"Like I said before, there's really nothing interesting about me." You said to August after you had finished telling him about your life as an only child living with parents that, in hindsight, had slowly turned out to be insane. After all, you had watched both of their sanities slowly disappear right in front of your eyes. It's hard to believe that you once considered both of their behaviors to be normal since you had grown up who accepted the abuse that your father inflicted on her. Because you witnessed your mother accepting your father's abusive behavior, you immediately started accepting your father's abusive behavior towards you. But, as time went on, you realized that you didn't live a normal home life and that you, in fact, lived in an abusive household. You vividly remembered having this realization after having a discussion about abusive behavior and how to recognize it in health class. But, even though you knew that you should seek help, you endured another two years of abuse until your parents were arrested for their actions because of the last person you expected to save you from your personal hell.
Julian.
Even to this day, you had no idea why the hell he even did that. He had claimed that he'd "owed you one," but you had no idea what you did to make him "owe you one." Now that he was gone, the motive behind his actions that day would forever remain a mystery.

"Are you kidding?" The sound of August's voice pulled you out of your thoughts. "There's plenty of interesting things about you! Hell, if there weren't any interesting things about you, you wouldn't have been the one to get the better backstory. But, then again, you are one of the main characters so it's understandable that you'd get the better backstory than the character who entered this story seemingly out of nowhere."
"What on earth are you talking about?" You gave him a confused look.
August chuckled. "It's much too complicated for you to wrap your head around, (Y/N). Because of that, it'd be useless further discussing the topic that's currently at hand. I'm not even sure why I brought it up in the first place."
"Okay, what the hell did they put in your coffee?" You asked. There's no way that August was thinking rationally right now. No one in their right mind thinks that they're just some character in a story. "You're sounding like you're out of your damn mind."
He simply shrugged. "They simply put lots of sugar and cream into my coffee, just like I requested them to. But, then again, sugar does cause you to get hyper if you consume enough and there was a lot of sugar in my coffee. It's very possible that what I said earlier was the sugar talking and not me because I definitely feel really hyper right now."
"Well, I'm glad that you're at least acknowledging that what you said earlier was crazy talk." You attempted to take a sip of your coffee only to discover it was empty. You then added, "There's no way that you, I, and everyone else are just creations of someone's mind. We're one-hundred percent real." You stood up and began walking over to the trash can so that you could throw your coffee away. You wished that August hadn't said any of those things about you, him, and everyone else that you knew were just characters in a story because you couldn't shake the thought out of your mind. You really didn't like the thought of being merely creation of someone's mind. Wouldn't that mean that your life served no purpose because all of your thoughts, actions, and speech were controlled by someone that you didn't know and would never know?
Stop thinking about this, (Y/N). You scolded yourself. You're going to fall into an existential crisis if you keep thinking about what August said.

"Okay, I officially ban you from consuming coffee." You said to August when you sat back down. "You talk crazy when you drink coffee. No wonder you were never allowed to drink it."
August shrugged. "What you call crazy is what I call a possibility."
"Yeah, whatever." You pretended to go along with what he was saying. "Hand me your keys. You're not in the right state of mind to drive right now and I'd rather not run the risk of ending up dead."
"You don't trust me?"
"I don't right now."
"Why not?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you were spouting some complete and utter nonsense of us being characters in a story."
"Think fast." August said right before he threw his keys at you. You somehow managed to catch them at the very last second. He smiled a bit when he saw that you had caught them. "Nice catch."
"I don't know where you live so I'm going to take us to the park and wait for you to actually go back to a correct state of mind." You said right before you started exiting Starbucks. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw August quickly getting up and running to catch up with you.
"How long are we going to stay at the park?" He asked as you were walking to his car.
"We're going to stay until you can think rationally again." You replied as you unlocked the car before opening the driver's side door. "I don't care if it takes ten minutes or a few hours. We're staying as long as we have to."
"I can live with that." He opened the passenger's side door and got inside his car a moment after you did. "It just means that I get to spend more time with you."
You couldn't help but smile as you buckled your seatbelt before you closed the door and started the car. "I like the sound of that."

*****

"Let's go sit by the fountain." August said after you had arrived at the park and gotten out of the car. "I always like sitting there."
"I do too." You smiled as you saw that he had his guitar case in his hand. "It's really relaxing."
"It really is." He began leading the way over to the fountain, swinging his guitar case as he did so. "I'm hoping to make some more money playing guitar today. I made way more than I expected last time."
"I bet you'll make lots of money today." You continued to smile as the fountain slowly started to make its way into your line of sight. "You're really good at playing guitar and you deserve every dollar that you get."
"Stop it." You saw a small hint of a blush on August's face. "That's not true and you know it. I'm okay at best."
"Don't sell yourself short Pre-" You immediately stopped yourself and covered your mouth when you realized that you were about to call August "Pretty Boy."
"What?" August asked as he looked towards you.
You shook your head. "Nothing. I was just talking to myself." You hoped that he wouldn't push the matter any further.
He shrugged. "Okay. Whatever you say."
You silently let out a sigh of relief as you sat down on the edge of the fountain. August joined you a moment later, not leaving very much space between the two of you.
"Damn, it's already five thirty." August remarked as he quickly checked the time on his phone. "Time always seems to fly by whenever I'm with you."
"Well, you know what they say. Time flies by whenever you're having fun."
He grinned. "Yeah, I'm certainly having fun. I hope you're having fun as well."
You grinned back and nodded. "Yep, I'm having tons of fun."
"Good." August continued to grin as he pulled his guitar case closer to him before he unlocked it. After opening the case up, he carefully took his guitar out and placed it on his lap.
"So, tell me something." He pulled his guitar pick out of his pocket after he placed his guitar on his lap. "Have you ever been serenaded?"
You shook your head. "No, I haven't. Why?"
His grin turned into a smile. "I'm about to change that."
"August-"
Before you could finish what you were going to say, he began strumming his guitar. You found yourself scooting closer to him as you tried to figure out what song he was going to sing to you. It wasn't until he actually started singing that you figured out he was singing Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars. You felt a blush forming on your face as you closed your eyes and focused on August's singing. He was one of the few people that you had met in your life that actually had an amazing singing voice. You swore that you would be content if his singing voice was the only thing that you listened to all day.

*****

"And that right there is how you make a girl's very first date magical." You opened your eyes after August had finished singing and saw that he had a huge grin on his face. "Well, I think that it made it magical at least. I'm not sure what you think. I hope that you enjoyed it. I've... I've never serenaded a girl before." His grin faded as quickly as he came and the confidence that he had earlier had completely diminished.
"Well, I'm honored to be the first girl that you've serenaded." You grinned as you placed your hand underneath his chin and moved his head up so that he was looking at you. "You're really good at singing. I'd love to hear you sing more often."
August's smile immediately returned. When he responded, it seemed like his confidence returned as well. "And I'd love to sing for you more often. There are plenty of songs out there that make me think of you and I'd like to sing as many of them to you as I possibly can."
You felt your face growing hot and you were certain that a blush was beginning to form on your face if it wasn't there already. At that moment, you realized that August was probably the second sweetest guy that you've ever met. The sweetest guy you had ever met... wasn't so sweet anymore.
"Your blush is really cute." August's grin somehow managed to get even bigger.
"No it's not!" You cried as you covered your blush with both of your hands. You were really hoping that he wouldn't say anything about it.
"Yes it is." August insisted. "You can say that it's not all you want, but nothing you say will convince me otherwise."
You didn't think it was possible, but you felt the blush on your face grow even more after he said this.
"Don't hide your blush from me." You felt your heart skip a beat as August grabbed ahold of your hands. You didn't protest as he lifted them away from face, exposing your (More than likely) tomato red face for him to see. You looked down and saw that he hadn't let go of your hands. When you saw this, you felt and heard your heart beginning to pound. The pounding of your heart filled your ears and you wondered how August was unable to hear it because it was nearly deafening to you. "In fact, don't hide your face from me at all. I love seeing your face. It's the most beautiful thing that I have ever the honor of laying eyes upon."
"You need to stop making me blush!" You smiled a bit as you shoved him lightly.
"No, I'd prefer to make you blush even more."
"And how do you think you're going to do th-"
You didn't get the chance to finish your sentence because August had pressed his lips to yours. At first, you didn't really know how to react since it happened so suddenly. But you were soon able to slowly close your eyes and sink into the kiss. It had been years since you had actually kissed someone so it was nice to be able to experience a kiss once again.

You felt a smile slowly form on your face after both you and August pulled away in order to draw in a much needed breath.
"Well, you succeeded." You said to August as you ran your fingers through your hair. "You managed to make me blush even more. I'm one-hundred percent sure that I look like a tomato right now."
"Yeah, your face is certainly as red as a tomato." August smiled and nodded. "But it's okay because you still look beautiful." He then proceeded to plant a kiss on both of your cheeks.
"I don't think that my face can get any redder." You laughed a little as you face felt so hot that it felt like it was on fire.
August shrugged. "It never hurts to try."
"You're such a dork." You laughed again as you shoved him lightly like you had done before he had suddenly kissed you.
"Yeah, I am." August shrugged again. "But you must like my dorkiness since you've stuck around for this long."
"Yeah, I sure do like your dorkiness, Augustus." You grinned as you referred to him by his real name and you wondered just how he would react to you doing this.
"And I sure do like your kindness and beauty, (Y/N)." He grinned back at you. "Man, this is one of those moments where I wish that you went by a nickname rather than your real name. But, then again, I think that your name is really beautiful and that it suits you quite well."
"I'm gonna get you back for making me blush this much!" You exclaimed as the hotness you felt all over your face refused to subside. "Just you wait!"
Suddenly, you looked back at the fountain and smirked as you came up with the perfect way to get him back.
"Well, you can't tell me that you're going to get me back because now I'm just going to be expecting you to-"
You interrupted him as you pushed him into the fountain, smiling as you did so so that he knew that you didn't do it because you were angry at him, but because you wanted to get back at him for making you blush until your face turned to a bright red.
"Oh, so that's the kind of game that you want to play?" August asked as he removed his glasses and placed them on top of his guitar. This was the first time that you had seen him without his glasses and you had to admit that he was quite handsome without them. You honestly didn't know whether you preferred him with or without his glasses. He seemed to be just as attractive without his glasses as he was with his glasses.

The smile that August had on his face grew bigger as he quickly stood up and grabbed ahold of your arm. Before you had time to react, he pulled you into the fountain and you let out a scream as he did so. After the water of the fountain had completely soaked you, you couldn't help but laugh as you laid on the spot that you had landed on after August had pulled you in.
"This means that we're not even anymore, you know." You pointed out to him. "You made me blush until I looked like a freaking tomato and I pushed you into the fountain to get back at you for doing that. Now that you've pushed me into the fountain as well, we're uneven."
"Fair enough." August sat on the place where he had landed after you had pushed him into the fountain rather than laid on it. "When you come up with a way to make things even again, let me know."
You began brainstorming ways to get back at August for pushing you into the fountain. A moment after you had begun attempting to come up with something, your eyes landed on his glasses, which were still resting on top of his guitar.
"How blind are you without your glasses?" You asked him, not taking your eyes off the black, "nerd-style" glasses that he owned.
"Everything around me is one giant blur." He simply said.
"Interesting." You smirked. You then quickly stood up and grabbed his glasses before you jumped out of the fountain, barely managing to save yourself from tripping as you did so.
"Hey! Come back here!" August shouted. You glanced back and saw him struggling to chase you. Even though he was as blind as he claimed he was, he still managed to run pretty fast. You were honestly impressed that he was able to run as fast as he was, especially since he claimed that everything around him was a blur.
He was beginning to catch up to you quite quickly since you weren't exactly the best of running. After you saw that he was pretty close to catching up to you, you looked away from him and you forced yourself to run as fast as you possibly could. You began breathing heavily since you weren't used to running when it wasn't an absolute necessity.

After a few moments of running as fast as you possibly could, you eventually grew too tired to run any further and you forced yourself to stop running so that you could catch your breath. Almost as soon as you had stopped to take a breath, August had caught up with you and taken his glasses back from you.
"Finally." He let out a heavy breath as he put his glasses back on. He smiled after he had done so. "I can see again. I should've known that taking my glasses off was a bad idea."
"Yeah, you should've." You laughed a bit, still trying to catch your breath after all the running you had done.
"So, this means that we're even now." August laughed a bit as he ran his hands through his hair. "Do you feel better about that now?"
You smiled and nodded.
"Good." August smiled back at you. He then turned his head to look back at the sunset. "Wow, the sunset looks really beautiful."
"It does." You agreed as you found yourself taking a couple of steps forward so that you were standing right next to him.
"I know a place where we can get a better view." You saw that he was still smiling out of the corner of your eye. "I can take you there if you want."
"I'd love it if you'd take me there." The smile on your face somehow managed to become bigger than it already was.
"Let's go then." He held out his hand to you and you immediately took it. Once you had placed your hand in his, he began leading you back to the fountain so that he could grab his guitar before he began leading you back out to his car.

*****

The place that August had claimed gave you a better view of the sunset was the beach.
But it wasn't just any beach.
It was the same beach that you and Mark had walked on together.
No, don't think about him. You began scolding yourself almost as soon as thoughts of the former pretty boy began popping into your head. You're here having a nice time with August. Focus on that.
"Let's sit by the water so that we can hear the waves crash against the shore as we watch the sun sink below the horizon." Thankfully, August managed to make you focus on him rather than Mark, even though he had no idea he had pulled you away from thoughts of the boy that you once considered to be your best friend. The brown-haired boy guided over to a spot on the sand that was just far away from the waves that they wouldn't soak either one of you when they landed on the shore. You didn't really want to become soaked again, especially since you were almost dry from when August had pulled you into the fountain and you imagined that August felt the same way that you did about not wanting to get wet.
"I really hope that you had a wonderful time today." August looked over at you as you sat down next to him in the sand. "Even though we didn't intend for this to be a date, it sure felt like a date. I hope that you were okay with me referring to us being on a date earlier after I finished serenading you."
"I felt like it was a date too." You found yourself instinctively resting your head on August's shoulder as you watched the sun slowly sink below the horizon. "And I had an amazing time today. Thank you so much. This is the most fun I've had in a few months."
"I'm really glad to hear that you had a good time." A smile formed on your face as you felt August's arm wrap around your shoulder. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to spend more time with you where we do things like this."
"I'd be okay with that." You let out a yawn as the very last of the sun's rays faded away. As your eyelids began to grow heavy, you looked up at the sky and you let out a gasp as you saw a shooting star.
"Make a wish." August whispered. "I'll make one too."
You closed your eyes and proceeded to make a wish, making sure to say your wish in your head since you knew that it wouldn't come true if you said it out loud.
After you had made your wish, you felt yourself drifting off to sleep. As you were falling asleep, you heard August softly humming the same song he had sung to you earlier.