I fell asleep last night to the heartbeats in my head

I fell apart when I got home inside my bed

Dear Author,

Thank you for your submission of work to our agency. Unfortunately, we can only take on very few new clients at this time and as a result we cannot currently consider your project. We understand this may come as a disappointment, and we regret that we cannot reply individually to your query, due to the large number of submissions we have received recently.

Sincerely yours,

Janice Greene, Literary Agent.

A deep sigh escaping her lips, Ally Dawson screwed up the piece of paper and added it to the pile of other rejection letters building up in her wastepaper bin. This was the third one this month, and the hope inside of her was beginning to melt away with every word.

She was never the sort of girl to just give up. Her parents always described her as a fighter who would `never stop until she got it her way'. Although this had been years ago, when she was just a kid, and things were easier. In fourth grade, when the class hamster had gone missing, Ally had carried on searching the halls of her elementary school for three and a half hours after the last school bell rang, when all the other kids had gone home. But she found it. And then in her first year of high school, she led the debate team to victory, as they won the regional championships for the first time in eight years of the school's history. In junior year when Dez had wanted to bump his science grade up, Ally had tutored him for hours on end in her own time, helping him to score the A he deserved, which he did. And then there was her own grades, reading club, her charity work, her music.

Her music.

The one thing she had given up on. The one thing that held the upper most importance to her, yet she had just dropped in the blink of an eye. She hadn't written a song in over three years, after having decided at age eighteen that she would become an author, writing romance novels or children books. She needed a way to channel the passion and excitement she had put into writing music into something else. She went to college to pursue this and after a year of getting rejected over and over again by agents, she was beginning to realise that she didn't really feel passionate or excited about writing books. There was no melody to describe raw emotion, no rhythm speaking to her soul. She knew it was cheesy, but music had just been something she would always understand.

She had turned twenty-two years old in May of this year, and she lived in an apartment in central Miami with Trish De La Rosa, her best friend since kindergarten. Although as of August she would be living alone, as Trish was going to be moving in with her husband, who she is due to marry in two days, on the fourth of July. Ally may have thought about how nervous she was about living alone, if she wasn't so busy with the planning of her best girlfriend's wedding. She was the maid of honour, and had got virtually everything sorted, (because she's Ally Dawson and when is she ever unorganised?) with the only tasks left being checking up on the band booking and going over the 'attending' list. After pushing the worries about her rejection letter out of her head, she proceeded to look over the booking of the band she hired. Trish had originally asked Ally to sing as the band, and Ally had told her that she would love to but she wouldn't have enough time around organising everything else. Unbeknownst to Trish, that wasn't the actual reason. Because the last time Ally had performed, she had been singing next to Austin Moon.

The same Austin who had been her best friend all the way through high school, the same one who had been there for her every time she needed him, from when she was upset to when she was frightened to when she just wanted to talk. The same boy she had gone through everything with. The two of them had countless happy memories; watching the stars, talking on the phone until the early hours of the morning about stupid stuff to heartfelt secrets, breaking the rules (which was huge for Ally), and playing piano together. The same sweet, blonde teenager that she had danced at her prom with, written music with, laughed with until her sides hurt…

And fallen in love with.

They were the couple that everyone wanted to be together. It seemed every single one of their friends knew it was happening before Austin and Ally knew themselves. When Austin finally built up the courage to tell Ally how he felt, she had kissed him right then and there, which he had immediately returned.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to do that." He had remarked sarcastically, causing her to giggle softly.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to tell me that." She had whispered back before he crashed his lips onto hers again because he could do that now, they had finally happened.

Their relationship was just like their friendship had been, except now they were a little closer in the way that they held hands walking along the corridor at school, and the way Austin would hug her from behind and whisper in her ear, or the way their hugs would linger just a little bit longer. Austin would climb up to her window in the middle of the night and they would talk and cuddle and laugh in her room for hours before he left quietly at dawn. And of course the kissing and the I love yous…which came shortly after their relationship began because they just knew.

It all felt like a real life movie to Ally, because she never thought she would find someone so perfect and amazing and right for her. As if Austin had just walked into her life straight out of a romantic film.

And then came Austin's first national tour and Ally couldn't go because she had to focus on her music. They both cried but they knew it was for the best because she believed in him and he was so proud of her. He spent a fortune on a 'ticket to anywhere' for her, so she could visit him on tour wherever he was because he needed to see her sometime during the agony of three months without her. Throughout his three years in the music business, he had never played a show before without her shouting support and sending him reassuring smiles from the side of the stage. She had kissed his teary face goodbye and tried not to think about him too much during the time he was gone, focusing on her album and the store that her dad owned, Sonic Boom. She needed some kind of distraction to keep her from feeling this emptiness in her stomach, as if she was missing her other half.

When Austin came back from tour, things were different. They had kept in contact less as the three months had progressed, only sending each other good luck texts by the last few days. Austin found out Ally had started to hang out a little more with Dallas while he was away, who had 'conveniently' starting working in the mall again. He instantly got jealous, which caused their first argument in over six months. Arguing became more of a normality as the weeks went on, in which they began to fight more over guys or girls, over their other friends, and even over their music.

Their music was something they had never argued about before, because their partnership was a match made in heaven when it came to writing music. As they began to reject each other's ideas, they started fighting more and more. They would argue about things not even worth arguing over, because that's what they did now. Before they knew it they weren't dating anymore, they had finished high school and they had got into their last ever fight, in which they had decided they should no longer write music together because, to put it in his words "Obviously, this isn't working." (He had meant it about the song they were writing, but she knew what he had really meant.) The fight lasted for almost seven hours (they were pulling an all nighter for the song they were writing) and there was a lot of crying and shouting and kissing and yelling and sobbing from the both of them.

"Obviously, this isn't working Ally."

She didn't answer him, still trying desperately at the piano keys for a melody they could agree on.

"Ally…maybe we should just take a break alright?" He asked, frustration evident in his voice. Ally snapped.

"Take a break from what, Austin?! Take a break from writing or take a break from us?" She yelled at him.

"Well, seeing as you suggested it I think that's a pretty good idea!" He retorted quickly.

"Fine! Let's take a break then!" She shouted, trying to hide her tears. They just stood there angrily glaring at each other until Austin couldn't keep his tears back anymore and they started running down his face which ultimately triggered Ally to start crying too.

"So are we….breaking up?" His voice breaking on the word breaking. She just gave him a look that said 'I don't even know who you are anymore'.

"I think you should leave Austin." She said quietly, holding back a sob and avoiding his eyes. It was 5am and he said nothing. Neither did she, so he left. He walked out, not knowing that would be the last time the two teenagers would ever write a song together, or the last time he would properly see her in three years. He left, not knowing that would become the moment their friendship ended.

And then they went to different schools for college, where she studied English and he studied Business and they just suddenly and completely lost contact for three years. She kept in contact with Trish and him with Dez, but they never once saw each other. It was heartbreaking for the both of them, but they convinced themselves they were still mad at each other to help them through it. But throughout their entire time at college, they just couldn't bring themselves to commit to any other relationship. Because they both knew that neither of them had really fallen out of love.

Not even a little bit.

Not even at all.

As an alternative, Ally had miraculously managed to book the Neon Trees to play at Trish's wedding. She still had a few contacts from when she was in the music business, and she knew how much Trish loved them so she was planning it as a surprise for her. Thinking of the Neon Trees made her instantly think about Austin, which she found herself doing a lot lately, since she started planning the wedding. The song Unavoidable had sort of been…their song. She had been listening to it on repeat for the past week because she somehow just couldn't get him out of her head.

Shaking the thoughts out of her mind she picked up the guest list and skim read the names. Trish's family, Jace's family, all of Trish's and Jace's friends from college…and then all of their friends from high school…Dez, Carrie, Kira, Brooke, Dallas, Elliot and Austin. She took a double take.

Austin.

Her heart skipped a beat. Obviously she knew he was coming, of course he was. But it seemed to only just register at that moment because she had realized she'd be seeing him in less than two days. Her first love. Her best friend. Her…soul mate. The only person she had held a grudge to for three years straight. She was dreading it.

And it was unavoidable.

Austin flopped onto his bed in his shared apartment with Dez. It had been a long day at work. He worked part-time with an office in the city, and he had never thought he would be doing something so boring. Filing letters, making phone calls to other companies, producing coffee for those higher than himself. After what could be classed as a muffled scream into his bed covers, he forced himself up and walked towards the kitchen where Dez was talking on the phone. He heard a certain name mentioned and froze on the spot.

"Are you excited?" Dez was asking the person on the receiving end. He laughed. "Awesome, I'm so happy for you. Have you given Ally a break yet? I guess she's been going overboard with the organisation."

Ally.

Ally, Ally, Ally. Her name kept circling in his head. Honestly, he hadn't stopped thinking about her since he received the invitation to Trish's wedding. The last time he ever saw her kept replaying in his mind, when they had broken up and lost contact for three years. He still missed her, even though he had cut her off and told himself he didn't love her, and he that he was still mad at her. It had all happened so fast to him; before he knew it they weren't talking anymore and he had thought it was for the best. Austin had completely given up music as soon as his relationship with Ally ended because there was no way he could make it without her. Every time he tried he would just end up feeling angry, remembering how they used to argue. He wondered whether she had carried on without him because, as much as he didn't want to admit it, she was amazingly talented by herself anyway. He had tried to forget her, tried to move on, tried to fall in love with somebody else. But he had realized he had to fall out of love with Ally in order to do that, which unfortunately he knew he had never done. Dez had asked him if he was sure he wanted to go to the wedding, because of Ally. Austin had said he had to see Trish get married. He wondered if Ally had missed him too. He wondered if she still hated him. It was going to be difficult seeing his best friend. His first love that he had just cut off for three years (technically, they had cut off each other). He wondered if she had fallen out of love with him. And he was scared that his feelings for her would come rushing back as soon as he saw her, because that was the last thing he wanted. He aimed to avoid her for the day, seeing as then his feelings wouldn't have a chance.

"Alright Trish de la Loser, Austin and I will see you tomorrow then. When you're walking down the aisle!" Dez laughed, and then after a few seconds said his goodbye and hung up the phone.

Tomorrow. Austin felt a stab of nerves to his chest. He was seeing her tomorrow.

His other half.

So here I am with a new story!(whoa, a multi-chapter? Rachael are you serious?) The wedding is coming next! I am going to try to update this story every Sunday. But maybe after I've finished my exams... (which start tomorrow...oops) I will do my best to update during those though. Please review so that I know whether you guys are enjoying it, and give me some criticism too, anything that will help the story!