"I wait patiently
He's gonna notice me
It's okay, we're the best of friends." Taylor Swift 

Austin stood in Melody's old child room in a state of shock that night at the party came rushing back to him all at once. He'd been so worried that she'd freak out about him nearly kissing her... wanting to kiss her, that he somehow completely missed the part where she'd wanted to kiss him. There was never any mistaken identity on her part. Why? Why did he glaze over that? Why did he attempt one feeble apology and then let her walk out of his life?

His eyes fell to the pile of clothes on her floor; that pink nightgown that nearly gave him a heart attack last night sat on top. That one text sent his entire night into a tailspin of mixed-up feelings.

And she's embarrassed and upset; he reminded himself.

"Bell." He raced out of her bedroom and down to the kitchen. Her parents were standing there, and they both looked amused.

"Where's"-

"She ran outside; go get her, please!" Georgie cut him off, "she doesn't even have shoes on."

He grabbed the first pair of boots he saw and ran out; she was sitting on the porch swing and looked up with dismay when he came out, 'forgot shoes." she whispered.

He walked over and set the boots down, she looked down at them, and her lip twitched a tiny bit.

"Those are my dad's."

"Oh," he saw how big they were now, "sorry, should we go in?"

"No," she put them on anyway, "they'll eavesdrop on every word. Let's go for a walk down the driveway."

She got up a little wobbly in the big boots, he reached her to steady her, but she moved away fast. He frowned as he followed her, she didn't slow down until she reached the end of the driveway. She came to a stop abruptly, forcing him to stop behind her.

"Bell..."

'Wait," she stopped him and held up a hand so he didn't try to move in front of her.

"I'm not mad at you for not returning my feelings, Austin; I'm just hurt," She said quietly, "I do feel better that you didn't realize what I said, but then I'm also mortified you know I said it now."

"Melody, please"-

"No, let me finish," she insisted. "Because now that the cat's out of the tree"-

"Bag."

"Austin!"

"Sorry."

"Anyways, now you know everything, I'm going to say what I want to say, and I can't look at you while I do, so just stay where you are, okay?"

"Okay," he couldn't help but smirk; luckily, she couldn't see him. She'd probably smack him for it.

"The thing is, it's not my fault that I fell for you. I grew up believing I was meant to be with you someday, and that's all your fault."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I know that came across as harsh, and I'm sorry, but I don't get how you don't see it. How you never saw it. From the time we were kids, you were always watching out for me, you yelled at anyone that picked on me, and you spent so much time hanging out with me instead of your older friends. If I was upset, you were the first to try and make it right, even still! Sadie and Cooper came here today because you called them!" She exclaimed.

"You're mad at me for that?" He was confused, "I told them to stop lying, or I'd tell you; I thought you'd want that."

"I did! That's my point! You do little things like that all the time. How was I not supposed to fall for you when you were the center of my world all the time? You always know exactly what I need."

"Without you, nothing ever made sense," she continued.

His heart clenched, and he reached for her, "I wish I could go back and redo that night."

She finally turned to face him, and her red, teary cheeks broke his heart.

"If you heard what I said, it wouldn't have changed anything," she said. "You would have been nicer about it, I guess. You still wouldn't have kissed me."

"I wanted to," he admitted. "I realized who you were, and it was like I saw you for the first time, and you were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen."

She cried out, "Then why didn't you?"

"Because I was an idiot," he said with a long sigh. "I decided at some point I had to protect you from guys; me being an idiot, didn't realize why. So, when it was me looking at you that way, I felt guilty. I handled it horribly. I was mad at myself, not you."

She didn't speak but looked at him intently.

"You know when you became a teen, I was more freaked than your dad about you dating? It was a nightmare. All I could think of was you getting hurt and crying over some idiot... or worse falling crazy in love and forgetting all about me."

"That would never have happened," she said in a shaky voice, "it never will."

"To know I'm the one that made you cry," his eyes filled with tears. "I hate it."

"It's not your fault," she said quickly.

"It was! I blocked out the whole first part of you coming down there, saying something, wanting to kiss me. I made assumptions. I was trying to protect you and me, I guess, from feelings I didn't understand. You're right. I was an idiot and didn't see it, or maybe I was too scared to."

"I could have approached you better and not when we were drunk," she offered. "Stop taking all the blame; you always do that."

"Fair, but I take the blame for letting us fade away," his lip trembled at that, "So many times I wanted to call you. London was insane. I'm talking forty-eight-hour shifts sometimes; I didn't have much time to think about anything but medicine and the hospital.... but late nights wide awake in the on-call room, I'd think you."

"You would?" her green eyes shined with hope when they met his.

"I didn't see it then, but I see it now," he whispered as he leaned in close, "The moment I saw you again, I could hardly look away. I spent all night all jealous over your stupid date. "

"You were jealous of naked guy?"

"Can you stop calling him that?" he groaned.

"You don't have anything to be jealous of, Austin," Melody assured him.

"I don't think you know how perfect you are, how full of life you are, how infectious your laugh is, or how gorgeous you are," Austin spoke softly, and her eyes welled with tears as she listened intently. "You could have anyone you wanted."

"All I ever wanted was you," she cried, "Nothing has ever lasted because I have never been able to give them my whole heart."

"Nothing ever lasted for me either, and now I know I know why" he brushed his hand over her cool cheek, "You were right. You were always right; my heart was yours; I just didn't know it yet."

"Oh, Austin," she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, and he squeezed her as tightly as he could. Their faces were just inches apart when they parted. His eyes dropped from her emerald gaze to those plump lips of hers.

"Wait," she stopped him in a breathy gasp.

"You don't want me to kiss me you anymore?" he asked; that would be fitting now that he desperately wanted to kiss her.

"No, I do!" she exclaimed, "but it's us, and it's something I dreamed about for so long. It can't be while we're freezing and a mess, and I'm wearing my dad's boots. It has to be a special moment."

He laughed softly as he brushed a thumb across her frozen cheek. "Like what?"

"I don't know right now, but we'll know," she promised him.

"Whatever you want, my Mell Bell," he couldn't pull his eyes away from her now. "Will you still spend the day with me?"

"Yes," she agreed with a shudder, he realized how cold it was getting, and all she had on was that old baggy sweatshirt he'd given her all those years ago.

"Wait here. I'll go get our coats," he offered.

"No," she stopped him, "I'll go in. I want to change quickly anyway, and uh, full disclosure, I'm going to go scream into my pillow."

"What?" he cracked a loud laugh; I am so not worthy of that."

"I beg to differ, Thorne; I'll be right back," she said as she dashed off.

"Hey, Bell," he called out as she headed up the driveway.

"Yeah?"

"Will you change into some boots I'm allowed to kiss you in?" he asked, and a huge grin flashed over his face.

"Maybe," she teased in a flirty tone before ducking into the house.

Sometime a bit later, they were pulling up to main street, Austin parked in the back alley, and they headed up. Melody was the biggest bundle of nerves she'd ever been the in her life. She couldn't help but wonder if she was in a dream as it all felt surreal.

"Coming?" he asked, and she realized she'd been sitting there forever.

"Yeah," she laughed a little and got out. Austin looked as nervous as she did.

"Rudolf's probably got to pee pretty bad," he said as he walked up, and she hastened her steps as she followed.

"Oh, poor guy, any accidents inside yet?"

"Just one, my fault," Austin said, "I was distracted."

"With what?" she asked.

"A text message," he said pointedly, causing a tiny grin to curl over her lips.

"Are you saying you liked that text?" She asked.

"I didn't delete it," he turned and gave her a suggestive wink, and her heart fluttered.

Her heart burst as they walked inside; she wanted to run into his room and scream into one of his pillows, but bad enough, she had already confessed earlier to doing that. He didn't need to witness it. Rudolph came running the second they walked in, and Austin was quick to scoop him up and bring him out. She took a moment to relax, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself.

Her phone buzzed, and she frowned, seeing it was Rafe, "Hey, Rafe, what's up? Everything okay with Sadie?"

"She's fine; you okay?" he asked.

"I am now," she said in a dreamy voice as her eyes wandered to the door Austin had just walked through.

"Does that mean you're coming in for your shift?"

"My shift? Oh my gosh! I totally forgot; I am so sorry, Rafe."

"Melody, it's your second shift, and you were late for your first one," He groaned.

"I swear I have a good reason, but today just isn't great," she said carefully. "You'll be all right, right?"

"I knew this was a terrible idea. Thorne's going to kill me when I have to fire you."

"Fire me?"

Austin walked in at that exact moment. "What? Is that Rafe? No one is firing you; let me talk to him."

"Is that Austin? Oh, son of a "- Rafe was still talking, but she smirked and handed the phone to Austin, then raced over to scoop up her puppy. Austin walked into the other room to speak to Rafe while she hugged and kissed Rudolf. He was just as happy to see her and peppered her face with kisses. She plopped down on the floor to play with him. 

"He missed you." She looked up to see Austin gazing down at her and felt a flush come to her cheeks.

"Is my job safe?" she asked.

"For now," Austin came and sat next to them. "Bell, he said you were late for your first shift and kept messing orders up."

"It takes a while to get the hang of stuff," she defended.

"He said you were distracted on your phone all day," Austin said.

"Well isn't Rafe a little tattle-tale, huh Rudolf?" She held up the puppy, and he licked his chops as if agreeing. "Yup sure is."

"If it's not your thing, don't do it. We'll find you a job you like," Austin said.

"How? What?"

"What about songwriting? Do you still do that?"

She scoffed as she stood up, "that was a pipe dream. Come on, let's get to shopping."

Just as she reached the door, he put his hand there and stopped her from opening it; she turned around to face him. He looked her so intently in the eyes that she gulped under his state.

"Did you forget how amazing you are? You used to play your guitar and sing your songs for me all the time."

"I guess. I just stopped believing in myself," she whispered.

"Well, until you start again, I believe in you enough for the both of us, okay?" he said.

"Okay," she whispered in a breathy voice.

They stood there for a moment, their eyes locking them in place.

"Austin?"

"Yeah, Bell?"

"This would be a good moment...you know to kiss me."

"You sure?" He left one hand against the door, holding them both in place as his other hand touched her cheek.

"Yes," she wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

He leaned down and gently brushed his lips against her own. Her entire body was trembling in response to the touch of his lips on her own. As he pulled back, his cobalt eyes were swimming with emotions that told her the touch was affecting him too.

"Mell Bell," he whispered as he cupped her cheeks.

"Austin," she whispered back in a teary voice.

His lips descended then on hers, and he kissed her sweetly and tenderly; she melted into the minty magic of his kiss as it erased every tear she'd cried and instead filled her heart with hope.