Chance Encounters

eighteen

It's 3 am and i really do need to be asleep rn so this is entirely unedited. do feel free to point out any mistakes! thank you. xoxo

Chapter 18

I stared at Austin, completely stunned to the point that I couldn't even make sense of what I'd just heard. My mind kept trying to rationalize my thoughts; to realign that one word to everything I knew about Austin so far. Even as the others clapped and hooted, it felt to me as though the sounds of their cheering were muted as my eyes tried to search Austin's.

He was thoroughly avoiding my gaze, making it harder for me to understand what had just happened. True. Even simply remembering the word was enough to make my face burst into flames.  

I couldn't react, frozen between thinking he was joking around or that I heard him wrong.

It felt as though minutes have passed since he had spoken, but it was merely seconds later when he said, "But only objectively." I could see a faint blush on his cheeks. "I never said I liked her, or anything. Just that, uh, she is my"—he cleared his throat, reaching up to rub the back of his neck—"type. Or she could have been, if we met differently. Or whatever."

Austin was stuttering, stumbling over his words like he wasn't sure how to string them together. I ddn't think my cheeks could get any hotter, but they did, and for a moment there was silence hanging in the air.

It was Peter who broke it. "Boo, you whore."

I blinked, not rattled enough to question Peter making a Mean Girls reference. "Did you just—"

"I have four sisters," Peter replied in a way that let me know it wasn't the first time people asked him about this.

The moment of distraction must have broken some sort of spell, because the game was already moving on, everyone else already forgetting the whole thing.

Not me, though. I could sense a growing curiosity building up inside me, wondering what he meant by that, and the whole thing was confusing me. I didn't know what to think or how I should feel about this new knowledge, but the bottle was already spinning again, giving me a chance to pretend I was the least bit bothered.

Before the bottle could stop, however, Austin stood up. "I think it's time for us to go."

I looked up at him, slightly startled. He wasn't looking at me, but he was already starting to step over the log to get out of the circle. I shot to my feet too. "Yeah. We, um, still have to..."

"Find the Idiots," Austin supplied when I trailed off uncertainly.

"Right." I cleared my throat, looking down to let my hair fall as a curtain to hide my flushed cheeks. I looked at Will. "Thank you for letting us stay."

"It was our pleasure," Will replied, standing up as well.

Austin was already a few steps away, partly hidden in the shadows, but he stopped walking as if to wait for me. Before I could leave, Will walked up to me to give me a hug. I stood motionless for a second, slightly alarmed by the sudden proximity, before I forced myself to hug him back.

When he pulled away, he said, "Hey, uhh." He shoved his hands deep in his pocket. "If you ever want to, I dunno, go camping or whatever"—he handed me a strip of paper—"you know who to call."

I could see, however, that his gaze lingered over my shoulder, to where Austin was standing, and I could sense what he was trying to imply, whether it was consciously or not, and for a second, I felt as though I had to deny it, so I said, "Yeah, sure. That sounds fun."