"Avery!" Austin cried as soon as I answered his phone call. "Where are you at?"
"I'm on my bus, ignoramus. Why?" I replied.
"I need your help. Come to my bus stat." He said, hanging up the phone and leaving me with no choice but to go.
I walked over to Of Mice & Men's bus and pushed the door open.
"Hey, Avery." Alan called.
"Where's Austin?" I asked. "You guys need to clean up."
"He's in the back room." Phil said. "Austin's the neat freak around here."
I continued on to the back and knocked.
"Jesus, please come in!" Austin called.
I did. What I wasn't prepared for was for him to be standing in his underwear, looking at me skeptically.
"Where on earth are your clothes, darling?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"I don't know what to wear!" He moaned. "I need your help."
"Where are you going?" I asked, eyeing his wardrobe.
"Out with a couple of the guys. You wanna come?" He asked.
"Sure. Why didn't you wear this, dummy?" I asked, looking at the clothes on his bed.
"Oh. I-"
"You just wanted me to come over here and see you nearly naked, didn't you?" I teased. Austin blushed and I realized the truth behind my statement. "Oh my god! You invited me over here when you were in your underwear on purpose, didn't you?"
He shrugged. "Think what you want."
"You perv." I shook my head. "Does Austin Carlile have a crush on me?"
"No way." He scoffed, pulling his shirt over his head. "In your dreams, French girl."
"If only you knew." I laughed at the look on his face. "You take longer to get ready than I do. Jesus."
"You were already dressed when you got here. That's not fair." Austin argued. "Look, I'm ready."
"Not bad. You clean up well, Carlile. I'll give you that." I bit my lip. "Well? Let's get this show on the road."
"We have to take a picture. We look great." Austin said, walking out into the main part of the bus. "Alan, take our picture."
He put his arm around my waist an I turned to the side, putting my hands on his chest.
"You make me feel short." I sighed, staring up at him.
"You are short." He laughed. "Come on, let's find Alex and Jaime."
**
"Both of them cancelled. What a coincidence." I raised my eyebrows, across from Austin in a sushi restaurant.
"Right?" Austin asked. "We're getting champagne."
"And what are we celebrating?"
"Our friendship." He grinned.
"Sure, sure. I like us being friends, you know." I smiled.
"Do you really now?" He asked, feigning shock.
"I'm not always a stone cold bitch." I shrugged.
"You're pretty great." He smiled.
"Why, thank you." I laughed. "Let's split California Rolls, kay?"
"Sure." Austin agreed. "What's your family like?"
"Lovely. Absolutely lovely. My mére- Oh, that means 'mom' in french-" I explained, blushing. "Love her to death. She's a psychiatrist. My papa is a brain surgeon. They're both very intelligent people. I was always more creative than bookish and they were very supportive of me getting into photography and modeling. My oldest brother, Leonardo, is a painter. One of his paintings even went on display in the Louvre." I said proudly. "And then my other brother, John, is going to medical school. He wants to be a pediatrician. My sister Chloe is seventeen and I miss them all so much."
"You don't see them often?" He asked.
"Never get the time. John goes to school in Berlin and Leonardo moved to a château in Lyons to focus on his art so even then we're all spread out. When I was in Venice a few weeks ago everyone was home but that rarely happens." I sighed.
"We can share my dad." Austin said.
"Your dad likes me more than he likes you!" I laughed. "I'm an honourary member of the Carlile family."
"Most definitely. He asks about you all the time." He said.
"I'll have to come see him sometime!"
"That can be arranged." Austin smiled wryly.

Notes

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