Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Dedicated to Dri (Skandar-Loves-Redvines), for Christmas and because she is awesome :) And also to Aimy (lonely hands), Jenny (WIZARDOLOGY), and Mad (chasingafterstarlight), because we are an epic A&A quintuplet set. But I've already written the rest of them Christmas presents, sooo...
Merry Christmas, Dri!
In Austin Moon's humble, honest, and entirely true opinion, there is something wrong with the world when Dez isn't eating, Trish isn't not working, and Ally is flirting with a cute guy.
As far as he can see, though, Dez is seated happily behind the drum set slurping down Chinese noodles and inhaling a can of soda simultaneously, while Trish is wandering around the music store terrorizing a group of little kids for making fun of her work uniform. Everything's normal on those fronts.
What's not normal is that Ally, smart, highstrung, pretty (wait – what?) Ally, is leaning against the counter, flirting with the cell phone accessory cart guy. What was his name? Dan, David, Derek, Declan – no, wait, that's a stupid name.
Oh, right. A boy named after a city in Texas. Dallas.
Sometimes, he really wishes he'd never read her stupid book. Why did he read her stupid book? Why did she write about her crush on the stupid cell phone accessory cart guy? Why does she have a crush on the stupid cell phone accessory cart guy?
His hair so does not flop in all the right places.
Austin sinks down into a chair in the corner near Dez, his gaze still narrowed on the main counter were Ally and Dallas are. What is she doing? Why is she smiling at that idiot, and laughing at him, and – and touching him oh gosh she's touching the idiot why is she doing that why is her hand on the idiot's arm and why is the idiot grinning and why does he care?
"Everything okay?" Dez pipes up suddenly, spearing a piece of lettuce with his fork, his voice breaking Austin's swirl of panicked thoughts. "You're acting different."
"No, I'm not," Austin protests weakly, pushing himself into a more upright position rather than slumping. His grandma had always told him not to slump. It's bad for your back, Austin, and before you know it, you'll be stuck with arthritis at age seventy-three just like your poor grandfather, and why is Ally writing numbers on the idiot's hand?
"Yes, you are," says Dez matter-of-factly. Go figure. The one time Austin tries to protest he's not different, Dez actually figures out that he is. "You're staring at Ally, aren't you?"
"No!" Austin says, and his voice may have come out a bit louder than expected. Ally jumps at the sound, and the marker she'd been using smudges ink over the idiot's hand. He looks dismayed; Austin can't help but feel smugly satisfied.
At least until Ally quickly finishes writing whatever it is she'd been writing and storms up to their little corner of the store, making both Dez and Austin startle badly.
"Austin," she says, her voice very calm and even. "Why did you just yell the word no?"
"I…wanted to?" he tries helplessly. "We're, um – we're playing a game. Whoever can yell no the loudest wins. Right, Dez?"
Dez nods enthusiastically, right on cue.
Ally crosses her arms over her chest. She looks really pretty with her hair in a ponytail and that green sundress, but he's definitely not thinking that right now. Definitely not.
"If you want to play a ridiculous game that involves alarming my customers," she says very slowly, "you can take your butts outside and play in the food court."
Before he can stop himself, the words spill out: "And, what, leave you alone with Dallas?"
Her eyebrows rise. "Excuse me?"
Austin clamps his mouth shut. "Nothing."
"…You said – "
"No, I didn't."
"But you – "
"Right, Dez?"
Dez nods, perhaps a touch too enthusiastically.
"Austin?"
"Yes?"
"Get out."
"…I'll be back in ten?"
She's laughing by the time he leaves, and Dallas is glaring, so Austin takes that as a good sign.
a/n: sorry, this is probably cliche by now (if a fandom as new as this can have cliches...) but I wanted to try my hand at these two. Hopefully, I did well enough for you to drop me a review, pretty please?
Don't favorite without reviewing, please and thank you.