Author's note: here is a new oneshot based on the last part of Hunks & Homecoming! Remember when Austin and Ally both wanted to tell each other something and then argued about who would go first and then Ally revealed that she was going on a date with Gavin? Well, what if Austin went first? What would happen then? This is my take on what (I think) would happen. I hope you like it!
Ally's POV
"Hey, there's something I want to tell you." I said to Austin.
"Me too," he replied.
"You go first," I offered.
"Okay," he said, pausing for a moment.
I thought he would be pretty happy about the fact that Gavin and I wouldn't be writing songs together again. Austin and I both knew that dating while also in a professional relationship would never work out, so since Gavin asked me out, I knew that we wouldn't be writing together anymore. Austin and I had chosen to remain friends, and we were both really happy to be able to write together. Gavin, though, was willing to sacrifice our partnership for our relationship.
That meant that Austin would have more time to write with me, which was what he wanted.
"Ally," he said, a little hesitantly. "I know I've been acting really weird these past few days, and truth be told, I've been really jealous because you've been writing songs with Gavin a lot."
I smiled. He would definitely appreciate what I was going to tell him.
"But, Ally," he continued. "Seeing you writing songs with him made me realize...I want to get back together, Ally."
"Get back together and write songs together more often?" I said. "Of course! In fact, I was about to tell you that I won't be writing with Gavin anymore."
"You won't?" he said, his face lighting up, then turning serious again. "But that's not what I meant, Ally."
"Then what did you want to tell me?" I asked in confusion.
"I want to give us another chance," he said softly.
I stared at him in blank confusion. What on earth was he talking about? Seeing my confusion, he sighed and spluttered.
"What I mean, is, Ally, I mean..." he stumbled. "What I mean is that I was jealous of Gavin, because I still like you, Ally! And I know we agreed to date other people, and it's really stupid of me, and..."
He continued stuttering, but I had already tuned him out in shock. He wanted to get back together? As in try dating again? But...we had already agreed a long time ago that we would just be friends, and after Chelsea, we decided that we would even date other people.
"Austin, but we agreed..." I trailed off.
I didn't need to tell him for him to know what I meant. We had long ago agreed that we shouldn't date while we were musical partners.
"Ally, please," he said, quieter this time.
"Austin, I'm not going to be writing songs with Gavin anymore..." I said quietly. "Because we're going to be dating."
His expression changed from pleading to hurt. I could see how affected he was by my statement, even if he tried not to show it.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, and started walking away.
He didn't object, or call my name, like I thought he would. So I walked slowly towards Gavin, turning around only once to see Trish walking up to Austin and patting his back, like she was comforting him. I sighed. I didn't want to hurt Austin. But we were just friends, and I really liked Gavin.
"Hey, Ally, why do you look so sad?" Gavin asked as I walked up to him.
I looked up at him. "What?"
"You look so sad, Ally!" he repeated. "Is everything alright?"
I nodded slowly, looking down at the ground as Gavin put his arm around me. We hadn't really told anyone that we were dating, but at this point, it was probably pretty obvious.
I dared myself to glance back at Austin, who was now sitting on the ground, Trish talking to him with a concerned expression on her face. She was worried about what this would do to our partnership, no doubt. And she was worried about how Austin would further react to rejection.
In an effort to lift my own spirits, I hugged Gavin, burying my face in his chest. But I could only remember how it felt to hug Austin that way, and all I could think about was our friendship and how I'd potentially ruined it.
I pulled away from Gavin.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked. "You haven't said a word!"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I mumbled, even though I clearly wasn't. "I just told Austin that we wouldn't be writing together, so I could work on more songs with him."
"So why are you so upset?" he asked, concern written on his face.
I didn't answer. It would just complicate things. Better to leave them as is. I liked Gavin, and Austin and I were just friends. End of story.
Thinking of Austin's heartbroken expression, though, I couldn't help but feel regretful. It was my mess that I had created, and I had to fix it before it got worse. I didn't want to jeopardize our partnership, and that's why we didn't date in the first place. But no matter what happened now, our partnership was on the line. If he didn't accept the fact that Gavin and I were dating, everything would become more awkward.
So I quietly walked away from Gavin, mumbling something about needing to use the bathroom. I walked over to Austin, who was now standing up, and Trish, who was standing next to him, still comforting him.
When Trish saw me walking over, she immediately walked away from Austin, giving us more privacy to talk.
"I'm sorry," I said, getting his attention.
He turned around, his expression evidently sad. "I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," I said quietly. "It's my fault. And I don't want to jeopardize our partnership or even our friendship."
"It's not your fault," he said, a bit louder than before. "It's not your fault that you like Gavin now. It's not your fault that I got jealous for no reason. It's not your fault that I still can't get over us."
I bit my lip. I knew how he felt. When he went on a date with Chelsea, I felt really jealous, and I felt like it was my fault. My fault that I still had feelings for him, even though I couldn't control them.
"I know how you feel," I said, looking up at him. "But can we just...can we just pretend nothing happened? For our friendship's sake."
He stared at me, a pained expression clear on his face. He had to agree, but it was difficult. Of course it was difficult. He paused. But I knew he would agree.
"No," he whispered instead.
"What do you mean, no?" I asked, painfully quiet in the still-loud crowd in the gym.
"No, Ally, I can't!" he exclaimed, not really loudly but loudly enough to startle me. "No, I can't pretend nothing happened. I'm sorry, but I really can't!"
I blinked back tears. I never cried. But here we were, our friendship dissolving with every word.
"And I know it's stupid," he continued. "But I can't pretend nothing happened! Ally, I still like you, and I don't think anything's going to change that! It's stupid, it really is, but sometimes I can't help how I feel!"
All of a sudden, this seemed all to familiar. And in that moment, I knew exactly how he was feeling. And I couldn't blame him.
"It's not stupid," I said quietly, before walking away slowly.
I took a few deep breaths and blinked a few times before walking back over to Gavin.
"Ally? Are you okay?" he asked again.
I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Gavin. I can't go out with you."
Before he could even question it, I walked away, back over to Austin. It wasn't Gavin that I liked. I was fooling myself. Gavin liked me, and I was trying to be too eager. I was trying to get over Austin when I agreed to go out with Gavin. And I fooled myself into thinking that I liked Gavin. I almost rejected Austin. I had rejected Austin. And it was for the same reason that we were even partners that I hadn't given up on us. He was too persistent.
If Austin had walked away that first day that I told him to stop playing the drums, I would never have realized our full musical potential. Sure, I'd have met him at school, but we would never have become partners. And it was the same thing now. I had given up on being with Austin. But he wouldn't stop trying anyway.
"Austin," I said quietly, when I walked up to him.
"Ally," he said, even quieter. "Please. I don't want to lose you as a partner or a friend. I'll pretend nothing happened. It won't be easy, but I'll try. I'm sorry, please, please, just don't..."
"Austin!" I exclaimed, interrupting him. "Don't pretend nothing happened. Because, Austin, now I realize what was wrong this whole time. I'm not supposed to be with Gavin, I'm...I'm supposed to be with you."
"Don't say that if it's not true," he said quietly.
"But it is!" I replied, this time more sure of myself. "Austin, I'm sorry I didn't realize this earlier. I've been ignoring my heart. Please, I want to be with you!"
He looked up, smiling a little now. "Only if you say it again."
"Please, Austin, I want to be with you!"
He didn't say anything, but instead engulfed me in a hug. I buried my face in his chest, much like I had done with Gavin before, only now I truly felt like I was where I had to be.
I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. It just felt right. We felt right. It had taken me so long to realize, but I finally figured it out. And this time, no matter where our careers took us, I knew we would do it together. No more awkward songwriting and trying not to hurt each other's feelings. We had gotten to know each other so much more since last time, and there was nothing that Austin could say that would hurt me, whether we were dating or not.
He looked at me with an expression that I knew, and it made my heart flutter just a little more. He picked me up a little, still wrapping me in his hug, and he kissed me. The kiss was passionate and full of emotion. It had been too long. We'd only kissed twice before, and bother times we weren't even dating. He technically cheated on Kira to give me my first kiss, one that I'll never forget after I conquered my stage fright, and Dez was the cause of our second kiss. This time, though, it was just us. And it felt good.
"I want to be with you," he repeated softly, then smiling.
"I need to be with you." I whispered.
We both smiled.
Author's note: I know that probably wasn't too creative so I don't blame you if you thought it was kind of boring but I hope you liked it anyways! I'm going to try to write more chapters of Our Ship but I literally wrote this oneshot in half an hour after school yesterday because I didn't have a lot of homework. So I probably can't write too much.