lovely | a. matthews (completed)

december 6, 2018 pt. 2

auston sat waiting for his friends to show up, there were people there already but the party didn't really start until mitch was there, considering he was always down to take shots and just basically live it up while he still had the chance.

people were scattered around austons apartment, mostly team mates and guys from the marlies, as well as the girls who showed up, just to try and hook up with a hockey player. auston looked around some more, starting to get impatient with his friends. nylander was nowhere to be found, he most likely ran off somewhere with a girl, and the other guys were all caught up in other conversations to even notice that auston was essentially all alone. despite being maybe the MOST eligible bachelor in all of toronto, he seemed to be the loneliest guy in the room at almost all times. it was sad really. just when he was becoming almost too impatient, the group of five pummelled through his door. he saw kasperi with eleanor, mitch with steph, and a gorgeous girl who was all alone.

"who is that?" he walked up to mitch and whispered to him, gesturing to the brunette girl.

"oh that's eden, she's awesome. she's twins with the girl that kappy picked up." mitch smile at auston and he greeted steph with a hug.

auston was relieved that his friends were finally here, but in the same breath, he felt very nervous around this eden girl.

"hi nice to meet you, i'm auston. feel free to make yourself at home here, would you like a drink?" auston and eleanor shook hands.

"i would love a drink!" eleanor was enthusiastic.

"kappy will show you the way to the bar." he smiled at the pair as they walked off. he could tell eden felt slightly uncomfortable.

"hey." auston walked up to her, offering a smile.

"oh, hi." she said, rather shyly, getting lost in his eyes.

"i'm auston." he stuck his hand out for her to shake, she grabbed it, laughing. she had a smile to die for and it melted auston from the inside out.

"i know who you are," she giggled a bit more, "i'm eden, it's really nice to meet you."

auston snaked his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in.

"can i offer you a drink?"

"hmmm," eden thought playfully, "what do you have?"

"if you come with me i can show you." he lead eden towards the bar where he expected to see kappy, eleanor, steph and mitch, but none of them were there.

eden looked around at the alcohol he had before settling for a shot of tequila.

"wanna take one with me?" she asked auston who happily obliged.

they cheersed and downed the shots, neither of them cringing or even making a hint of a face.

"wow, you must be hurting if you can take a tequila shot like that..." auston joked around with her, little did he know that she actually was hurting.

"says you!" she slapped his arm playfully, she was oblivious to the pain he was feeling as well. he often felt like the loneliest person in the world, the only people in his life besides his parents and sisters were people from his team and their partners, or people who just wanted to be his friend because of his social status and money. auston often felt in-genuine in almost all of his interactions with people. besides mitch, william and kasperi, a lot of his team mates didn't really feel like REAL friends. a lot of them seemed jealous of the praise that auston always got for being the best on the team and whatever.

eden noticed auston was slightly distracted, staring at the floor. he seemed to be in deep thought.
"hey, are you good?" she grabbed his bicep to try and get his attention.

"huh? oh... yeah of course." he offered a sweet smile and poured two more shots for them.

"bottoms up."

as the night went on, the two hardly left each other's sides. something about them just seemed to click. from the moment auston saw eden, he noticed something about her... a darkness, hidden behind her gorgeous looks and ultra-sweet demeanour. she seemed slightly more shy than eleanor did, but she had confidence like no other. she was the perfect mixture of shy and outgoing, auston couldn't get enough of her.

as people's drinks were running dry, and the party started to slow down, auston felt a wave of sadness wash over him. he realized eden would probably be leaving soon, but he didn't want her to go. he walked over to eden and the rest of the people she came with.

"hey, could i steal you for a moment please?" he spoke only loud enough for her to hear, he had his hand gently placed on the small of her back.

"yeah, of course." they walked away from the group into a place where it was quieter for the both of them to have a proper conversation.

"i'm gonna be honest with you... i really like you eden. i know we've only known each other for a few hours but i was wondering if you'd want to go out on a date with me?"

a date... it seemed so taunting to eden. her last experience with dating ended poorly and the wound from that was still fresh, it caused her a lot of pain daily.

"auston... i'm so flattered, i don't even know what to say."

they were both quiet for a moment, she thought about his question long and hard, and she thought about all of the things she's heard about auston. he's a player, he sleeps with a new girl every night, this and that. her heart couldn't take another heartbreak.

"i....." eden sighed, "i don't really know, auston. i mean, just a month ago i got out of a really long term relationship. i was cheated on... i can't really handle that if it happens again."

he seemed taken aback, almost offended but not quite.

"why do you think i would hurt you?" he asked bluntly, he just wanted a straight answer.

"it's not that, really... i have just heard things about you i guess, and i'm scared. because to be completely honest with you, i really like you too."

"so then say yes, please. so i can prove to you that i'm not like what you think i am."

she sighed and thought about it some more.

"fine." she smiled a bit and shook her head at him when she noticed just how excited he got when she agreed.

just as they were about to share a kiss, eleanor came storming around the corner, almost in tears.

"el, what's wrong?" eden asked, very alarmed.

"we have to go okay?" is all she said.

eden and auston quickly exchanged numbers, but eden had to run off. she felt very guilty, and very sad to leave the guy she spent the whole night with, getting to know.