Disclaimer: The ideas and events in this story are not original creations of Cassie’s mind they were taken from a song called “Austin” By Blake Shelton.
“I’m leaving and by the time you read this I’ll already be where I’m going. I need to think about a lot of things. I need to find where I belong. When I do, I’ll let you know.”
”She left.” Joey laid the note down on the table Lance sat down across the table. “Where did she go?” “Probably to Austin. She’s always talking about it.”
“It’s gonna be okay, man. She’ll come back when she’s ready to settle down.”
Austin walked out of the department store, tossed her bags into the backseat of her silver Caviler convertible and drove out of the parking lot to meet her friend Trista.
“No, Austin, I can’t eat anything else. Girl I hate you! You can eat anything you want and you still don’t get any bigger than my pinkie finger!
”No! I’m gaining weight! See!” she pinched at her stomach. “Ya know come to think of it I don’t want anymore either.” She looked at the remaining slices of pizza “You know, Joey could down one of these in 15 minutes!” She looked down at the floor.
”You miss him don’t you Austin?” Trista leaned over the table and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “It’ll be okay girl. You don’t need a man to tie you down. Your too independent.” Trista walked up to pay the bill as Austin hung back to try and make herself believe Trista’s words.
“And thats all for tonight. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Austin switched off her television and lost herself in her thoughts.
The ding on her microwave brought her back to reality she walked over to get her dinner and sat down, her eyes falling across a picture of her and Joey at his 23rd birthday party. Setting her plate down she picked up the phone dialing those all too familiar numbers.
“One ring...two.....three....”
”If your callin about the car I sold it. If this is Tuesday night I’m bowling, if you’ve got something to sell your waisting your time, I’m not buying. If it’s anybody else wait for the tone, you know what to do. And PS if this is Austin, I still love you.
“Oh my God!” the phone fell to the floor as her whose body went numb. She quickly picked up the phone long enough to press the end button and dropped it to the floor again.
Her head swam with thoughts of Joey, her life in Florida, Her life in Texas and the words she heard on Joey’s machine. it was all too much to comprehend now. She needed to sleep.
“Hold on man I’ve got to check my machine” he said to lance as they walked over to his bedside table “You have one new message” the automated voice said. all they heard was a gasp and a bang before they hung up the phone.
“Wow.” Lance said. “It must have surprised then when they found out that you sold the car.” he finished with a laugh. “Shut up man. Let me record my new message.”
“Trista, it’s getting kinda late, I need to go home.”
“Whats wrong, Austin? You’ve been upset all day.” “Nothing Tris. I’ve just been thinking of something that happened a few days ago...... I called Joey.” She continued to tell Trista what happened as they walked over to sit at a food court table
Picking up the phone she once again dialed Joey’s eleven familiar numbers..
After three brief rings all she heard was:
“If it’s Friday night I’m at the ball game, and first thing Saturday if it don’t rain, I’m heading out to the lake and I’ll be gone all weekend long, but I’ll call you back when I get home on Sunday afternoon, and PS if this it Austin, I still love you.
After leaving her phone number her hung up the phone and called Trista.
“No, I can’t do anything Sunday. But we can do something tomorrow, though. Do you have to work? Okay What do you want to do? Okay. I’ll see ya at 9:00. Bye”
“What do you want to see?” Trista asked Austin. “Hmmm. I don’t know . I kinda want to see something happy” She replied “Okay How about Dr. Dolittle 2?” “Okay lets go.
”I want one number two combo with a coke.” Austin told the girl in the McDonalds uniform as she stepped aside so Trista could order. “I want the same think.” As they stood and waited for their order they talked about the movie. “That movie was so funny. and When the monkey got drunk, I thought I would die!” They got their food, sat in a booth and continued to talk.
She woke up late Sunday afternoon an after fixing herself some breakfast she sat down by the phone.
The ringing of her phone broke the deafening silence of her living room. She picked up the phone and started her rehearsed answer. “If your calling-”
“Austin!” The person on the other end of the line interrupted her. “It’s me, Trista.” “Oh. Thanks for stopping me.” “Yea. No problem. I just wanted to see if Joey had called you yet, but I guess he hasn’t. I wont call you anymore tonight, Just call me when he calls you.” “Okay. I will, bye.”
“Bye”
At 7:00 that night the phone rang again. Her heart fell to her feet. She had a feeling about this call. Switching off her television she picked up the telephone and started to speak
“If your calling about my heart it’s still yours, I should have sent to it a little more and it wouldn’t have taken me so long to know where I belong, and by the way boy, this is no machine your talking to. Can’t you tell, this is Austin, and I still love you.”
As she finished the silence pierced her heart. After a few seconds she heard the voice she thought she had waited too long to hear.
“Austin..........This is Joey.”
“I know.”
You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear those words and to hear you saying them”
“Joey, I’m on a plane right now.”
“Austin!” he shouted before she hung up.
“Yea?”
“I love you.” he said.
“I love you too, Joey.” she said as she placed the phone back on the hook.