Bridge Jump (rewrite)

Chapter Twelve: His room

She chewed on her lip as she followed him from his car. She noted how warm his hand was around her. She tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ear. As they entered the house, she could tell that he was embarrassed, he kept apologizing as he picked up things. It had to be around 7 am, she watched him place everything into the trashcan before leading them upstairs. Austin gave Lindsey a quick tour ending on his room. He stumbled over his words as he rushed around picking up the paper, books, and empty cigarette boxes that littered the floor. She smiled slightly at him before saying, "it's okay really, no need to apologize."

            Austin glanced up at her as he placed everything in a trash bag. He stood up straight crossing his arms a smirk on his face. After a short while of them staring at each other in silence Austin finally spoke, "Look I gotta catch some z's before 12, feel free to sleep too, the house is empty right now. Feel free to sleep too, there are clothes in my closet and those drawers here help yourself."

Lindsey thanked him, a small squeak of surprise coming out as the man before her, stripped down to his boxer briefs. He dropped on his bed snuggling into his pillow. She sighed walking towards the drawers pulling it open pulling out the largest T-shirt she could find, completely ignoring the pants knowing not even one will fold enough to fit her tiny waist. She pulled her dirty, blood-stained shirt up and over her head and neatly folding it before she pulled the clean large black t-shirt on. She glanced down at her black biker-shorts, they seemed clean enough. She sat on the ground by a stack of books, silently thumbing through them and glancing at the titles. Suddenly her chest felt tight, and she couldn't breathe. She didn't know how or why but she began to cry harshly. The book dropped from her hands as she clawed at her chest for breath. Then suddenly her airway opened and a rush of air flowed in. The sobs were loud, and her body shook. She hadn't meant to disturb Austin more than she already had, He as in front of her pulling her gasping, sobbing mess of a self into him. His arms held her tightly against his chest as he slightly rocked and hushed her similar to the way you would a small child. Her breathing began to regulate, and her sobs soften until she was just sniffling. She didn't know why she still clung to him, but he didn't move. Lindsey tighten her grip around Austin when he moved back slightly. Austin simply laughed slightly changing their position so that he was leaning against the wall, Lindsey in his lap. He wondered why he got himself into this, He didn't know her, he didn't owe anything to her. Yet here he was, calming her panicked state. He held her against him, her head nestled on his shoulder, her nose brushing against his neck. He could feel the wetness of her tears. He took a deep breath before he began to rub his hand over her long hair. The continuation of this motion causing his eyelids to grow heavy. He knew that she was asleep, she had to be as tired as him. Austin could hear her soft level breaths with a few sniffles here and there. He simply closed his eyes continuing his movements afraid to disturb the peace that he had created.

            When Lindsey woke to the warm light on her face. She sat up abruptly, taking in her surrounds. She was in the middle of Austin's bed; the sheets had been covering her. She looked at a paper set of the nightstand. She glanced over it, it read 'heading to pick up my paycheck, and my sister. Be back in a bit. food on the dresser.' She sighed laying back down and closing her eyes, she knew she should try and eat something, anything, but she didn't want to. Why would she even need to? She wasn't hungry, she wasn't thirsty. She knew if she was feeling hungry then what she really was feeling is thirsty and after drinking some water if she's still hungry then she just needed to chew on some ice, or some flavored gum and she'd be fine. She lied there for what felt like hours before she heard some sort of commotion coming from outside the door. 

"Lindsey, you gotta eat, even if it's just a bit," Austin spoke softly, settling on the bed.

When Lindsey looked at him, her stomach erupted in butterflies, and her heart felt like it was quivering. She nodded sitting up watching him pull a large Styrofoam cup from a black paper bag. She quietly watched him open the cup and hand it to her. Her mouth watered at the smell, she glanced into the cup, it was full of soup with potatoes, chicken, carrots, celery, and the works. She felt her stomach lurch slightly. Her eyes flicked up to Austin who watched her. She brought a spoonful up to her mouth; she did this all the time. She was a little worried though, she hadn't been able to keep any solid food down for a few days. She closed her eyes in a way of ignoring Austin's icy stare. Though she could still feel his pupils burning holes into her skin she enclosed her lips around the spoon. She opened her eyes back, seeing that Austin was gone as she began to chew. It was good, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had chicken soup. It made her feel warm and helped to drown her butterflies. She took a few more spoonful's before she couldn't eat anymore and began to feel slightly nauseous. She scooted out of the bed, placing the Styrofoam cup next to the plate of food from earlier. She wrapped her arms around herself as she made her way out of the room. Lindsey followed the sound of the voices to the room next door. She softly knocked on the door before pushing in slightly. There was a young teenage girl laying on a bed, a textbook in front of her. Austin sat on the floor before the bed, what looked like a homework sheet in his hand as he glanced over it before looking back into the textbook and pointing at something. The young girl burst out laughing slapping herself on the forehead before muttering something. She went to turn around and leave when Austin caught her gauze. He smiled, wholeheartedly smiled and ushered her in.

"Lindsey, meet my little goofball sister Dahlia." Austin then looked at Dahlia and said, "Dahlia, Lindsey, she's gonna be staying with us for a bit."

"Why?" Dahlia asked, chewing on her pen.

Austin gave her a look to which she then muttered: "never mind." Lindsey was happy he didn't tell her why she was there. She extended her hand out to shake Dahlia's. The young girl just stared at it before putting Lindsey's hand into a fist and giving her a fist bump. Dahlia looked at her before sitting up in bed and smiling then asking, "by any chance do you understand French?"

"I do," Lindsey spoke taking the seat that Austin had offered. "why?"

"cause my smarty-pants lil' sis is in 3rd year French and is confused with some concept pass-de-compose-ie." Austin muttered, glancing back over the worksheet that look like a jumbled-up arrangement of letters.