to marry you some day... I want to grow old with you" I let go of her face and moved my hand down to her flat stomach. "...I want to have kids with you."

I looked up to see tears flowing from Autumn's eyes, her lips pulled into a smile before she crashed her lips against mine. I wrapped my arms around her small fragile body and kissed repeatedly over her face. "I love you so much."

"I love you too Austin... so fucking much. If you get any sweeter I might die though so..." A small giggle escaped her lips as she stood up on her tip toes to kiss me.

Autumn's POV

It felt like a million pounds had been lifted off of my shoulders. There was no more having to worry about making up excuses or everyone being worried about why I was sick. The cat was out of the bag and it felt amazing. There was still fear filling the back of my mind, but I tried to push it away as far as possible. Austin is a man of his word. He wouldn't back out. He wouldn't leave his own child. He wasn't that type of person. I don't know why I was so scared before. I don't know why I ever thought for a second that he would be that type of man.

Four weeks had passed and we were going on two weeks into Warped Tour. Everything was just as amazing as I had ever imagined. Jamie, Austin, and I were still the only ones who knew about my pregnancy. We wanted to wait until I was a little further along and less likely to have a miscarriage before spreading our news to the world.

I walked out into the scorching summer sun and took a seat next to Alan who was smoking a cigarette and fiddling with his guitar. He took the cigarette and out his mouth and flashed me a smile. "I'm glad to see you're finally starting to gain some weight back. You feeling any better?"