Easy to Fall in Love

Austin, Hunter, and I all waited for Justin to say something. To me it felt like minutes, but I'm sure it was only seconds. His face was so guarded. He had some sort of wall up, I could tell. He was never like this. He was always so nice and happy after shows. Now he seemed a world away, and maybe a little sullen.

"Hey." He said finally. He sorta smiled. He then turned and walked away, somewhere offstage.

"Don't worry about him. He has some stuff on his mind."

"Oh that's okay," I assured him. Secretly, I was upset. Even if it had nothing to do with me, I took it personally.

"Nothing a night out on the town couldn't fix," Hunter offered. I whipped my head towards him, sending a death glare his way.

"That's not a bad idea. But it may take some convincing."

"We got time." Hunter smiled and put his arm around me. It took all the self-control I had to not elbow him in the ribs.

"Hunter, I think I left something in the truck," I said through clenched teeth.

"Okay." Hunter handed me the keys.

"I need your help looking for it," I gave him a look.

"Um, right," Hunter looked at Austin and shrugged. Austin laughed.

"I'm gonna go get Justin. See you guys in a minute."

I fake-smiled and then grabbed Hunters arm, dragging him outside.

"What is wrong with you?!" I smacked him in the arm.

"What? You like him!"

"Exactly! Why would I want to hang out with him?"

"Okay pause and start over. That makes so sense."

"The last thing I need is Justin Richards to see me embarrass myself."

"Then don't embarrass yourself," Hunter said simply and walked inside again. I followed closely behind ranting.

"Okay, way easier said than done! You've only know me for a few days so it's safe to say you haven't seen the worst. My track record isn't exactly spotless. And that's just cute boys. Not cute band boys!"

"Donia." Hunter stopped in his tracks. He turned around and put his hands on my shoulders. "Calm down."

I heard voices coming from the stage so I looked up, but no one was there. Then I realized it must have been coming from the back.

"Austin, I don't know."

"Come on Justin, it'll be fun. You haven't been out in a while."

"There's a reason for that."

"Yeah well it's not good enough anymore."

"Let's not start again, okay? I'm over it."

"No you're not - but hey, if you wanna mope, fine. I'm going out. Come, don't come, but just know you're not going to getting any better dwelling on the negative." His footsteps came closer and he walked offstage. He saw us and smiled.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized Justin wasn't coming. In theory, hanging out with Justin was my dream. But I really just couldn't trust myself to be normal.

"Hey guys. Find that thing you were looking for?" Austin asked seriously but his eyes were laughing.

"Oh yeah."

"So where we headed?"

"A bar. I can definitely use a drink. Or two." Justin walked towards us, slipping on his jean jacket simultaneously.

"Alright! Now it's a party." Austin clapped Justin and the back and almost fell over. I think he'd had more than two.

"Careful man." Justin steadied Austin. He looked at me and smiled, like it was some secret joke between the two of us. I blushed and looked at Hunter trying to engage myself in a different interaction. Hunter patted my back sympathetically.

Hunter unlocked the doors to the truck when we got outside the venue.

"Don, you should sit in the back. You're a girl, you have the shortest legs." Hunter pointed this out, and he was right. The cab of his truck was ridiculously small and cramped. However, I knew he was planning something. "Austin why don't you sit in the passenger seat. Wouldn't want you to get carsick. I hope you don't mind the back, Justin." Hunter acted like he was a concerned friend. Right now I thought he was Satan.

Justin and I both slid into the back, our hips squished together. We had to move in awkward Twister positions to buckle our seat belts. I set my hand down, accidentally on top of his. I pulled it away, like he was on fire. I muttered sorry and turned my attention to the front where Hunter and Austin were having an animated conversation.

"So where we going?" I asked trying to jump into the conversation and eliminate the awkward tension between Justin and I.

"What about Elliot's? I went to high school with the owner, he's a real cool dude."

"Sure. Sounds like fun." Austin pulled a pack of cigarettes. "Mind if I smoke?"

"Nah, just roll down the windows."

"Cool. Now we can all die," I said sarcastically. Justin laughed and I felt myself smile.

"Can we stop at a gas station? I need more smokes. And to take a leak," Austin piped up. Hunter quickly pulled into a gas station and the two of them got out. That left Justin and me. Alone.

"So..." he started.

"So?"

"Did you enjoy the show?"

"It was awesome."

"Good, I'm glad."

More awkward silence. Maybe this was worse than embarrassing myself. I dug through my purse for something to play with. My hand ran over a lump covered with paper. I pulled it out and realized it was the tiny envelope I wasn't allowed to open yet.

"What's that?"

"I don't know, actually. My aunt gave it to me and she said open it when the time's right, but that's all..." I trailed off. "Sorry, you don't care about that."

"No, no! Sounds interesting, go on."

"Well my aunt is this mysterious painter lady. She sent me on a 'trip of discovery' and she gave me this to open, but said not until I'm ready, or whatever."

"That's cool. She sounds like fun."

"Yeah..."

"We're back!" Austin announced, a little too loud. Still I was happy, because I had no idea how to continue the conversation.

***

The first place I went was straight into the bathroom. I checked my hair and makeup. Satisfied with my reflection, I left. I looked around the room, but the guys had disappeared. I found a seat at the bar and sat down. I unlocked my phone and checked my messages. There was one from Lila: it was a picture of Arizona.

"Aww," I said under my breath. I saved the picture, then checked my email.

"Miss?"

I looked up from my phone, at the bartender. He handed me a glass of wine and pointed at a guy a few stools down.

"From that guy, over there."

"Oh. Um, thanks." I accepted the drink from the bartender, I turned towards the guy and smiled. I sipped my wine and waited. I had no idea where the guys were, probably up to no good. I was considering ditching and heading back to the motel when someone tapped my shoulder. It was the wine guy.

"Hi." He sat down next to me.

"Hi. Thanks for this." I raised my glass.

"No problem." He smiled and winked. How lame. I just nodded along. I turned away and looked around the room, anywhere but at wine guy.

He was cute I guess. He had dirty blond hair, spiked into a faux-hawk and green eyes. By most people's standards he was hot, he just didn't do it for me.

"I'm Jake." He grinned cockily and sipped his scotch.

"Donia."

"How about a dance Donia?" As if on cue a country ballad started.

"No thanks."

"Come on. You know you want to," he leaned forward, inches from my face. I recoiled, smelling the strong alcohol on his breath.

"I really can't."

"Why not?" He grinned lecherously and put his hand on my thigh. I batted it away.

"Cut it out!"

"I think she wants you to leave her alone, man." Justin stepped forward, out of nowhere. Jake barely glanced at him, then turned back to me.

"Have a boyfriend or something?" he asked in a mocking tone.

"Matter-of-fact, she does." Justin stepped forward. He put his arm around me possessively.

"Why don't you let her speak for herself?" Jake asked annoyed. He looked back at me.

"I-" I began.

"Come on, let's dance." Justin grabbed my hand, pulling me up. Jake glared at Justin for a few seconds, then stood up almost knocking over his stool.

"Whatever," he muttered.

Justin pulled me onto the dance floor and put his arms around me. We began to sway.

"Is he still looking?"

"Yeah. No. Now he's moved on to someone else," I replied. The song ended so we pulled apart. "Thanks for the save."

"No problem." The song changed to one a little bit faster. "I love this song." he held out his hand. "Would you like to dance?"

I stared at his outstretched hand, then thought "what the hell" and took it. We danced with our hands together, pulling apart and pushing together. It was probably the only dancing I could do. He twirled me and I laughed. I tried not to step on his toes.

"I'm a terrible dancer," I stated.

"Nah, you just need to loosen up a bit." He twirled me again. "Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks. Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such," he sang along. He used a fake country twang and I started cracking up. I felt the tension in my body ease up a bit. "See! I told you you needed to relax."

"You're right." The steps came out smoother and I stopped running into him. I was having a great time just being around him

"So how long have you been dating Hunter?"

It took me a second to understand his question. When I got it, I lost it laughing. I literally couldn't breathe. I put my forehead on his shoulder for a second because I was laughing so hard.

"What? What's so funny?"

"You think," I paused, trying to catch my breath, "I'm dating Hunter?"

"Well aren't you?"

I started laughing all over again.

"Stop laughing at me!" he said while trying not to laugh.

I caught my breath and calmed down.

"I'm not exactly Hunter's type." I gave him a look, waiting for him to catch on.

"Oh... OH." He looked thoughtful. "So you're just good friends then?"

"Well, I guess. I've only known him for three days."

"You seem close."

"We bonded fast."

He just nodded his head and we didn't talk for a bit. We just moved around the dance floor in sweet silence.

"Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys," he started singing again. I laughed at him and smiled. "'Cos they'll never stay home and they're always alone. Even with someone they love." He surprised me by dipping me. When I came back up the song had ended. "That was fun."

"Yeah, fun." I brought my hand up to my face, feeling how warm it was.

"You look a bit flushed, are you feeling alright?" asked Justin. Embarrassed, I fanned my face.

"Yeah, it's just hot in here."

"Quite a display!" Austin clapped, sauntering over.

"I didn't know you could dance?" Hunter asked jokingly.

"I can't! Without Justin I would have looked completely lame versus only slightly lame."

"You did good, I promise," reassured Justin.

"Yeah, okay." I swatted away his compliment.

Some lame song came on and the guys decided to dance like idiots to it. I sat back at the bar and watched. Within the first couple seconds tears were coming out of my eyes. Their dance moves were horrendous. I know it was on purpose, but I couldn't believe it. It's amazing how funny drunk idiots can be. Every once and a while I gave them a thumbs up so they'd keep the ridiculous act up. As the night wore on and song after song they danced like fools, I found my mind wandering. I couldn't help it, but all I could think of was the feeling of Justin's hands around mine. It felt so right. I couldn't help thinking how sweet he was to pretend to be my boyfriend, then teach me to dance. I couldn't get him off my mind. This night was so much more than I bargained for. Justin Richards was still alive, but I felt haunted.