One Moment

Today is the day we are headed to see my family. Austin came to my acoustic concert since his was earlier and ended in time so he was able to get here and greet me when I came off stage. "You did great, babe," he smiled, kissing the top of my head when I was near his embrace.

"Mm, thank you," my voice was a mumble as he gives me a quick hug. My face felt too strained to smile, so I simply didn't even try.

Austin noticed, but thankfully didn't say anything about it. Instead, he just put his arm around my shoulder, holding me close to his side as we walked away from my band. The only one we waved goodbye to was Sammy. "We've just got to grab our stuff from the bus and say bye to the guys, then we can head out," Austin says and I nod, my hand resting on the far side of his back. He knows I'm nervous about seeing my family again. "Are you hungry?"

I look up to meet Austin's eyes which are glancing down at me. Again I nod, making him smile a bit. "We'll stop and get something on the way there, okay?"

"M'kay," I say, leaning on him a bit more as we finish our walk to the bus.

Alan and Phil are already outside, sitting in lawn chairs and sipping beers. They wave when we come up, jumping out of their seats. "Hazel!" Alan comes over, skidding to a stop right in front of me. "I have a question."

"What's up?"

"On a scale from not to hot, how attractive is your sister?"

"What?" I say with amusement, but also a little shock.

"What?" Alan repeats, laughing. "Phil and I were discussing it and are very curious. We thought that she had to be hot, right? Because I mean you guys do share the same genes so if she looks like you then-" Alan stopped himself mid sentence, catching Austin's glare, making us all laugh. "But she also could be like the one that got all the really bad genes and.. well... not hot."

"She's too young for you anyway, Ashby," I say, rolling my eyes.

Alan huffed, "fine. I'm bound to meet her sometime anyway."

I wondered if Alan ever would meet her, or when he thinks he will. I guess if everything goes well tonight, Syd will be much more involved in my life and the pregnancy, which means she'll be around more. And Alan is always around, so he does have a point... He better stay away from my sister.

"Well," Alan stood back up straight, starting to change the subject. "Have a good time, okay, Haze? Or at least try to. Make the best of it, right?" He smiled sheepishly and I nodded, Austin releasing me so I could go hug Alan.

"Thanks, Alan."

"Oh, and then when you get back we can finish our Tim Burton marathon because we still have more to go!" Alan said when we pulled away, making me chuckle lightly.

"Sure thing," I ruffled his ginger hair lightly, causing him to stick his tongue out at me.

I relinked with Austin after Phil and I did our handshake we made up a couple nights ago, then started to head inside the bus. I think Tino and Aaron are in the back room so we grabbed our bags that were already packed up before going to see them. I also grabbed my favorite fuzzy blanket.

"Hey guys, we're about to head out," Austin said as we poked our heads in, making sure they were decent.

"Ahh!" Tino yelled as he came quickly over, giving us both big bear hugs. "Good luck. And Austin, this is the big moment... Meeting her parents... Don't use your pick-up line."

Austin laughed, nodding as he patted his back.

"Have a good time, guys," Aaron came over. He gave me a quick hug and patted my head playfully. He's like the only mature one sometimes... Most of the time.

"Make sure Alan doesn't eat my Cheese-itz," I remembered. "Tino, you respect the Cheese-Itz.. Guard them with your life."

"Yes, sir," he saluted teasingly, making me shake my head in amusement.

We said one final goodbye to them before heading back out of the bus. Not before Austin grabbed a monster from the fridge, of course.

Austin's tour manager was letting us use his car because he's basically the nicest guy ever, so it was parked next to the bus. I took Austin's bag from him to go put inside there with mine while I waited for him since he was having a conversation with Alan.

I opened the side door and threw our bags in, keeping my blanket in my hand, before quickly re-shutting the door. I leaned against the car after, watching Austin as I waited for him. Him and Alan shared a pretty manly hug, but at the same time I could see the underlying emotion in it. Their relationship as best friends was really heart warming.

"Ready to go?" Austin said with a dorky smile as he made his way over to me.

"Mhm," I nodded, walking around to the passenger side. Austin has been hogging the keys all day because he says 'he must drive his lady'. He's such a dork.

We both climbed in at the same time and while Austin got the car started, I cuddled up in my blanket, curling into the seat. I made sure I was facing Austin so I could look at him because well, I like to look at him.

He has on one of his black, deep v-neck shirts and his normal black skinny jeans. It allows me to see some of his colorful chest tattoos peak out. He also spiked up his hair a bit at the front, and I can smell the nice cologne he put on. He definitely was trying to look his best for my family, which is really cute, but honestly he doesn't need to do anything but be himself to impress them. It sounds cheesy, but Austin is just one of those guys that can win anyone's love.

I watch as he looks at me out of the corner of his eye, laughing at me when he sees me. "You're adorable," he chuckles as he starts to pull away from the bus. We both wave at the guys one last time before driving off. "You should try to take a nap, Haze," Austin says, peeking at me every now and then, but never really taking his eyes off the road. "You didn't get much sleep last night."

He's right about that. My anxiety was really picking on me last night and I probably only got a few hours of sleep, tops... Maybe.

I used to not even think about home, all the bad memories coming into my brain like tentacles and even bringing up different bad memories when I did think about it. But now I'm actually going home. I'm going to see my Mom again and God knows how that will go. I'm going to see my Dad and then just feel crushed because he's not getting better. And then I'm going to see my sister... Oh boy.

I haven't seen her since after what happened with Mark.

Fuck. I hate thinking Mark's name. It makes me hurt on the inside, remembering what happened. This isn't even about him. Jesus, I'm just so out of control of my head and thoughts right now.

Noticing my shift into a different world, Austin spoke up. "What's going on in your head right now, Haze?" This is something Austin has asked a lot since my freak out the other day. He's trying to help me talk more so that doesn't happen again.

"Tentacles," I state, looking down to Austin's arm that had ocean themed tattoos on it.

"Tentacles?"

"Yeah, like the ones in my head that have all my problems and bad memories on them and then suction onto my brain," I signal to my head.

"Do the tentacles hurt, baby?"

I opened my mouth, about to say no, but then actually thinking about it. Every bad memory and recent problem do hurt. They hurt a lot. But then sometimes the tentacles are peeled away by good memories or good things like Austin or distractions. "Sometimes."

"When don't they hurt?"

"When I'm with you," I say the first one, watching as my words flew through Austin, making him turn to look at me. His eyes burned with love. "And also with music, but I'm with you more."

Austin leaned back in his seat again, taking one hand off the wheel to reach down and intertwine with mine. I could tell by the amount of times he kept looking to me, away from the road, that he wished he wasn't driving so he could look me in the eyes better.

"But the tentacles are gona be real bad when I get home," I said quieter, scared.

Austin brushed his thumb over my knuckles, the only soothing action he could do while driving. I also wish he wasn't driving because then I'd be in his embrace. I like it there. "I'll be here the whole time, you know that. I'll help you battle the tentacles."

"What if they win?"

"They won't."

"They won before," I remembered all the time I wasted curled up in Austin's bunk, unresponsive. And even the times when I was with You Know Who. A lot of times, actually.

"They won't win again. I won't let them," Austin spoke so fast, so surely, that it was hard not to believe what he said. I wanted to believe, too, so I let myself. And I felt my heart thump harder.

"Okay," I squeezed Austin's hand harder and looked up to meet his warm, brown eyes. I've decided that I like brown eyes the best now. They're warm and inviting, not cold and intimidating like other colors. Or maybe I just like them so much because they're on Austin?

"We're good fighters, anyway," I say, Austin's mouth perking up into a small smile.

"Yeah, we are. The best."

I sigh a content sigh and snuggle into my blanket, holding Austin's hand close to me. His thumb is still brushing over my skin and I love the simple gesture. "I'm tired," I say right as a yawn hits me.

Austin chuckles, "then take a nap, baby. We've got like an hour and a half left to drive."

"But I'm hungry," I pout and this makes Austin really laugh, even getting his little snort to sneak out.

"Alright," he laughs. "We'll get some fast food and then you can nap. What sounds good?"

*
Austin and I decided on McDonald's since there was one only a couple miles away from where we were driving. It took us a minute or two to find it because the GPS was yelling at us to get back on course, so we had to turn that off for a moment.

But then we found it and went right into the drive threw.

"Thank you, baby," I cooed as I grabbed the bag of food from Austin's hand that was out stretched across the car.

He laughed, "you know, you're a lot nicer to me when I give you food."

"Shh," I teased, sitting up in my seat and pushing the blanket so it was just on my lap.

As I opened up the bag of food and starting going through it, Austin pulled back out onto the road. "It's so difficult to drive and eat," he whined, trying to find his food.

"You're such a big baby," I teased. "Do you want me to feed you?" I used a 'mom' voice, being sarcastic.

"Yes."

Continuing on with the joke, I grabbed a chicken nugget and reached over to bring it up to his mouth. He opened his mouth and took it in with one bite, but then made sure to bite my finger as he did. "Hey!" I snatched my hand back as he laughed to himself. "You're a dog, not a baby. No biting."

"Darn," he smiles at me and I roll my eyes, eating some of the chicken nuggets.

It doesn't take long for Austin and I to finish all our greasy food, even while he drives he manages to suck down all his food in record time. It took me a little longer because I started to get full fast, but still ate it all so Austin wouldn't worry about me not eating enough.

And then with a full tummy and fuzzy blanket, I finally drifted off into sleep for a much needed nap.

Notes

Okay, stop right there. I've been very sad lately and really just wanted to right a fluffy chapter where they said 'baby' a lot and all that supportive-tell-me-your-problems crap. Enjoy the fluffiness that my sadness gives off. Also, if you don't enjoy it, I'm sorry. I'm also very self-conscious about my writing when I'm sad. blah.

BUT ALSO I read a really really really good book today called It's Kind of A Funny Story. It's also a movie but I haven't seen the movie and don't want to because they made the movie more about romance than the book actually was about. And I love the book too much. It's also where the reference Tentacles is from!!
Have any of you guys read this book???

love you guys! Let me know what you think!