A/N: Here's my next story, it's a multichapter Auslly story based off the novel (and movie starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturges) One Day by David Nicholls. This is a story of two friends and the evolution of their relationship over a ten year period of time, set on the same day of each year. This first chapter takes place back when it all started, and we go from there. Enjoy! Let me know if you think it's worth me continuing (that means I want you to review) ;). I won't be able to update as regularly as I did with the other stories as this is a busy time at work, so really your feedback will prod me along.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not the show, not the book, not the characters, not the songs. This story is loosely based on the novel One Day, by David Nicholls. The title of the story is from David Gray's song, This Year's Love.

Rating: T for the potential for language in future chapters


This Year's Love

1: better together

Hey, I will always stay
By your side forever
Cause we're better together
Hey, there's no other way
We'll make it through whatever
Cause we're better together

-Better Together, "Austin Moon"

June 28, 2011

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Her alarm screeched as she pawed around blindly to hit the snooze. She knocked the clock off her nightstand, causing a loud clatter on the ground. Ugh. Perfect. Usually, she would be up naturally before the alarm, but she had pulled an all nighter the night previous to write a new song so she was feeling a lot more tired than usual. Oh and yeah, she just wanted to bury herself in her pillows and blankets today and for the rest of her life because of the events of the previous 24 hours. She hid her head under her pillow and screamed! That was better, now she could face this brand new day. She sighed and sat up, her hair in brambles, her cheek stained with dried saliva. Today was already getting off to a great start.

The good news was that she was waking up an internet celebrity.

The bad news was that it was because she had completely, utterly destroyed the Helen Show's set on national television.

And it was all because of Austin Monica Moon.

She flopped back onto her mattress, thinking about the events of the past few days. Before they met, Ally Dawson had been just a simple girl who loved school, her family, her best friend Trish and music. She worked in her father's music store, Sonic Boom, dreaming of a life as a performer, writing songs in her spare time. She was a good kid, she was nice to people and animals, so she didn't understand why life hated her so much to make her such a farce. Her life had been so peaceful before Austin came charging in like a bull in her music shop. If he hadn't come into the store and started obnoxiously playing the drums, maybe she would have been saved from the worst embarrassment of her life. She should've just ignored him. Except that he was using corndogs and that was just gross. And there was no eating in the store. There was no way she could ignore him!

Anyway, he still probably would've stolen her song and become an overnight internet sensation, and then come to her for songwriting help, so it was inevitable. In some sick twist of destiny, they were brought together. Life sure loved to play cruel jokes on her.

When she had prayed for some excitement to happen this summer, this wasn't exactly what she had in mind. He was definitely not what she had bargained.

Be careful what you wish for.

Of course Austin had lied and told Helen that he could write another song and perform it. And of course he had come to her for help. And so she had stayed up all night with him, trying to write a song to help him seem creditable to his newfound fans. Somehow they did it, but instead of performing this new song, he had used his appearance as a platform to get her over her stage fright. And that didn't go very well. All his appearance did was lead her to make a fool of herself in front of millions of people. And now she felt like crap.

She was as much to blame though, she let him talk her into helping him. What was she thinking when she agreed to be his songwriting partner? She couldn't even stand the kid! He was irresponsible, silly and possibly not the sharpest tool in the shed. They were completely different, how was this going to work? She would probably end up doing all the work so that he could have all the accolades. How was that fair?

Ally immediately felt bad for thinking that. It wasn't Austin's intention to make a fool of her. He meant well. He wasn't that bad; she was just still bitter. Austin was just very opposite to her, in almost every way. But, he was sort of fun, and he had bought all that stuff for the practice room as penance for his actions, which was really generous. And he brought her a lot of pickles, so at least she knew he had paid a little attention. He had given her due credit on the Helen Show for her song, and he tried to cure her of her stage fright. At least his heart was in the right place, despite his efforts being a huge failure. Plus there was the added benefit of him being not so bad to look at. When their hands touched on the piano, she felt a little tingle down her spine, and she was pretty sure he felt something, too. But she would never tell him that. He didn't need his ego to be more inflated. He had his millions of adoring online followers for that.

She couldn't believe how quickly he had become popular, and how the fans latched onto him. They knew more about him than she did! All she knew was that he liked cheerleaders and pancakes. And that info she learned from his dumb doll. She let out an exasperated groan. Maybe she should just call him and tell him she changed her mind. She wrote these songs for herself anyway, they weren't meant to be shared. Somehow a chunk of her hair found its way into her mouth and she chewed on it nervously. What was she going to do?

"Oh great, you're up!" he burst through her bedroom door as if on cue.

"EEEEPPPP!" she squealed, covering herself with her comforter, scooting away and further distancing herself from him. "AUSTIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BEDROOM?"

He held out his hands in defense. "Whoa, calm down! I'm here to work on songs."

"Again, what are you doing in my house, Austin?" she questioned, looking around for a blunt object to grab, just in case he was going to attack her.

"Your dad let me in."

She let her defenses down a little bit. "Okay, so he and I will have to talk about that. It's like 8 AM on a Saturday. Shouldn't you be sleeping? We were up all night a day ago!"

"I couldn't sleep, I'm too excited. Let's start!" he suggested enthusiastically.

"Umm, how about I get up and shower and do normal morning things first?"

His face fell. "I thought we could just punch out a song this morning."

"Austin, songwriting doesn't just happen automatically. I can't just churn them out." She was about to add that she didn't think it was a good idea to work together, but he looked so hopeful and excited. She didn't want to crush him, and since she had crippling stage fright, at least people would get to hear her songs through him.

"Don't you just write some melodies and words in this book?" he asked, picking up her notebook from her desk.

"Don't. Touch. My. Book," she growled. She grabbed her robe and tied it snuggly around her waist. She still felt a little weird being with Austin in her bedroom, but clearly it didn't register to him in the slightest that the situation was weird.

He dropped it. "Okay, okay, but when can we start?"

"Austin, I don't know about this..."

He didn't usually pick up on signals, but even he could hear the hesitation in her voice. "Ally! I need you! We make a great team! Please, you can't give up on us!"

"Us? Austin, we barely know each other, and we're so different. I mean, what if it was all a fluke? A one time thing? You know what they say about lightning."

"You should try to minimize your height and contact to the ground?"

She gave him a perplexed look, "Umm, yes, but I mean, it doesn't strike twice!"

"It has struck twice, you've written two awesome songs for me. And, didn't you have fun last night? That has to count for something..." he pointed out.

"It was okay," she replied wryly, letting a smile creep out.

"Well I thought it was incredible, writing with you. And it was amazing getting to perform your song, so that people could hear how talented of a writer you are. I really need you, Ally. I can't do this without your help. We're a team, I'm nothing without you."

She blushed at his compliment. "That's not true."

She had always been the girl that lived in the shadows, content to let others have the spotlight. She was always overlooked by everyone, but working with Austin had given her the opportunity to get her voice out there, even if it wasn't her own voice singing. The way people responded to the music felt so good, she wanted to keep doing this for as long as she could and maybe Austin was her ticket to do so.

"We were meant to be partners, I know it. You're pickles and I'm pancakes and I know it doesn't make sense, but somehow it works. We're opposites, but that's what makes us complimentary to each other. You have to take a chance, you wrote that yourself."

Surprisingly, he did make sense. "I'm glad you're so confident, but I just don't think it's that great of an idea. I'm already so busy with school, Sonic Boom, my cloud watchers club, book club, organization club..."

"Did you say Cloud Watchers club? There's a club for that?" he laughed as she glared at him. "I mean...cool. Come on, Ally, we have a real chance here to make it in the music business. This is the dream that we both have! We can prove to everyone that we can do this, that it's not a waste of time. And I'm sorry I stole your song, I swear I didn't mean to do that. I was just so excited because it was so good. I promise you, if you give this a chance, we'll do this together, every step of the way. Because we're partners."

She internally swooned as he stood there looking optimistic. No one had ever said anything like that to her ever. No boy had ever said anything like that, and it was a little disconcerting that all it took were some words to make her insides feel like putty at the hands of a practical stranger. But she knew that he wasn't just some random guy. He was Austin, and she was Ally and they were destined somehow to be in each other's lives. Even though she wished she was more confident about the situation, she couldn't deny that they had at least some chemistry.

He nudged, "Well, what are you thinking?"

She relented, "Okay. Why don't you meet me at Sonic Boom later and we can try to work on things there."

"YES! With your help, there's no limit to what we can do, Ally."

"Yeah, you'll be famous in no time, I'm sure, Austin." She hoped she wasn't going to regret this decision.

"Well, I'll never get as many hits as your video, but that can be our goal, right?" he chuckled.

"How many hits am I up to?" she groaned, her head in her hands.

"Almost 2 million views. You're the real star, Ally," he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Austin. Thanks a lot. Now, can I get up and shower and do my normal morning things?"

"Yeah, sorry for barging in."

"It's okay. See you at Sonic Boom later, Austin. Give me like an hour?"

"Okay, sounds like a plan," he turned to leave her room, but doubled back. "Hey Ally?"

"Yeah, Austin?"

"Thanks for agreeing to work with me. You're so talented, and I'm so happy we're partners."

He was so earnest, she wanted to just give him a huge hug. But she was in her pajamas and he was still practically a stranger, so that would be awkward. She stuck out her hand as he went in for a hug. They both stopped, and switched to the others position, chuckling at their foible. He pulled her in for a tight hug, just about squeezing the life out of her. He was a good hugger, and she could get used to that.

"I really do think we're better together."

Better together? Hmm, that gave her an idea. She had to write that down before she forgot it. She nodded, "Me too, Austin. Me too."


A/N: so, does it seem interesting so far? Should I continue?