BLOOM ? awsten knight

4

"Okay, I'm sorry for interrupting," Taylor apologises, satisfied with Elle's steady tone of voice. "Let me know when you're on your way back."

"Will do," Elle agrees. "Love you."

"Love you, bye," Taylor calls down the phone in a whiny voice, before the call ends.

Elle wanders back over to Awsten, who smiles when he notices her presence. "Hey, sorry about that," she gives him an apologetic look.

"Don't worry-" Awsten waves her off, being cut off when their order is called. "Perfect timing," he grabs their drinks, offering her iced tea out to her.

"Thank you," Elle takes the cup, looking up at him through her eyelashes, before the pair head for the door.

Awsten skips ahead a couple of steps, making sure he reaches the door before Elle, so that he can open it for her.

Her reaction is painfully obvious, even the second time around, that such a small, simple gesture takes her by surprise.

It comes as second nature to Awsten to be thoughtful, as well as polite and punctual; though, he can't see why anyone else wouldn't be the same.

He's realised that there must be deeper reasons as to why such subtle things, that he sees as just being polite, seem almost foreign to her.

Awsten has his suspicions as to what could those reasons could be, but he wouldn't want to jump to conclusions.

They walk along the pavement, quietly for a moment, before Awsten asks some inevitable questions.

"So, Houston," he starts, catching Elle's attention. "How come you moved out here?"

"Well, uh, my friend Taylor has been living out here for almost two years," she begins, noticing how Awsten's eyes remain on her as she talks. "And I just needed to get out of my hometown, honestly," Elle shrugs, not wanting to remember how it felt to feel so stuck there. "It just wasn't doing me any good, so I thought I'd come here for some sort of new start."

"D'you think you'll stay here?" The question leaves Awsten's mouth before he can get more than a split second to think about it; subconsciously, he's thinking about how he knows he'll be moving to Los Angeles later this year, and suddenly feels conflicted for a moment, but he shakes it off.

"Maybe, I really don't know," Elle replies, hating that she sounds so unsure of herself, but that's exactly what she is. "There's a couple of other places that I might take a chance on, but I think I'd want to travel a little, first," she continues, intriguing Awsten further with every word that leaves her lips. "You know, like, see some places, and then decide, but I don't want to go back home."

"That's smart," Awsten nods. "How about career-wise?" He asks, curiously. "Or is Hot Topic the dream?"

Elle laughs at his comment, her eyes squinting as she does so, and Awsten's heart warms at the sight.

He decides quickly that he likes making her laugh; the sound makes his heart jump, and to know that he's the reason, makes him feel fuzzy inside.

"No, Hot Topic is most definitely not the dream," Elle shakes her head. "But the actual dream is much too far-fetched so I need to work my way around that," she sighs, leaving Awsten curious as to what 'the actual dream' is. "And no, before you ask," Elle speaks up again, noticing Awsten's concentrated look, with his eyebrows furrowed. "I will not elaborate," she says, playfully, as she looks away from him.