BLOOM • awsten knight

26

APRIL 2018

"Do you think she's seen it?" Jawn asks, not looking up from his phone.

"I don't know, honestly," Awsten sighs, trying to figure out what to do. "Should I tweet something?"

"Not before you've spoken to her," he answers quickly, and Awsten nods in agreement.

"How bad do you think it is?" He questions, pacing back and forth; Awsten stopped reading through the hateful tweets after a while, realising it was getting to him, but Jawn kept up with it all, observing quietly.

"To tell you the truth," he starts, "I really think it could be worse," he admits, looking up from his phone now. "She's got some people defending her, and I don't think anyone has found anything on her ex just yet."

"Okay, that's good, I guess," Awsten mumbles, wearing a frown.

"It doesn't look like you're taking any heat for anything either," Jawn says, scanning through a couple more tweets.

"That's not what I care about, though," he responds quickly, the frustration evident in his voice. "She doesn't deserve this, she hasn't done anything wrong."

"I know, Awsten," Jawn reminds him, making him realise his tone had slipped to be a little harsher than he'd intended.

"I really hope this doesn't push her away," Awsten pauses his pacing, his voice coming out much quieter than he'd intended as he rubs his hands over his face.

They hear a car pulling up outside, knowing it's Elle, so the topic is quickly dropped in anticipation of her coming inside - Awsten had told her that she can let herself in.

The atmosphere changes quickly when they hear Elle's footsteps, signalling that she's making her way into the kitchen.

"Hi, angel," she smiles, coming to a halt at Awsten's side, automatically closing the space between them; the nickname still makes his heart skip a beat, but this time he has to ignore the look on Jawn's face as he picks up on it, too.

"Hey," Awsten takes the opportunity to hug her, and she rests her head against his chest. "You doing okay?"

"Mhm, yeah," she answers quickly, "you okay?" She leans back to look up at him.

"Yeah, yeah," he replies, still unsure if he fully believes her answer.

"I'm gonna use the bathroom quickly, before everyone else gets here," Elle announces after a moment, before wandering upstairs. "I'll be back in a second."

Awsten lets out a breath once she's disappeared out of earshot, and Jawn shoots him a look.

"Don't look at me like that," he warns.

"Look at you like what?" Jawn questions, looking smug.

"I don't know what's happening, okay?" Awsten sighs, trying to avoid his judgemental gaze. "Well, nothings happening but, like-" he pauses for a moment, not sure where his sentence is running to. "Dude, I almost called her babe the other day."

"Well, she calls you angel, so I'm sure that wouldn't be a big deal," Jawn looks at him with a sly expression. "How'd it almost happen then?"