a/n: Did you like the new cover of the book? :D

*Laurel's P.O.V*

I quickly scroll down the fourth gossiping website I've found on the Internet to see if there are any pictures of Luke and I. Not going to lie, I'm feeling a little worried about the whole situation.

I'm in the middle of a small square in front of my lab, sitting on the grass, laptop on my lap.

"Hey, beautiful." Someone says and I jump in surprise, closing the laptop. I look up and Austin is standing right in front of me, smiling.

"Hi, Austin." I sigh, relieved, putting my computer aside to stand up. Austin grabs my hand and helps me. When I'm on my feet he gently pulls in for a kiss, and I can't help but kiss him back.

"What time are you free today?"

"I guess around 4... I need to step into the lab to reorganize a few things, but it will be quick. Why do you ask?"

"I was thinking maybe we could do something later... Maybe going out for dinner?" He scratches his nape, shrugging. "To celebrate the success of your experiment."

"And to celebrate someone's birthday, which is coming too" I giggle.

"Don't make me older just yet, it's 2 days away" He playfully points at me, chuckling. "Anyhow, we can celebrate that too when the time comes."

"We are more than surely celebrating it, Austin!" I roll my eyes. "But dinner tonight sounds wonderful."

"Great!" He cheers before awkwardly cleaning his throat. "I mean, cool. Pick you up at seven?"

"Seven it is." I smile. The clock at the main square marks 1pm and I quickly bow down to grab my laptop. "I must hurry, Riley and Damian are waiting for me. See you tonight!"

"See you, babe." He kisses me quick once again. "Tell Damian I said hi."

"Sure thing." I wink at him.

•••

"You do realize that we'll need to finish the whole project if UC wants us to take it to San Fran, right?" Damian asks me.

It's 3:30pm and I've really got to coordinate great part of the experiments because Damian ruined two of our samples.

"Yeah, Damian." I take a deep breath. "I'm doing it as fast as I can, it's not my fault you delayed everything."

"How many times will I have to say sorry?"

"About a thousand more." Riley glares at him, annoyed. "We need this done until the results of the scholarship."

"It's out about two months from now." Damian rolls his eyes. "You guys don't have to rush it, it's gonna happen."

"If the drugs keep on working, Damian. You know we have no guarantee." I frown.

"You know what I know? Leave it all to me because I can handle it, really."

Riley and I look at each other and I shrug. I need to hurry out of the lab anyway. So Riley turns furiously at Damian.

"If you drop the ball again I swear I'm telling Dr. Jones." She spits and punches his chest.

"Chill, nothing's happening."

"We mean it, Damian." I stare at him, concerned. "If you think you're not able to take care of it I don't mind helping you out."

"Not a chance, Laurel. I know you've got a date with my bro today." He winks at me and I smile, embarrassed.

"So he told you before he even asked me, right?"

"Of course. I can deal with it all. I'll call you if anything goes wrong, promise."

                                •••

I'm putting my earrings on and finishing my makeup when Megan calls me. I press the loudspeaker.

"Are you going out with Austin today?" She questions.

"Did Tyler tell you so?" I wide open my eyes to apply the mascara. "Seems like Austin tells everyone about his plans."

"Tyler said he was nervous, which is not a good sign."

I stop at the sound of her words, staring suspiciously at my reflection.

"What do you mean?" I look at the phone, waiting for her answer.

"I'm not sure of what, but tonight is definitely happening something."

"Or maybe he's just going to tell me he got straight A's on the subjects I helped him with." I mock. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"At least be prepared for everything, okay? Remember there's Luke."

When Megan speaks his name, I feel like someone just stabbed a knife inside my heart. I remember the conversation we had on the phone two days ago; A's voice calling Luke and telling him to hang up the phone. She was at his place with him... She probably made up his mind about me because since then we've barely talked. At first I thought he wanted to keep distance because of the whole paps thing, but I've researched until today's afternoon and there are no pictures of us together. I bet A said something. It has to be her.

"Laurel? Are you there?" Megan speaks up, interrupting my reverie.

"Yeah. I'm just thinking about what I'm gonna do about Austin today." I lie.

"Just let it be. If he says something weird you just cut him off."

"I'll try."

Austin picks me up right on time and drives us to this restaurant downtown. He truly is nervous; he's running his hands through his hair too much, avoiding eye contact and stuttering when he speaks.

We sit down on the table and the waiter brings us the menu. Austin orders wine as we decide about the food.

"I hope you're not into salad," I joke. "because I'm not."

"You're not even a little healthy, I already knew that." He looks up and winks at me before turning his gaze back to the menu, smirking. "And I love it."

I blush.

The waiter comes back with our wine and we order fondue. The waiter nods and leaves us.

"So..." He begins, cleaning his throat, after some minutes of small talk. "You know, the past weeks have been incredible to me. You are awesome; you are smart, beautiful, funny and loving, and I... I really like you, Laurel."

Oh God. Oh no, no, no.

"I know you probably have heard stuff about me that I wish you didn't," he blushes. "fuckboy and shit. That's not my thing, and I hope I made it totally clear for you. It's all because I hang out with Ben and Jason, they can be dicks sometimes."

"I never even considered the option of you being a dick, Austin." I tell him, honestly. "At least you've always been great with me."

He sighs relieved, and grabs my hand over the table, rubbing it gently.

"I'm glad to know that, because the truth is..."

The waiter shows up with our food and I clap my hands, thanking the Lord someone stopped Austin from speaking so I could have time to think.

"I'm famished!" I groan, stabbing my first piece of meat and digging it inside the cheese bowl.

Austin chuckles and we eat in silence. I feel bad for interrupting him but since he doesn't speak up anymore, I leave it. When I'm finished I start talking about the whole San Francisco thing and how excited I am. Austin doesn't interrupt me, his eyes are truly showing interest, but I realize he's a little upset as well. Even so, I can't risk it; I can't hear what he's got to say.

After too much insistence of mine Austin agrees that we share the bill, and we head to his car. During the whole way back to campus we don't say a word; the only sound inside the car is the songs playing on the radio. He parks in front of my building and I hop out, so does he.

"It was lovely. Thanks for everything, Austin. You are gold." I smile at him before hugging him tight.

Austin hesitates for a moment and pulls away from me, holding my hands.

"Laurel, I'm not stupid. I know you're trying to avoid what I was trying to say back at the restaurant." He frowns. "Even so, I can't hold it back no longer, I need to tell you. Ever since that day when we accidentally bumped into each other, I can't stop thinking about you: your smile, your eyes, your face, your hair, everything about you. And then when we went to the club, I kissed you and you kissed me back... I can't stop thinking about it either.
You see, I never thought I'd be this involved with someone in such a short period of time, but it happened. I'm falling in love with you, and fuck, falling hard. Today I was hoping I would have courage to ask you to be my girlfriend, but since I saw you with that dude Luke I realized that whether the feeling isn't mutual, or you're not ready to surrender to someone just yet."

I open my mouth to reply but Austin interrupts me.

"Please, let me finish. I'm not saying this so you can declare unconditional love for me; I like to be true to others when it comes to my feelings; this is something of mine. I don't usually fall in love, and maybe because of this I got a little excited and tried to go further at the night of our first kiss, and I feel happy that you stopped me, to be honest. I didn't want to be a douche with you, and I probably would be if I had gone until the end. But as I said at the restaurant, I really like you, and I would like to get a chance to prove you I'm worth it."

Austin comes closer and kisses my hand, holding it close to his face.

"You don't need to answer anything right now, just promise me you'll think fondly about everything I've just said." He whispers.

I'm glad, because I'm out of words right now. So I come closer and gently kiss his lips.

"I promise. I only ask you to be patient with me, because my feelings are..." I stop, choosing wisely the words. "complicated. I don't know what to think at the moment, but I'm most definitely remembering all of that."

I smile at him, gently caressing his cheek with my hand. He sighs and smiles too.

"That's all I ask of you. Thank you for listening, Laurel. Have a wonderful night." He tells me, kissing my cheek before getting inside the car and vanishing into the night. To be honest I feel a little unhappy that he simply left, but I know it's better this way.

I throw myself on my bed once I'm inside my apartment. I stare at the ceiling as flashes of tonight run fast through my head. So I think of Luke. And then Austin, and Luke again. I unlock my phone and open my camera roll. I've got a lot of pictures with Austin, so I take my time to admire them. Then I scroll up until I find the single picture I've got with Luke, and I sigh.

Who am I willing to dedicate myself to? One of them literally just declared his love for me, while the other hooked up with me a few times, lives far away, needs to keep us as a secret and hangs out with his ex. My heart needs a decision.

The right choice looks obvious, so why can't I simply make it?

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Oh wow, I don't even know if this is a filler or actually an important chapter of the book lol

Either way, THANKS FOR READING! Don't forget to vote and share if you like it and comment, telling me what you think. Soon I'm adding polls on the end of the chapters because I'm gonna need your help, so stay tuned!

Oh, this isn't exactly a shoutout because she most definitely doesn't need them, but I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my dearest Wattpad friend aestheticannie. She's helped me a lot and is an incredible writer. Then thank you, Jay, you rock. I'm your fan.

60 reads and we head to the next chapter! Stay beautiful, lovelies! <3 xo