Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally or Roman Holiday.
"Just one hour. Please?" Austin brought his hands together to beg. He bat his lashes in the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster and stuck his bottom lip out as far as it could go.
Jimmy Starr, his manager and producer, gave him a dry look, not buying Austin's act. "No."
Austin dropped his hands and let out a heaving sigh. He hadn't wanted to resort to whining, but he was beginning to become desperate. "Why not? Can't I have just one hour to go and look around? Actually be a tourist for once? When in Rome, right?" He smiled hopefully, trying to look persuasive, but Jimmy wasn't swayed so easily.
"No," he repeated indifferently.
This time, Austin's expression broke out into a full-on pout. "It's not fair! I've been touring for the last two months all over the world and the only parts I've seen are from hotel rooms," he exclaimed, frustrated. "London, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Milan," he listed the cities off on his fingers, "and now Rome! It's like I've missed out on my own international tour." He sat down heavily on the hotel room bed, resting his chin in the palm of his hand.
"Austin, we just don't have the time. You know how crazy and busy touring can get. I wish you could go out and have some fun, but there's too much we have to do before the show."
Jimmy clapped a hand on his shoulder, but Austin shrugged it off. "This is the last stop on the tour. I just wanted to go out once."
"Sorry, son. But don't be upset. You have a sold out show in Rome tonight! There's so much to be excited about."
Austin nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I asked in the first place."
Jimmy gave him a sympathetic look, then he patted his shoulder again before heading to the door. "Sound check is in half an hour. Go to wardrobe in a few minutes to get your fitting done."
When the door closed behind Jimmy, Austin fell back onto the bed, resting his arm over his eyes. Most of the time, being an international superstar was an immense blessing. He loved so much about it. Traveling all over the world. Sharing his music with his millions of fans. But there were sometimes, like now, when it felt like a curse. It made him feel guilty, but he couldn't help what he wanted. And sometimes, he just wanted to be free.
"So, do you have any plans for tonight?" Ally looked up from her sheet music, blinking a few times so her eyes could adjust to the bright sunlight. Across the table, her best friend and roommate, Trish, looked at her expectantly.
"Not really. I might go out for dinner, but I'll probably go back to the music hall and practice my piece for finals." She went back to her sheet music, erasing a few quarter notes and replacing them with eighth notes, hearing the melody in her head.
"You know, you'd think studying abroad this semester would've made you, I don't know, a little more adventurous?" Trish replied, rolling her eyes at her studious friend. "All you ever do is spend time in the music hall, sitting at the piano! You and I both know you're going to ace your final, so why don't you live a little?"
Ally sighed audibly. "It's not that simple. Getting into Juilliard was a long shot to begin with, but now that I'm in, I have to work even harder, especially since I'm gradating next year. And you know I have stage fright. Auditioning was nerve wrecking enough, so I have to be extra prepared for my performance final."
"Can't you take a break though? Just for tonight? I have an extra ticket to a concert and I wanted you to come with me!"
Ally perked up at the mention of a concert. "Really? Who's performing? Is it an orchestra? What's on the repertoire?"
It was safe to say Trish wasn't quite the music buff like Ally was. After all, she was studying abroad from NYU on a business major. Verdi and Vivaldi might as well have been the names of Italian wines to her.
"Uh…" she started hesitantly, "well, does lead, rhythm and bass guitar count as an orchestra?" She gave Ally a cheeky smile, but she only received a dry look in return.
"That's not the kind of concert I had in mind."
"But it's Austin Moon! This is the last concert in his international tour! Please?"
"Trish, you know I don't listen to pop music. And I don't even know who this Austin Moon guy is. He probably sings crappy, auto-tuned, industry-written songs that stupid tweeny boppers fangirl over."
Trish gasped loudly, a hand flying to her chest. "Take that back! The music gods might smite you for your blasphemy!" She looked skywards as if expecting lightning to strike where Ally sat.
Ally just gave her another dry look, rolling her eyes at her friend's dramatics. "Seriously, Trish? The music gods? Do you really think Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky are going to 'smite' me for refusing to listen to bad pop music?"
This time, Trish rolled her eyes. "Please come with me, Ally? I don't want ask one of the other girls on our floor. They can be so annoying."
"Sorry, Trish, but I really want to practice some more tonight."
Finally relenting, Trish fell back in her seat. "Well, what am I going to do with my extra ticket?"
"You're business-savvy. Make some money off of it. If the girls on our floor are crazy fangirls like you, you can auction it off to them and sell it to the highest bidder."
Trish brightened considerably at the idea. "Good idea! I've been needing some more spending money too."
Ally smiled at Trish's change in mood, glad to have her usually upbeat demeanor back.
Tonight, she'd probably end up staying in the music hall until the wee hours of the morning, sitting at the piano writing then rewriting her piece, practicing until her fingers began to go numb. What else was new? But she knew she'd prefer to practice all night long rather than go to some Hollywood-produced pop star's concert.
Austin Moon. Who the heck was Austin Moon? She'd never heard of him before, and she'd be content living the rest of her life never knowing who he was.
"Hey, Austin. Say hello to your millions of adoring fans."
Austin looked up from the cuff of his sleeve he'd been rolling up to face Dez, or his camera rather.
"Dez, I really don't think my fans want to watch me getting dressed," he said, resuming rolling up his sleeve.
"Au contraire, mon frère," the redhead replied from behind his camcorder, "I think that's exactly what they want to watch. Or maybe they'd rather watch you getting undressed."
Dez laughed at his own joke, while Austin threw a stray T-shirt at him, missing him when he jumped to the side quickly.
"Come on, man. Do you really have to do that now?"
"According to my boss, yes, I do. Your 3D movie concert experience needs raw footage of you at every step of the tour, so here I am, the lowly intern, recording you getting dressed. Scintillating, isn't it?"
Austin threw another T-shirt, this time managing to squarely hit the lens of the camera. Getting the message, Dez finally turned it off, leaning against the doorframe of the hotel room.
"Don't you get bored just tagging along and recording stuff all the time?" Austin asked, straightening the collar of his button-down shirt.
"You're kidding, right?" Dez asked, grabbing a soda out of the mini-fridge and popping open the top. "Take a semester off from school and travel around the world with my best friend and record footage that'll be used in a movie? Oh, and get paid to do it too? Or be stuck in a classroom with a boring professor lecturing me on stuff I already know?" He took a swig from the can. "Hmm… I don't know, man. Seems like a tough call."
Austin rolled his eyes at his friend's sarcasm. "You know what I mean. Don't you miss being a student? Hanging out with friends. Going out. Dating."
"Maybe a little. Oh, except the dating part. I usually got rejected while I was at school, but now I know I can get shot down by girls that don't even speak the same language as me!"
He couldn't help but laugh at Dez's enthusiasm. "That takes some serious skills, dude."
"You got that right."
Even though he was in a better mood now that he was hanging out with Dez, it was fleeting. He kept remembering how he'd only be spending a few more hours in Rome and he wouldn't even be able to explore the city.
Walking over to the window to take in the view of the city, Austin let out a sigh, which didn't go unnoticed by Dez. "I really wish I could get out there."
"I don't know. I heard Rome could be pretty dangerous. Thieves, and tourist traps, and overpriced souvenirs."
Austin threw him a look over his shoulder, quirking one eyebrow. "Yeah, real dangerous."
Dez shrugged his shoulders. "Just looking out for you, man."
He turned back to the view. In the distance, he could just make out the Coliseum. "I want to be out there."
"You realize you have to leave for sound check in fifteen minutes, right? In that time, you'd make it to the entrance of the hotel and then you'd probably be apprehended by crazy Italian groupies."
"You don't think it's worth a shot?"
Dez raised an eyebrow this time. "Escaping and running around the city? Sure, but you'd have an awful lot of disappointed fans if you missed the concert."
Austin finally turned away from the window, dismissing the idea as he tore his gaze away from the view. "I guess you're right."
Feeling his low spirits, Dez whipped out his camera again, prepared to lighten his best friend's mood. "And you wouldn't want to disappoint your fans, right? You can still give them what they want and strip on camera!"
"Dude! Not happening!"
"Come on, Austin! Do you know how much money girls would pay to see this? We'd be set for the rest of our lives!"
Dez focused the camera on Austin again, humming some raunchy tune that might be played at a strip club.
"Don't you think it's a bit early in my career to leak a sex tape?" Austin asked, laughing at his friend's antics. "Shouldn't we save that for when my career's going down the drain?"
"It's never too early! And, let's face it, you aren't going to be twenty-one forever," Dez said, shaking his head forlornly. "I'll give you another… five years before you're fat and balding."
"Five years?" Austin quickly put a hand to his sandy blond hair, afraid the strands were falling out already.
"Sorry, buddy, but you can't be young and hot forever," he said somberly. Austin couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. "But look on the bright side! You might be asked to be on Dancing with the Stars! And then you can lose all the weight you gained!"
This time, Austin went straight for one of the pillows on the bed and flung it at the red head, laughing as it hit Dez in the head and threw him off balance. They began a pillow fight war probably more appropriate for ten year-olds, but, if Austin were being honest, this was probably the most fun he'd had on the tour so far.
Ally's fingers flew over the keys of the piano, each note echoing inside the room before it proceeded to the next. The song had a fast tempo, reaching sudden highs then lows as she stretched her fingers to reach each note, play every harmony. Her eyes were closed, having memorized the piece already. Anticipating which chord would come next, she swayed from side to side on the piano bench, her body moving with the melody, her heart thumping with the beat.
This is what she loved most about music. Being able to feel something inside of her and then being able to play it so everyone else could hear exactly what she was feeling; maybe even let them feel the same thing too. If only her stage fright didn't keep her from sharing this with other people. It was a strange kind of curse loving and fearing something so important to her.
She finished the piece, her finger lightly pressing down on the last note. There was a pause in the air and she held her breath as her hand floated over the keys for another beat before finally setting them in her lap. This would be the moment when the audience would applaud, maybe even give her a standing ovation; cheer for her to do an encore. She'd stand and make a deep bow, and the adrenaline rushing through her following the performance would last so long she wouldn't be able to fall asleep that night.
But she was alone in the music hall, the only sound coming from her own shallow breathing.
She stared out the window of the music hall, the darkness indicating she'd been sitting there for more than just a few hours. It was late, and she should probably head back to her dorm.
But then she turned back to look at the piano. The black and white keys stared at her seductively, waiting to be played.
"Maybe just one more time," she said to herself. And then her fingers were flying over the keys again.
Of course, she'd been telling herself this for the past few hours. What she'd give to let someone feel what she was feeling. Even just one person.
"I love you, Rome!" Austin yelled into the microphone, appreciating the screaming that got in response. "I have one last song for you. I hope tonight was as memorable for you as it was for me."
He was met with more cheers as he began strumming his guitar, the notes coming to him like second nature. The first words slipped from his lips, the crowd melting at the sound of his voice.
The song began to build, his voice gaining strength as he finished the first verse and proceeded into the chorus. He watched as the audience raised their hands into the air, swaying from side to side as they sang along even though it was a foreign language to them. He closed his eyes, suddenly getting lost in the tune, letting his body run on autopilot.
This is what he loved about music. It had always been the closest he's felt to being free. He imagined this must be what flying feels like, his voice carrying him over thousands of people, swooping and diving with the highs and lows of the song. He felt like he was floating, weightless.
He wondered if he could feel like this all the time; always feel like his feet weren't even touching the ground. If only he could feel like this off the stage too.
The song ended, the last notes from his guitar echoing through the amps, and the audience cheering so loudly it drowned out all other sound. The only thing he could hear was the rapid thumping of his heart in his chest.
"Thank you, Rome!"
And suddenly, his feet were back on the ground. What he'd give to feel like he was free. Even for a day.
AN: Hello, readers! So, this is a new project I'm starting, and I know I should probably focus on my other story, Impossible, but I want to wrap that up soon. That story will most likely be finished a week or two after Campers & Complications airs if everything goes the way I'm planning it.
So, about this story: If you can't tell by the name, I'm taking inspiration from the movie Roman Holiday which is one of my favorites. Honestly, Audrey Hepburn can do no wrong. (If you haven't watched it yet, go do that now!) In this chapter, Austin and Ally haven't met yet, but I thought we needed to lay some basic foundations rather than diving headfirst into the story. After all, this is an AU and those can get pretty messy if you don't work out the basics first. But Austin and Ally will be introduced to each other soon, no worries!
I know where I want this story to go, but I have no idea how long it's going to be. The update schedule for this one might not be as regular as Impossible since that story is my first priority at the moment, but as soon as that wraps up, this will be taking the lead. Any thoughts?
I hope you liked it! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!
xoxo Cherie