Chapter Twenty-six
"They're both out," Leland chuckles. "Can you get the door for me?" He asks looking at Austin. Austin slowly gets off of the chair not wanting to wake Taylor up. He walks to the front door and waits for Leland to exit. Leland puts his arms under Layla's knees and back before lifting. "Thanks." He whispers. Austin nods his head and smiles as he wonders how he's going to get into the other cabin.
Julia and Carson left about halfway through because they were getting tired, and once the movie was done Jack and Analyze went straight to bed. Austin walks back to the chair and smiles down at Taylor. She's curled up in a ball and her face is in his sweatshirt. He leans over and picks her up. He carefully walks back to their room and is relieved to see she hadn't closed the door.
He walks through the door blind and slows down not wanting to trip on something. He makes it to the side of the bed and lays her down on the sheets. She just brings her knees back to her chest not even waking up or making a noise. Austin finds his bag in the dark and searches for a shirt and sweatpants to wear. He finds his shirt quickly and changes, but can't find his sweatpants. "Where the hell." He mumbles feeling around in his bag.
"Austin." He hears from Taylor. Her voice seemed to sound startled.
"I'm on the ground. Just trying to find some sweatpants." He says but stays looking towards the bed. He hears rustling around and then the pitter patter of feet. He's momentarily blinded as she turns the light on.
"They're over there." She says pointing to them. He looks and grabs them.
"I didn't want to wake you with the light." He says and she shakes her head.
"I would have been fine." She says and goes to sit on the bed. Her back pushed against the headboard and her knees back to her chest. She stares at the comforter as Austin changes quickly. He has worry in his eyes as he looks over at her. He goes to the light and turns it off. As he walks back to the bed he hears Taylor breathing unsteady.
"Hey, Taylor." He says feeling for her on the bed. She moves towards him and puts her arms around him. He holds her confused about what's wrong. "Shh, everything's alright." He says as he feels her tears through his shirt. He puts a hand in her hair and brushes it away from her face. "Hey, what is it? What's wrong?" He asks and she shakes her head.
"You...you can't leave....I can't.."
"Hey, I'm not going anywhere. I said I'd be at your side and I will be." He says putting his hands on her cheeks. She nods her head and he pulls them both down into the bed. Taylor lays her head on his chest and he keeps his arms tight around her.
He listens as she goes back to sleep in his arms. He begins to wonder what was going through her head in the beginning, she seemed so calm. He wants to understand why things seem to be getting worse if before she was fine. He thinks and thinks, but the only thing he can think of is she just keep putting it back and now it's all coming forward. Feeling exhaustion sink in, he lets himself go to sleep.
***
Austin wakes up to birds chirping and stretches. As he stretches he realizes he doesn't feel Taylor. He opens his eyes and looks around the room. She's not in there and he feels his stomach do a flip. He walks to the bathroom door and listens for any noise. Once he hears nothing he slowly opens it, but she's not in there. He then walks out of his room and searches the cabin, but still nothing. Feeling panicked he walks over to Leland's cabin.
He knocks on the door before entering and when he does he sees Taylor on Leland's back and seems to be trying to get him to the floor. He stands there shocked and Layla looks up at him. "Hi, Austin." She says causing his head to look over at her.
"What..what's going on?" He asks walking into the room after closing the door.
"He said something and now she's trying to get him to take it back." She says and takes a sip of her coffee. He looks over at her confused as to why she's so calm. "Don't worry this happens all the time." She says with a smile on her face. Austin looks back to the siblings and sees Taylor wrap an arm around his throat.
"Take it back, you big lunkhead." She says and he shakes his head.
"Nope."
"Yes, I am not-" Layla grumbles to get her attention. She looks up confused and sees Austin sitting right next to her. "I am not what you said before, so take it back." She says tightening her hold on him.
"Ok, fine...fine. I take it back." He says. She smiles and hops off of his back. "It's still true though." He whispers loudly. She grabs a couch pillow and chucks it at him. He laughs and watches as she grabs Austin and leaves there cabin.
"What are you not?" Austin asks with a smile knowing she doesn't want him knowing.
"Nothing, my brother's just dumb." She says still leading him back to there cabin. He smiles as she doesn't let go of his hand as they enter the cabin. "You gonna help cook the breakfast? Leland and Layla are going to wake Julia and Carson up before bringing the stuff over." She says walking into the kitchen. She grabs a water from the fridge and looks back at him.
"Are you going to?" He asks and she looks up at him. She shakes her head and looks down. "Then, I'll just do something with you until it's ready. Not like this is a big kitchen anyway." He says. She nods her head begins walking back to their room.
"Wanna play that speed game Layla and I were playing?" She asks grabbing the cards.
"Why so you can cream my ass?" He asks. She smiles up at him and sends him a wink.
"Maybe." He laughs as she takes a seat on the bed. She sets it up and looks up at him. "You ready?"
"No, not really." He says and she smiles.
"1..2..3" They flip over the cards and she begins laying them down faster than he can see them.
***
"You cheat, that's the only explanation." He says losing yet again.
"I'm just amazing." She says and he shakes his head at her cockiness.
"Ok, let's go again." Austin sets up the deck and looks up at her. They look down at the cards and flip them. They both begin laying cards down as fast as they can. Taylor laughs as Austin drops a card and has to rush to pick it back up and put a different card down.
She has two cards left and has to wait for the right card. She puts her eight down seeing the seven. Austin puts his seven, then six, and goes to put his five down, but she slides her five into the pile before his. Austin looks up at her and tickles her sides. "You little cheater, that was so my win." He says leaning over her as she laughs. He smiles and stops tickling her so she can breathe. She opens her eyes and stares up at him.
"You just aren't fast enough." She says shrugging. He shakes his head with a smile. The two look up at each other and Taylor fixes his hair that is all to one side. Both of their smiles are gone and Austin puts his hands into her hair. She puts her hand on his neck and pulls him down to her.
He surprised at her boldness but kisses her back right way. He feels her pulling him closer to her and he pushes her up a little. She doesn't fight him as he deepens the kiss, just keeps pace with him. They break apart breathing heavily. Austin looks down at her wondering what's going through her head. If she wishes she didn't kiss him or if she thinks he's a bad kisser. Taylor then laughs a little causing him to start laughing. They both laugh and Austin puts his head down next to hers not able to hold himself up while laughing.
They both start to calm down and Taylor turns her head towards him. He turns towards her and smiles. "I like kissing you." He says and kisses her cheek. She blushes making him smile.
"I like being kissed by you." She says her face getting redder.
"Well, that's good because I won't be able to stop now." He says and starts to peck her all over her face. She laughs and lightly pushes him away from her. They hear their door open and Layla looks at them with a smirk.
"Breakfast is ready if you two are still hungry." She says and then leaves the room. Taylor looks up at Austin and starts laughing again.
When they have settled down they walk out of their room and to the kitchen to grab some food. Taylor grabs two french toasts pieces, some sausage, and then steals the container of raspberries. She doesn't even glance at the mixed bowl of fruit.
She goes and takes a seat on the couch seeing it's the only spot not taken. Austin comes right behind her and sits himself tightly next to her. Taylor looks up and begins to figure out what everyone's talking about. "Well, you guys can go fishing, but that's not gonna happen with me." Analyze says shaking her head.
"Fishing isn't fun," Carson adds in and gets a glare from both Jack and Leland.
"He's right. We can't even keep the fish." Layla adds. The two boys huff and slump into their seats.
"Fine, we go on the hiking trail." He says and Layla shares a smile with Analyze knowing they would win.
"Isn't that what was planned?" Taylor asks looking at Leland.
"Yeah, but we thought fishing would be more fun, but nooo." He says looking down Layla.
"You know you love me." She says and he smiles.
"Unfortunately." He mumbles earning a slap from Layla. He chuckles and shakes his head before peaking her on the lips.
"You guys can go fishing tomorrow anyways." She adds. He nods his head and looks over at Jack.
"Yeah, I guess." He says.
"You know those were for everyone," Layla says looking down at the raspberries. Taylor picks them up and moves them to the right side of her with a glare. Austin smiles at Layla and takes one. He plops it into his mouth and Layla shakes her head. Taylor looks at him and then her raspberries.
She gasps and puts them in her lap and puts her hands over the top. "Those are really good." He says. She shakes her head and turns her back to him.
"There is watermelon, grapes, and other good fruits up there. Go eat those." She says and he gives her a look pleading with her. "Fine, but only a few." She says and moves her hand. Austin laughs and takes two. Layla and Leland stare at the two.
"Did she just?" Leland asks Layla.
"I think so." Layla says back just as astonished. Taylor feeling eyes on her looks to her left to see them looking at her with wide eyes.
"What?" She asks. They both shake their heads mumbling things she couldn't catch.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Layla says and Taylor looks at her confused. "You never share with us, and you love us." She whispers in Taylor's ear. She looks over at her wide eyes.
"Shut up, I told you guys I don't love him." She whispers back and Layla shrugs.
"I think you're lying." She says and before Taylor can argue Layla begins talking to Analyze. Taylor grumbles and picks up her french toast. She doesn't love him, she couldn't, before dwelling on it too much she begins listening in on their conversation.
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