Austin grabbed a bag of regular chips from the pantry and 3 packs of shredded cheese from the fridge, then went over to the sink to wash his hands.

"Do you mind handing me a pan from in the cabinet beside you?" he asks.

I grab a long pan and hand it to him. He puts half the bag of chips on it, before asking me for another one. I give him a second pan, and he pours the rest of the chips on it. I watch him open a packet of cheese carefully.

"Come help," he says.

I go to the sink and wash my hands, then help him sprinkle cheese on the them, we almost used three packs of cheese, before we put the nachos in the oven and state at it waiting for the cheese to melt.

"So can I have your number?" Austin asks trying to look me in the eyes.

"I left it upstairs."

Before he had time to respond I pointed out that the cheese melted so it wouldn't burn. He handed me an oven mit and I pulled both pans of nachos out and sat them in the countertop.

"Do you want to eat here or upstairs?" He asks me.

I decide to stay in the kitchen considering my luck with his room.

"Here's fine, but can I sit on this?" I ask pointing to the longer counter that's big enough for both of us to sit and the nachos.

" If you want to, " he replies confused on why I won't just sit in a regular seat.

I hop up on the countertop and sit with my legs folded. And he does the same on the opposite end. I reach over and grab both pans of nachos and put it in between us on the granite countertop. I try to come up with something to say but instead I grab a chip and put it in my mouth. Our chewing awkwardly fills the silent room.

"So, what happened to your face," Austin asks bluntly.

Seriously out of all the questions you could've asked to kill silence you choose that. At least I already have my lie ready. I put on a serious look so he doesn't suspect it to be false and tell him the baseball lie.

"You play baseball?" He asked sounding amazed which not going to lie kinda offended me.

"Yeah, but I'm more into track now," I say.

"Really? me too!, " he says excitedly which makes his voice sound higher.

"I'll be right back," I say to him and excuse myself to go get my phone.

After climbing three flights of stairs I reach his room and find my phone on his bathroom sink. I put it in the pocket of Austin's sweatpants and head back down stairs to find Austin in the same place as when I left.

I hand Austin my phone as I get back in my place on the counter. He tries to give me back my phone for the password.

"17395," I tell him.

He looked at me in surprise as he punched the numbers in. Honestly I put in random numbers and memorized them, and put as my password, so it can't be guessed easily. Right when he goes to hand me my phone back it vibrates, indicating a message. I only have three people in my phone, my father, my mother who's dead, and now Austin.

I look at my phone already knowing who it is, while preparing myself for what it says. I check the time and curse under my breath. It's 3:12 p.m and school let out over an hour ago. I open the message and read it.

---------------

Father

Father: Where the hell are you?
Adilynne: At a friend's house
Father: You forgot to buy groceries. You are really starting to piss me off. 

---------------

I feel a tear starting to slide down my cheek and wipe it away quickly so Austin doesn't see. I put on a fake smile and grab another chip.

"I'm guessing you don't have friends either?" Austin asks.

Well damn, I think to myself. 

"No and I'm pretty sure you can guess why," I say with a laugh.

"Everybody has their flaws." 

My brain automatically races in circles on the fact that he just called my mental health a flaw. Anyhow we finish eating the chips, while talking and learning more about each other. We both have the same favorite movie, the Fault In Our Stars. He here to Florida from Tennessee, his favorite color is red, and so on.

We go back to his room after cleaning up our mess and sit on his bed to watch a movie. We decide to watch fault in our stars despite having seen it a million times.

When we got to the part of the movie where Augustus, Hazel, and Isaac egged the house Austin laid his head on my shoulder and fell asleep. I haven't felt this liked or needed in so long I couldn't stop myself from crying.

"What's wrong?" He asked wiping my tears away.

"The movie is just sad," I lied, and he believed me.

"Can I give you a hug?" He asked with his green eyes sparkling at me.

I leaned into him and put my face on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me. I counted his heart beats to help steady my breathing.

"I should probably go, " I said when the movie finally ended.

"Okay," he said standing up.

I went to the bathroom to grab my makeup and put it in my bag.

"I can wash your clothes and give them back to you tomorrow, " I told him.

"Just keep it, they look good on you, " he said smiling.

"Aww thanks."

*****

I grab my keys out of my backpack to unlock the door, while holding my breath. I expect to get hit when he sees me but I'm hoping he's asleep.

I open the door to see him eating a bowl of cereal with a box of beer beside him. He stands up and slowly walks over to me as I sit my backpack on the floor, waiting for him to strike me.

"You ungrateful bastard!" He yells at me as he reaches me and stands inches away from my face.

There's a strong scent of beer that comes off him. He grabs me by the arm and pushes me hard into the wall. I clench my teeth trying to ignore any pain. He takes his hand and slides it up the side of my leg to my upper thigh then squeezed it. I keep my face as calm as possible, because if I show I'm afraid he'll become more aggressive.

He always just hits me, he never did this before. I force myself not to cry and stay as still as possible and let him finish his outburst so I can go.

He takes his hand off my thigh and slides it up my body to my face and begins outlining it with his finger tips. He stops his hand and begins tracing my lips. He takes his free hand and pulls my hair hard. I yelp out in pain.

"You got ten minutes to get out my house, and find somewhere else to sleep tonight before I do to you what I did to your mother, " he whispers in my ear.

He slowly let's go of me and pushes me on the ground before going back to his cereal. This is also the first time he's ever said this to me usually he just hits me, yells out me, and let's me go to my room. I guess my luck is just getting worse.