Page 63 of More To Us

"I'm gonna head home," Austin says as he walks me to the door. "Let you take care of her."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. But I'll see you at the gym tomorrow? Around six?"

"Probably six-fifteen. That's when the bus drops me off."

"Why don't I just pick you up?"

"Because it's out of your way and it'll take time out of your workout. I don't mind the bus."

"Okay, but if you change your mind, just call me."

"I will. And hey, I'm sorry about tonight. You drove all the way here and then—"

"Kira." He cups my cheek. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I got to see you and that's all that matters." He smiles. "But you're going out with me tomorrow night. No excuses. It's Friday, and everyone knows you have to go out with your boyfriend on Friday night. I think it's even a rule."

I smile back. "Then yes, I'll go out with you. Where are we going?"

"I don't know yet, but we'll figure it out. You better get upstairs."

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

He gives me a kiss goodnight, a short one, with just his lips, but it still heats me up inside.

I go upstairs and give Amber her medicine. She's in too much pain to talk. Otherwise I know she'd quiz me about Austin and why he was here and what we did in his truck. But instead, she takes her pills and goes right to bed.

The next morning, I go to the gym. It's lower body day, which makes me nervous because I don't know how my leg's going to feel. The past few days it's felt good, but that's because I've been working my upper body. When I worked my lower body earlier in the week, before Austin was training me, my leg ached for days.

"Do you want more weight?" Austin asks as I look down at the barbell that's on the floor in front of my feet. I'm getting ready to do weighted squats, but sometimes when I do those, the nerves in my bad leg spasm and my leg gives out. It doesn't happen very often but it's happened enough that I worry about it.

"I don't use heavy weights when I do squats," I tell him.

"But you only have twenty pounds on there. That's nothing. I know you can do a lot more than that."

"I'd rather just keep it at twenty."

He nods. "Okay. Then go ahead."

I lift the barbell up and behind my head, then check my form in the mirror and slowly lower into the squat. Austin's right. This weight is way too light. It feels like I'm barely lifting anything but I don't want to risk having my leg give out while Austin is watching me.

"Don't let your knees goes past your toes," he reminds me.

I finish the squats without any problems, then move on to the deadlift, and then lunges, my leg feeling fine. We continue with the free weights, and when it's time for me to do the machines, Austin finishes up his own workout, but keeps an eye on me in case I need him.

At seven he leaves for work, telling me he'll call me later to let me know what time we're going out. I finish my workout and head home. When I get there, Amber is gone but she left me a note saying she went to some meeting on campus. Then after that, she has to work at a booth for a convention downtown. She's one of those people who has to constantly be busy or she goes crazy. She's involved in a million different clubs and organizations. Starting next week, she'll be gone so much I'll probably never see her.

With the apartment to myself, I spend the rest of the day relaxing. I do my reading for class, watch some TV, eat lunch, then lay out on our small patio, soaking up some sun. At three, I get a call from Austin.

"Ready to go out?" he asks in a cheerful tone. I love how he's always so happy and positive. I used to be that way until I hurt my leg. I want to be that way again, and I'm already starting to, just by hanging out with Austin. His positive attitude is starting to rub off on me.

"Aren't you still at work?"

"Yeah, but I'm leaving in a few minutes. We finished early. I'm going home to clean up and then I'll come pick you up, if that's okay."

"Sure. I was just hanging out on the patio. What time will you be here?"

"Probably around four, or maybe earlier depending on traffic."

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