Looks Can Be Deceiving

A loud booming noise rang throughout my house, making me jump. My TV was still on and August’s letter was lying on the floor. The noise came from the other side of my front door. I glanced at the clock on the wall and it was ten. Who could be at my house this late? I got up and slowly walked into the front hallway, trying to recognize a face through the lace curtain. It was Austin. I put my hand over my chest and sighed, relieved it was just him. I opened the door to see him standing in the dim light, smiling down at me. He held a bouquet of flowers close to his chest and handed them to me after giving me a kiss.
“Thank you Austin… what are these for?”
“Well, I just felt really bad for not talking to you all week. I know I was working but I should have set time aside for you. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I smiled. “Come in?” He nodded, stepping past me. I walked into the kitchen and pulled out a vase from underneath the sink. I filled it with cool water and set the flowers in it so they’d stay alive. I came back into the living room to see Austin sitting on my couch, looking around the room at all my pictures. I sat next to him, pulling the blanket I was sleeping on before, up to my hip.
“Was that when you were little?” he asked, pointing to a picture that was hung above my TV.
“No,” I giggled. “That’s my little sister Charlotte.” He smiled down at me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. His fingertips ran across my arm as he examined the rest of my pictures.
“She’s beautiful like you.” I blushed and looked down.
“Thank you, Austin.”
“I like your family portrait…” he said quietly. I looked it over, not saying anything about that one.
“Your sister looks exactly like you… I’m sorry you lost her.” I sighed and laid my head on his chest. His eyes lingered over my father. “Your mom looks sad…”
“She was…”
“Are things better now?” he gently asked, bringing up his hand off my arm to brush my hair back.
“I like to think so.”
“You don’t talk to her?” he frowned.
“She lives a distance away,” I closed my eyes, not wanting to bring up my mother’s death. “She’s just hard to get ahold of, ya know?”
“I want to meet her one day,” he smiled.
“One day… I take it you’d rather not meet my dad?”
“Not really. Does that offend you?”
“No. I don’t blame you.” Things were quiet for a second.
“Austin?”
“Yes?
“Can I ask you about your mom?”
“Go ahead. What do you want to know?”
“Well… how did she pass?”
“She had a heart condition. She didn’t know about it and one day her heart gave out on her.”
“What kind of heart condition. I know you told me before but I forgot.”
“Marfan Syndrome.” I nodded, suddenly worrying about Austin’s health.
“It’s not hereditary, right?”
“Eh,” he was hesitant. “It is.”
“Did you get checked for it?”
“Are you worrying about me?” he smirked.
“Austin, don’t stray from the question. Did you get tested?”
“I did.”
“And?” I raised an eyebrow. He stared at me for a second, skeptical. He slowly pulled at the top of his shirt, undoing a few buttons. He pulled the top open, revealing a large scar that dragged down his chest. The ink from his tattoo was faded from when he must’ve had surgery.
“And now half of my heart is fake,” he said softly. I sat up a bit, gently running my finger down the scar.
“You’re okay now right?” He smiled.
“I’m more than okay. I just have to take care of myself.”
“How come I hadn’t noticed this at the hotel?” he shrugged.
“It was dark.”
“Well why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I had enough things to worry about with you, Pandora,” he laughed. “I was so busy chasing you that I barely had time to remember this ugly thing.”
“I don’t think it’s ugly,” I stared at it for a second before looking to him. “It’s a part of you and it’s beautiful.” I leaned up to kiss him. He moved his hand to my jaw, pulling me in closer to him. He pulled away as I laid my head back down. “Thank you again for the flowers.”
“You’re very welcome. I promise from now on that I won’t go more than three days without seeing you or calling. Even when I’m on tour.”
“Tour?” I forgot about that part of his job. “How long do you guys usually tour for.”
“It depends I guess. Sometimes it’s just a few weeks for promotional stuff. Other times when we release an album we tour for eight or nine months.” I glanced up to him.
“That’s almost a year… I can’t see you for that long?”
“Don’t worry about it, baby,” he smiled. “I’ll fly you out on our days off and we can spend them together.” I sighed and laid my head back down. “Come on, don’t be sad…” he said quietly.
“What if we can’t make this work?”
“First you were running away from me, and now you’re worried you won’t see me enough?” he chuckled.
“It’s not funny… It’s gonna be so hard not to see you…”
“Relax, Pandora. We’ll make it work, okay?”
“But what if we can’t.”
“We will, so stop worrying.” I was quiet. “Trust me.”

Notes