Chapter 44- Sad But True

I coughed and looked down, here goes everything. 'Okay, um..' I explained everything to him about Eli. Everything. About him losing his temper all the time, getting drunk and coming home causing problems, how much he loves me. I kept pausing at the painful memories, reliving them all over again. I told him about Eli and I getting jumped and how we got high and had sex. I strictly kept the focus about Eli, careful not to mention anybody else (Nick). I only paused when our food came and then finished up. 'Sooo, yeah... that's the story that you've probably been wondering about for quite some time. Like why I've never had a boyfriend or anything.'
He just looked at me in amazement. I started eating to distract myself from his stare or what he was about to say. But he never said anything, just picked up his fork and began to eat as well. After a minute or two he changed the subject to a lighter tone about random stuff. Like the different type of movies that came out or my upcoming competition next week. Besides me explaining myself to him, everything else on the date was perfect. By the time I was done eating I had tears in my eyes from laughter. He seemed to have a permanent smile on his face from being amused so much.
A moment of silence passed quickly before Austin spoke up again, 'We're not going to eat dessert here, I know a perfect place to get some funnel cakes.' I nodded and we both got up. Austin paid and left the waiter a tip while I went to the bathroom.
I looked at myself in the mirror, still smiling. My eyeliner had smeared a bit from laughing so hard but it wasn't that bad. I fixed myself up as best I could and left the restroom. Austin was waiting for me by the entrance, back in his normal clothes. How he did that so fast I will never know. He smiled and held the door open for me.
We got to the car and once again, him being a gentleman, opened the door for me. Once we were off I asked, 'So, where are we going now?'
He smiled, 'You'll see.'
I pretended to pout which just made him laugh. His laugh was beginning to do funny things to me, it gave me butterflies everytime. I stuck my tongue out at him and turned the music up. Asking Alexandria blasted through the speakers the rest of the way there.
After an hour of driving it was already 11:47 at night. We pulled into a parking lot at the edge of the next town over. I looked around, 'What are we doing here?'
He smiled and got out without saying a word. The parking lot was empty as far as I could tell. Austin went around to open my door for me and we began walking towards the building hand-in-hand. It was a simple brick building with a tall, concrete wall separating it from the parking lot. There was a gate attached to the wall and it just happened to be locked.
Apparently, that didn’t affect Austin one bit. He let go of my hand and was over it in less than two seconds. I, on the other hand, was wearing a dress. One that I really didn’t wanna rip and I had a feeling in would if I attempted to climb the gate.
‘It’s okay,’ he whispered through the other side. ‘You’ll be fine, I promise. Just hurry before the night guard gets here.’
I gave him a dumbfounded look but hiked up my dress and began climbing the gate like I was crossing the border. Only to get to the top, trip over part of the dress and come tumbling down. Thankfully, Austin caught me. I landed in his arms in a perfect bridal style. It took all I had not to burst into a fit of giggles at what just happened. He shushed me with a smile pasted on his face and put me down.
‘When we get to where we’re going, we’ll be able to talk. Stay low and stay quiet,’ he informed.
I nodded and then we were off. We walked towards the right side of the building and neared the corner of the building. He motioned me to get behind him while looking around the corner to make sure the coast was clear.
When it was he grabbed my hand and hauled a*s, dragging me with him. My bare feet slapped against the asphalt as we sprinted towards the back of the building. As we neared the end of the next corner he slowed down dramatically, causing me to bump into him.
He snickered quietly and looked around the next corner, this time I peeked with him. There was a case of stairs leading up the building and a door a few feet away from us. After he figured it was safe, I followed him to the stairs. When we reached the top there was another door. Austin turned the knob and it opened; funny I expected it to be locked.
The room that we walked into was pitch black. I grabbed onto Austin’s hand instinctively and he squeezed it in reassurance. After stumbling through in the dark for a minute I could see the silhouette of stairs that led to the roof. Before he opened the door he whispered, ‘Close your eyes.’
I did as I was told and heard a click as he opened it. Feeling a whisk of cold, fresh air, I shivered in enjoyment. I loved the cold. We walked a couple feet and he stopped me.
‘Okay.. Open your eyes.’
Slowly I opened my eyes and gasped at what I saw. It was one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen. The layout of the roof was marvelous, there were angel statues on each corner of the building. The most detailed I’ve ever seen, each had six wings and a spear in their hands. On the ground of the roof was a garden full of gorgeous flowers. Here and there were little fountains splashing water among the closest plants.
The best part was the view the building provided from the roof. On one side was the parking lot but beyond that and the small patch of woods was a wheat field. The wind pushed the stalks this way and that, making it seem like an ocean of glittering gold. The way the full moon shined down on it made it kind of mystical.
I spent the next five minutes looking out at the landscape on that one side. Then I finally looked at the other side, thinking that it couldn’t match up to the field. But it did. There was a maze made of hedges that spread out pretty far but right after that was a lake. The reflection of the moon played across the surface making me want to take a dive. I gasped again in awe making Austin chuckle in the background.
My smile must have looked funny as wide as it was. He walked over, took off his jacket, and put it around my shoulders. I hadn’t realized how cold I really was until the warmth of his jacket devoured me. Pulling it around me tighter, I leaned against Austin and looked out into the distance. ‘This place is amazing. How’d you find it?’
He wrapped his arms around me and I could feel him smile against my hair. ‘My friends and I were just driving around one day and came across it. We don’t come here very much anymore but I thought you might like it.’
‘I love it. I’m so happy you showed me.’
‘Yeah, I’ve been planning this for awhile now. Hoping you’d think it was the perfect date..’
‘It is actually. I don’t think I’d wanna be anywhere else right now.’ And no matter how cliché that sounded, it was actually true. I wasn’t looking forward to going home, even though Nick was there. Now that Eli and Nick had gotten into a fight again, nothing would be the same. They had just started to get used to each other to.. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried, Eli was always going to dislike him. And now Austin did as well. So who was it going to be? Nick or Austin?enhorr