Disclaimer: Austin and Ally isn't mine.

A/N: For Emily.

"Austin?" she says, peeking her head around the door of the practice room, her voice hesitant.

Austin looks up from the myPad in his hands and smiles at her. "Hey, Ally. What's up?"

Ally wrings her hands together nervously as she sits down at the chair across from him. "I need to talk to you about something."

He frowns and sets the tablet aside. "Sure, what's wrong?"

She takes a breath. "You know Gavin? The country singer I met through Ronnie Ramone?"

He nods.

"He, um…he…he asked me out on a date," she says quickly, avoiding his eyes.

He stares at her.

"And…and I said yes."

His stomach drops.

Rephrase.

His stomach falls to the floor, his chest hurts, his head spins, and his throat feels like it's closing.

He swallows. Two, three, four times, before he's finally able to choke out a quiet "Oh."

"Are…are you angry?" she whispers. "I just…I thought you'd be okay since we haven't—"

"It's fine," he says, and he does his best to steady his voice. He looks at her and manages to smile. "I'm happy for you, Ally."

She beams back at him and she looks so happy and he's never experienced pain quite like this before. "Thanks, Austin," she says. "I knew you'd understand."

"Why wouldn't I?" he says quietly. "You're my best friend."

"You're the best." She grins and stands up. "I'll see you tomorrow? I'm going shopping with Trish to get a new dress for tonight."

Tonight. At least it'll be over soon, he thinks bitterly.

"Have fun," he says softly, but she doesn't hear him as she walks out with a smile on her face, her steps noticeably lighter.

He sits there for a minute, his mind completely blank, and then he takes a deep breath and buries his face in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees.

This isn't how it was supposed to go. They were both supposed to wait. Wait for what, he isn't completely sure, but he knows they were supposed to wait. She isn't supposed to buy a new dress for a date with some guy that she hung out with while he was on tour. She isn't supposed to go on a date. She isn't supposed to be excited about going on a date.

She isn't supposed to be with anyone but him.

Ally sighs for the tenth time in the last five minutes.

"Why am I going on this date?" she asks, her voice sounding muffled behind the door of a fitting room. "I don't…you should have seen Austin's face, Trish."

Trish raises an eyebrow. "You can't mope around over Austin forever. And Gavin is really cute, and really nice. You guys have a lot in common. Why don't you give it a chance?"

Ally steps into a dress and zips up the side before opening the door. Trish gives her a thumbs up and she smiles. "I guess you're right," she says reluctantly. "But it…it doesn't feel right."

"You have to start somewhere," Trish argues. "Maybe you'll really connect with Gavin."

She doesn't want to connect with Gavin. She really doesn't know why she's going on this date. Or why she agreed. Because it feels like this is not what's supposed to happen. She was supposed to wait and Austin was supposed to wait until they were ready to be together. But Gavin seemed sweet and he had asked her so nicely and she found herself unable to say no and here she is. But deep down, she knows her heart already belongs to Austin Moon.

For some reason, though, she's letting this guy borrow it.

Austin spends the rest of the day hiding out at home, ignoring Dez's suggestion of searching for a companion for Clucky because apparently, the chicken was feeling lonely. "I can tell by the way her eggs smell, Austin." He knows better than to question Dez at this point.

His parents aren't home so he thankfully doesn't have to explain why he's moping around his living room, occasionally heading into the kitchen to eat spoonfuls of pancake flavored frozen yogurt straight out of the carton.

Everything just hurts and he doesn't know what to do.

So he heads to the practice room around the time he figures the guy would be at her house to pick her up because he needs a distraction and hey, if nothing else, this might inspire him to write another song. He stays there for two hours until he has a slight headache from writing and focusing for so long and he stands up to leave when the practice room door opens.

He looks over in surprise, not expecting anyone to come in so late, and his eyes widen when he sees who it is.

Ally.

The date is going fine, she supposes. No levitating chairs, no bread shoved in her face, and the conversation isn't about really cool four-pronged forks.

But she can't help but wish that she were on that date again.

"So, Ally," Gavin says, leaning back as he finishes the last bite of his pasta. "How long have you been writing songs?"

She smiles. "Since I was really little," she answers. "It's always been my dream to be a songwriter. Well, and a singer, but you know that."

He nods. "So speaking of that," he starts, "how would you feel about writing me a song?"

Her eyebrows shoot up. "What?"

"I was hoping you would write me a song. I mean, now that I've taken you out and everything, I figured you'd be willing to write me my next big hit."

She furrows her brow. "You asked me out just so I'd write you a song?"

His eyes widen. "No, no, Ally," he says, backtracking. "I asked you out because I like you. But, I mean, a song wouldn't hurt."

"I only write songs for Austin," she says quietly. "We're partners."

He nods. "I know, and it's so great what your songs have done for his career. I was just hoping you would write me a couple, too."

"Now you want a couple?" she asks, hardly believing what she's hearing. "Sorry, Gavin, I…I don't think so."

He shrugs. "Hey, it was worth a shot, right?" he says, laughing lightly, but she sees something in his eyes that makes her uneasy.

She gives him a tight-lipped smile and prays for the waiter to hurry up with their bill.

"Would you two like dessert?" the waiter asks.

"No, thank you," she replies, at the same time Gavin says, "Sure," and they look at each other awkwardly for a second.

"I'm kinda tired," she lies. "Do you mind if we call it a night?"

"No problem," he says, and turns to the waiter. "Could we get the check?"

He's a perfect gentleman and pays for the meal and holds the door open as they leave the restaurant and opens the car door for her but she finds herself wishing that the boy doing all of those things had blond hair instead of brown and had hazel eyes instead of blue.

They make small talk on the short drive to her house and she smiles at him as she unbuckles her seat belt. "Thanks for tonight," she says, her hand already on the door handle. "I had fun."

And then out of nowhere, before she can blink, before she can think, his hand is cupping the back of her neck as he pulls her toward him and roughly kisses her on the mouth.

She freezes for a second, her eyes wide, and his hands are suddenly everywhere, one sliding the strap of her dress down her shoulder as the other one tangles itself in her hair until her senses kick in and she shoves him off, quickly stepping out of the car, not even noticing that the strap of her dress makes a tearing sound as it almost rips off.

"What the hell are you doing?" she yells. "What is wrong with you?"

He sneers at her as he steps out himself. "I figured since you refused to write me a song, I might as well get something out of this date," he says smugly.

She forces herself not to cry. That can wait.

"Get the hell away from me," she says, her voice deathly quiet. "Leave right now or I'll call the police."

"Prude," he spits out, before climbing back into his car. "What a fucking waste of time."

She can feel her hands trembling as she watches him pull out of her driveway and down the street and she slowly walks inside her house, trying to get herself to breathe normally.

"Hi, Ally," her dad calls from the living room. "How was it?"

"It was okay," she says, trying to make her voice sound steady. "Dad? I just realized I forgot my calculus book in the practice room and I still have a couple of problems to finish up for tomorrow. Can I borrow the car? I'll be back in just a few minutes."

"Sure, sweetie, be careful!"

"Thanks, Dad."

Ally grabs the keys and gets in the car, taking a deep breath before she pulls out of her driveway. She wasn't lying about going to Sonic Boom, although she can't say the same about the textbook, and she drives there mechanically, not allowing herself to think about the events of the last few minutes.

She needs to be alone, she needs her piano and the place where she feels safest and that's the practice room. She parks quickly and almost runs up to the store, fumbling to unlock the door before rushing up the stairs. She's too distracted and upset to notice the light coming from under the practice room door and she quickly opens it.

She stops.

Austin.

"Hey, Ally," he says, smiling. "What are you—" he cuts himself off when he looks at her, really looks at her, because her hair is a mess and the strap of her dress is still hanging off her shoulder and she looks like she's about to cry.

His head spins with a million horrible scenarios and he's moving towards her before he can think about it.

"What happened?" he asks, his voice quiet. "What happened to you?"

Ally stands there in the doorway and looks at him for a few seconds, silent, but then she blinks and smiles at him.

"Hi," she says, and gives him the fakest smile he's ever seen in his entire life. "What's up?"

"What happened to you?" he asks again, his voice barely a whisper, and moves toward her.

"Oh, this?" she asks, pointing to her ripped dress. "You know me, I'm just clumsy and I—"

"Ally, what happened?" he asks forcefully, not buying her act for even a minute. "Stop pretending and tell me."

The smile fades from her face as she just looks at him and his heart starts pounding because something is wrong, something is really wrong. He watches as her face falls, as she hugs herself tightly and squeezes her eyes shut, and he waits.

"Austin," she whispers, and her voice is broken and he's certain that he's never understood anger until this very moment.

That one word is all he needs to hear before he steps forward, and his arms are around her before she can even blink. She circles her arms around his torso and buries her face in his chest and just cries and Austin decides at that moment that nobody will ever make Ally cry again as long as he's alive.

So Austin holds Ally in the doorway of their practice room, stroking her hair and whispering whatever he can think of to make her feel better, wishing that he could take her pain away.

Finally, she stops and pulls back, wiping her eyes with her hands. She sniffles a bit and looks down at the ground, her mouth trembling and her small frame shaking slightly.

"Hey," he says softly. "Let's go sit down, okay?"

She nods and he wraps his arm around her shoulder and leads her to the piano bench because he knows that's her favorite place in the world. She sits and stares down at the keys and he watches her carefully, not wanting to do anything to upset her. "Will you tell me what happened?" he asks quietly. "Please?"

She doesn't say anything for a long moment and he doesn't push her.

"He asked me to write a song for him," she says. "I said no. Because I only write songs for you. And after that everything felt weird but he was still being really polite."

She takes a breath. "And then we got to my driveway and I was about to get out of the car and—" she stops, squeezes her eyes shut, and he takes her hand, holding it tightly in his.

"It's okay, Ally, I'm here," he whispers.

"He kissed me," she says so quietly he has to lean in to hear her. "He just kissed me and grabbed my face and his hands were all over me and in my hair and he ripped my dress when I tried to get out of the car." She swallows. "He ripped my dress."

He has to force himself to stay seated, to stay with her, because all he feels is a murderous sort of rage and he wants nothing more than to hunt down the guy that did this to her. But he knows that she needs him right now. So he doesn't do any of that.

Instead, he trails his fingers lightly up her arm to where the strap of her dress is hanging and he delicately places it back on her shoulder. He can feel her eyes on him as he rearranges her curls, gently smoothing the flyaway strands.

When he looks at her again, her eyes are wide, glistening with unshed tears, and she looks back at him for a moment before throwing her arms around him, burying her face in his neck.

"We'll fix the dress," he says into her shoulder. "After I kill that guy, we'll fix it."

He feels her nod and he tightens his arms around her.

"I don't even know why I went," she mumbles. "I didn't want to go, I didn't want to—" she breaks off with a sob, and he strokes her back gently, waiting for her to finish. "I was so stupid but I wanted to see if I could move on even though I knew I couldn't and I'm so sorry, Austin, I'm just so sorry and—" she dissolves into tears again.

"It's okay," he whispers. "I'm sorry that this happened to you. So sorry, Ally. And he's not going to get away with what he did, okay? I don't care who he is."

She nods slowly against his chest. "All I could think about was you," she whispers. "I kept wishing it was you and I kept wishing that the chairs would levitate and that we were talking about how cool it is that the weather's hot and I'm so stupid, Austin, I'm so stupid." Her breath hitches. "And then all of that…stuff happened and it wouldn't have if I…if we…if I hadn't been so scared and I'm just sorry."

He shakes his head. "You have nothing to apologize for, okay? None of this is your fault." He hesitates. "And it's not like…I mean, I was scared, too."

She nods and they fall silent for a few minutes as she sniffles a bit and he continues to rub her back gently.

He releases her when he feels her start to pull back. Her eyes are dry as she looks up at him and it takes everything in him not to wrap her up in his arms again because she still looks so small and vulnerable and hurt. But she manages a smile and it's still sad but it's a start.

She looks down at the piano after a few seconds and he takes her hand as he waits for her to continue. "Austin, are you…are you still scared?" she whispers after a moment, squeezing his hand lightly. "Because I'm not scared anymore."

His breath catches in his throat. "What are you saying, Ally?"

Ally turns her head to look up at him and smiles, a real, genuine smile that reaches her eyes. "I want to be with you," she answers. "I'm tired of pretending that I'm okay with us being just friends and trying to pretend that I can move on because I can't."

He can't help but grin at her as he brings a slightly shaky hand up to cup her cheek. She tilts her head into the warmth of his palm and looks up at him with wide eyes. "I'm not scared either," he says.

And Ally is the one who crosses the distance to kiss him and it's the softest kiss they've ever shared, sweet and simple and slow, and he feels her wrap her arms around his neck as she shifts closer to him.

They're both blushing when they pull back and they stare each other for a second before breaking out into wide grins, and they're both laughing a bit when he kisses her again.

"Thank you for always being there for me," she whispers after a moment, leaning her head on his chest as he wraps his arm around her shoulder. "And for seeing through me when I try to hide."

"I'll always be there, Ally. And I'll always know." He presses his lips to the top of her head. "Always."

fin.

BLAH.

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