Loving Him ✔️(#2 Loving Series)

Chapter 9

Tyra's POV

"You know dropping a message to just let your friends know you are alive is common decency" I shout out to the silhouette sitting at the edge of the cliff as I make way there. The dark cloud in the sky and a soft wind made the air feel chilly.

All I get is half a turn of head and Austen is back to staring into the darkness ahead. I mentally scoff at his indifference.

"Pot calling kettle black" Austen scoffs back which makes me realize that I may have scoffed out loud.

"Excuse me?" I exclaim in surprise.

"Friday night? Drinking? Ring any bells?" Austen stresses out on each word as if speaking to a toddler, while I simply roll my eyes at him.

"That was different, this is..."

"About my fight with my father which isn't very rare, I am sure Violet has told you about it" Austen cuts me to justify his indifferent approach.

"Despite what Violet has told me, based on what I have known you so far," which gets an raised eyebrow from him,"I think there is more to it than what you have let everyone know." I put all my cards to the table, all the thoughts that had been bombarding my brain on the drive here.

"H... It..." and for the second time since we have become friends, I had left Austen speechless. Although this time it was different, the turmoil was evident on his face. I instinctively reach for his hand to comfort him, the tingles are back but I don't let his hand go away.

"It's alright. I am not asking for anything except for a message to your friends to let them know you are alright, cause no matter how common it is," I say paraphrasing his previous comment, "they worry equally each time." I said to him,

He doesn't reply back except for a slight nod and removes his phone from his pocket with his other hand, "I don't want to insult your intelligence by denying this, but all I can say that it's complicated," he explains while typing something on the screen, "Hell even Tristan doesn't know about it" he says and I nod understandingly - I couldn't discuss it with anyone.

A small ding on the phone let me know I have a message. A smile makes a way on my face as I see it's a message by Austen in our group chat. I raise my phone to show how silly it was to receive a message from someone who was sitting right across from you, but I find him already looking at my face. The darkness of the night makes it difficult to know his exact facial expressions but a sprinkle of warmth surges through me. I am even more grateful for the darkness around as the warmth spreads to my cheeks and I am sure they must look like tomatoes.

"You know m-we were really worried Friday night" Austen speaks with a new kind of softness in his eyes.

"It's complicated" I copy his words from before and he gives me an unimpressed smile. I see him open his lips to speak something, but a drop of water plops on nose, making me blink and look up.

Is he crying? My subconscious wonders while I mentally facepalm myself. How is she so stupid. It had started to rain.

"Oh shit" I hear Austen curse and shuffle to get up. I am sure he would want to find cover, but we were out in the open, there was no use rushing, especially when the rain felt so wonderful.

The cold pelts of the rain felt soothing on my skin as I closed my eyes and raised my head up towards the sky to feel the full force of the water attack. I could feel the water soaking right through my clothes but still I couldn't bring myself to get up, I simply loved the rain.

"Tyra! Come here!" I hear Austen's voice from a distance but the heavy pour makes it difficult to make anything out.

"No!" I easily scream back with an excited laugh.

"I take my statement back, you are not a genius but certified crazy" Austen says in a huff appearing out of nowhere. Hearing his voice so close, startles me but before I could lose my balance, Austen's arms steadied me. I can hear my heartbeat blaring in my ears. To avoid doing anything I might regret later or something stupid, I blurt out the first thing that pops in my mind, "Do you wanna dance?"

This is your idea of intelligence? My subconscious face palms and so do I.

"Eh?" Austen asks in genuine confusion and I simply shrug my shoulders, not having an answer myself. Surprisingly Austen lets out a small laugh and nods in acceptance and starts swaying with me. Too stunned to react, I followed his lead.

Although I should be freezing cold by this point, I am wrapped in a warmth I can't explain. Austen's eyes don't flicker even a second from me and the bubbling butterflies in my stomach multiply tenfold. My eyes too don't leave his face for a second, as I take in each and every plain of his face, committing it to memory, for I don't know when I would get to be so close to him again.

I don't know how long we were dancing or how we managed to get so close, but soon our noses were almost touching and I could see each of the flakes in his eye. Unable to take the intensity anymore, my eyes close involuntarily and I hear Asten let out a sigh as his head comes to rest on my forehead.

*buzz* *buzz*

A distinct vibration and song breaks whatever spell we were wrapped in as we step back from each other. We were saved from any awkward conversation as the buzzing and ringing continued.

"It's your phone" Austen breaks the silence and I go to check my pockets wondering why the noise sounds so far.

"I took both our phones and put them in the locker on my bike" Austen clarifies further. I simply nod at him and make my way towards his bike. I realize the rain has slowed down quite a bit.

"Here" Austen hands me my phone and I see it's Violet who was calling me.

"Hey..." I start but Violet doesn't let me get any more words out.

"Why on earth are you not responding to any messages?" Violet literally screams into the phone making me flinch while Austen almost coughs out a laugh at my predicament, which I respond by sticking my tongue out at him. I see a genuine smile make a way to his face but Violet's rant pulls me back.

"Where are you and why didn't you reply back..." Violet has continued without a break it seemed.

"I will reply if you allow me speak" I say to stop her rant.

"Oops, sorry, it has been an intense night" Violet apologizes.

"It's okay. And to answer your question, yes I read the message but couldn't reply as my battery had died and I needed to charge it" I say and notice a smirk on Austen's face at my blatant lie.

"Alright, it's late anyways. Good night. See you at school tomorrow." Violet wishes goodbye.

"Tomorrow?" I wonder after she has disconnected the call.

"It's Sunday already" Austen says showing the clock on his phone depicting it's 4 am already. My eyes almost pop out of my sockets.

"Come on, I'll drop you" Austen manages to shake me out of my shock.

"I have my car with me.."

"I'll drop it back at your palace tomorrow. Promise." Austen insists with a pointed look, urging to get on his bike already.

A bike ride with Austen? This was going to be the night I never forget.