Stay Right Where You Are.

*Alan's P.O.V*

Waking up feeling Austin's lanky arm draped tightly across my stomach was undoubtedly the best feeling I have ever experienced, and my overall favorite. Something about it instantly just sent me into a state of dreaming, and I could easily fall asleep again if I wanted to. I don't remember the last time I'd slept so well, besides all the other times I fell asleep wrapped in the embrace of my beautiful boyfriend. If he didn't ask me to get back together with him last night, I was sure I would have pulled all my fucking hair out.

Glancing over to my bedside table, I notice my phone lighting up. Realization hits and I remember that I hadn't checked it in a few YEARS and it was more than likely that I had a few messages. Thank God that Austin made me use his charger. Going through a few of them clearly couldn't hurt much, I just didn't think I was ready to read the ones from Austin after those times of abandonment that I had made him suffer through.

I pick it up, stifling a gasp as I find the eight-thousand messages. Three-thousand of them being from Austin. Scrolling through the list of texts, I find a few from my parents, Shay, Tino, Justin, and even my other best friend from high-school, Sammy.

Looking even further into the texts from Sammy, I find one that was dated from last night, and I try not to laugh at the name she had typed in for herself the first day of Junior year.

From: Samantha the Slut
We should meet up sometime.

Ah, yes. My favorite blunt, shameless best friend hadn't changed her personality one bit. Who was I to turn her down? I missed her, and I was willing to bet almost anything that our friendship could be rekindled.

To: Samantha the Slut
Of course, Sam. Where at?

I hear a faint groan from my side, and Austin's warm breath tickles my neck.

"Good morning." He grumbles, pulling himself upwards to place a kiss on the corner of my mouth.

"What's so good about it?" I reply sarcastically, secretly loving to get a bit of a rise out of him.

He juts out his bottom lip, slowly opening his eyes to meet mine. "We finally got back together!" He groans loudly, throwing his hands up lazily.

I giggle a bit at this. "I know, babe. I was kidding." I say, pressing a kiss to his nose while he lets out a few laughs himself.

"Got any plans for today?" His voice was still a little hoarse and croaky, but fuck. It was very, very attractive.

"Maybe," I say, wondering if I was actually going to meet up with my old friend. "Guess who wants to hang out?"

"Who?" He says happily, lightly pulling me in closer as I gladly do so.

"Sammy." I reply easily, thinking about whether or not he would want me to see her, considering that he hadn't exactly been too fond of her in high school. He'd have grown out of it by now, right?

"Why does she wanna hang out?" He says, putting more emphasize on 'she' than he needed to, signaling that he still had a grudge on her for starting me on pot.

Not that it was a big deal, or an addiction. It just helped me a bit, controlled the ADHD and mellowed me out. It's probably best that I also mention the fact that not only did I excel in school work because of the green plant, I also became incredibly tripped out and awfully weird.

"She wanted to. Come on, Aus," I try to reason with him. Shit, it wasn't like he needed to go with me. The thing was, that I just wanted his okay, so I didn't have another thing to feel guilty about. "You don't have to go. I haven't seen her in two years, Aus."

He raises his eyebrows, a smirk playing subtly at his lips. "And who's fault is that?"

Oh, fuck you. I constrained myself from actually saying that, because I didn't mean it. I loved him, and I didn't want to start any more problems than we- I should say that I had to face. All these fucking secrets were eventually going to come back, and bite the both of us in the ass. Hard.

"Well, mine." I reply hastily, wiggling around a bit to get even closer to him. "But I think I'm gonna go see her later on, if that's alright?"

He takes a deep breath, attempting to calm himself down as he looks over into my eyes. "Of course it is, but...just promise me you won't do anything...risky, okay?"

I nod, beginning to attack the inside of my lip, wanting to chew it raw again.

Risky. The fuck did he mean by that? I was careful. Okay, that was a bull-faced lie, but I would try to be careful and things would happen. I can't control everything, you know? It's not my fault that Sammy happened to have a bag of weed on her table. It's not my fault we got stoned and watched Scooby Doo, as I laughed at how much she looked like Velma back in the day. When her hair was short and light brown. She was a nerd, no doubt. Justin said I turned her into a monster; another one of us. We weren't bad people or anything, I don't think we are. Well, Justin might have been a bit worse with all the drinking he did. I just stuck with pot, which was illegal too, so we're supposedly even. Not unless you decide not to mention the fact that I was a player. I wasn't your typical, average, everyday player who could just saunter confidently up to anyone he pleased and instantly make them fall head over heels. My raging social anxiety didn't allow me to do so. I had a different approach.

Since I was 'shy' as they called it, (When it was really just a weird fear of people I had.) I could never just talk to people. So I had to do it a bit sneakily. Stealing glances, small smiles, even a wink or two was essential for me, and eventually, the boy would ask me out, knowing that I would never do it myself. And so I would date him, for however long I felt like (Although, it never seemed too long to me.) and then I would dump them as soon as I found a new interest, or as Justin called them, 'The Flavor of The Week.' This went on for about two years, until I finally met Austin, and he completely blew me away.

"Hello?" Austin laughs, dragging out the 'o' as he gives my arm a gentle shake, and it takes everything in me not to jump ten feet in the air at the sharp pain that shoots through my arm, from where the wrist meets hand, up to about the middle of my upper arm. The humerus, if you want to get technical about it. Yes, I payed a bit of attention in health class, sue me.

"Uh," Austin says, almost sounding as though he moaned it. "D-did I hit one?"

"No," I lie through slightly gritted teeth, not wanting to worry him. He didn't need the burden, he had enough to worry about.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." I laugh, mostly at his compulsive caring, I thought it was hilarious and still one of the most adorable things I'd ever seen in my life.

"Okay, babe." He says quietly, pulling me back into his arms and nestling away into the crook of my neck.

"Austin?" I ask, wrapping my fingers around his as I stare blankly up at the ceiling, almost getting lost in it.

"Yes, love?" He asks, snaking his hand around my waist and holding me tightly. A sense of security washes over me and I practically forgot what I was going to ask.

"Why...why do you put up with me?" I question, feeling the tensing of my stomach as the room grows quiet. The only noise to be heard was the quiet buzzing of the small aquarium that Aurora had gotten me for my nineteenth birthday.

"When I met you," He begins in a hushed tone, sounding urgent and rather eager to tell me. "You were in a bad place, right?"

I nod, trying to stay silent but being unable to. "Where are you going with this?"

He smiles softly, and raises one of his hands, a polite way of motioning for me to shut up. "Let me finish, okay?"

I nod once more, and he proceeds with telling me this little story.

"When you walked into Mr. H's class that day, I didn't know what to do. And then you smiled at me. I think my head about exploded." He laughs quietly before continuing. "You were so different from anything anyone had told me about you and I liked it. The more we hung out, the more things I seemed to find out about you. Most were good, but of course some where bad. And when they were bad, they were fucking awful...I wanted to help. But I just happened to fall in love, y'know? There was no turning back, and I promised myself that I would be right by your side every step of the road to recovery...and I still want to be there for you. If you'll let me."

I felt tears begin to sting the corner of my eyes, and make their way down my cheeks. "Why w-wouldn't I?" I smile, leaning up to kiss him.

"You're difficult sometimes." He admits, rushing forwards to press his lips to mine, and finally, I felt a bit better.