My First Year with Austin

This story is a sequel to My First Year in College and My First Year in Prison.

Tyler is finally ready to commit to a serious relationship when he moves in with his former College crush, Austin. After years of entertaining the idea, it is time for those two to figure it out: is their relationship meant to last?

This story is entirely fictional and all characters featured are above 18.

*

MY FIRST YEAR WITH AUSTIN

Chapter 12: The 21 days fight

Day 1

"He's coming!" Janice pressed me.

"What?"

"Austin! He's coming out of the lobby, he's walking towards us. What should we do?"

I was freaking out.

"Nothing. We do nothing, Jan. I need to think."

Since how long had he been going to his wife? Had he even broken up with her at any point? In Cassie's mind, were they still happily married!?

Fuck! Austin could not have betrayed me that bad. Right?

Maybe he had been fooling me since the very beginning... Maybe everything had been a lie.

"What are you doing here, guys?" Austin had reached us. "It's gonna rain."

"We were just getting some fresh air... The hungover..." Janice replied.

"You're good, Ty?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'm not equipped to handle heavy drinking anymore... That's what happens when you reach thirty, I guess."

We were not really good actors; it was clear that something was wrong but Austin did not challenge me. He was certainly too busy hiding his own secrets.

"Have you checked for your car? You're going to be late to your brother's place."

How dared he?! He fucking wanted me gone, asap!

I felt a few raindrops fall on my face.

I kept myself collected.

"I did get the car. I'm gonna leave in a minute. Are you all set? Party with the guys and then straight to L.A. afterwards?"

"Yeap."

I could not say if I wanted to cry or punch him in the face, Austin was lying through his teeth. Janice on my side looked like she was about to puke.

The rain intensified.

"Come on, let's go back inside." Austin suggested.

"No... I... I'll just go straight to the parking lot... We... We'll see each other in a couple of days then."

"Are you good, Ty? You're worrying me."

Austin leaned over to kiss me.

I let him, thinking it would be our last kiss.

"Are you?" I asked him back. "Good?"

"Listen, guys, I'll just go to the parking lot, I... Bye Austin!" Janice mumbled.

She smartly ran away from the situation. Austin definitely knew that something was up at this point. Maybe he understood he had been caught.

He changed his attitude once Janice was out of the view, acting gentler. He held my hand.

"Look, Ty, when we'll be home, we'll talk. Okay?"

"Talk about what?"

It was pouring rain on the both of us now.

"Should we go inside?" He insisted.

"No, Austin, I don't want to go inside. Just say your piece. Is there something you're not telling me?"

We were soaking wet.

"I... It's complicated, babe."

He was calling me babe... Seriously? His guilty face, his blabbering, those were all the proofs I needed to be certain that he was lying to me. But I was down putting my head in the sand.

"Complicated? How?" I urged him.

"It has nothing to do with you, or with us, I promise. Ty, we're getting soaked, what is going on with you?"

I had given him a chance to come clean.

He did not take it.

His bad.

"Enjoy your time with the guys, then."

"Ty?"

I kissed him on the cheek and ran towards the parking lot. He did not attempt to run after me.

I left my boyfriend there, being drenched by the rain.

Was he still my boyfriend though?

*

Night 1

We agreed on a course of action with Janice. She was, yet again, showing me how good of a friend she could be, the best of friends actually. She missed her flight to stay with me.

We hid in the rental car near the hotel while I was breaking down. For hours...

"How could he do that to me? I trusted him!"

"The asshole! The freaking asshole!" Janice was mad too. "It does not make any sense. You should have seen him last year, complaining about Cassie, whining about his married life, talking and worrying about you, all the time! I thought for sure he was serious about this."

"I was stupid, Jan. When he mentioned that he was still married, I should have dug deeper. I mean, he told me that his wife was okay with the separation, that she knew about us dating and I just believed him! I know nothing about their relationship. Nothing! They've spent years together! I'm the freaking intruder here! I'm the shameful mistress! I'm the bad guy!"

"Don't say that about yourself, Ty."

"But I am! Oh God, maybe he just told Cassie he needed to go work in L.A. for a year and did not even mention me... All the signs were there, Jan, but I refused to see them. She may still think they are together."

"How could she? You and Austin have been attached to the hips for months."

"I don't know! I don't know anything anymore."

She kissed my forehead.

"You're sure you wanna go there?"

"Yes. I've already told Ryan I would not come to see the kids. I need to catch Austin in the act. I need to see it with my own eyes."

Thankfully, Janice was the one driving, I would not have been able to.

I was crying the whole ride. Pathetic.

The feeling of betrayal was certainly equal to the feelings of love and trust I had for Austin before that, which is to say, immense.

We stopped several times on the way there to talk. And then to eat. There came a point where Jan was starving. I could barely eat though. Janice was telling me that I did not need Austin in my life. I was not sure it was helping.

After much back and forth, we arrived at Cassie's place around 11pm.

She was living in a very small house in the suburbs. Austin and her had bought back the house from a friend of Cassie's parents back when they had gotten married.

"We can always go back, Ty." Janice said.

A part of me was still hoping that Janice had gotten her info wrong. She had not.

"The car is here. He's here."

I did not say another word to Janice and I got out of the car, shaking. Austin had texted me during the afternoon.

"I did not like the way we said goodbye earlier. Please, call me back." He had written.

By his fifth text, he was more explicit: "We need to talk, Ty."

We were about to.

I knocked at the front door.

My heart was racing like crazy in my chest. I thought that maybe I would faint right there.

Noone came. I fought a strong impulse to run back to the car and I knocked again.

I wanted to cry again. But I could not. It was not the time.

I finally heard some movements inside.

I was literally shaking when the door opened.

Fuck.

He was there. It was all real. Austin had answered the door... As if he was still living there, as if it was his own place!

There was a moment of shared dismay.

Austin opened his mouth, his face had turned white, but no word came out. He was not expecting me.

There was no longer any doubt. He was cheating on me. Or rather, he had been cheating on his wife with me!

The reaction came naturally and I could not help it.

I slapped him. Right across his face.

Ouch.

Still, Austin did not say a word. He simply took a few steps back.

"What are you doing here? How could you do something like that? To me? To us?" I yelled.

"Tyler..."

"Where is she?! Does she know about me?" I barged into the living-room.

"Cassandra? Remember me? We met at your wedding. I'm fucking your husband!" I shouted like a maniac.

Talk about trying to stay collected and having a meaningful confrontation...

Seeing him actually there, with his shocked face and nothing to say to me, I just lost it.

"Please, Ty, calm down. It's not what you think."

"WHERE IS SHE?"

He tried to grab me.

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME, AUSTIN! You have no right to touch me. Where is she?! Eh?! Cassandra?!"

"In the bathroom... But please... Listen to me."

"Listen to you? Ok, then. Please! Do talk! Tell me how this is not what I think. Tell me how you've not been seeing your wife behind my back this whole time! Tell me about your sick mother! Tell me about all the times you've been lying to me for the past month!"

Austin looked down at his shoes.

"My mother is not sick." He confessed.

Although I was not surprised, the acknowledgement still pierced my heart.

"Oh my God. How could I have been so dumb? Thinking that my college crush had suddenly magically fallen in love with me! What the fuck did you want, Austin? Play games?! Test some new sexual kinks? I just don't get it. Visiting me in prison, making me a love declaration, sleeping with me, living with me... For what? To go back with your wife?!"

"This has nothing to do with that! I've only been honest about my feelings for you. You know that. You know me."

"I clearly don't! I have no idea of who you are!"

"What's going on?!" I heard a female voice behind us.

I turned around.

Cassandra was there. As beautiful as the day I saw her getting married to Austin.

One thing was different though. She was wearing a night gown and... she was showing a round pregnant belly. There was no mistake there. She was pregnant and she had been for a while.

I had to hold on to a chair not to fall on the floor.

Austin grabbed me.

"I've only been genuine with you, Ty. I swear. Cassie knows about you... And I... I told her how important you are to me... But she... yeah... She's pregnant. Seven months pregnant. I wanted to tell you about it. I did not want you to find out this way."

"Good evening, Tyler." Cassie muttered, clearly feeling very uncomfortable.

Well, this, I had not seen coming.

*

Day 2 -- Day 4

I was back in our apartment in Los Angeles. Alone.

Austin wanted to come back with me but I told him to sort things out on his side. Besides, I needed some time on my own to process.

Frankly, once I had learned the big news, there was not much more to say. My boyfriend was going to become a dad, his wife was expecting HIS baby. I could not see myself fitting in the picture frame anymore.

We did talk when I found out. I vaguely understood that Cassie had called Austin out of the blue to confess that she was pregnant.

She had kept it a secret as she did not want Austin to stay married to her for the wrong reasons. Cassie had postponed the announcement as long as she could, but then, reaching the last trimester of her pregnancy and getting ready to sign the divorce papers, she had finally decided to call him.

About time, right?!

You bet that Austin was distraught after that phone call.

He told me a dumb lie about his mother to have a reason to leave hastily and then he spent more than a week with Cassie to, and I quote him, "figure things out".

I was not too sure of what they had talked about... or what they had done during that time. When Austin tried to explain himself, I left. I could not stand to hear any of it.

I explained the situation to Janice and she stayed with me for a little while.

I did not want to ruin her spirit though; Her wedding date was approaching and I did not want to impose myself.

Also, I had no wish to talk about it with anyone.

Going back to work was helpful. My colleagues, including Jasper, had no idea of what was happening, which was great because I could think about something else than my tragic love life and rest my mind during my shifts.

Jasper told me all about the Masked-Hunk "amazing" show the previous Thursday (apparently, he was wearing a golden jockstrap this time), and I let a sugar daddy hit on me for most of my shift.

Why not?

The man was about fifty years old but he was still very much sexy. A silver fox, as we say. I did love some grey hair on a fit body.

I did not cheat on Austin though.

Although I was tempted, just to get back at him, I went back home by myself. Stuck with my thoughts.

*

Day 5

Austin came back home four days after I had confronted him at Cassie's place.

We had another fight. Or maybe it was more of a discussion this time. I guess there was some progress made.

The few days apart had allowed the both of us to think things through. It was a tough pill to swallow.

"Maybe we should sit down?" Austin suggested a few minutes after being back.

I nodded yes.

We went to sit on the couch. I was a nervous wreck. Austin too.

To be honest, I was even doubting he would ever come back. But he was there. Right next to me. He did not try to kiss me when he walked in though.

Was it because he was afraid that I would reject him or did he want to signify to me we were over?

I started with that.

"Are we still together?"

"Of course, we are. Ty, I love you." He held my hand.

A tear fell down my cheek.

"Really, Austin? You came back to her, for days, and then, you went back, again, and..."

"Cassie and I, we are done. We have been done for months. We have not touched each other since last December. Not once."

"Why the fuck is she carrying your baby, then?"

"Because I tried to save my marriage, Ty! Because, yes, I will admit it, we tried to mend things up, until the very end! She probably got pregnant a couple weeks before Christmas, when we gave ourselves one last shot. Look Ty, I promise you, I had no idea she was expecting a baby. When she told me about it, I was as stunned as you were, I mean, even more. I... I could not believe; I still cannot believe I'm going to be a dad sometimes."

"What is wrong with that woman? Hiding this from you?"

Austin caressed my thigh gently.

It was a small detail but he was showing me signs of affections.

He sighed.

"We had many discussions about it... I was very pissed; you have no idea."

"And now?"

"Now, I have tried to put myself in her shoes. I told her I wanted a divorce, then that I was moving to Los Angeles, and then that I was trying things out with an old friend of mine coming out from prison. A man... She did now know how to bring up the baby in all of this."

"Poor woman... Right?"

"Yes, Ty! I know it's unfair to you. But can you imagine how she felt?"

"Thanks for reminding me that I broke your marriage, while your wife was pregnant! Of course, I think about that, about her, about how she must have felt! All the damn time! I feel awful about it. I feel awful about being the third person in your marriage."

"You're not though. At all. You're not the third person. You're MY person."

"Austin... You're going to have a baby with her... She's still your wife! I will always feel like I'm the side piece."

"I swear to you, you're the only one I want to be with. I..." He put his hand on my cheek. "This is why I took so long to talk to you about this. I needed to clear my own head. I needed to talk things through with Cassie. I had time to do so. And I chose you. I choose you. All over again."

He kissed my shoulders; he held me in his arms. Tightly.

I was crying.

I know, again.

We stopped talking for a while.

I did not want to leave him. Or rather, I could not leave him. I loved Austin way too much.

We cuddled for the entire night.

We stayed together.

*

Day 6 -- Day 13

On the days which followed, Austin was on his best behaviour. Tender, caring, romantic. He brought me flowers and chocolate. He put post-its all around the house with hearts and "I love you" on them. He made the bed each morning and watched my favourite tv-show so we could talk about it.

We talked about Cassie, about the baby, but not too much. The topic was still highly sensitive.

Slowly though, we started getting intimate again.

He fucked me a couple of days after his return and it got us closer. Sex was the one thing we had always been very good at.

It was hard to think about anything upsetting while he was banging my ass and whispering in my ears how much I was his "dirty boy."

I felt a bit silly when I called him "daddy" though.

Janice was not happy about the way we had so quickly gotten back together. She was worried about me.

Janice proposed multiple times that I go live with Richard and her. I always had the same answer to give to her:

"He's my dream guy, Jan. I cannot let him go."

Besides, Austin had not cheated on me. That baby was simply the reminder of a constant in my life: I was terrible at timing!

The days went by, I was working a lot, taking more shifts than usual, and Austin was doing everything he could so we would hold tight.

On the surface, we were fine. I mean, Austin was perfect with me, but deep down, my anxiety was growing. I was seeing the calendar as a ticking bomb. Seven weeks before the due date. Six weeks...

What would happen once the baby would be there?

When Austin explained his plans, and therefore our plans, for the future, I was numb.

"Of course, I want to be there for the baby. She deserves to have a dad."

Incidentally, I had just learned that he was going to have a daughter and not a son. This had never been mentioned before.

"The contract for the stadium was always meant to last a single year so we will back on the East-Coast next March, and then, we can do shared custody like all divorced couples."

"You're still married though..." I pointed out.

"Only until the baby is born, Ty. I told you, it's just easier for the paperwork that we stay officially married until the birth. But the divorce will be official right after."

"What a nice way to welcome a baby into this world. Divorce papers at the maternity."

Austin sighed.

"Come on, you know I'm doing everything I can to make this work. What would you prefer? That Cassie and I stay married?"

I looked at the ceiling.

"There are many things I would have preferred, Austin..."

"Don't be like that."

"What if you change your mind when you see YOUR baby in YOUR wife's arms?"

"Change my mind?"

"About living here, with me! How can you be sure that you are not going to want to give this family a shot? I could not even be mad at you. I would get it."

"Come on, Ty, we've been talking about this, I'm all in. With you!"

The fact that he was getting frustrated about my doubts only made me more worried. Could not he see those were legitimate concerns?

We ended the conversation there. If we were to push things any further, we may jeopardize our entire relationship and we were both careful enough to avoid that.

*

Day 14 -- Day 20

Despite the efforts we were putting in, the arguments became more and more part of our daily routine.

Cassie was calling often to keep Austin informed about the pregnancy. Which I perfectly understood, the due date was getting dangerously close.

Yet, every mention of the birth to come was a reason for another fight.

We were both trying hard but our frustrations and fears were getting the best of us.

"I'M HERE! AIN'T I?! WITH YOU?! I'm sharing my bed, with you, Ty. I have left my whole life behind, FOR YOU. And when I learned that I was going to be a dad, I still stayed! What more can I do to prove to you that I'm in this for the long run?!"

I had gone to sleep on the couch after another fight and Austin was mad at me.

I was keeping a lot of things in, just to not make things worse, but the atmosphere at the apartment had become tense.

I did not want to talk to Janice about it, -- her wedding was set to happen a week later at that point and I could not handle her telling me that I should break-up with Austin --, so I started confiding myself in Jasper.

Even my co-worker could tell that there was something wrong.

He found me breaking down in the bar restrooms once.

"Austin is going to have a baby. With his wife, well his future ex-wife. She's eight months pregnant." I explained.

"Damn, Tyler Braxton is gonna be a step-dad! Who would have thought?" Jasper exclaimed. "May I call you daddy?"

I chuckled.

"I'm so mad, Jasper. I hate it but that's just the truth. I'm mad at Austin, at his wife, at their baby! Can you believe it? I am pissed at an unborn child who has not done anything wrong in this world."