"Austin, I thought you said you were done with the fights," she scolds him, handing him yet another ice pack for his bruised body.
"I say a lot of things, Ally." He takes the ice pack and gingerly presses it to his already-black eye.
"Yeah, but…do you really enjoy getting beat up?"
"That isn't fair. You know I usually win."
"Sure. But you also usually end up over here half-naked and bathing in all our good bags of frozen vegetables."
"Which is why you now have a nice big stash of ice packs, just for yours truly." He shoots her a cheeky grin, which looks a bit pathetic with his bloody lip and puffy eye that he can hardly see out of. "And besides, you like it."
She rolls her eyes and resists the urge to smack him. "Sorry, I'm not one of your fans."
"Maybe not in the open. But don't think I don't know about your secret shrine to me in your closet."
"This is always easier when you're knocked out."
"Why? So you can touch me inappropriately without me knowing?"
"I just can't win with you."
"No, you can't."
This time, she does swat his chest, albeit lightly. Still, he's bruised all over and he winces in pain. She smirks in satisfaction while he adjusts his ice.
"So…why did you get in that fight to begin with? It looked worse than most."
"That's because it was."
He shifts his position laying down on her living room couch, grimacing. She watches him from her seat in the arm chair across from him.
"Wanna tell me why?"
"It was personal."
She watches him expectantly.
"Olivia ditched me for him," he mutters. "She dumped me so she could go out with that – that – "
"Jerkface butthead meaniepants?" she suggests.
He chuckles. "Jerkface butthead meaniepants," he agrees. Then, he sighs. "Anyway, I actually liked her. And he just took her away from me. So I got pissed and, well, my fist accidentally bumped into his face. Really, really hard."
"I'm sorry, Austin," she says. "I know how much you liked her."
"It's whatever," he says with a sigh. "She must not have felt the same."
"Well, she's crazy."
"Thanks, Ally."
"Anyway, how're you feeling?"
"Like I just lost a cage fight."
"Well, there was no cage…"
"Funny."
"I just don't see why you constantly do this."
"Because it's me."
"Well…you should stop."
"We'll see. I wanna watch a movie."
"Why should we do what you wanna do?"
"Because I'm hurt."
Ally purses her lips.
"Fine."
She puts on his favorite movie and they watch it in silence. But halfway through, she looks over to check on him and realizes he's asleep.
Apparently getting the crap beat out of him was pretty exhausting.
"Hey, Ally," Trish says, walking up to her in the hallway.
"Hey."
"Did you hear about Austin's party?"
Ally knits her eyebrows. "He's having a party?"
"Yeah. I was sure he would've told you."
"He didn't say anything," she says with a frown. "Maybe he just forgot."
"Probably," Trish agrees.
Just then, the blond bad boy himself saunters up to them.
"Ladies."
"Please," Trish says, rolling her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Ally asks, giggling at Trish's comment.
"I'm good," Austin replies. "It's been like a week. You can stop asking now."
"Great. So…you're having a party?"
Ally notices Austin's eyes widen slightly, but in a split second he's back to his calm, cool demeanor.
"I wasn't aware."
"Well, Trish just said – "
"Trish!" he exclaims, glaring at the Latina. "You ruined the surprise!"
"Surprise?" the two girls ask together.
"Yes!" The blond lets out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. "The party was supposed to be a surprise birthday party for you, Ally."
"But my birthday isn't for another six months," she says, knitting her eyebrows together.
"Would've been quite the surprise, huh?" Austin says with one of his signature cheeky, sarcastic grins.
Ally watches him for a few seconds, not fully believing him. But she decides to drop the subject and ask him about it later when Trish isn't around.
"Sure." She rolls her eyes and walks to class, the school's most notorious bad boy on her heels.
After a long, boring class period in which Austin managed to get himself a week's detention because of his apparent lack of manners and a working filter, the pair walks to lunch together.
"Ally, you don't mind if I sit with Dez and the others today, right?" Austin asks her.
"The others" being the rest of the coolest guys in school, guys Ally is not associated with, guys who fully support Austin's crazy bad boy antics and illegal decisions.
"Sure," she says with a smile. "But…won't Olivia be over there?"
"Nah, she's off with her new boyfriend."
"Oh. Well, I'll see you later, then."
She waves and walks off to her usual table and sits down next to Trish.
"Where's Austin?" Trish asks.
"With everyone else. He needs some bromance to fill the hole in his heart after losing Olivia."
"Ah," Trish says with a chuckle. "Dez'll be perfect for that."
Ally giggles. "Yeah, he will. At least Austin always has him to fall back on."
"Right. So, are you gonna go to the party?"
Ally sighs. "Austin clearly doesn't want me there."
"So crash it! C'mon, it'll be fun! And besides, once Austin's got a little alcohol in him he won't even care!"
"Alcohol?"
Trish raises her eyebrows. "No…?"
"That's it. I'm not going."
"Loser," Trish pouts.
"Austin may be my best friend – "
"Best friend?"
"Second best friend, oh darling Trish," Ally says, rolling her eyes. "Either way, just because we're close doesn't mean I agree with his decisions."
"Oh, come on. You can't honestly say that you don't think he's fun."
"He makes terrible life choices!" she exclaims.
"Good life choices are for old people and lawyers! You don't see any celebrities making good life choices!"
"Maybe I wanna be a lawyer," Ally pouts childishly.
"And maybe I wanna be a millionaire. But I hate working and you hate arguing. Ally, it's one party. And it's at Austin's house. It's familiar territory."
"No."
"What if Austin wanted you to go?"
"He doesn't."
"But if he did?"
"I still wouldn't."
"But…don't you like him?"
"No!" Ally exclaims loudly, receiving a few odd looks from people at nearby tables. "Where on earth would you get that idea?!" she asks, still too loud but not as much.
"You flirt with him, like, constantly," Trish says, raising an eyebrow.
"You've officially lost your mind," Ally says decidedly.
"Whatever." Trish shrugs and continues eating her lunch.
Ally glances over at Austin, who's laughing with his other friends. She's not the jealous type, but that doesn't stop her from wishing she wasn't so afraid of everything Austin enjoys. Maybe she should open up a little more.
Or maybe that's the worst thought to ever cross her mind and she should just keep eating her lunch like the good girl she is.
She walks into the party and realizes immediately that she's underdressed. In a pair of short shorts she never wears, Converse, and a faded band t-shirt, she looks around at all the tiny dresses and five-inch heels.
Walking further into Austin's hardly-recognizable house, she smells sweat and alcohol, and she nearly gags. But she presses on in the dim lighting, squeezing between strangers in search of the stairs. Maybe taking a few breaths of air on Austin's quiet balcony will help prepare her for the night ahead.
She walks into Austin's room, hears a scream, lets out a scream, and shuts the door quickly. So much for that plan.
She sighs and makes her way back downstairs to the party, deciding to look for Austin instead.
Unfortunately, a different annoying blond finds her first.
"Didn't expect to see you here, sweetheart," she hears the all-too-familiar low voice slur in her ear.
He's the kid who thinks he's all that, but is really no better than the gum on the bottom of her shoe. He likes to pretend he's close to Austin just for the attention and popularity he thinks he gets from it, but really everyone knows he's just a desperate, wannabe cool kid. He has no redeeming qualities, other than the fact that he comes from one of the richest families in Miami and she's heard that the parties he hosts on his family's golf course are the best in town. But he's a jerk and a total perv; Ally should know. He's been trying to hook up with her for years.
Who is this annoying rich kid? She thinks he's got a name that perfectly matches his unappealing looks and personality.
Kyle Moore.
"What do you want, Kyle?" she asks, shrinking away from the smell of alcohol on his breath.
"We both know what I want, darling," he drawls, toying with a lock of her hair. She tugs it out of his hand.
"We also both know that you're not gonna get it. So go hit on someone desperate."
"Aw, but the desperate ones are no fun."
"Kyle, I'm really not in the mood for this. I can hardly deal with you when you're sober."
"But I am in the mood."
"Well, you can just – "
"What're you doing here?" a voice asks from behind her. She winces at the frustrated tone of the speaker.
Kyle looks up and smirks. "Get in line, Moon. I get first dibs."
"Keep it in your pants, Moore. She's still not into you."
"You don't know that."
"I'm not into you!" she exclaims.
"C'mon, sweetheart…" Kyle slurs, reaching for her hair again.
Austin smacks his hand away.
"Just get out of here before I do something we both regret."
"Aw, what're you gonna do, Moony? Try to get with her first?"
"Okay you're not getting this," Austin says, a very unamused smile plastered on his face. Ally swallows and takes a few steps backwards. "Ally Dawson is off-limits."
"Wow, I'm so scared," Kyle says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "And if I trespass on these limits, what're you gonna do then? Arrest me?" He laughs at his own insult (and a bad one, in Ally's opinion).
Austin suddenly grabs Kyle by the collar and looks him unwaveringly in the eyes. Even Ally jumps in surprise.
"You even breathe around her one more time, and I will beat you so hard your mother will be mopping up your blood for a week, do you understand me?" Austin spits intensely through gritted teeth, barely above a whisper.
Ally swallows, her eyes wide in shock. Sure, she's seen videos and heard the rumors, but she's never seen Austin act like this in person. He's usually very collected when she's around, even when she knows he's angry.
Kyle just smirks at Austin and puts his hands up in mock surrender.
"You got me," he drawls sarcastically. "I won't breathe near your darling little princess again. At least" – he leans in and smirks devilishly, staring Austin dead in the eyes – "not while she's sober."
Apparently, that's the last straw for Austin. Still holding Kyle by the collar with one hand, he swings his right arm back and lands a hard punch to Kyle's nose. Kyle, clearly the weaker of the two, stumbles out of Austin's grasp and collapses on the floor, his nose already gushing blood. Austin kneels down with his knee on Kyle's chest and starts throwing punch after punch at the boy's face.
"Austin, stop!" Ally screams, running over and trying to pull Austin off him. When she's unsuccessful, Ally looks around for help. All she sees are a few grinning, wasted spectators filming the events and paying no attention to the fact that this is an actual problem.
"Austin!" she screams again, grabbing his arm.
This time, he whips his head to the side to look at her, jaw clenched and eyes wild with rage.
"Stop!" she tells him.
He looks down at his bloody knuckles, and then at Kyle's face, and then up at her again.
"You won, just…stop," she pleads with him. "He – we have to call an ambulance or – or – "
"What is going on here?!" Trish exclaims, pushing through the crowd and into Ally's line of sight. "I missed another fight?!"
"Trish, call an ambulance!" Ally exclaims.
"Ally, quit worrying! I'm not gonna get alcohol poisoning again, I promise!" the Latina slurs, grinning.
"I mean for Kyle!"
"Oh. Fine." Trish pulls out her phone and calls the ambulance.
Meanwhile, Ally pulls Austin off of Kyle and away from the scene. She takes him to the back yard, where there are surprisingly very few people around.
"What were you thinking?!" she exclaims, whacking his chest. "You hurt him!"
"That was the point."
"I'm serious!"
"So am I. Did you not hear what he was saying?"
"He always says stuff like that, it's Kyle! But that's not an excuse to beat him to death!"
"Sure it is."
"Austin!"
"What, Ally?!"
"You said no more fights!"
"When are you going to learn to stop believing that?!"
Ally sighs in frustration, and he does, too.
"Austin, that one was different."
"It was personal again."
"You were just looking for a fight."
"He threatened you."
"I don't need a hero."
"I'm not your hero. The last thing I do is heroics."
"Then what do you call that back there?"
"I call it not letting him hurt my best friend."
"I could've handled it."
Austin runs a hand through his hair, seeming to forget that Kyle's blood is still on his skin. Ally bites her lip.
"Thank you," she says.
"Yeah."
"You, um…" she trails off and gestures to the blood now sticking to his hair, but he doesn't seem to care.
"You should go home," Austin tells her. "This isn't your thing. That's why I didn't want you knowing about it in the first place."
"I'm fine," Ally argues. "Shouldn't you be encouraging me to get out of my comfort zone, Mr. Bad Boy?"
"Maybe, if you weren't you."
"What does that even mean? What makes me so different?"
"You're my best friend, I told you that," he says. "Just…please go home."
"Maybe later," Ally replies with a smirk. "I heard that there is some illegally stolen alcohol somewhere here."
Austin purses his lips and sighs, shaking his head. He walks away from her, leaving her to look for said alcohol herself.
She finds it eventually, after Kyle has been successfully taken away in the ambulance without the party being crashed. Trish helps her, and Ally simply drinks whatever her friend gives her, trusting her probably more than she should.
It doesn't take long for Ally to start feeling a buzz coursing through her veins. It's hard to balance on her feet, and everything looks and sounds fuzzy.
But she kind of likes it.
She grins and thanks Trish before walking off to look for Austin and ask him how proud he is of her for not being such a goodie-goodie.
He seems to find her first.
"What're you still doing here?" he asks her, still clearly drunk.
"I'm partying!" she exclaims happily, wobbling a bit on her feet.
Austin runs a now-clean hand down his face. "You didn't drink anything, did you?"
"I drank a lot! Trish helped me find the perfect things. They were kinda gross at first, but then they were pretty good! Now everything's all fuzzy and the world is loopy!" She giggles, looking around.
"Ally, you need to leave."
"No I don't. You always say I can come here whenever I want." She crosses her arms and nods curtly at the blond.
"Ally, leave."
She narrows her eyes and scrunches her nose. "Make me."
Austin sighs in exasperation. "How do I 'make you?'"
"Kiss me goodnight," she says decidedly, nodding at her brilliant idea.
"No way." He pushes her gently towards the door.
"You gotta. Or else I'm not leaving." She sits on the floor, crossing her legs and glaring up at him.
"Get up," he tells her, grabbing her arms and gently pulling her back into a standing position. "I need you to go home, okay?"
"I will. After you kiss me goodnight."
"Fine." He kisses her cheek, and immediately her face heats up. "Goodnight." Again, he pushes her towards the door.
"That's not what I – "
"I know what you meant." He shoots her a small smile and a wave before shutting the door and leaving her outside.
"So, are you gonna tell me why you showed up at my party the other night?" Austin asks, walking up to her at school.
"I thought it would be fun. And Trish pressured me."
"I thought you were against peer pressure."
"I wanted to feel cool."
"How was that hangover?"
"I thought I was going to die."
The blond laughs at her and she frowns.
"Drunk Ally was pretty entertaining."
"I didn't do anything bad, did I?" she asks worriedly.
Austin shakes his head. "Nah. Although you did beg me for a kiss goodnight before I kicked you out."
"I what?"
"I always knew you couldn't resist me."
"I was drunk."
"They say that's when people are the most honest."
Ally rolls her eyes.
"But don't worry," Austin continues. "I satisfied your pressing needs with a kiss on the cheek and then I sent you merrily on your way."
"Alone?"
"You were fine."
Ally sighs. "I'm upset with you."
"Would a kiss make it better?"
Ally smacks his shoulder and he laughs.
"How's Kyle?" she asks him.
He shrugs. "Why should I care?"
"You nearly beat him to death!"
"Whoops."
"You don't even feel sorry?"
"Not really."
"Well, I do."
"Why?"
"You hurt him!"
"Good," Austin says with a humorless chuckle. "He was gonna try to hurt you."
"Don't fight fire with fire."
"I'm quite the fan of pyrotechnics."
"Don't you have a school to vandalize?"
Austin grins, gives her a mock salute, and walks away.
Before Ally can even blink, Trish walks up.
"So, are you ready to admit you like Austin yet?"
"Apparently at the party drunk me wanted him to kiss me," Ally admits.
"I know," Trish says. "So you like him."
"He's my best friend."
"Who you like."
"A bad boy."
"Don't you find that exciting?"
"Terrible influence." She knows she's getting desperate.
"Well, someone's gotta show you how to have fun."
"So what if I do like him?"
"Is that a confession?"
"In your dreams."
"Well, if you do like him, that would mean he has to know," Trish says matter-of-factly.
"Why?" Ally raises her eyebrows.
"Because you two have to date and make beautiful children."
Ally snorts at the pure ridiculousness of the comment. "Me? Date Austin?"
"And make beautiful children," Trish adds with a nod.
"I don't even like hugging the kid, much less 'making beautiful children' with him."
"Well, apparently you wanted to kiss him," Trish reminds her.
"I was drunk!"
"You were accepting your feelings."
"I don't have any feelings!"
Trish rolls her eyes. "When you wake up from denial, let me know."
"I'm not in denial."
"Okay, Ally. Okay."
"Okay, so maybe I was slightly in denial…"
"I knew it!" Trish squeals. "Tell me everything!"
"There's nothing to tell," Ally whines. "I just…thought about it. And him. A lot."
"What were you thinking about?"
"I just told you." Trish gives her a look. "I thought about what would've happened if he had kissed me, and…well, you can guess what happened next."
Trish gasps. "You thought about having sex with him?!"
"No!" Ally exclaims. "I realized I like him!"
"Oh. Well, there's a start."
"Yeah, sure. I just… What do I do? I mean, this is crazy."
"Is it? He's nice to you, and hot, and fun, and he's your best friend."
"Second best."
"Best."
"Fine. Still, it's insane."
"Not really."
"Just tell me what to do."
"Nah, I'll let you figure this one out on your own," Trish says with a smirk.
Later that day, Trish is gone and Ally is suffering cruel and unusual punishment at Austin's house.
No, it's not the burnt spaghetti he attempted to make for dinner. No, it isn't the horror movie marathon he's making her watch. No, it's not even the constant teasing he's giving her about that little kiss on the cheek at the party.
It's the fact that he chose today to walk around in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, which means his entire upper body is just there for her to ogle at.
He hasn't caught her staring yet (he's very focused on the movies), but it's only a matter of time before he does. And when that time comes, she isn't sure if she's prepared for the dire consequences of him figuring her out.
But until that time comes, she'll just enjoy the view and hope for the best.
"Ally, isn't this awesome?" Austin asks, staring at the TV screen.
"Sure. Where'd you get this movie anyway?"
"Stole it."
Ally sighs, finally tearing her eyes away from him.
"Aren't you cold?" Ally asks him.
He looks over at her. "No, I'm burning up."
"I'm freezing."
"Well, come here then, Frosty."
"But – "
"Yes?"
"But you're – "
"Spit it out, Ally."
"You aren't wearing a – "
"At least I'm wearing pants."
Ally purses her lips and stands up from her chair to sit next to him on the couch. He wraps an arm around her and pulls her into his side. She tenses at first but soon relaxes when she realizes how warm he actually is. He wraps his other arm around her and pulls her into his lap, and she can feel his toned chest muscles against her back.
"Can I tell you something?" he whispers in her ear, his hot breath fanning against her neck.
"Uh…sure," she replies shakily, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
He moves closer to her and she feels his lips brush against her ear as he smirks.
"You like me."
Her blood runs cold and she freezes, her eyes wide.
"I wasn't aware," she says, trying to keep her cool.
"Trish told me," he tells her, his lips still lingering against her skin.
"Trish says lots of things."
"That's true," he murmurs. "And I wasn't sure whether I believed her. Which is why I came up with a genius plan to test you."
She realizes the trick before he even has to say it.
"Have you been enjoying the view all day, Ally?"
She shivers and closes her eyes, knowing that she's been caught, that she never even got away with anything in the first place because he was trying to get her to stare at him.
He smirks again at her silence and presses a soft kiss to the back of her neck. Then, he decides to end her torture and lifts her off his lap, turning to face her.
"When were you planning on telling me?" he asks her.
"Sometime between never and after you decide to be the next great humanitarian."
"So you were just gonna keep it from me?"
"That was the plan."
"Why?"
"Because we're best friends. Because it doesn't make any sense. Because I am a good girl and crushing on the bad boy isn't exactly a 'good girl' thing to do. Because you are the bad boy and you have plenty of fangirls to boost your ego and you don't need me to make it any worse. Tell me when you've heard enough."
"Okay, I get it," he says. "There are plenty of reasons why you didn't wanna tell me. But still, aren't you, like, anti-secret?"
"I made an exception."
"So you finally agree that I am the sexiest man alive?"
She rolls her eyes. "You wish."
"I'll take that as a yes."
"That's not what I said."
"Then how hot do you think I am?"
"I dunno. Average, I guess."
He frowns, looking genuinely offended. But he shakes his head quickly.
"So…you know what this means, right?"
"We forget all about it and go back to being best buddies?" she tries.
He smirks. "Try again."
"We don't talk about it and stay best buddies?"
"Nope."
"You make fun of me forever and ever?"
"Not even that."
"I give up. What does it mean?"
"It means you've broken every best friend rule there is. And do you know what that means, Ally?"
"What?"
"It means you are officially a bad girl."
Her face falls. "But I'm not – "
"You are. It's been decided. Next thing you know you're gonna be hooking up with the football team and stealing candy from children."
"No!"
He grins at her. "It's good to be bad."
"It's bad to be bad and good to be good."
"No, because two 'bad's cancel out and two 'good's cancel out, leaving you with zero. And zero means you're dead."
"How…how did you make that seem even a little bit logical?"
"So you agree with me?"
"Well, I don't want to be dead…"
"Then it's good to be bad."
"I'm not changing anything about me, you know."
"I know," he says with a smirk. "Just humor me. Say it."
"It's good to be bad."
He grins. "I'll call the quarterback."
Austin really needs to learn to make up his mind. The whole 'it's good to be bad' thing completely blew up in Ally's face. Apparently there's a difference between bad things and bad things. And Ally did a bad, bad thing.
"I cannot believe you told my ex-girlfriend we hooked up! Now the whole school is gonna find out! Do you want that?!"
"Well… I just figured that if she thought you were over her, she'd get jealous and want you back. I was trying to help you."
"By lying to the whole school?!"
"It was just Olivia."
"It's gonna spread like wildfire."
"Well, don't you want her back?"
"No!" Austin exclaims. She winces at the volume.
"But – "
"I'm done with her, Ally!"
"Well, you could've told me that."
Austin rolls his eyes and runs his hands through his hair.
"I thought you wanted me to be bad."
"I didn't – I wasn't – not like this!" he splutters.
"You should really be more specific."
"I was messing around! Now everyone is gonna think we had sex!"
"Well, I was aiming for just Olivia. I told you that."
"And I told you it's gonna be the whole school!"
"Why does it matter?!"
"Because! It'll ruin your reputation and people can't think – "
"Can't think what?! That someone like you would ever hook up with someone like me?! Is that it?! Are you worried about your reputation?!"
"I don't care about that – "
"Then why are you freaking out so much?!"
"Because people can't know I like you before you know I like you!"
Her jaw drops past the floor and about ten feet below the ground.
His eyes widen to the size of saucers and she doesn't think she's ever seen him so flustered.
"I – I mean that – that people can't think I like you when clearly I don't. I mean, they'd harass both of us about it and – and I value our friendship too much to let that happen. And besides, bad boys don't like people. I mean, I guess I liked Olivia, but…" He trails off and sighs. "Screw it."
"You…what?"
"Yeah, I like you. Whatever, it isn't that big a deal, just…" He trails off again, this time shoving his hands in his pockets and walking out of her house, leaving her shocked and confused in her living room.
"Did you hear Austin and Olivia are back together?!" Trish screams, running up to Ally at school.
She knits her eyebrows. "Austin and Olivia? Are you sure?"
"I'm positive!" Trish exclaims. "They're making out around the corner!"
Ally frowns. "But…"
"You don't believe me? Come see for yourself!"
Trish grabs her wrist and drags her around the corner, and sure enough Austin's got the head cheerleader herself pinned against the lockers and is practically swallowing her.
She clenches her jaw and pulls her wrist out of Trish's grip. She marches up to the couple and taps Austin on the shoulder.
He doesn't even flinch.
She clears her throat and tries again.
Nothing but a wave of his hand over his shoulder, telling her to shoo.
"Austin," she grits out through her clenched jaw.
This time, she sees him freeze. He hesitantly pulls away from Olivia, and she looks at Ally over his shoulder. The blond girl shoots her a sickly sweet smile.
Austin slowly turns around, and she can tell it's taking a lot of energy to pretend to be collected right now, especially in front of all the people that are watching the scene unfold.
"Hey, remember me?" she says, her voice dripping with annoyance. "Ally Dawson. Your best friend."
He opens his mouth to reply.
"You also banged her last week," a guy in their audience calls out.
Austin closes his mouth.
"Other people seem to remember," she tells him.
"Ally, can we not do this here – "
"Why shouldn't we? I mean, you had no problem sucking face with Nick's girlfriend out here in the open, so why shouldn't we be able to have a civilized conversation?"
Austin purses his lips, and Ally starts pacing back and forth in front of him.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the A-wing of Marino High. I've got a story to tell you."
"Ally, please – "
"My best friend is a lying, backstabbing dirtbag."
"Yeah he is!" Trish exclaims from the side.
"Here he is, making all of you think that he's still into Olivia. When in reality, all he's doing is using her to try to get over the girl he really likes because he's scared."
"How did you – " Austin starts.
"It's not that hard to figure you out, Austin," she interrupts. "It's the same story. Bad boy likes girl, bad boy really likes girl, bad boy gets scared, and finally, bad boy screws up more than ever and loses girl forever."
"Ally, I – "
"Save it."
With that, she storms away.
She swears she's about to go absolutely mad. The same tap, tap, tapping has been coming from outside her window for the past two hours. It's faint, but it's there. And it's annoying.
"Ally, please," she hears him whine from outside again after he throws yet another piece of gravel at her window. "At some point this window's gonna crack."
She doesn't answer, instead trying to focus on her homework.
"I get it, you're pissed. I can't fix it if you don't let me in."
She still doesn't answer.
"Fine," he says, sounding defeated and desperate. "I'm sorry, okay? I – I know I screwed up. I know I hurt you. I know all that. I just… I didn't have a choice! I was scared, I still am scared!"
Finally, she sighs and walks over to the window, still too stubborn to open it for him. Instead, she sits against the wall next to it and closes her eyes.
"Scared of what?" she asks him.
"Scared of losing my best friend."
His voice breaks slightly, and so does her heart.
"You're not gonna lose me."
"Well…are you scared of losing me? Because honestly, I've never felt more lost."
That does it for her. She takes a deep breath and stands up, opening the window to let him in. He stands up from where he was apparently sitting against the wall as well, his hair disheveled and his face resembling a scared child's. She's never seen him like this. It's absolutely heartbreaking.
He looks at her in the eyes, swallowing nervously.
"I don't…I don't want to screw up," he says quietly. "Not with you."
"You're my best friend," she whispers. "I've seen you screw up a million times."
"This is different."
"Well, you already screwed up earlier, if that makes you feel any better."
"Kinda makes me feel even worse. I screwed up trying not to screw up."
"Is it still good to be bad?"
"I thought it was."
"Tell me what you want, Austin. What you really want."
"I – I don't know," he admits. "I just…You. I want you. And if that means as my best friend or my girlfriend or my something in between, I just want you."
The look in his eyes is desperate, and it's more emotion than she's ever seen him show. She reaches out the window to grab his face in her hands and presses her lips to his.
He immediately inhales in surprise and leans more into her room in an attempt to be closer to her. His hands rub up and down her arms gently and she sighs in contentment.
She pulls away slowly, trying to savor the last few seconds of bliss, before letting him go and looking at him. He climbs into her room slowly, his gaze never leaving hers, and then wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her as close to him as she can get in another kiss.
She wraps her arms around his neck and sighs again, already used to and loving the feeling of being in his arms. His grip tightens around her and he pulls away just slightly, his lips still lightly gracing hers.
"Would it be scary, weird, and out of character if I told you that I love you?"
"Yes."
"Well, screw it all. I love you."
She giggles against his lips. "I love you too."
"I can't believe you actually got in a legitimate fight with a guy over who was better at stealing alcohol from Walgreens," Ally says with an exasperated sigh, handing her boyfriend another ice pack. "And I can't believe you actually thought you could beat him when he's twice your size."
"It wasn't just that," Austin says, wincing slightly as he presses the ice pack to his bruised jaw.
"Enlighten me. What else was it?"
"He mentioned certain things he wanted to do to my girlfriend."
"And then you lost it."
"And then I lost it," he agrees.
"You're a piece of work."
"Only I'm allowed to do those things to my girlfriend."
Ally rolls her eyes. "You're disgusting."
"You're lame."
"You're annoying."
"You're no fun."
"You're a mistake."
"Please, you're in love with me."
"Still a mistake."
"Dawson, I'm the best mistake you've ever made. Don't even try to convince me otherwise."
"Yeah? Or what?"
"Or I might just have to fight you."
"Fight me?"
"By fight you, I mean bang you."
"You can't even move right now, Moon."
"Maybe with the proper motivation – "
She cuts him off by whacking him with a pillow, and he covers his yelp of pain with laughter.
"Hey," he says to get her attention as she puts the pillow back on the couch.
"Hmm?" She looks at him.
"I love you, dork."
"I love you too, mistake."
me and lexy did it again. i blame her for all the references to shabingybanging. it's 4:20 am for her (BLAZE) and her mind is in the gutter. we aren't sorry.