Chapter one: Changing Roads
"Austin, let go of me I can't breathe!" Ally gasped between giggles as her best friend seized to loosen his grip on her small frame.
"But I don't want you to go yet." Austin huffed, tightening his arms so she couldn't wiggle free.
"I won't leave now, just give me a little breathing room." She assured him.
They were standing in the Miami Airport; it was just them two, since she had already said her goodbyes to her friends and family this morning. Austin, on the other hand, insisted on driving her here, and he wouldn't leave her side until she was boarded on her flight.
"Fine," Austin agreed.
He retracted his arms only a little so that she was standing closely in front of him. His arms hung loosely around her waist.
She rolled her eyes and beamed at him for his childish behavior. Her smile slowly dropped though, as realization dawned on her.
Ally blinked a few times to keep her brown eyes from filling up with tears. She wanted to go, but she couldn't bear to leave him. He was her world, and she was his. But he wouldn't let her miss an opportunity like this. She was leaving to go to MUNY for four years. Not having him around was going to be hard for her.
"I do have to go though, or I'll miss my flight." She choked, failing on keeping her tears away. A few salty droplets leaked from the corners of her eyes and ran down her cheeks.
Austin took notice and caught them with his thumb. He chuckled; letting out a few of his own escaped tears.
"Ally look at me." He spoke, his voice sounding hoarse. His hands cupped her sticky face and he tilted her head so that he could see her watery eyes.
"You're going to be great at MUNY. You're going to be confident, sing your heart out, kick-ass, and show them what Ally Dawson's made of."
His words comforted Ally, but that's not what she was afraid of. She was afraid she would lose him, with them going to be thousands of miles apart. Although he had already promised her that he would text and call her everyday, and they would video chat every now and then to see each other and work on songs. Cause even though she was leaving, she was still his partner, and he still needed her to be. It wasn't going to be easy, they wouldn't be able to sit next to each other on the piano bench anymore, but they would make it work. They had to.
"Okay." She said in a small voice. Not sounding as confident as he needed her to be.
He laughed though. He didn't understand how, but she managed to make him just extremely happy when he was around her. He was going to miss her so much.
"I love you Alls." He said like he always does when they say goodbye.
This made Ally start to cry harder. It was their thing, to say, "I love you" to each other right before they separated. They would say it if they were leaving each others house, or if he left Sonic Boom, even at school before they had to go to different classes. She knew that it was time to go.
"I love you too Austin." She breathed. She couldn't seem to find her voice.
He bent his head and pressed his lips lightly against hers, this was normal for them too. He kissed her again on her forehead before tightening his arms once again, engulfing her into another hug.
"Call me when you land." He muffled into her hair.
All she could do was nod.
A voice from an intercom announced Ally's flight was 10 minutes to takeoff. Austin gave her one last squeeze before letting her go. An uncomfortable emptiness washed over him. He forced a smile for her. He needed to give her the confidence.
He picked up one of her bags off the floor and handed it to her. She looked at him, trying to soak up his image in her brain.
He shoved his hands in his pocket to keep them from grabbing her quickly and never letting her go. He watched her as she walked slowly to her gate, handing her ticket to the lady by the entrance.
Austin silently hoped she would turn around one more time to look at him.
As if she could read his mind, her head turned slowly to him. She put on a weak smile and waved goodbye. He waved back and mouthed "Bye".
He lost the sight of her when the lady closed the door to the gate. He started to lose all the emotions he was fighting back before, more tears escaped from his eyes.
Bad thoughts ran through Austin's head about what was waiting for him back at home. Not knowing how he would handle moving on with his career without Ally holding his hand telling him he could do anything.
When MUNY sent Ally another invite to attend the school with a full scholarship, he wasn't at all thrilled at first. She was not even considering to go, until they found out tons of the worlds best music producers would be meeting up with students every week. Jimmy was still refusing to sign both of them, so Austin couldn't do anything but encourage her to go. It was her best chance to get a record deal.
Back on the plane Ally was just getting seated. She had stored her carry on bags in the cubbies above the seats, but she remembered to grab her IPod, her book, and her phone to keep herself entertained during her flight.
Regarding the fact that it had only been 5 minutes, she was already missing Austin like crazy.
Ally was sitting in a window seat, she was grateful for that. When she was little she would travel all the time with her dad to his conventions, each time they had to fly, she would get to sit by the window.
Her attention was completely focused at the window. She didn't even notice the guy that sat next to her. When she finally did take notice, she flashed the stranger a small smile, taking in his physical features.
He looked about her age, he had tanned skin and dazzling blue eyes, with dark brown hair that was a medium length and spiked up. Ally thought he was adorable.
The boy sat up straight in his chair before holding out one of his hands in front of her for her to shake.
"Hi, I'm Mitchell." He said perky. He smiled showing his pearly white and straight teeth.
Hesitating a little, she shook his hand slowly. "Ally."
Throughout the whole flight, Ally and Mitchell were consumed in conversation. During those hours, they had probably learned almost everything about each other. Ally had learned, where he was born, where he grew up, his childhood, his family; she even found out that he loved music and according to him he was "fabulous at piano."
She decided not to question his choice of words but instead challenged him on his claim.
Ally of course told him everything about, her parents' divorce, her mom moving away to Africa, her music, her recently conquered stage fright, and obviously everything on Team Austin.
Ally couldn't help but notice how easy it was to talk to him, she felt as if she's known him for years.
Mitchell had stayed silent, and was really listening to what she was saying. Which Ally found refreshing. He politely waited till the end to ask questions.
"So, this Austin guy, is he the Austin Moon?" Mitchell asked excitedly.
Ally nodded.
Mitchell continued. "And you guys were a thing?"
Before answering, Ally sighed. "Well, we kind of were in a way," she began. She glanced up at Mitchell, who was all ears.
"We never really made things official, but we acted like we were. We went out and kissed and stuff, it all just sort of happened. So I guess that was kind of our way of being official."
Once Mitchell realized she was done, he whistled. "Wow."
He glanced up catching Ally's eyes. She couldn't help but marvel at how blue his eyes were, they were a gorgeous shade of turquoise. To Ally, they almost didn't look real.
She soon quickly realized that she had been staring a little too long.
"I'm sorry," She sheepishly apologized. Feeling flustered all of the sudden. "It's just that your eyes are so blue! I don't think I've ever seen an eye color like yours before." Ally gushed.
To her surprise, Mitchell started to laugh. She couldn't help but smile at how sweet and melodic he sounded. But she was still a little confused on why he was laughing.
He cleared his throat. "Hon, they're contacts."
His response caused Ally to giggle. "Oh," she replied feeling foolish.
"It's okay, you're not the first to awe over my eyes." He said as he made his eyes wide and fluttered them towards the grinning brunette.
Ally laughed and playfully hit him on his chest.
A flight attendant's voice over an intercom announced that the plane had arrived in New York.
Ally felt immediately disappointed. She really enjoyed talking to Mitchell.
"Hey I forgot to ask you, what brings you to New York?" She asked feeling curious. Maybe this wouldn't be the last time she saw him.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to be the next Broadway star!" He joked.
Ally rolled her eyes and raised one of her eyebrows. Waiting for his real answer.
"I'm kidding. I'm actually here because I was accepted to attend a music university in New York."
Ally's mouth dropped. She felt like jumping up and down in excitement. She couldn't believe that Mitchell was possibly going to the same school as her.
"You don't happen to be talking about the Music University of New York? As in MUNY?" She asked, hoping for a positive answer.
He nodded. "Yeah, you've heard of it?"
"Not only have I heard of it, I'm going to be going there too!"
Now Mitchell was grinning from ear to ear, revealing his dimples that Ally had seen many times throughout the flight. She adored them.
"No way!" He took out his phone and handed it to Ally. "Put your number in, cause girl were totally hanging out!"
Again Ally pushed aside the urge to question his choice of words. So she took his phone and quickly entered her number.
Once they had landed. Ally and Mitchell walked together and picked up their baggage at the baggage claim. They stopped at a star bucks in the airport, and Mitchell bought them both a frappe chino. *
They sat at a table, and talked some more while enjoying their coffee. By this time Ally's mind was so completely wiped, that she completely forgot to call Austin.
It was when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket and saw Austin's name on the screen 4 times, she remembered about telling him she would call him. She felt a tad bit guilty.
Mitchell took notice at her worried expression. "What's up?"
Ally glanced up and then excused herself so she could go call Austin.
He picked up after the third ring.
"Hello?"
"Austin hey, sorry I didn't call you." She apologized, hoping that he wouldn't ask questions.
"It's okay. How was your flight? You didn't have a kid kicking your seat the entire time did you?" He laughed.
Hearing his laugh made her heart ache. She missed him so much already.
She laughed along. "No, but I made friends with the person who sat next to me. He's even going to MUNY!"
That's when Austin stopped laughing. "He?"
By the tone of his voice Ally instantly regretted telling Austin about Mitchell.
"Uh, yeah Mitchell." She replied feeling nervous.
She could hear him clear his throat over the line. She was hoping that didn't mean anything bad.
"Ok, uh are you still with him?" He asked already knowing the answer.
"Ye-yeah-" Ally stammered, but she was cut off by Austin's voice through the phone.
"You know what, I uh I got to go." He said quickly before hanging up.
Ally looked at her phone to confirm that the line went dead. She didn't think he sounded angry but he sounded more upset.
Back in Miami, Austin was in the practice room playing with different tunes and notes on the piano. He was thinking of what Ally was saying. He didn't realize she would meet someone so quickly. Knowing that he shouldn't, he couldn't help but have an intense feeling of jealousy. The thought kept pondering in his head, why didn't he just go with her? Well there was a million reasons why he couldn't and he knew that but he wished there was only a few of them, so he could figure out a way to move up there and keep her away from any guy that's breathing.
Austin didn't even know Mitchell and yet, he despised him. Mostly because he was up there, with Ally and he wasn't, and the fact that he's going to the same school with her made him hate Mitchell that much more. How come that guy gets to see Ally everyday and he couldn't? The question made his insides boil.
Ally hadn't said much when she sat back down at the table. Even though they hadn't known each other long, Mitchell could tell something wasn't right.
"Are you alright?" He asked in the most possible sweetest tone.
She looked up and nodded. But she sighed shortly after. "I just got off the phone with Austin. I think he's upset with me." She said glumly.
"Well I doubt that," Mitchell replied cheeky. "It's impossible to be upset with a sweetheart like you."
Ally couldn't help but grin at that. She looked at him to see him smiling back at her with his defined cheekbones.
She picked up her frappe in front of her and took a quick sip. "Apparently it is possible."
Mitchell decided it was best to drop the subject. They soon finished with their drinks and headed off. Ally's mood was continuing to drop as Austin was refusing to answer her text messages. She hadn't even been gone a whole day and she felt like she was already losing him completely. Still having some hope she rested on video chatting him once she got to her dorm.
They were both going to the same place, so of course they decided to share a cab. Once they were dropped off, they said their goodbyes, and Mitchell pulled Ally in for a quick hug. They had already agreed they would meet up later.
Ally was grateful she already made a friend, and she was almost certain that her and Mitchell were going to be best friends.
When she arrived at her dorm, there was no one there. But Ally couldn't believe the room that stood before her. The room was large. Ally thought it could of passed for an apartment. It looked like a large living room that separated off to a small kitchen. There were three doors, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Being the first one there, she thought she was able to pick which bedroom she wanted. But when she got a closer look she realized there were already names on the doors.
She went in the room with "Ally" on the door. In the room, the walls were a light turquoise color, which Ally thought was gorgeous. There was a large bed in the middle of the room and a flat screen TV on the opposite wall. From where she was standing she thought that was the jest of it. She walked in a little further, and caught something from the corner of her eye. When she turned her head she held in a shriek of excitement. There was a baby grand piano in the corner that looked almost exactly like the one she had at home.
As badly as she wanted to play it at the moment, she was still wanting to video chat Austin. She dug out her laptop from one of her bags and leaped onto her bed.
When she logged on, she looked to see if Austin was online. To her benefit he was and she didn't hesitate to call him. It rang a few times before he accepted her call.
His image popped up on the screen. Seeing him, made Ally's heart lurch, because it made her realize just how much she missed him.
"Hey." She said softly.
Austin was reluctant on answering. But he decided it was best for him to talk to her, or else she would get the impression he was avoiding her, which he kind of was.
But seeing her big brown eyes through his screen, made his grudge disappear. Now he was just happy to finally see her face.
"Hey beautiful." He replied with a smirk.
They might have been thousands of miles apart, but Austin still managed to make Ally's stomach do flips.
"I miss you." Said Ally. She couldn't say anything else, cause that's all she could think about. She longed for him to be with her at the moment.
He laughed. "Already?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
He nodded along with her. "I miss you too. Like crazy."
Hearing Ally say that she missed him made him realize just how hard these four years were going to be. As soon as he got home he started to talk up his parents on getting him a flight to New York, ASAP. If she's going to be gone that long he needed to go see her at least once a week. But he knew that would be too hard, financially.
"When are you coming to visit me?" Ally asked. Hoping the answer was tomorrow.
Her words stung. He had no idea. He just shrugged.
"Trish has me booked for the next few months with interviews, concerts, meet and greets, CD signings." He sighed. "Unfortunately none of them are in New York."
Ally quickly fought back some tears. Being separated from Austin for that long, was heart wrenching. It made her devastated to even have to think about it. She knew she was going to be depressed for the next few months.
"Austin I don't want to do this." She cried.
Those were the words he was afraid of hearing as soon as she got on her plane. He immediately started shh-ing her through his screen. It killed him not being able to hold her right now. He wanted more than anything to somehow climb though his screen to her so he could comfort her.
"Ally, this is your dream." He reminded her.
Instead of looking at the screen, she was studying her fingers in her lap. She sniffed.
"I know." She mumbled. "But, I wish you could be with me."
"So do I." Austin said honestly.
"Fly up here as soon as you can okay?"
He nodded. "I will. I promise."
Ally checked the time. She was supposed to be meeting Mitchell in an hour. She looked back at her computer. Austin's brown eyes were filled with worry, and sorrow. He was taking it just as hard as she was.
"I love you." She said. Signaling to him that she was saying goodbye.
Austin didn't want to say goodbye just yet. But he knew Ally was probably tired, and she still needed to get settled in her dorm room. It hurt still. He just wanted to see her forever.
"I love you too." He finally said.
She smiled at him, one last time through her tears, before hanging up the call.
A/N PLEASE READ.
So I got this idea for a story, I started writing it, and I have a million things that are going to happen. Trust me it's going to be dramatic. Don't worry this is 100% an Auslly story, you don't have to worry about Mitchell, he's not a threat and you'll see why in probably the next chapter.
Here are the only things I'm going to tell you:
This story is NOT going to be all about Ally going to MUNY.
There will be a LOT of drama.
*I do not own starbucks.
Please review cause I want to know if you guys like this story, This chapter might be a little boring but trust me things are going to escalate pretty quickly.
If you can guess something about Mitchell I'll give you a shout out.
Its nothing random, cause I tried to make it obvious.
~SYDNEY