I haven't been able to post a one-shot since around Christmas time, so woo! :)
And because I'm a little night owl, I just had to post this at 4 in the morning. :3
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Please tell me this is a dream," the blonde said.
The brunette sighed. "I wish I could." The blonde then sighed as well.
"But does it really have to be over? Everything that's happened, and it all has to end?"
She looked up into his eyes. "I'm sorry, Austin."
It wasn't too long ago that Austin and Ally agreed their partnership had to come to an end. It was a tragedy, really. Not just to them, but their friends and family were upset by this too. And when the news was leaked into the media and among the fans, a mess of emotions erupted.
So much had happened in the past few years, so much. The two had a lot of history.
Austin knew what was going to happen already – Ally would get accepted into college. That was obvious; Ally was a genius. And she would of course, go into music as her major. But it is where she would go to college.
Ally had thought about staying in Miami for college, or maybe trying to get into MUNY again, when one of the fine arts staff suggested University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The brunette, yes, she was slightly shocked by the possibility, yet took up on the challenge anyway. Along with her other top picks, she applied to Oxford.
Months later, Ally went into the practice room where Austin was. There was a single letter in her hand. It was from the university. Unsure of what the letter said, she made Austin open and read it, despite him telling her not to worry.
He read out loud, "Mrs. Dawson, we would like to congratula-" The blonde didn't even get to finish his sentence when the brunette decided to hug him then and there. She got in.
Of course she got in. It would be more unexpected if Ally didn't get into a top university.
Yet after the mini celebration, Ally debated whether to go or not. Austin had discovered the week before that he had been accepted into the University of Miami, so he, of course would be staying where he was now. There was a bit of a time difference between Miami and Oxford. But when Ally goes off to college after graduation, how would the partnership work? Would they still be able to work it out?
So, the pair discussed it.
"I don't want an ending," he said.
"No one wants an ending," she said. "No one does. But maybe I can stay and choose a different college!"
Austin shook his head. "I honestly don't want you to go. But you have to."
"Austin..."
"No, Ally, you have to. This is Oxford we're talking about. Not MUNY, not Julliard, Oxford. So, you have to."
"Austin," she repeated, trying to interrupt him.
"If you don't go, you'd be missing out. I can't stop you from missing out on something like this. My career shouldn't stop you from going to college. I can't let that happen. This is your life, and not mine. Even if it means you can't write songs for me anymore... You have to go."
She said nothing this time – only hugged him.
After a moment, the brunette asked, "Can't we work it out? It's only, what, a five-hour difference between here and there? Don't you think we can at least try, before we decide?"
He sighed. "I don't know. I'm not sure. Maybe when the time's right, but you need to adjust first."
"Adjust?"
Austin nodded. "You know, get used to being around new surroundings, and stuff. Arrange your schedule around, make sure everything's in place before you completely settle down."
"Oh. Right."
"Maybe after a while, we'll try. But for now..." His eyes went from her to the floor. "It's kind of the end of Austin & Ally."
But the girl smiled and tilted his chin up to look at her instead. "Then I guess we'll have to make the last few moments pretty memorable."
The blonde grinned and kissed her, ever so passionately.
Graduation day came and went. Some thought it dragged on, others thought it flew by too fast. Nevertheless, the last true moments of their high school careers had passed, but it went by amazingly. It could be seen as just any other high school graduation: students dressed in caps and gowns, the handing out of the diplomas, and the throwing off the caps at the end.
But really, it was the valedictorian speech that moved everybody. And that valedictorian of the class was, actually, Austin Moon. Ally was the original valedictorian, but after some thinking, she through it best for Austin to claim the spot. He really deserved it.
"The past 4 years of my life have truly been the best. No lies there. Despite that I'm, well, Austin Moon, it didn't go by perfectly as some people may view it to be. There were some pretty hard boulders to get through during those 4 years. It was tough each time, trying to get past each boulder. But, eventually, with time, and some good friends," Austin looked to Ally, Trish, and Dez in the crowd as he said this. "Those huge boulders are now the tiniest of pebbles to me. And I know that there will still be boulders on the upcoming path, but I'll get through it. All of us will get through the path. We, as people, learn how to get over each obstacle in our path. It's life. Life is learning to make the best of it while facing challenges, yet still having fun at the same time." He pauses before continuing.
"And, I know that we're not all going to be on the same path. But, we're all going to get through it. We'll get through it together. Congratulations, and good luck, class of 2015."
During the summer months after high school graduation, Austin and Ally spent as much time with each other as possible. They no longer wrote songs anymore, but they were still often seen in the practice room, reminiscing about the times and memories they created in there. In fact, that was where they spent almost all of their time. It was where they talked and did what they did best together – play music.
Within this time, Ally attempted to help Austin start writing his own songs where it would be as successful as something like Steal Your Heart. Hours on end the two would be either sitting next to each other on the piano. Ally pushed Austin to write about something or someone he truly cared about, and despite the ideas he had, he just couldn't put them down onto paper. He just couldn't. But Ally could tell he was really trying; he really was.
Ally thought that was what mattered most – that he was trying.
Not everything came easy at first – especially songwriting. Even at certain points in her life, Ally had struggled to conjure up a new melody or lyrics. She knew that Austin would get this eventually. She knew.
After a month of teaching Austin how to write a song by himself, there came a day when he called Ally on the phone to tell her that he had written one. A good one even. And Ally, being the proud friend she was, rushed over to Sonic Boom as soon as she could.
But when Austin played the song for her, she realized that it was already a song by another artist.
"Oh," he said. "No wonder it sounded so good. Maybe I'm just not meant to write songs."
Ally saw the disappointment in his eyes and sat down beside him on the piano bench. "Hey, you're gonna get this eventually. You wrote Steal Your Heart, remember? I promise you're going to get it one day."
He looked at her in the eyes. "Promise?"
She grinned. "Promise."
The day came when it was their one year anniversary. Most couples would spend their anniversaries dining at the fanciest restaurant in town. To Austin and Ally having anniversaries every week or month seemed so redundant, so they never celebrated. Though, Ally suspected their one year anniversary would be a bit more special, she decided that maybe it would just be another normal day in the store.
When Ally arrived in the morning first for work, she noticed that the door wasn't locked as it usually was the night before. At first, she thought someone might have broken in somehow, but as she checked the inventory, everything was in place. The store looked as it did when she left.
Going up to the practice room on the other hand, she found something quite different about it.
Lying on the floor was a blue blanket. A blue picnic blanket, to be more specific. And lying on that blanket was a picnic basket. Already could the girl sense the smell of pickles that was inside of the basket. Additionally, there were two small white candles in the middle of the blanket, but not lit yet. The setting was simple, but yet so romantic at the same time.
The only question now was – where was he? The answer to whoever set up the picnic was obvious, of course, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Then, near the piano, Ally notices an orange index card attached to the middle C note. Austin's scratchy handwriting was on it, and she couldn't help but smile at the message.
If you've already seen the practice room, but not me, yet... Good. I want you to play a game with me. In the picnic basket, there is an orange sticky note. It's a little...clue as to where you'll find another sticky note. But, on the back of each note is a letter. Once you find all 12 notes, unscramble the letters, and that's where you'll find me. :) Have fun. ;)
P.S. Happy Anniversary. :)
P.P.S. Don't worry about work today, your parents are both filling in today.
A scavenger hunt – that's what Austin decided to go with. He had arrived early enough to set everything up, and he's probably waiting for her at the moment. He would wait all day if he had to.
Going over to the picnic basket, Ally took out the first sticky note found inside of it. She first flipped to the back of it before reading the clue, to which she found the first letter: U.
I can get your heart beat-beat-beat-beatin' like... Next to the written clue was a picture of a heart, colored in red, despite the orange background.
It didn't take long for Ally to think of where the place might be. Of all places, where would Austin think of to put another clue, when thinking of Heartbeat? The one and only – The Melody Diner.
Ally rushed to the restaurant, to which it was still closed in the morning. There were a few employees inside, but only simply getting the restaurant ready for its customers for the day.
But, there was in fact, another sticky note on the door.
There's a time for everything: a time to work, a time to play... And of course, a time to learn. On the back was the letter E.
The brunette knew this instantly too; it was one of her favorite places in the world, and one of the most memorable as she remembered. Miami's own Marino High School. So many great memories there, no matter how many times the other students considered school, "prison".
The girl continued to go travel through the surroundings of Miami, picking up each sticky note with success. In her mind, with each letter she gained, she tried to come up with possible places for where as to Austin might be.
As Ally was running around all through Miami, it was almost 11:00 AM by the time she got the 11th note. Just one more to go!
Having been at Shredder's Beach Club at this time, the note this time read: Hey, Ally, guess what? You're almost there! I am your prince, and you are my princess. Sonic Boom will forever be our true home, but our palace would be at...
And with all the other clues, Ally filled in the end of the sentence: Moon's Mattress Kingdom.
Surely enough, there was the last sticky note stuck onto the glass doors of the store.
I knew you'd get to this point eventually, Ally. :) Now, all you have to do is unscramble the letters and find where I am. Good luck! I'll be waiting. ;)
So that's what Ally did. She decided to plop herself right on concrete ground, and laid out the letters in front of her. In the order she got them, Ally had the letters: U, R, E, O, E, R, E, O, U, T, H, and S. 3 E's, 2 O's, 2 R's, 2 U's, 1 H, 1 T, and 1 S. Ally wondered what it could be. She fumbled with the letters for a good 20 minutes, but with no luck. She came up with absurd words that wouldn't even be in the dictionary like "Outerreesouh" and "Hesourtureeo", but surely, there were no places in Miami with those kinds of names. There probably wasn't anything with those kinds of names.
She sighed, unsure of how else to arrange the letters. It seemed so impossible; had Austin made the puzzle too difficult?
Austin said that once Ally figured out where he was, she would have to go there herself, correct? Well, that being said, it's not like Ally was given instructions to get to this mysterious place, meaning that had to have already been there before! That got the gears moving around in her head again. She went through a mental list of all the possibilities of places that would have had any significance concerning her and Austin, including all the locations that she had been to on the way to the "kingdom".
Obviously, as special as Sonic Boom and the practice room were, it wasn't either of those two places. Besides, the letters given couldn't even fit Sonic Boom or the practice room. The Melody Diner and the school were an evident no, as were Starr Records, Ally's house, and Austin's house. The Jungle Café, Shredder's Beach Club, Illusions Magic Café, and Mini's were nice, but those couldn't be it either. And, it definitely couldn't be Moon's Mattress Kingdom.
However, during this simple process, Ally got the word "HOUSE" out of a few of the letters. That leaving 2 E's, 2 R's, 1 T, 1 O, and 1 U left to deal with. Though, after a bit of a shorter thought process, Ally figured that the letters spelled out two words, instead of one.
She figured out what the 2 E's were for. She put them in front of "HOUSE", now making it "EEHOUSE". But, she also added the letters T and R, which then made it:
TREEHOUSE.
Of course! Why didn't she think of that before?
Finally, she had the last three letters, which she immediately arranged into "OUR".
The message that told where Austin was hidden was – OUR TREEHOUSE.
And the moment the brunette figured it out, she grabbed each of the sticky notes as quick as she could, and sprinted to her desired destination.
Austin and Ally had built themselves their own special hideout the year before; just for the two of them – the treehouse. Austin and Ally's treehouse was theirs and theirs only, and it was where they would sometimes spend more of their alone time at, other than the practice room or Sonic Boom itself. It had a simple, but cozy design to it. The ladder built on the tree itself led up to the platform up top where they had a great view of the woods below. Not much was stored up at the treehouse; just a few sheets of paper and pencils in the case that Ally came up with an idea for a song up there.
When Ally approached the base of the treehouse, she heard the sounds of a guitar from above. Being curious of course, she climbed up the wooden ladder, and when she reached the top, she found Austin playing a new tune. At least, a tune that was new to her.
He grinned when he saw her finally arrive. "So, you have fun with my game?"
"I loved the game," Ally said. She pecked a kiss on Austin's cheek. "Thanks. And, happy anniversary to you too." Her attention then turned to the guitar in Austin's hands. "So, anyway, what were you playing just now?"
"Oh, just something special I came up with. It only took a couple of months, but I finally did it."
"Wait, did you-"
"Write a song? By myself? Then, yes."
"Well, what are you waiting for? I want to hear it!"
Austin chuckled. "Okay, okay, you got it." The blonde cleared his throat, and set his fingers on the frets. "I don't want a fallout, but we're all out of time. I don't want an ending. In one day, no way you'll be mine, I don't want an ending..."
After what was proved to be one of the most memorable nights of their lives, Ally laid in bed with her phone in her hand, her finger just about ready to tap the Call button on the screen.
She wasn't sure how he would take the news quite yet. Sure, he knew that she would have to go eventually, but not this soon. Her boyfriend just wrote and sang her what she considered the best song ever and celebrated their one year anniversary, and now she has to leave? So much had happened in just one day; Ally wasn't too sure how to handle it all.
Her thumb continued to hover over the screen. Just one tap and within a matter of seconds, Ally knew Austin would pick up. It didn't matter what time it was; she knew he would.
Ally set the phone down on her pillow and first thought what she should say first. Might have been a good idea – instead of awkward silence or stuttering over the phone.
Her eyes averted to the packed suitcases over in the corner of her room. They were full of just about all of her belongings and her room was near empty. She realized this would be the last time she would spend a night in this house, the last time she would sleep in this bed, the last time she would be looking up at the same old ceiling. It was the last time.
Tomorrow would be the last time she would brush her teeth in the bathroom's sink, the last time she would brush her hair in front of the dresser mirror, the last time she would sit down at the table for breakfast.
She's had all summer long to digest the fact that sooner or later, she would be living in Oxford, England, going to one of the top universities in the world. Now that it was almost time to leave home, she felt that she still wasn't ready. Ally wanted to stay just a bit longer, hoped that the freshman orientations were rescheduled again, that her flight would be somehow delayed tomorrow, that something, anything, would happen tomorrow. Something that would delay her leaving the next day.
But the time is now. "Use your time wisely," she had been told throughout her years. The present is now. Tomorrow is still hours away.
Ally pressed the Call button, and within the three rings, he picked up.
"Like I said before, please tell me this is a dream," Austin requested.
"I wish," the brunette said. "I wish I could."
The same conversation had played itself out again, for about the seventh time, at least. The months turned into weeks, the weeks turned into days, the days turned into hours, and the hours turned into minutes. Here they were at the airport, awaiting the next flight to London, England.
The two sat in silence, evidently less talkative than they were on most days. They barely looked at each other, and they stared at the ground instead. People came and passed them, the same expressions on their faces as the duo's. Who knows, maybe they were going through the same thing.
Ally then spoke up, "I'm coming back, you know. I'll come back to visit." She turned to Austin, who returned her gaze.
"I know. And I'll be here waiting for you."
Time didn't matter to either of them; they knew it wasn't goodbye forever. Yet despite the optimistic thought, the atmosphere was so melancholy. A depressing tension in the air could not be broken.
A young woman's voice then spoke over the intercom. "Flight 39 to London, England is now boarding."
Austin saw the sad look in Ally's eyes. It made his stomach wrench, that they would leave on such heartbreaking terms. He didn't want that. He wanted to leave things on a happy note, like they did last night. If there was anything he wanted right now, it was for him and Ally to just be happy.
He watched Ally stand up from her seat, and pull up the handle of her suitcase. He watched in silence. But then it was his turn to speak up. "I promise."
Ally looked confused as to what Austin was talking about. "Promise what?"
"That I'm going to be here, waiting for you. I promise."
The brunette's eyes were starting to water. She didn't say anything more, but she smiled at his words.
"Hey, remember graduation day?" She nodded. "Then, I hope you remember – you're going to get over each boulder you come across. Maybe, Trish, Dez, or I won't be there with you at those times, but you're going to get through it. And soon enough, you're going to look back at it one day and see it as merely a pebble."
"Thanks for the reminder, Austin."
"It's what I'm here for."
The airport employee makes another announcement about boarding the flight, but Austin and Ally ignore it for the moment.
"So," Ally said. She looked him in the eyes. "Promise you'll be here waiting?"
"Promise," he beamed.
With a smile on her face, Ally started to roll her luggage towards the boarding gate. She could feel Austin's gaze on hers. Once she handed her ticket to the employee, she looked back one more time, expecting to see where he was standing.
But he wasn't there.
She felt someone's breath on her neck, causing her to turn around and find the one and only.
"You'd be surprised that I was able to get a last minute ticket at 3 in the morning."
Ally knit her eyebrows. "What? Don't tell me..."
"Oh yeah. I don't think I'm ready for the ending just yet. I think we can wait until we get to Oxford. It's not like I have freshman orientation today anyway."
"Oh, my gosh, Austin." She threw her arms around the blonde, and of course, he hugged back tightly.
"Come on, we should get to the plane."
She nodded, still shocked and delighted by Austin's surprise. It was unbelievable.
They interlocked fingers and headed down the tunnel towards the airplane.
But maybe it wasn't quite near the ending yet. Maybe, it was merely just the end of the book: its fallout. And from that fallout, would come the sequel to that book. New pages, new chapters.
Though, it was a new path – a new story. And with a new story came new obstacles, more boulders, maybe bigger than any of the previous ones. But nevertheless, they'll figure out a way to get through it, together. Even if it isn't being physically together, they know they will.
I guess you could say this is partially how I see the series finale, even though we have a season 4 on its way. :P I don't know, I was thinking how Austin and Ally might have to end their partnership, if they ever do that is. And, well, this is kind of how I imagined it. Austin and Ally are going to two different colleges, and they'd no longer be able to keep up with their music like they usually did.
I'm going to point out I got the whole scavenger hunt thing idea from Raurauslly . Music. Well... Kinda. It's from one of her one-shots (Sweeter Than Chocolate) that I remember, and I didn't want to, like, copy the exact idea, so I changed it up quite a bit... But it was inspired by that idea! I guess. :P So, after this, go read that because it's totally awesome and she's an amazing author too. :D Ooh, and the whole boulder/pebble in your path metaphor? Yeah, I got that from a good friend of mine when she was giving me advice about something I was going through at the time. And she is absolutely Rainitastically, Calumazingly, Lauraficially, Rossome, Rikerific, Rydellicious, Ellingtontastic, Rocky-mazing, Ryland-abulous. ;)
...I wonder if either of them are reading this right now...
Yes, blame those two people for this one-shot. They're the reason why half of this thing even exists. xD
On another note, the song I got the lyrics from is called Don't Want an Ending by Sam Tsui, who is also pretty awesome. And if you've been reading the multi-chap I've been working on, then you might know that I used another Sam Tsui song in one of the chapters (haha kinda forgot to mention the name of it in the author's note though...). ...I'm kind of obsessed. :3
Overall, what do you think? Good? Bad? Anything you just want to say? I have to admit, this one-shot for me seems all over the place. Austin's song, his graduation speech, the scavenger hunt... I felt like I jam-packed all of these events randomly into the story. The main focus of this is to see how Austin and Ally spend their time before their partnership officially ends, but I feel like I started to veer away from that and added too much... But, that's just what I think. I mean, I still like the one-shot, but, I don't know... Not sure of what you guys think of it though...
Hmm. Seems about it, so... Until next time!