Thank You

“I’ve got a good feeling about it,” Jessica informed Austin as they discussed her mom’s surgery over nachos and margaritas. “A really good feeling.”

“I do too,” Austin nodded, shoving a guacamole-covered chip into his mouth. “A really good feeling,” he mocked her and laughed when he felt her kick his leg under the table. “Just don’t think about it right now.”

“You know, this is probably the best margarita I’ve ever had.”

“Then you must not drink a lot of margaritas,” Austin chuckled, taking a sip of his to find it still lacking in the taste department.

“I don’t,” she giggled, feeling the tequila shoot straight to her head. “I usually stay away from tequila. It makes me do stupid things.”

“Oh really,” Austin leaned in across the table and wiggled his eyebrows, making her giggle more. “What kind of stupid things.”

“Get me alone and I’ll show you,” she leaned back and arched one of her eyebrows, challenging him to actually do it.

“Check please!” he joked, making her laugh more.

“Thank you for this,” she said, her face getting serious. “I really needed it.”

“I know you did,” he sat back and shrugged. “I’m a great husband.”

“Obviously,” she laughed again. Austin felt his phone vibrating in his pocket and reached for it, smacking his forehead when he saw her name flash across his caller id. He hit accept and placed the phone to his ear.

“Shit, Lena. I’m so sorry that I forgot to call you it’s just that a lot happened,” he let out in a rush, “and it would be really great if you didn’t hate me.”

“Why would I hate you?” he heard the harshness that accompanied her laugh. “Could it be because you never showed up with the girl that I was supposed to interview for a job that I really need to fill? Or could it be because you pulled off of tour a few days before you FINALLY got to meet my daughter? Could it be-“

“Okay, Lena. I get it. I am sorry. I should have called you and told you what was going on.”

“Damn right, you should have. Joel said something about you going to… Alabama was it?”

“Yes,” he sighed. He covered the phone with his hand and told Jessica that he would be right back. He stepped out of the restaurant and could instantly identify the smell in the air. It was the smell that gave a hint to the weather to come. It was going to rain soon. “Look Lenny,”

“Don’t call me that. Only my friends call me that.” Austin groaned and shook his head.

“You’re being a little ridiculous.”

“Am I?” she asked. “All that I wanted was to see my best friend, but no. No, I can’t do that because some girl, who by the way, is not getting this job, pulled some kind of voodoo on you and brought you to Alabama, of all places. You dropped off of tour, which-”

“Okay, Lena,” he interrupted. “Listen closely, because I am only going to say this once. She is going to get that job because she’s a damn good photographer and she deserves it. She didn’t pull some voodoo shit on me to get me here. Her mom was hospitalized and she couldn’t face it alone, so I came home with her. Her mom’s in surgery right now, not that that’s any of your business. And yes, I want to meet Carolina, but it’s going to happen one day, I promise you. And I’m missing like, 5 dates. So whatever this is that you are doing to try to get me to feel bad isn’t working. She needed me.”

“Well,” Lena was silent for a moment. “Seems like a lot to go through for someone you hardly know.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Austin groaned. “She’s my wife,” he finished after a long pause. He heard Lena choke on something and start coughing.

“What? I’m sorry, did I hear that right?”

“Yes, Lena. She’s my wife so I think I’m exactly where I need to be.”

“Are you kidding me? Have you gone mental?”

“I’m going to act like you didn’t just say that,” Austin practically yelled. He knew he looked like an asshole. His free hand had been flying around, moving every which way as he let his best friend have it. “I don’t think you have any room to fucking judge. Evaluate your life, princess.”

“Do NOT call me princess,” she seethed. He smirked, knowing that was the one thing she really hated. “And I rather like my life, thank you very much.”

“Do you? Do you really?” he questioned, shaking his head as if she could see. Maybe it was the alcohol coursing through his veins or maybe it was because he was so irate that he couldn’t bother to sensor himself, but he knew that whatever came out of his mouth would hurt her. “Because I am sure Justin would love to hear from you. Maybe he would love to know about his child, you know, the one that’s been on this planet for the past three years. Don’t you think he should goddamn know? I mean, you moved to Seattle to get away from a guy who would have done anything for you, a guy who gave up what probably would have been a great marriage to be with you. So don’t lecture me, goddamn it.”

He heard the line go dead with a click, signaling that she had hung up on him. Good. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and ran his hands over his face, hoping to erase any anger that he had. He didn’t want to take it out on Jess. As he approached the table, he saw that he had been gone long enough for Jessica to finish his margarita as well as drink another one of her own. He slapped two twenties on the table, grabbed her hand and helped her slide out of the booth. She teetered a bit, but she held onto his shoulders to get her balance.

“I think I’ve had one margarita too many,” she giggled, reaching for her bag.

“Me too,” Austin agreed. He wrapped his arm around her waist and led her to the door.

“It’s raining,” Jessica informed him as soon as they stepped out of the restaurant.

“Want me to go get the umbrella out of the car? I think your dad has one in the-”

He stopped when she stepped out of his embrace and into the rain, thrusting her hands towards the sky. She was unlike any other girl that he had ever dated, and he knew that was a good thing. He noticed that he had a smile on his face constantly when he was around her that seemed to hardly ever go away.

“What?” she asked, noticing that he was still standing under the awning. “Scared of a little rain?” She ran back to where he was standing and pulled his hand, tugging him out into the downpour.

“It’s cold,” he shouted, laughing at Jessica as she spun around.

“No! It feels good.” He watched her tilt her head up and look up at the sky, her mouth slightly open to catch some of the rain. He stepped towards her and grabbed her hand, tugging her body close to his. She blinked the rain out of her eyes and drunkenly smiled up at him, reaching her free hand to rest behind his neck, running her fingers through his hair.

“You know, I should really get you a ring.”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

He studied her face, his eyes moving all around it until they rested on her lips. He brushed her hair away from her face and looked back into her eyes. He saw something there, and it was then that he knew that Lena was wrong and this wasn’t a mistake. He may not have loved her then, at this moment, but he knew he would. He could see himself immersed in her for the rest of his life. He smiled at her and and kissed her forehead. He moved from there to kiss her cheek, and then the other. Lastly, he kissed the tip of her nose.

“Stop teasing me,” she breathed, parting her lips slightly when he inched towards her.

“We should get going,” he winked, chuckling lightly when she rolled her eyes. He stepped towards the car only to be pulled back by their hands that were still connected. She attached their lips and could feel him smile into the kiss as she brought herself closer to him. He backed her up slowly up against her dad’s car, pulling his hand away from hers only to rest it on the side of her neck, his thumb brushing over her cheek slowly. The rain kept beating down on their faces but that didn’t seem to matter, it only made everything that much better. Jess’s fingers delved into his hair, which always drove him crazy, but she knew that. He didn’t know how she remembered after 2 years, but she did. He pulled away when a car that drove by honked, remembering they were in the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant. They looked at each other, both out of breath, both with that same spark in their eyes. Jessica started to laugh uncontrollably, her hands wrapping around Austin’s torso as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. He started laughing as well, shaking his head at how she brought out the teenager in him. “Let’s get going, Clark.”

“It’s Gibbs,” she corrected, and just that action alone tugged on his heartstrings. She started to walk to other side of the car, but he refused to let her hand go at first. She looked back and smiled at him, which made him release her hand and watch her walk around the car. So this was what it was supposed to be like.

//\\//\\//\\

“Dad’s going to kill us when he sees how much water is in his car,” she laughed as she tugged his hand and practically dragged him up the stairs.

“It’s leather. We’ll just get a towel and dry it all out. He’ll never know.”

“He knows everything,” she laughed, turning around as they reached the top step.

“What do you want to do now?” Austin asked, “Your dad hasn’t called us yet and the date doesn’t have to end.”

She didn’t say anything; she simply leaned in and kissed his lips again. Unlike the parking lot kiss, this kiss was innocent. When she pulled away, he noticed the look in her eyes, like she was suddenly somewhere else. She slowly raised her arms over her head, waiting for Austin to understand. She watched the smile slowly creep onto his face as he grabbed the hem of her shirt, which was suctioned to her body, and lifted it over her head. He tossed it to the ground and ran his fingertips down her sides, smirking when she shivered. She reconnected their lips again, this time with more force. She grabbed onto his shirt and started pulling him backwards into her room, slipping her hands under the slick fabric and pulling it off of him. She discarded it onto the floor a few feet away from her own shirt. She kicked the door shut with her foot as soon as they made it through the doorframe. They were both shivering from the coldness that accompanied the wetness of the rain, but it didn’t matter. This was never the part they had a problem with and he knew that nagging in the back of his mind wasn’t going to go away. He slowly pulled away and looked at her. She was so beautiful and he had never really taken the time to study her, to really study her. She couldn’t hide the blush that crept across her face at the way he was looking at her. Nobody had ever looked at her that way, not really. But none of the other guys that she had ever been with were Austin. He could convey a whole emotion with just one glance.

“We don’t have to do this, you know,” he said, brushing her hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ear. “That’s not what this is about.”

“What what’s about?” the question barely came out above a whisper.

“What we’re about.” He took a deep breath before he continued. “I like you Jessica. I really like you.”

“I like you, too,” she nodded, not understanding what he was doing. “I mean, we’re married, right? Fake marriages at least have perks,” she laughed and kissed him again. She was confused when he didn’t kiss her back.

“You should go shower, warm yourself up,” he sighed, taking a step away from her.

“I thought you were going to warm me u-” she stopped when she saw the look in his eyes. She couldn’t tell if it was anger or hurt.

“I’ll go use the guest shower,” he breathed, picking up a shirt out of his open suitcase.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” he forced out, not even daring to look at her. The house phone started ringing but she ignored it, staring at Austin. It stopped and then started up again.

“What?” she answered. Austin finally looked at her and he knew it was news about her mom. He pulled his cell out of his pocket to see if he missed a call, but the phone was dead. Too much water, he supposed. He looked at her again, and he knew. No words were coming from her mouth. She just had a look of horror displayed on her face. The tears came next, and he was there to catch her when her knees buckled and the phone slipped out of her hand. It was over. The muffled sobs were blocked out by his own rage echoing through his ears. He knew that it was now his duty to pick up the pieces and put her back together, but knowing Jessica, this was easier said than done. The phone rang again and again, over and over but neither of them made a move to answer it. It was probably Peyton or Kennedy, but he didn’t want to think about that right now either.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” he whispered into her ear, his voice cracking. She was practically limp in his arms. He was instantly sober as he stood up and carried her into the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the tub while the water got warm as she sat in his lap, clinging onto him for dear life. He undressed her to get her out of her damp clothes and kept rubbing her arms to warm her up until the water was warm enough. It wasn’t the plans she had in mind earlier. Not this way.

She could barely stand up on her own, so he let her lean against him as he gently massaged the shampoo into her hair. It smelled like apples, which was how she always smelled. She had stopped crying at this point, which was probably a bad thing because now it looked like she was in shock mode. As soon as he was sure she had thawed, he wrapped a towel around the both of them and practically carried her into the room, where he redressed both of them and towel dried her hair.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Austin tried, laying her down in the bed and pulling the covers over her. Her eyes were bloodshot and empty as she finally looked at him. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. All she could do was reach for him, but even that pulled all of her energy. Her body didn’t feel like her own and it was if she were watching everything from the outside, completely detached.

“I’m going to go call Peyton,” Austin said, brushing her hair back, but she looked at him through wide eyes and shook her head. She mustered her remaining energy and pulled him down next to her. The tears started again, and Austin didn’t dare try to move again. He wished he could call Lena and scream at her and throw back everything she had said earlier in her face, but he couldn’t do that. He was where he needed to be, which was with his wife, in Alabama, away from the tour he dropped off of and the friends he left behind.

He was being a husband and right now. He had never more glad to be of use to someone in his whole life.