Original Love

Episode Eleven

"El! I was just telling Aussie here about you!" Samantha chooses that moment to abruptly cut in when she noticed the thick discomfort growing between her two best friends. She wants to reach out her hand to Austin, just to let him know he was not alone in this. But he was too busy looking lost and dejected, so she just chose to stay at ease from where she is, trying to come up with a way to divert Elle's attention to her.

"Samantha." Elle's face quickly appeases at the sight of her best friend beaming at her and the two engage themselves quickly in a warm welcoming hug while Austin watches them, feeling a bit jealous. Why hasn't he gotten a hug? And why do you think she would even hug you? Right. He didn't actually think about that first before mentally asking.

"You look so beautiful, Sam. Where'd you get that dress?" Elle asks Samantha, trying her best to sound very pleased as she flashes her sparkling smile, an image of love and beauty that Austin didn't fail to imprint in his mind forever. He suddenly understands now the strangeness of finding yourself so in love with someone yet still gets to forget the subtle features you've grown to love about them after a long time.

Sometimes, there are things in life that we've always taken for granted and only would realize how important they are once we finally lost them. And Austin, knew for sure, what this hell of a statement meant. He had definitely learned it through the painful way.

As he watches the two, still disregarding his presence, Austin suddenly felt an instant urge to hug Elle fiercely just to really make sure she was real. Yet, he knew better than that, so he just silently sat there and observed them, while they conversed about the latest fashion trends, Hollywood news, who's-dated-who, and various designer shoes he does not really have anything to say about with. Eventually, he tuned out the rest of their talk as he focuses his attention on Elle with pure delight shown on his face. Seeing her there was just enough, to prove to him that he's not imagining her anymore. 

She is certainly back.

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"Uh, Aussie?" Samantha calls for the second time, trying to get Austin back to reality. He's been spacing out for a while, and Samantha already knows why. She steals a glance at Elle, who was also looking at Austin, still with an unreadable face. What made her so hard like that? Samantha thought to herself, as she starts to finally determine the contrasting difference of this new Elle with the Elle she had known three years ago. And decidedly hates it.

Austin snaps out of his thoughts when he heard Samantha addressed him and he turns to her with a frown, anxiously waiting for what she was about to say. Returning her attention back at him when he finally noticed her, Samantha grins at Austin, trying to engage him in their conversation.

"I was telling El about us," Samantha emphasizes the last word, giving Austin a sidelong glance which instantly reminded him about what they had dealt with two days ago.

"I actually haven't told you about this, El..." Samantha begins, her eyes gleaming back to her confused-but-still-looking-pretty best friend, "But Aussie and I are..." Not on our right minds when we both agreed on a deal two days ago, after knowing that you're finally back here at Prime East. And she paused.

"What is it?" Elle frowns at her, obviously curious to know what Samantha was going to say about her, and Austin then instantly felt disgusted with herself for showing an interest in something that concerns the guy. She reminded herself that she was over him. And she does not really care about him anymore... Ever.

"We're uh..." Samantha trailed off on purpose, waiting patiently for Austin to say the rest for her just like what they had planned. But Austin felt his tongue getting tied, and nothing would come out of his mouth as he battles against the pressure and his sanity to do the right thing he thinks he should. Are you really going to do it, Austin?

"What's wrong?" Elle asks again, staring at Sam with a concerned expression on her face. Somehow, she sensed that she would not like whatever the two of them are going to tell her.

"Aussie and I are... We--"

"We're dating." Austin blurts out voluntarily, surprised to feel very relieved to say it with a straight face. 

Elle freezes on her seat, looking quite a bit surprised too. She felt a sudden jumble of feelings inside her while she carefully processes what Austin had just confirmed. They're dating--these words echoed inside her mind like a chant and she felt a hard squeeze in her chest that made her want to cry all over again. No, she forcefully tells herself. She would not cry in front of them... 

Yet, she can't help but feel a bit mad and annoyed that the two of them would somehow still end up hurting her with that unexpected news. Her best friend and her ex-boyfriend (which apparently still has an effect on her) are unfortunately together.

"Oh," Elle finally says with a sordid blank face, not ignoring the fact that she has taken a little while to manage a response for the two of them. She was still in shock and undeniably hurt with what she just found out but she's still determined not to give any sign that she's affected by what they've confirmed.

"Y-yeah... We've been dating since Saturday," Samantha gave her a small smile, "After you arrived, I really intended to tell you right away but we were still kind of new to this. We're really serious about it but still... Knowing Aussie, of course, with his reputation for being a playboy and having so many girls flailing their bodies at him..." 

What? Austin caught Elle grimacing at Samantha's words and he shoots her a warning glare out of Elle's knowing. She didn't have to say that fact. He might still be a flirt but his endless hook-ups were long done now and he doesn't welcome random s*x anymore. Not for the last seven months, at least. And that is certainly a good thing!

"So you still are that same clever Austin Summers I've known three years ago," Elle finds herself saying blatantly, "I can't believe I'd actually thought you've finally changed for good after our last bitter conversation, Aus."

"It's not what you think, Em--"

"How can I be sure that you won't hurt my best friend and leave her crying while she begs you desperately not to throw her away? How would you make me trust you again?" Elle's completely aware now that she's basically speaking out from personal experience, but her mouth has moved faster than her thoughts. And the words have made it more painful to bear that she's finally admitting verbally the fact that their past is still a fresh memory for her. She felt herself slowly resigning for a second, looking a bit lost while Austin tries very hard to keep himself from reaching out to her.

"I've changed," He says, looking very torn and remorseful through his brown steady eyes, while he stares directly back into her soft green ones with pure tenderness. After three years of blaming himself for the failure of their relationship while she was away, Austin knew that it would never be that easy to gain her trust again. But he can't afford to lose this only chance he had, now that she's back... Austin is very much willing to risk anything just for another chance. 

At least, for one last more.