over a month in the United States, travelling, working and touring. He’d met hundreds of people, signed even more autographs than that and helped push his book toward a number of sales he could have never dreamed. Finally, Austin was a successful author, and he could not agree more that it was time to go home. At least that was how he had felt until about a minute ago.
Austin had missed his scheduled call with Finn. Every day since he had landed in America, he’d called Finn at the exact same time. Sometimes it was a long chat, other times it was so short all he could say was ‘Hello, I miss you,” before hanging up. But regardless, they’d gotten it done. Tonight was different.
It was all such a rush. Michael had wanted to leave everything to the last minute, in case the tour got extended. As such, Austin was unable to call Finn with a confirmation he was coming home, which meant he didn’t want to call him at all. He figured he may as well wait until the new was good. But then the plan to return home was solidified and the rush began.
It was all so manic that Austin had been unable to get in contact with Finn. And when he had eventually been able to, Finn didn’t even pick up. Austin had just figured it was because of the time difference, and that maybe he was a little peeved that Austin had missed their scheduled call.
All he’d been able to do instead was send a text message that confirmed he was indeed on his way home, and hope Finn would be there. If not, he told Finn he’d just grab a taxi and see him later on. Now he wasn’t sure what he wanted.
It was moments after he sent that text that Cassidy had called. Clearly a little more than just drunk, he quickly launched into a tale of how he’d just bumped into Finn at a bar and how Finn had tried to pick him up. It was a lie. It had to be a lie. There was no way it couldn’t be a lie.
To make matters worse, there wasn’t much that Austin could do about it. Not long after his call with Cassidy ended, the taxi pulled up at the airport. From there it was a rush to check in and get to the gate before the flight took off. They made it, but barely. And then once they were on the plane, it was phones off... for six whole hours.
And it only got worse from there. When the plane landed at Los Angeles Airport, it was more running, more panic, more shouting and pushing people out of the way as Austin and Michael sprinted – and prayed – for their connecting flight to Sydney. That one they made only by the grace of God himself... and even with him on their side, it was a struggle.
Once on the plane, Austin was led to a seat at the very back of the plane, where he was told to turn his phone off lest he be kicked off the flight, and then left to his own devices for over fourteen hours. Michael wasn’t even sitting with him, as he’d been unable to book seats together. So, for those fourteen hours, it was just Austin and his thoughts. Thank God he had plenty of them to keep him entertained.
It would be no exaggeration to say that those fourteen hours were the longest of Austin’s life. He didn’t sleep. He barely ate. He didn’t bother with the TV on the plane, or his laptop or anything like that. He just sat and stared and got lost in his own head.
Did Austin believe what Cassidy had told him? If he did believe it, what was he going to do about it? If it were a lie, why would Cassidy make it up? Could Austin forgive Finn for such a thing? Did Finn even want to be forgiven? Was this Finn’s way of trying to end things? Question after question after question, and all with no answer.
When the flight landed in Sydney it was just after three-thirty in the afternoon and Austin had finally come to a decision. Firstly, he hoped desperately that Finn wasn’t at the airport to pick him up. That would at least give him some hours to sleep and mentally prepare. And secondly, he decided that he would give Finn the chance to come clean