Featured song: A Drop in the Ocean by Ron Pope
A drop in the ocean, a change in the weather,
I was praying that you and me would end up together.
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert
But I'm holding you closer than most
Cause you are my heaven.
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
On his way to the airport, Austin leaned his head on the window as he watched the sky and let his mind wander through all of the things he would leaving behind him here in Miami. Somehow all of those thoughts seemed to come back to one thing… one loud, dainty, honest, awkward, hilarious, beautiful thing.
He never would have imagined that this would be how things would end up: him on tour up the east coast, and her off to college. He'd always thought that their story would end differently… or maybe never end at all.
Only now did he see how fast the past few years had flown by… she had told him all along that before he knew it, he would be living his dream. Suddenly, in a way he was. He was about to live his fantasy of rocking out in different cities, exploring the globe, feeling the energy of the crowd every night as he shared his passion with the world… but the problem is that he had woken up from that dream a long time ago-he had found something better along the way.
He didn't know exactly how to explain it, but there was something perfect that happened when he was around her. But she didn't just effect him when he was near her… most nights he hardly slept as thoughts of her raced through his mind. Nothing kept him up more than the war that raged inside of him: there was nothing as flawless than this friendship that they had going, but then again he'd caught himself staring at her a little too long and smiling at her for no reason one time too many to not know about these… these feelings… that were threatening to overcome him at any moment.
In fact, the only thing that he was sure of is that he didn't want to do this… at least not like this. He needed to know that she didn't feel the same way… or-But how would he even go about doing that? Austin Moon doesn't get nervous… but just pouring his soul out to her like that, putting his favorite part of his life on the line for one hopeful attempt at something so uncertain? Was he just supposed to walk up to her, confess his love, kiss her senseless, then beg for her to act like it had never happened when she doesn't feel the same way?
He had spent his last weekend in Florida with her as she took him around town, doing all of his favorite things. They went surfing on the beach (she struggled to stay on her board, which was eventually left in the sand so that he could take her out with him as he helped her to balance on his own board.) She treated him to ice cream for breakfast, burgers for lunch, pancakes for dinner (every time she looked up to catch him watching her from across the table, he would act like he had asked her a question and was waiting for her answer.) She'd even bought tickets to midnight showings of his favorite horror movies at the theater (during which he snuck his arm around her shoulders and let her fall asleep against his chest.) Yet there was nothing that he wanted more than another week with her… another day with her…
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
He blinked his eyes, having thoughtlessly gone through the motions of checking into the airport. He now sat in the middle of Gate D26, awaiting his 5:30 flight to JFK in New York. Sighing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Flipping through the bills, he found the white fold of a photograph tucked neatly between the money and the fabric. He gently opened it to reveal two photographs which had been neatly doubled over, one inside the other.
He sighed, as his eyes scanned the one on top: Dez had set up his camera to take a photo of them on a table at Trish's quinceanera. Everything was fine until the last few seconds before the photo, during which Ally's right hand flew to her hair, signaling Dallas' arrival, to which Trish responded by pointing to the obvious mountain of presents and shouting over the crowd that "anywhere's fine." Dez immediately responded by whining for everyone to stand still and Austin's eyes squinted a bit in disgust at the sickeningly sweet grin that Ally was still throwing in Dallas' direction. It was a terrible photo, but he loved it.
The second was more of a candid shot, taken on the same day as the other. It captured a blond boy smiling dorkily as he held a radiant brunette on the dance floor. Every time he looked at that photograph, a fire ignited inside of him, just as it had for the first time that night. He remembered it very fondly: his hand carefully positioned in the least intimate place on her back, the warmth of her hand in his, her soft question, "Austin what are you doing?" He could still hear the question ringing in his ears, and God, could he still feel the confusion.
"Austin," This time there was more emphasis, he obviously hadn't been listening, "What are you doing?"
His breath caught in his throat.
"Ally?"
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
It's just a drop in the ocean,
a change in the weather.
I was praying that you and me might end up together.
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert,
But I'm holding you closer than most,
Cause you are my…
Heaven doesn't seem far away anymore,
No, no,
Heaven doesn't seem far away.
So, there it is. I wrote this all in a few hours, it felt like I was on some weird kind of steroids for writers after I found this song (my inspiration for the whole oneshot.) I actually kind of love this story, and I hope you did too! Thanks for reading!