Dear Austin...

The Same Day...

From far away, I heard something rumble. The noise was steadily coming closer. Taking out one ear bud, it slowed to a halt. I shrugged and decided to turn off my music. Although I was slightly annoyed that the large truck was forcing me to wait for a more opportune time for music, I went downstairs to my mother.

Although her eyes were closed, I could tell she wasn't asleep. I sat down at the foot of her chair, where nowadays, she spent all of her time. Every moment, she was aching while sitting in this seat.

"Hi Rae." Mom greeted me before opening her eyes. I smiled and returned the greeting.

"I made another list. Just to kill the time." I told her. She raised an expectant eyebrow to me.

"Oh, what about? Wait, don't tell me..." She started. Twisting her mouth around in a thoughtful position, she finally released a long sigh.

"It's about that boy, who was he again?" Mom asked with an eye roll.

"Austin."

"Oh yeah. You obsess over him to much."

"Do not."

"Do to!" She argued. I shook my head in exasperation.

"He asks how you are, every time!" I reminded her. She muttered under her breath.

"He does seem like a sweet man. What was the list about?" She finally relented. I explained quickly the list for her. She made a small noise to fill in the empty space after that, but didn't reply.

"More water?" I asked her. She nodded. I could tell something hurt, so I decided to grab her more water.

When I returned, she thanked me and I left. Walking out, I checked the wall clock. 2:50

Whatever vehicle was rumbling around, was nearing our tiny cul-de-sac. I sighed, but realized it was probably a construction truck of some sort. I plopped down on a couch in our living room, staring at a power off TV. There was nothing to do.

Maybe I could ask my sister to go on a snake hunt.

The truck rumbled closer. It sounded like it was going down our street. I closed my eyes and imagined a vehicle in my head, tumbling down the street and slowing down. The vehicle suddenly stopped in our street. Although the blinds to our windows on the wall were closed, the windows higher up on the wall were blocked out by shadows. Opening my eyes, I saw the room darken.

Must be a cloud. I mused to myself.

The doorbell rang.

"DOORBELL DINGS!" Lily-Pearl yelled down to me. That was her classic response to a doorbell ring.

I stretched lazily, looking at the partially closed door to my mom's bed room where she was resting. The socks on my feet muffled all sounds as I crossed the carpeted room into the wood hallway. The cloud hadn't moved yet and the room was still really dark.

"I got it!" I yelled to LP. I opened the door and my jaw dropped ten feet through the floor.

I gathered it quickly before I made a fool of myself.

"Are you Raelyn?" A tall figure asked me. I could only nod.

"RAE! Who is it?" My mother called from her room. The figure looked at the door behind me. I spotted a slightly shorter man behind him. A black cap was on top a flame of hair.

"Um mom....Do you remember me talking about the guy writing the letters?" I asked her. She thought for a moment. We JUST had this conversation! She had probably fallen asleep within the last ten minutes.

"What was his name again?" She asked. The brown eyes of the tattooed man grinned with a sparkle of joy at me.

"Austin Carlile." I reminded her. I couldn't help but cover my mouth with one hand, joy bursting from the seams.

"Oh! That one! He's such a sweet boy!" She told me again. Austin couldn't help but laugh a little to.

I opened the door more and made a gesture for them to join me inside. A ginger boy and a tall man ducked into the entry way and stood their for a moment.

"So who's at the door?" She asked again, slightly more impatient. I sighed and walked down the hallway. Both boys followed my wake.

"Austin and Alan!" I cried out again.

"Sure, and I'm the president!" She teased. I looked behind me. The tall man held something behind his back while the princess played with his hands nervously.

"I think you should meet them." I knocked on her door and finally let me in. The three of us stepped into her room.

"OH!" She cried out in joy. Austin grinned to her and Alan joined in his excitement. Mom stood up shakily and I helped her stand from her sitting position in the brown leather chair.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Croft. We've heard a lot about you and we got you some flowers." Austin went from the handshake to a very gentle hug. He was the gentle giant for my mom. Alan gave her a very soft hug as well. My mom took the flowers from him. The bouquet of assorted spring flowers in all colors popped out against the tan walls of the room.

"No, it's my pleasure! You boys have been the talk of the house for the past few months!" She smiled. I blushed slightly.

"Well it's been a pleasure to talk to your daughters! They're quite amazing people!" Austin gushed. Alan looked around, searching for something. Or someone.

"Says the guy who tours on Warped!" I teased. Austin blushed this time. My mom took a seat back in her chair.

"Is Lily-Pearl here?" Alan finally spoke up. Mom pointed upstairs and I led the two band members out into the entry hall. The base of the stairs was empty.

"Hey Lily-Pearl!" I sang up to her room. I didn't see her, but her soft voice met us down on the first floor.

"What?" She asked timidly.

"I have a visitor for you!" I called to her. The banister was to high for us to see over, but the sound of her footsteps bouncing down the carpeted steps reached out ears. Her shyness took over as, she didn't come out yet.

"Who is it?" Her nervous voice pondered.

"It's Alan!" I told her happily. I looked over to see Alan and Austin gushing at my sister's tiny voice. Her head poked out and Alan exploded at the seams with a bouncy enthusiasm. She came around the corner and took the last few steps and jumped into Alan's open arms. Just from the way they acted, you would've thought that they were like a long lost brother and sister.

LP's small arms wrapped around Alan's neck as he engulfed her in a bear hug. Austin came from behind and pulled me into my own hug as he remembered that he never gave me a hug at the beginning of his visit.

His warm arms pulled me into him. It wasn't the tight hug that would crush the life out of someone. Rather, it was a hug that enclosed me in a peaceful, safe state. It was a hug that was like a promise that nothing would happen as long as he was watching over me. I could feel his breath tickle the back of my neck.

Even after we had let go, Alan and LP were still hugging. I was surprised. Lily-Pearl never did this, she even rarely did this for me! I'm just glad she had found someone for her besides me. Alan was on his knees, so he could give Lily-Pearl an even bigger hug. Finally, LP let go of Alan. Austin and I watched from the sides. My sister turned to me.

"Can Alan and I play horsies?" She begged me. I thought for a moment. Alan was on his knees, putting on a puppy face (Er, kitty face?) and begging me with my little sister who was still hanging onto his neck. I thought about my mom and Austin.

"Do you need to be anywhere? We don't want to hold you back!" I asked him. He shook his head.

"We don't need to go anywhere, so it's fine by me." Austin confirmed.

"MOM! Can Austin and Alan stay for a little while?" I called to her.

"Sure! They can stay as long as they want!" She called back. I knew that she was celebrating because Dad was out of the house and would be coming back next Friday. It's not like we were going anywhere, anyways!

I turned around to see Alan and LP still begging. I gave them a nod and Alan immediately followed LP up the stairs to her room. I had a gut wrenching thought for a moment. It was an older guy, and a young girl. The horrible thoughts came in for a moment, but Austin interrupted them.

"I have to say, Alan was so excited every time Lily-Pearl wrote him a letter. He would be grinning for the rest of the day and he loved the pictures that she drew. Alan saved every one of the letters." I couldn't help but hear their lighthearted laughter and all bad thoughts were swept out of my mind.

I was with my heroes. Today was a great day.

Notes

Sorry for the even longer chapter, but I figured you guys would like this! (It's a lot of speaking anyways!)

WANT MORE OF LP AND ALAN???? R/C/S!
WANT MORE OF RAE AND AUSTIN????? R/C/S!