I don't know where this story has come from. I love the song and it just decided to write itself. Really, I don't know. I might write a sequel to it called 50 Ways to Say Hello if it's enjoyed. Let me know. That one would be Auslly for sure. This one just hints it. :) Let me know what you think. Enjoy!
"I can't believe you." Those words radiated through our four bedroom apartment, almost shaking the walls and sending chills through both my body and Trish's. She shot me a glance, one that also showed her own worry about the person on the other end of that voice. I bit down on my lip, wondering if there was something I could do, something to help that person but I knew it wasn't my place so I sat on my bed, pretending I wasn't listening to the angry words in the next room.
"Cass, please. I don't understand what I did."
"You stood me up last night, Austin!" the blonde yelled back. Her voice was cracking and if it wasn't for the fact that she was completely wrong and unbelievably distrusting of her boyfriend, I would have felt sorry for the girl. She sounded so hurt and upset with Austin and I know how it feels to have a boy make you feel that way. Too bad she was wrong and I didn't like her. Well, not anymore.
"Cass, I told you a week ago that I needed to go to Trish's family's for dinner. It was a commitment I made months ago. It was important."
"And I'm not important?" she hissed this time. The girl was going to break something with her voice. When she sang, it was beautiful and perfect but when she didn't… it was brutal.
"I never said that!"
"Forget it, Austin. I can't take this anymore. I can't take how lazy you are. How you think you're still going to achieve your dreams when nothing has come of them in the last few years. And I can't take your lies and the way you put them before me! I come first but you obviously don't know that." She paused and I resisted yelling over the walls. We were important too and he already spent too much time with the girl. "If you didn't get what I just said, I'm breaking up with you." There was sounds of things being collected and then a door slammed and hard.
I heard shuffling in the hallway and then the front door slammed too. Trish finally looked up. "Well, that took long enough."
I wanted to giggle but I knew how upset Austin would be over this. He loved that girl more than anything and would have done anything for her. She was his everything and he spent more time each day trying to prove himself as worthy to her than he did anything else. But he dealt with the worst when it came to her. Cassidy was not someone as she came off as. Her calm attitude was quickly replaced with a needy, clingy one and it only got worse as time went on. But he would still have gone to the moon and back for her, done handstands to make her smile on a bad day… but no. Apparently that wasn't enough for the girl. And to think that she was angry he spent one day with his friends instead of her was just unbelievable. He had us for a reason. If it was something crazy or stupid, I would have told him to not worry about it. But it was Trish's parents anniversary and we cooked them dinner.
"Maybe we should just let him be," I said out loud, looking to the door thoughtfully. I wanted nothing more than to take Austin Moon into my arms and never let the boy go. He needed a hug from Ally Dawson. A best friend hug but I didn't want to push anything right now. Maybe Dez would find him.
"Yeah," Trish commented.
A few hours passed and Trish fell asleep on my bed. I could hear Dez editing a movie in his room and there were no sounds coming from Austin's. Which meant only one thing… he was attempting to write.
This was new for him. He was trying his damn best to impress Cassidy who constantly broke him down about not being able to write a song about her or anything for that matter. He tried so many times but nothing ever came of his writing. I offered to write one for him and say he wrote it, but he swore he would one day and the inspiration was going work with him once.
I stood up and walked over to the door, peeking into the hallway. The sun had set a little while ago and dark spots danced over what was left of the day. Finally, I went into the hallway and looked at his door. It was open. I took this as a decent sign and walked in, noticing like I had thought, he was at the desk and attempting to write something in an old notebook. There were so many things deleted from what I could see and from how he was gripping his pen he wasn't happy.
"Hey."
"Ally!" It was like he forgot we were all home. His eyes were weak and so was his usual bright self. He attempted to smile at me but it was clear he knew I knew what happened.
"Anything good?" I asked.
"Maybe."
"Can I see?"
"Not yet," he noted. "I want to perform it at the show tomorrow night. I know that's risking a lot and I probably shouldn't, but I can't not do this. Cassidy is going to be there and she needs to hear this song. I think I may have finally found my inspiration."
"Anger in Cassidy?"
He laughed softly. "No. Well, not really. It's more of… a pun of sorts."
"Okay." I raised my eyebrows and told him I'd see him in the morning.
The show he was talking about was the closest thing he was going to have in making it. If he did well on this show, he knew there would be offers and from what he was saying, this song might be the one to save him. Of course I would always be needed but if Austin could prove he wrote a song and perform it and Cassidy see it (because we all know she would be watching like a nut), it would not only make his day, but it would make all of ours. We were all sick of the girl and besides that, it would get him his dream.
Austin wasn't lazy. She was crazy.
The next day we all got up early and headed out to the show. Austin was going to be interviewed and then he was going to perform the song he was still clutching in his hands at the taping, reading the words over and over since he would have to know them before he got up there. I kept trying to sneak a peek but only the director of the program got the name of the song and was told about it. As long as it was approved by him, Austin could sing it.
Dez was setting up his own camera, also approved to put on Austin's website while Trish talked to several talent scouts waiting for the show. I was standing off to the side, watching him go through make up an preparation for the show. He looked nervous and of course he looked upset still but he was still Austin Moon. I sighed and looked into the growing audience and to my surprise, Cassidy was sitting in the crowd. With a guy.
I snorted.
"Austin's needed in a few minutes!" a tech yelled and I watched as the show started. A few minutes passed and he was welcomed onto the stage. Trish had joined me at this point and we were watching him get into this happy person he usually was, as if his ex girlfriend wasn't sitting a few feet away with a new boy. Already.
Austin smiled into the camera. "Yeah, I've actually got a new song to sing today. As many of you know my writing partner is Ally Dawson but she let me write this song today. Usually I would never make you listen to anything I wrote, but I had some special inspiration for this one. I think you'll enjoy it. I dedicate this to Cass. Maybe you'll realize that I'm too good for you and it's not the other way around."
My heart is paralyzed
My head was oversized
I'll take the high road like I should
You said it's meant to be
That it's not you, it's me
You're leaving now for my own good
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntanned
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died
My pride still feels the sting
You were my everything
Some day I'll find a love like yours (a love like yours)
She'll think I'm Superman
Not super minivan
How could you leave on Yom Kippur?
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert
Drowned in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east side night club
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died
I wanna live a thousand lives with you
I wanna be the one you're dying to love...
But you don't want to
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntanned
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert
Drowned in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east side night club
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died
When Austin finished singing, I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh or go hug the boy for writing a really great song. Cassidy was standing up in her seat, looking furious. Austin was smiling, something real, something I hadn't seen in months since she made him so miserable.
"Wow, that was a great song, Austin!" The host yelled. "I love it… it's funny but you can feel your pain. I think you're going to have a hit with that."
Austin smiled. "I hope so."
"Well, it's obvious you put a lot of thought into it! Well after this break, we'll have some more questions for Austin but until then, let's hear one of his other songs!"
After it was all over, we were all standing in the parking lot of the building, laughing and going nuts over the song. I wanted to really hug him now and did this time, telling him it was the perfect song. I couldn't picture Austin writing a song about anything else… he wasn't the type to poor his feelings out but this was close enough… he was really hurt by her and it was his way of making her pay.
"I'm so proud of you," I told him as we waited for Dez to pull up the car.
"Thanks, Ally. I've learned from the best songwriter I know."
"Hey Austin?"
"Yeah?"
"Promise me one thing," I said as the car finally came into view. Austin had a meeting with a record company tomorrow. He looked down at me and nodded. "Just keep me around… I wouldn't want to miss this. At all."
"Oh, Ally," he laughed, and this time he pulled me into a hug. "You're my best friend. And besides unless I keep getting my heart broken, I don't think there will be any new songs for a long time. I need you. You're my partner, my best friend, and the best person I've ever met. Just don't tell Dez that."
I smiled warmly at him. "I couldn't make it without you," I said, smiling widely.
"Do it without you," he added.
As Trish grabbed our arms, we both said, "Be here without you."