"Hey Ally. What's that from?"
The singer and songwriter duo had been sitting on the piano bench in the practice room discussing ideas for Austin's newest hit single when he had asked that question.
She nervously shifted in her seat, adjusting herself so she was sitting slightly farther away from him. "So I was thinking the song should be in a min-"
Austin cocked an eyebrow at her as he moved closer to her. "Why are you avoiding the question?"
The brunette let out a nervous laugh as she folded her arms across her chest. "What question? I'm not avoiding any questions."
All of a sudden Austin reached over and grabbed her arm forcefully, pulling her closer towards him. She let out a sudden scream and tried to pull herself away from him. "Ally let me see your arms." he demanded.
She shook her head and kept trying to push him off of her. "Austin let go!"
"I'm not letting go of you." he responded, as he managed to get a quick glimpse of her wrists. He gasped and in that moment Ally knew he'd already seen everything. She stopped trying to pull away and instead fell silent as her gaze dropped to the floor.
He pushed her sleeves up and his suspicions were confirmed. Rows of faded pink lines covered her arms, reaching up towards her elbows. But before he could speak, Ally had already stood up and had pulled her sleeves back down. "Yes I used to cut, there are you happy now?" she asked, tears slowly welling up in her eyes.
Austin was shocked. He'd heard about people who self harmed but he'd never had anyone in his life who struggled with those kind of things, his life had been perfect. "Ally..." he whispered, standing up from the piano bench quietly. He began slowly walking towards her but she backed away from him, hanging her head in shame.
"You don't have to say it Austin. I already know. You don't want a songwriter with scars. It would be bad publicity if anyone found out, I know..."
He shook his head in frustration as he sighed. "Ally no... I... why? Why Ally? Why would you do this to yourself? Why wouldn't you tell anyone?" he yelled, anger evident in his voice as he stared at her.
Tears had begun to fall down her cheeks and she desperately tried to wipe them away. "You don't understand Austin."
"So? I told you that you could always come to me so why did you do this to yourself?"
"This isn't about you Austin!" she screamed. "I've only known you for about three months and I've been two months clean. I've been through a lot of stuff and this was my way of dealing with everything. You don't have to judge me for it like the rest of the world already does."
Austin stared at her in silence as tears filled his own eyes. Tears of confusion, of frustration, of anger, of sadness. "Ally, I'm sorry." he managed to croak out. "I just don't want anything to happen to you."
She managed to force a smile onto her face as she stepped closer towards him. "I know Austin... but I'm doing alright now. I'm trying to get better."
In less then a second, Austin had quickly wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he possibly could, burying his head in her hair as tears began to escape his own eyes. "How long Ally? How long did you do this to yourself?"
She didn't say anything as she buried her head in his chest, her head running wild with all of the thoughts racing through it. "Almost two years." she whispered, as she felt Austin tighten his grip around her.
"Please don't do it again."
"Austin... I can't promise that."
All of a sudden he pulled away, his eyes nervous as he observed her. "You said you're getting better right? You can't do this to yourself again."
She sighed and shook her head sadly. "Austin I can't promise that I'll never do it again. It's an addiction. I can't promise that I'll never relapse but I'm trying my best to recover."
"Just promise me one thing?"
"What is it?"
"That we'll always be best friends and partners?"
"Always." she whispered.