Let Live (An Austin Carlile Love Story)

A Change Will Come

Tyler's P.O.V:

I had been working on my homework for a few hours now, still nowhere near being caught up. I had been too distracted and too busy to care about my homework lately. I was already so far behind, and at this point I was tempted to drop all of my classes and try again next year or just drop the whole school idea all together. I cranked my iPod up louder, allowing the sounds of Slipknot to fill my room. I rested my head on my desk trying to forget about everything: school, work, Kody…..Austin, whose beautiful smile and kind demeanor still flashed through my mind. It didn’t help that he had been hanging around all day.

Over the music I heard a light knock on my door, and I hollered loudly, giving permission to whoever was there to enter. I didn’t bother to raise my head from my desk to see who had opened the door. When they spoke I was pleasantly surprised.

“Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, but Josh, Alan, and Lydia went to pick up some pizzas and he wanted me to let you know,” Austin said sweetly as he glanced around my spacious room.

“Thanks,” I whispered nervously and I glanced up at him quickly.

“You’re a Slipknot fan?” he asked in disbelief as he recognized the song blasting through the speakers.

“Is that a bad thing?” I asked nervously as he waltzed into my room and took a seat on the edge of my bed.

“Hell no! Slipknot is my favorite,” he said excitedly as he drummed along to the beat on his slender legs. I looked back to the books open on my desk and let out a big sigh as I flipped through them, realizing how much I really had left. “You okay?” I heard Austin ask. I turned my chair to look at him and he smiled sadly at me.

“Yeah, I’m just really behind with all of my schoolwork and it’s stressing me out, and then everything with Kody-“I paused, realizing I was about to spill my guts to a complete stranger. “Um, nevermind.” I said nervously as I turned back around. Austin was quiet for a while and I turned back around to face him; he had a weird look on his face. “What?” I asked, confused.

“Are you still in high school?” he replied as if he was worried. I looked at him and started cracking up uncontrollably.

“Wow, Austin, I know I’m short and all, but jeez! That hurt,” I replied to his question, laughing even harder. He seemed to ease up and he chuckled a little. “No, I’m 22. If I were still in high school that’d be pretty damn sad. But, there is this thing called college, Austin, and sometimes people go there to further their education so they can get a job. We can’t all be rock stars,” I said as I smiled. I felt the tension begin to fade between us, and all the shit I had been thinking about was fading away from my mind. I’m not sure why I felt so comfortable around him all of a sudden; I had never felt that way before. He smiled back at me.

“Sorry, I just heard homework and started to freak out because I think you’re cute and all, and-“ he paused as his eyes opened wide. “Uhh, I mean, uhhh, sorry I didn’t mean to,” he was rambling as he tried to figure out what to say. I felt my cheeks turn red as I blushed. Austin thought I was cute?

“Um, no it’s okay,” I said as I turned away from him until my face calmed down. I felt the awkwardness creeping in again, but this time I was determined to keep it away.

“So, how long have you known my brother? I mean, I haven’t ever seen you hanging around before,” I asked trying to switch the subject and ease the tension.

“Oh, yeah I’ve known Josh for a while. Alan introduced us a few months ago, but we’ve been pretty busy touring and stuff, and I was going through some stuff in my personal life so I was taking some time to myself for a while.” His response was simple and sincere, but when he spoke about his personal life his face dropped. He looked sad and hurt, and I so badly wanted to ask him if he was okay, but I didn’t want to push it. I didn’t even know him; it wasn’t any of my business. “I didn’t know Josh had a sister, let alone one as cool as you. I mean, how many girls like Slipknot these days?” he smiled at me and I almost melted.

“Yeah, well he doesn’t like to tell people about me because he knows that his friends will like me better than him. He’s jealous of how awesome my life is,” I said with a hint of sarcasm, laughing a little as I smiled back at Austin. Our eyes met and for some reason I was drawn to him; I couldn’t look away. We just sat there and looked at each other. I got the urge to kiss him, out of the blue, right then and there, and honestly I probably would have if we wouldn’t have heard the front door open as Josh and Alan came in with the food. He cleared his throat as he looked away and stood up.

“Let’s eat, shall we?” he asked as he reached his hand out to me. I took it as he pulled me up from the chair and we walked down the hall to the living room, our hands still clinging to each other for dear life, neither one of us wanting to let go.