always you - nick austin

chapter one

You checked your packing list one last time as you placed your suitcase by the door. Pulling your handbag over your shoulder, you heard a honking sound from outside of your apartment - meaning that your ride was here. You smiled to yourself as you shot one last glance at the mirror to see if you looked nice, which you clearly did. Very little make-up, with your hair was styled in a ponytail at the back of your head, and your favorite ring earrings framing your face. You walked out through your front door with the luggage in one hand, locking the door with the other. Then you walked out of the apartment complex and towards the street, where you saw a large car waiting for you. And outside it stood none other than Dixie D'amelio.

"Hey girl," she said, opening her arms towards you. You ran straight into her embrace and gave her a tight hug.

"Hi! It's so nice to see you!" You said as you two parted from the hug.

"You too!" Dixie gave you a big smile. "This is Avani," she motioned towards the girl who was now getting out of the car and standing up next to Dixie.

"Hi, I'm Samantha," you said as you shook her hand. "It's so nice to finally meet you! I love your tiktoks."

"Thank you! I love yours too," she said with a big smile.

"Let's load your stuff into the car then and get going!" You nodded and pulled your luggage with you to the trunk of the car, putting it inside before getting into the car in the passengers side.

Right as Dixie started driving, Avani started asking you questions.

"So, how come you and Dixie are friends?"

"Well, we went to middle school together in Connecticut. We were kind of best friends back then, or, she was pretty much my only friend," you said, not wanting to let out the whole truth.

When you went to middle school, you were bullied by many of your classmates. They would tell you that you were too ugly to become a figure skater, or too fat. This caused many problems for you, and you even became a bulimic. But then, Dixie came into your life as your only friend. She helped you stand up to the bullies and stop caring about what they thought and said. She was a great deal of help to you.

"That's so sweet," Avani hummed. "Why did you stop talking?"

"Well, my mother and I moved to California, so I had no choice but to say goodbye to Dixie." You pouted playfully and so did Dixie, before you both laughed.

Moving to California was awful to you. The school you got transferred to had a lot of girls who did figure skating, and at first you thought you could become friends with them - but they were all very rude to you. They kept calling you names and calling you ugly, fat, and untalented. Just like in your old school. It was just that now, you didn't have Dixie, so you didn't have anyone to help you. You had no friends, and more and more kids at school started bullying you. But one day, a girl you'd recognized from the ice rink came up to you and told you she wanted to become your friend, because she was sad about the fact that you were always all alone. You were so happy, and you immediately became good friends with her. Or, at least, so you thought. Until one day, you overheard her talking in the girls bathroom at school about how she'd "gained a lot of new info on the new girl, soon we'll be able to bully her so that she stops coming to school". This whole thing gave you trust issues that are stuck with you to this day, even though you now have many friends and a generally happier life. And all those girls who called you untalented? None of them are even good enough to qualify for the state championships these days - while you are training for your first world cup. Who's the untalented one now, huh?

"And now TikTok has brought you guys together again, nice!" Avani said, breaking your train of thoughts.

"Yeah, it's amazing what social media can do these days," Dixie cheered and you nodded.

Your apartment was only about a thirty minute drive from where you all were heading; the famous Hype House. You had been invited by Dixie to stay there for a while with the rest of the squad, and they had all thought it was a good idea since you did have a pretty large amount of TikTok followers. And, Dixie thought you'd fit in well with all the people. So, there you were, standing in front of an enormous house. You almost had to pinch yourself in order to see if it was all real.

"Welcome to the Hype House!" Dixie said and you smiled brightly. "Let's go inside and greet all the people." You nodded as Dixie and Avani led you up to the front door and you all walked inside.

"We're back! With company!" Avani yelled, and only a couple of seconds later, a bunch of people stood in front of you. You greeted them all with a handshake, and you were lucky they were all celebrities and that you already knew all their names, because otherwise you'd been completely lost by now. It was all pretty much the ordinary hype house-people, except for the fact that Noen Eubanks was visiting for the day.

"Since there aren't enough rooms for everyone to have their own one, obviously," Dixie started as she led you up the stairs to the second floor. "Some of us have to share rooms. And I thought it would probably be best if you stayed in the room I'm staying in, which is Nick's room, if you know who that is."

You struggled to get your luggage with you up, but you still managed to let out a small "yeah".

You did know who he was. He wasn't as popular as Charli or Chase or some others from the hype house, but you had seen him around sometimes and you even followed him. But you don't think he was following you back...

He hadn't been downstairs greeting you like everyone else, so you just figured he was out of the house, running some errand or something.

Dixie opened the door to his room, not expecting to find him laying there on the bed, sleeping. "Hey, why are you still in bed?" She laughed and threw a pillow at him, hoping he'd wake up.

"Jeez, I'm up." He sat up and stretched his body straight up, yawning. "What time is it?"

"It's 11:47, and you know we said we were going to go get my friend Samantha at a little to 11."

"So why don't you go then?" Nick asked as he buried his face in a pillow.

"She's standing right here, you dummy."

With that, he shot up and immediately ran over to you, holding out his hand to you. "I'm Nick. Also, I'm so sorry for not seeing you..."

You shook his hand and smiled at him. "No, it's fine. I'm Samantha."

"She's going to be staying in this room, just so you know," Dixie mentioned before walking over to a drawer and pulling out a mattress.

While she was laying it down on the floor close to one that was already laying there, which you assumed was Dixie's, you shot a quick glance towards Nick - but he wasn't looking back at you. Nor was he looking at Dixie. His eyes were pointed at the floor.

It confused you. Why was he so closed? Did he not like his first impression of you, for some reason? Did he have a reason not to like you? Did you look weird, did you have parts of your breakfast still stuck in your teeth? Was your hair a mess?

As Dixie was done with the bed, she pulled you out of your thoughts by linking your arms together. "Let's go down and have some lunch, shall we?" You nodded at her and before you could say anything to Nick, you were pulled out of his room by Dixie. "He can be a little bit shy, especially with new people..." Dixie whispered as you two walked down the stairs.

Ah. Good. That meant there wasn't any specific reason as to why he was shy. It wasn't because of you.

Or, at least, so you thought. But the real reason was because he was blushing. Because Nick found you really beautiful, and he didn't know how to handle it.

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first chapter, yay! it's a bit awkward i knoooow but i just wanted to get it out there. i hope you enjoy!! leave a vote or comment if you'd like to see more :)