My heart was pounding at his words. What could he have meant by that?

"Maybe this time it wasn't a lie"

His words played over and over in my head as we sat through our food. Auston and I stole glances at each other occasionally and every single time my heart did a little flip when that slight smile spread across his face. Every. Freaking. Time. I was in so much trouble.

Maybe Auston was right from the start, maybe this wasn't a good idea.

"Babe?" Auston's voice was low and enticing. It pulled me away from playing with the food on my plate with my fork. I lifted my head and gave him a smile. "Hi" he chuckled. "Everything ok?"

"Perfect" I struggled to smile, still haunted by his words and the meaning behind them.

"You want to get out of here?" He leaned towards me a bit more.

"Please?" I asked standing up. I had been ready to go since we pulled into the parking lot and now that we had put on a believable show, I longed for the safety of the room back at the house. Away from all eyes.

Auston took my hand in his as we said goodnight to the family and apologized for the early exit. The walk to the car was a comfortable kind of silent. As we approached the passenger side of the car, Auston opened the door to the car and stepped aside.

"Thank you" I almost blushed as he helped guide me into the car by placing a hand on my lower back.

Auston moved to the driver's side and started the car.

"You know we're not going back to the house right now, right?" He asked turning to me as he put the car in drive.

"What? We're not?" I was confused. As much as I just wanted to get back to the house and relax, a part of me was excited for whatever Auston had planned.

"Not yet, we're making a stop." He shot me a smile before turning back to the road.

Before long, we pulled into a small, hometown diner. This diner didn't have tables inside, it had a walk up window and places to park. I looked at him confused as he smiled unbuckling his seat belt.

"You didn't eat like...anything at dinner and I was too nervous to. I'm going to go get us some food. Want to come with or should I surprise you?"

"How did you even-?" I started before he cut me off.

"I saw this place when we drove in, I thought it was cute. If it wasn't now, I was going to stop on the way home." He was adorable. He thought this place was cute and it definitely was.

"Surprise me" I smiled placing a hand on his arm "I trust you"

He chuckled and got out of the car, heading towards the window. I decided to get out of the car and sit on the hood while I waited for Auston to come back. I studied his every move. His focus on the menu as he ordered, his smooth movements as he spoke with the person taking his order, even his nervous shifting until he glanced up at me. A smile spread on his face.

"Can we eat here?" I mouthed to him with a smile.

"Of course we can" he mouthed back his smile growing wider. He grabbed the bags that were handed to him and made his way to the hood of the car.

"You're a hero, I was too nervous to eat too" I giggled taking the bags from him and spreading the food out on the hood. All my favorites. "You know me so well" I nudged his arm.

"Nothing is too good for you, sweetheart" he smiled genuinely at me.

There it was again. That smile that made my stomach flip, words that made my heart ache for more than friendship. As I quietly, slowly ate my food the same question kept running through my mind and before I could think twice it spilled out.

"Auston, when you said that maybe it wasn't a lie...what did you mean?" I asked angling my head to look at him.

"Exactly what it sounds like" he turned his head to me with a smirk.

"Sounds like you used real life experience to sell a made up story to make it sound more believable" I stated almost sadly turning away from him and back to my food.

"Hey" he said softly, placing his pointer finger under my chin and bringing my face up to look at him. "This is so much more than that, I was hoping you'd know that by now." He dropped his hand and turned his head away. "I knew this wasn't a good idea, I told you this wasn't a good idea. I knew I couldn't control my-" I cut him off mid sentence and pulled him to me by his shirt.

His lips were soft. At first they were gentle as if they were still feeling out the situation. They soon grew rough and hungry. I pulled away legs feeling weak, heart beating fast and lightheaded.

"Looks like I couldn't control mine either" I said slightly embarrassed looking away from him.

"Good" he smiled pulling me back into another kiss. "I've almost done that so many times since we started this"

"I've wanted to too" I confessed moving closer to him.

"Does that mean this is for real now? I don't have to just pretend that you're my girl anymore?" He smiled brightly.

"This is for real" He pulled me even closer to him and cupped my cheek in his hand.

"Y/N, this was the best idea you have ever had" he chuckled pressing his lips to my forehead. A simple gesture that made me melt. Knowing that the last time this intimate moment was shared it made my heart hurt thinking it was only to make our lie believable but now, the feelings that exploded inside me previously were justified.

"You know exactly how to make me melt" I smiled snuggling into him.

"I'm supposed to, you're my girl" he wrapped his arms around me.

"No more pretending" I breathed out with a sigh of relief.

"No more pretending" he said cheerfully. I didn't have to look at him to know a smile was on his face.