Austin Moon was never really good at waiting, and that's why it killed him to wait ten minutes for Trish to get to the mall's food court. Trish had called all three of them and asked them to go to the food court as soon as possible. Austin and Dez were already at the food court (chili dog Monday), but Ally was not coming.
Apparently visiting her great aunt in the nursing home was more important than Trish's plans. Austin was shocked, but Dez wasn't, "Pff, anything's more important than listening to Trish. I bet she wants to tell us she got a job at some new restaurant."
Austin shrugged, they were already at the food court so it didn't really matter what she had to say. He though about the Apples and Bananas song and thought it would work perfectly, "I like to wait, wait, apples and bananas". Okay, maybe he was wrong about that.
Luckily, the two boys didn't have much longer to wait since Trish came running at them with ninja speed. The last time that Austin saw Trish run so quickly was when Dez chased her with a living lobster. He thought that was funny, even though he'd never admit it to Trish or Ally.
Trish was so excited that she had to take a couple of deep breaths. But she was trying to talk at the same time, and the result was a garbled mess. Finally, she was able to settle down and tell the two boys her news.
"I got the four of us FREE tickets to Six Flags! Tomorrow we're leaving bright and early and we're going to have an awesome day!" Trish said, nearly bursting. Austin stifled a groan, he'd already been to Six Flags like a million times, and this didn't sound fun.
Trish looked at Austin and Dez, waiting for them to burst with excitement. When she was greeted with uneasy smiles she shot both boys the snake eyes and told them that they were going even if she had to drag them by the ears. That confirmed Austin's fears; this was not going to be a fun trip.
"Can't we have a fun sleeping day? You three could come over to my house, and we'll just have a big sleepover!" Dez tried, but his suggestion was instantly shot down. It was her way or the highway, and sadly Austin would rather take the highway.
He thought about all the things that he'd rather do tomorrow, and there was a long list like sleeping and not going to the amusement park. He still couldn't get why Trish wanted to go so badly since they've all been to the park with each other many times. Free did not always mean 'good'.
Austin had no idea that tomorrow was about to get even worse for him. At that moment, Ally was visiting her great aunt Fran and was having the time of her life. The elderly were Ally's type of people. All they did was sit around and drink tea.
Ally adored her aunt Fran. She was a very old lady, probably getting close to ninety and was extremely prim and proper. She was tall and skinny, with a prominent bird like nose, and hair that turned gray many years ago. However, she was incredibly kind and had nothing but compliments for Ally every time she visited.
That's exactly why Ally loved to visit. Auntie Fran would make her feel like the princess of the nursing home. Admittedly, that wasn't such a distinct honor but it made Ally feel good anyway. Every other old person loved Ally too; she was polite and spoke loudly, which is always a plus.
For those reasons, Ally blew off Trish, Austin, and Dez. Usually the four musketeers would always be in food court together, but Aunt Fran took precedence over Trish's silly plans. Besides, it was tea time and Ally didn't want her Earl Grey and biscotti to get cold. She liked her tea with lots of sugar and the biscotti's had to be vanilla.
"Oh Ally dear, you're just as pretty as your grandmother was. Can you spin around for me?" Aunt Fran asked. Aunt Fran was extremely sentimental about her younger years, and always wanted to see Ally be young. She was Ally's grandma's sister and the two loved each other very much.
Ally smiled, got up and spun around for Aunt Fran. This was a usual request so Ally always took to wearing her prettiest dresses whenever visiting. Today was a light blue mini dress that when twirling made her seem to float. Aunt Fran squealed in delight, forgetting for a moment that she wasn't a little girl anymore.
That laugh was another reason why Ally always wanted to visit Aunt Fran. It was the same laugh as her grandmother. Ally remembered being a little girl and doing something funny in front of her grandmother and the same laugh would escape from her lips. The laugh that was more like a squeal and a breath squeezed in to one, it was unique.
When Ally's grandmother died it was almost like a train ran her over. She remembered not being able to breathe when she heard the news, and eventually the choking sobs came. She holed herself in her room for days and refused to come out, the pain was too great. Finally she had to be a big girl and come back to the world, but she never really got over her grandmother and still thought of her sometimes.
For a moment both Ally and Aunt Fran were lost in their memories. It was with some time that they finally came back to the present and smiled at each other. Aunt Fran reminded Ally so much of her grandmother it almost hurt. But she felt good knowing that she still had her grandma's sister.
"I miss my youth Ally. I really do. I miss being fifteen and seeing cute boys. I remember your grandmother and I were terrible flirts, but we both ended up happy in the end," Aunt Fran breathed, again going back to her memories.
Ally sighed and hugged her aunt; this happened often and usually a hug would make Aunt Fran come back to the present. But that didn't work this time and Aunt Fran broke down in to silent sobs, Ally was horrified.
What could she do for her poor aunt? It's not like she could build a time machine and bring her back. Aunt Fran missed her youth, and that was something that a lot of older people missed. Ally couldn't stand seeing her aunt like this and tried to think of ways to help her. A crazy idea popped in to her head, a really crazy idea.
"It's alright Auntie Fran. I have a really great friend, and he's a singer. I'm going to have him come and sing for you and your friends tomorrow. It'll be like the old days," Ally knew she was in trouble once the words escaped her mouth.
She cursed herself; Austin would never, ever agree to perform at a nursing home. Talk about damaging his mojo. Ally cursed herself, she always made these statements and then wouldn't be able to follow through with it. She was horrified when Aunt Fran instantly brightened at the idea, her old happiness coming back in to the wizened face.
"Oh Ally! I love it! I haven't watched a live performance in so many years and I'm sure any friend of yours must be precious! I'll tell all my friends, they'll be so excited," Aunt Fran gushed. Ally had never seen her aunt this excited before, and silently prayed Austin would agree with no problems.
Aunt Fran continued to talk about how excited she was until a nurse came in and told Ally that Fran needed to go for lunch. After saying good bye to her aunt, Ally quickly left, occasionally stopping to say hi to the other seniors.
Frank offered her some hard candies (she gladly accepted), while Marion and Ellen all asked Ally if she'd be coming to visit them soon (she gladly accepted that also). More old people wanted to feed her, saying she was too skinny. After what felt like an hour, Ally was finally out the door and ran off to the mall to find Austin, he wasn't answering his cell so she assumed he was doing something stupid at the mall.
She was wrong. Instead of Austin and Dez causing trouble, they were being lectured by Trish on the plans for tomorrow. Crap, she never heard about any plans for tomorrow. She needed Austin tomorrow, the amusement park could wait, it wasn't like the park was mobile and only around once a year every ten years.
"Austin please, please, please come and perform at the nursing home tomorrow. I promised my great aunt and I totally forgot about asking you," Ally pleaded but the look in Austin's face wasn't good.
Austin felt silly, now he had to pick whether to go to a nursing home and perform for people that were quadruple his age, or go to an amusement park. He'd go for the amusement park any day.
"Do you know how embarrassing that is Ally? I am a huge media star and I can not be expected to perform for a bunch of old people that don't know what the word 'pop' mean," Austin said, not cruelly but almost to that point.
Ally couldn't believe it, one of the best friends she ever had, and he refused to help her make an old lady feel young again. She tried to explain about Aunt Fran's wish but Austin wouldn't budge and neither would Dez or Trish.
She thought of Aunt Fran who was so excited that Ally would bring in a real music act for her. Ally was letting down her aunt down, and that felt like letting her grandmother down too. She felt the hot tears drip down her face and felt stupid. She was stronger than that, Aunt Fran would understand.
But Ally was angry and hurt at Austin, at Dez, and Trish. She didn't think she asked for much but helping her great aunt was out of line? All for a bunch of tickets that she could tell Austin didn't care about anyway. It hurt, and after a moment of tears still dripping down her face she couldn't stand facing them anymore and ran off.
"Ally wait! I'm really sorry; I didn't realize how much this means to you. I'll perform for your aunt!" he yelled and tried to get her to stop running. But she wouldn't stop, and ran even faster when she realized he was following her.
Why was he chasing her? It wasn't fair, she didn't want him to be forced in to performing for Aunt Fran, if he didn't care that was fine, she'll put on her own show. Not knowing where she was going, Ally eventually found herself at Sonic Boom and luckily it was closed that day. She didn't want any customers to see her like this.
She sat down on the cashier's chair and cried. She cried because she had failed Aunt Fran, but she also cried again for her grandmother, the one person who really understood her. Ally loved her friend but she knew that nobody would ever get her like her grandmother did. She missed her grandma.
Every time she tried to be strong and pull herself together, she'd remember how her grandmother used to hold her when she cried and the tears would fall anew. It was hard to be strong when she felt so weak. There was a jangling at the doors; Austin.
He grabbed her close, and started to rock her in his arms, like a giant baby. She felt like a fool but his arms were oddly comforting and she eventually settled down. She put her head on his shoulders and shed the last of her tears.