Here it is, folks, the sequel to Christmas Things. I'm pretty excited and nervous. Excited because I get to write in this universe again. Nervous because I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. Well, those of you who were looking forward to a sequel, anyway.
Fair warning, I don't have 35,000+ words written ahead of time like I did with Christmas Things, so don't be expecting a weekly update.
For those of you who haven't read it, you might want to, just to be completely caught up since I do plan on referencing it a lot in this sequel.
Like usual, you can thank Teresa and Miss-Rainy-Skies. They managed to convince me that a sequel wouldn't be too terribly bad of an idea.
Ally Dawson had three days; three, blissful days, to have Austin Moon all to herself.
Three days of cuddling together on the couch, watching classic movies she owned at her place or newer stuff on Netflix at his. Three days of cooking meals together in either his cramped kitchen or hers. Three days of lying next to each other, staying up late to have long, intimate conversations until he finally made her go to sleep so she could wake up to open Sonic Boom in the mornings.
Ah. Three, blissful days, indeed.
She slowly comes out of her dream state to the gentle nuzzling of a nose against her neck and whispered murmurs telling her to wake up. Her eyelids flutter, but never fully open, and she hums happily at the warmth and weight close to her side. A heavy arm is draped across her midsection and she finds his hand to lace their fingers together. She wiggles closer to the muscular body and yawns, still not fully awake.
"We should make breakfast," Austin suggests groggily against her neck.
Ally laughs, partly from his comment and partly from his breath tickling her. "You really want to get out of bed right now?"
"... No."
She smiles to herself. "Neither do I."
Her free hand moves back and forth against his arm, fingernails dragging lightly along his skin. His forearm flexes from the initial touch and Ally feels goosebumps in the wake of her fingertips. Austin sighs and pulls away from her neck to properly look at her. She giggles and turns her head to face him as well.
"Good morning," she whispers with a soft smile.
"Morning," he murmurs back, grinning lazily at her.
This is the fourth morning she's woken up to his lazy, sleepy grin and it still makes her weak in the knees. It's a good thing, she realizes, that she's already lying down in bed.
"What time is it?" she finally asks, secretly dreading the moment she'll have to leave for work.
He groans. "Too early," he mutters, eyes drifting shut.
"You're the one that woke me up," she reminds him as she raises an eyebrow.
"I have my reasons," he says mysteriously as he leans in close to nuzzle her neck. "Ow!" He's stopped from moving forward any further by her small hand smacking him in the face. His head quickly snaps back and his free hand reaches up to rub at his nose.
Ally frowns suspiciously at him. "What reasons?" She turns around to check the alarm clock on her bedside table. It's currently 6:45 in the morning. She shoots up into a sitting position and his arm that was previously wrapped around her midsection falls into her lap with an audible plop. His fingers wiggle sadly from her hand disentangling itself from his. "Austin!" she whines, glaring at him. "It's not even 7:00 yet! I was wondering why I hadn't heard the alarm..."
This is particularly upsetting because her alarm is set for 7:30.
Austin gives her a sheepish look. "I wanted Austin and Ally time..."
She doesn't relax and her glare hardens. "You couldn't wait until I got off work at nine? Like usual?"
He rolls his eyes. "Not tonight, remember? You're meeting your friends at the airport right around 9:30, so you'll be home later than usual." He says it with a tone of understanding, but she sees the disappointment in his eyes, no matter how subtle it is.
Ally blinks at him, his words sinking in. "Oh," she manages weakly as she finally relaxes. "I forgot." Guilt immediately sets in as her best friend's face flashes in her mind's eye, accompanied with her redheaded boyfriend. She looks appropriately remorseful, both from her accusatory tone with Austin and forgetting about her best friends. "I'm sorry," she apologizes. She runs a hand through her hair and sighs. "But did you really have to wake me up so early? I don't have to open the store until ten, you know..." she points out tiredly.
"Fine," he sniffs disdainfully. "We'll just go back to bed," he pouts. And then he promptly flips over onto his other side, facing away from her. "I only wanted to spend this morning with you..." he grumbles under his breath, curling up into a ball. A hand reaches behind him for the covers and he pulls the blanket over his head.
Her hand reaches out for him, but—as if sensing it—he shuffles away from her and closer to the edge of the bed. She draws back her hand and stifles a laugh at his childish antics. "Austin." A giggle escapes, anyhow. "You're being ridiculous."
Fake snoring comes from the heap of immaturity on her bed.
She rolls her eyes and lies back down. She moves closer to him. "Auuustiiin," she sing-songs.
The fake snoring grows louder in volume.
"Oh, c'mon!" she laughs. She throws an arm and a leg around his bundled up body, effectively becoming the bigger spoon.
"Umpf!" he grunts as his head pops out from underneath her covers. He turns slightly to see her chin resting on his shoulder as she looks down at him with a bemused smile. "I thought you wanted to go back to bed?" he asks dryly.
She gives a one-shouldered shrug and points out, "Well, I'm up now."
He looks up at her with hopeful eyes. "So Austin and Ally time?" he whispers with baited breath.
Ally bites her bottom lip and shakes her head due to his eerie resemblance to a puppy. She leans down and kisses the tip of his nose briefly. "Yes," she replies as she pulls back with a laugh. "We can have Austin and Ally time."
He lights up with excitement. "Let's go brush our teeth and go back to bed."
She blinks and her eyebrows furrow. "You... woke me up to go back to bed?" she asks tonelessly.
"I just want cuddles and kisses," he whines. His tongue runs along the top front row of his teeth and he pulls a face. "But I'm getting a serious case of the teeth fuzzies, here..."
She face plants, her forehead smacking against his shoulder. "Oh my God," she mumbles under her breath.
"What?" he asks innocently. "I happen to think it's awfully gentlemanly of me to want to brush my teeth before bestowing kisses upon your lovely lips."
"That's not it," she sighs against his shoulder. She brings her head back up to fix him with a flat stare. "I didn't realize you'd be so clingy," she muses out loud. A corner of her lips quirks upwards into a half-smile.
He rolls over, forcing her to slid off him. "I am not clingy," he snorts as an arm wraps protectively around her. His fingers slip under the hem of her t-shirt—an old White Stripes tee—and dance along the smooth porcelain skin of her hip.
She shivers at the touch and moves closer into his embrace. Her nose hits his chest and she inhales deeply. "Well, I'm definitely not the clingy one," she mutters.
Neither of them claim to be clingy and yet, there they lay, clinging desperately to each other.
His chin rests on the top of her head and his hand has slipped all the way under her shirt now, tracing lazy patterns on her lower back. "We're both equally clingy?" he tries.
Ally gives a snort of laughter. "Let's just get up and brush our teeth."
"And then bed again?"
"And then bed again," she repeats in an exaggeratedly tired and exasperated voice.
But there's a smile tugging at her lips as Austin pulls her out of bed with him.
Ally finally managed to convince Austin to get up after a few more minutes of rolling around in bed, but it was largely due to his stomach refusing, absolutely refusing, to shut up. He'd protested, argued that he actually wasn't that hungry, but after hearing far too many angry gurgles from his stomach, she'd pointed out that really, it was ruining the mood.
So now he's making pancakes in her kitchen and she's sitting at her tiny table, chin resting in the palm of her hand as she watches him flip a pancake with ease.
"You don't always have to make me breakfast, you know," she says half-heartedly. "I know how to cook."
He stops his cheery whistling and swivels his head to look at her over his shoulder. "Breakfast foods are the only things I can make with the expertise of a well-seasoned chef, okay? Anything else is just... hopefully edible," he says with a nonchalant shrug. He turns around to face her fully, points the spatula he's holding right at her. "Don't take this one thing away from me," he says in a warning tone.
She laughs. "I was wondering why you only ever seem eager to make breakfast."
He turns back to the pancakes. They're ready, so he moves them to the plate. He pours more batter into the pan. Ally watches him flip the second batch and moves to get up. "What kind of juice—?"
"Don't move!" The hand holding the spatula shoots up, and she freezes in an awkward squatting position a few inches above her seat. "Sit back down," he orders without turning around.
"Um. Okay." Ally slowly eases back into her seat.
He walks over to the fridge, grabbing two mugs along the way, and opens the metal door, peering inside. "What kind of juice?" he asks.
"Orange."
He smiles, pleased with her answer. The other two choices in her fridge were grapefruit—yuck—and cranberry—double yuck. He pours some into both mugs and quickly stalks over to the table to drop them off. She shoots him a grateful smile and immediately picks the one with less juice to take a long sip.
By the time he runs back to the stove, the current batch is done. He moves them to a second plate and while he knows that two pancakes won't fill him up, he'd rather sit down and eat with Ally before making himself some more. With both plates in hand, he walks back to the table, joining her for their breakfast.
"Let's be honest, my pancakes are awesome," he boasts as he watches her eye them hungrily.
"They're not bad, but I think four mornings in a row is enough." She shrugs as she moves to drench them in syrup. "Maybe we could do waffles, sometime? I know I have a waffle iron lying around somewhere..."
Austin gasps, clearly insulted. "Shush your perfect lips, Allison Victoria Dawson!"
"Still not my middle name," she automatically replies before cutting into her pancakes and taking a bite.
"I said shush them!"
She pauses mid-chew, gives him an odd look, but doesn't say another word. She slowly works her jaw again as she waits for him to go on.
"Pancakes," he begins in a low, reverent tone, "are the best thing to have ever been invented. They are, in point of fact, little golden halos of fluffy perfection. When you bite into them, how can you not savor the taste? Not admire the feathery light texture? But that? That is merely the beginning." At this point, both of his hands are placed on the table and he's leaning in toward her, staring her down, willing her to believe his near-poetic praise of preferred choice of breakfast.
She stares at him in a confused sort of awe. Her eyes dart down to her pancakes, drooping slightly due to having been soaked in the heavy maple syrup, and back up to meet Austin's brown eyes. "Is it?" she muses carefully with slightly creased eyebrows.
He nods solemnly at her. "A classic, regular pancake can make a grown man moan with the pleasure that should only be reserved for the bedroom—"
"Is this grown man even eating said pancake?" she asks dryly as her eyebrows shoot up. "And please don't tell me that you're speaking from experience, here."
Austin rolls his eyes. "Ally, are you going to interrupt with snarky commentary belittling the great love between a man and his pancakes or are you going to let me educate you on them?"
"We can't do both?"
"To continue from my last point, you start with the—"
"Your pancakes are getting cold," she interjects innocently.
"Basically, in short, you can add awesome shit like fruit or chocolate or whatever else you want. Okay, class dismissed." The flurry of words leave his mouth in a hurried manner and he lunges for the bottle of maple syrup. His eyes light up in childish glee as he squeezes random patterns and swirls all over his pancakes, effectively drowning them within seconds.
The pancakes may have gotten old on this fourth morning, but she's pretty sure that watching him dig into them with the enthusiasm of a five-year old kid will never get old.
He throws his head back as he takes his first bite, eyes closing in pure ecstasy as he savors the taste of his favorite food on this planet. A low moan emits from the back of his throat.
Ally coughs and looks away with a mild blush. She'd forgotten about the exaggerated noises of an almost sexual nature.
She still marvels at the fact that he can go from some sort of adorable man-child to an incredible sex god in the blink of an eye.
Another moan escapes his throat and his eyes are now closed.
Less than the blink of an eye, really.
"I've always been a waffle girl, myself," she comments lightly after his moaning stops.
Her confession makes him choke on his delicious pancakes. He takes a moment to pound on his chest, still sputtering crazily. "Oh my God," he hoarsely whispers, obviously in shock. "You can't be serious." His eyes widen in absolute horror.
"It's true," she admits with a rueful sigh. "I like the crispiness and the little cells are like perfect syrup traps!" she says defensively.
He recoils in disgust and shakes his head. "I knew that there had to be something wrong with you; there was no way one person could be so absolutely perfect, but you had me fooled with your pretty hair and your nice eyes and your adorable smile."
She bites back a grin from his dramatics and, of course, his compliments. "I'm not perfect, you know," she corrects in a light tone.
"Well, clearly!" he snorts disdainfully. "In the long, grueling war between pancakes and waffles, you've chosen their side! The side of the enemy! How do you live with yourself?"
Ally finally lets the smile tugging at her lips take over. "Austin," she says with amusement, "just eat your pancakes."
"I am going to have to seriously reevaluate this past week," he sighs dramatically, before loading up another forkful and shoving it in his mouth sullenly.
She laughs and stands up, leaning over to peck him affectionately on the cheek. He stills, blinks at her in surprise. "Sorry I shattered the illusion," she murmurs mock-seriously as she continues to hover near him. However, her eyes are light with laughter.
He gives another dramatic sigh before pecking her cheek in return. "You know what the worst part is?"
"That my cheek is now sticky?" she mumbles dryly as she moves to sit back down. She grimaces at the syrupy mark he left behind on her cheek, feeling the now taut area as she works and moves her face. She reaches up with her napkin to wipe away at the mess.
"No," he says with a roll of his eyes. "That I still think you're perfect, despite you being a waffle girl and me being a pancake guy."
"Waffle Girl and Pancake Guy," she muses with a small smile. "The worst superhero names ever."
They part ways a little later, since she had to open Sonic Boom and Austin had to get ready for work as well.
She smiles at the kiss he gave her before he finally walks into his apartment. Try as she might, she can't shake the memory of his soft lips on hers as she continues to walk to work, an extra bounce in her step, much like the previous days. She hopes that his kisses will always leave her feeling tingly all over, that they'll continue to root her to the spot and make her toes curl and send shivers and shakes up and down her spine, that they'll never, ever get boring. So far, she doesn't think they will.
Snippets and snatches of the past three days run through her mind's eye. She starts rewinding and replaying special moments, fast forwarding through boring moments, and slow-moing some of her favorite memories. It had been like some sort of bizarre and romantic getaway; they had literally spent every moment together, work being the only thing that forced them apart.
Just the two of them, for three whole days.
But now? Now, with best friends coming back into town and her father's return quickly following, she'll have to make some introductions.
Yeah, she's nervous. Like, way nervous. However, her nerves have nothing to do with them liking Austin; she know they'll like him. Love him, even.
It's more like... she doesn't know how to not blindside them with news of Austin and hers' new... companionship.
She winces at the term, but it's really the only fitting label for them at this juncture in time.
Don't look at her like that.
It's not her fault she doesn't know how to properly 'label' their new... whatever it was. And while, yes, 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' were fitting terms that she desperately wanted to be able to apply, it seemed a bit too fast.
The only thing they really talked about—and agreed on—was to take things slow, that night on Christmas Eve after they'd stumbled into her apartment—which still did totally smell like cookies. They had landed in a heap of tangled limbs on her couch, their mouths connected in heated kisses, when Ally finally pulled away, blurting out that she wanted to take things slow.
He'd stared at her, still dazed from her kisses, before she saw his eyes starting to clear up.
Never in her life had she been so afraid of rejection.
Austin, however, eased any sort of doubt or worry by kissing her gently on the temple and telling her that he was more than willing to go whatever pace she wanted, as long as they could continue to see each other.
So no, they hadn't slept together. But that isn't to say that the night of Christmas Eve had been entirely innocent, as she recalls some of their nightly activities with a faint dusting of her cheeks.
Either way, she had been more than relieved that Austin had completely understood and agreed to take things slow.
After all, it was just a week ago that she finally got his name in that faithful elevator trip.
And now, she's toying with the idea of claiming him as her boyfriend?
It was one of those things where, when she's spending time with him, none of that mattered, labels fell away and practical reasoning flew out the window. It always surprised her—scared her, even—when she took a step back and remembered that she's only really known Austin for a week.
She knows he likes her, she's not naïve, but she still wants some sort of... confirmation or something, as silly and high school as that sounds. She just knows that she can't quite introduce him to her family and friends as her 'Austin'. Well, she supposes she could, but it wouldn't make much sense. If anything, it might just raise more questions.
She's finally outside Sonic Boom and reaches for her purse to unlock the doors. She squares her shoulders and readies herself for the day.
She tries not to let her thoughts drift too often to a certain blond. She tries, instead, to focus on work and look forward to seeing Trish and Dez again tonight.
But instead of curly locks or a freckled face, her mind is consumed with images of a teasing smirk and bright, brown eyes.
Ally waits outside the terminal as the plane lands. She crosses her arms to keep from pressing herself up to the glass in anticipation for her best friends. Her eyes flit from person to person as they exit the plane, wondering when Trish and Dez will show up.
Finally, toward the tail end of the passengers, she sees a mess of wild curls on a short stature next to a tall, lanky redhead.
An excited grin splits across her face, so wide that her cheeks nearly hurt and she waves at them through the glass. She nearly shouts their names, but remembers that they probably won't hear at the last second.
Dez spots her first, throws a quick nod and grin in her direction before elbowing his girlfriend. Trish looks over and her surly expression changes to one of relief and happiness as she grins back.
A few minutes later, the three are happily embracing once again.
After picking up his car from the airport's garage, he pulls up to the side where Trish and Ally are waiting patiently with the luggage. They load up his car and Ally slides into the back seat.
"So did you spot him?" she asks as they all situate themselves. She buckles up and glances at the back of Dez's head curiously.
"No," the redhead sighs sadly. "The ever elusive Bigfoot eluded us," he says.
Trish groans. "Can we please not talk about the trip? Dez was the only person that had fun and he didn't even have fun because we never saw Bigfoot."
Ally gives them an apologetic look. "I'm sorry the trip was a waste, then."
Dez shrugs. "There's always next—"
"Finish that sentence," Trish growls. "Go ahead. Finish it. I dare you."
The driver winces. "She really hated the trip."
Ally swallows her fit of giggles. "I can tell."
"When we get back home, you are making this up to me, I hope you know this. You ruined my Christmas, you bozo."
Dez turns to look at the shorter girl with guilt written all over his expression. "I'm sorry, Trish."
She rolls her eyes but tones down her anger and irritation a few notches, if the suddenly lighter mood in the car is anything to go by. She turns around to look at Ally and asks, "So did anything happen while we were gone?"
Now, she realizes, is the perfect time to bring up Austin.
Ally swallows nervously. "Um, well, actually..." She squirms in her seat under Trish's now suspicious gaze.
"Ally?" the Latina calls sharply.
The brunette winces at the tone. Her hands fly to her lap and she starts twiddling her thumbs. Like, legitimately twiddling her thumbs in some sort of thumb war between her right and left thumbs.
"Ally?" Her name leaves her friend's mouth in a gentler tone as Trish's eyebrows crease in worry.
"I'm seeing someone," Ally blurts at last. Her eyes shut as she braces herself the repercussions of her confession.
"You're seeing someone?!" Dez shouts in incredulous surprise as his head whirls around to look at her. This causes him to swerve on the road.
Ally shrieks and clutches desperately at her seat belt.
"Eyes on the road, bozo!" Trish screeches, punching her boyfriend in the arm.
"Sorry, sorry!" Dez apologizes as he rights himself on the road.
Trish takes a deep breath and runs a hand through her curls, calming herself from Dez's scare. "Now," she breathes quietly as glances at Ally. "You're seeing someone?!" she echoes Dez's exact reaction.
Ally nods, waiting for her heartbeat to slow down. "I am."
"Since when?!" Trish demands.
Ally blushes. "Christmas Eve...?"
"WHAT?!"
She winces. "I mean, we've known each other for a week—I mean, we've known each other since he moved in a few months back but—"
"Wait, slow down," Trish sighs. She reaches up to massage her temples. "What's his name?"
"Austin Moon."
Trish and Dez look at each other. She raises an eyebrow in question and he shakes his head, answering her unspoken inquiry. She turns back to Ally and Dez turns back to the road. "So we don't know him, do we?"
She winces again. "Um, well... you kind of talked—"
Trish's eyes widen as she suddenly remembers Christmas Eve. And the phone call she had made to Ally. And the guy that had kept her friend company. "Wait, is he the guy with the weird left knee?! You're dating Weird Left Knee Guy?!"
"He has a name," Ally interjects weakly. "And that was only a joke!" she quickly added.
"I thought you said he was just your neighbor!" Trish frowns.
"He was—he is! He is my neighbor. He lives a few doors down from me, in 508."
Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. "So when I called you, you guys were just neighbors... and now you're seeing each other?"
Ally feels a headache coming on. "Yes," she answers tiredly.
"Sorry, Ally, I'm only trying to keep up."
"I know." The girl in the backseat sighs. "It all happened kind of fast..."
"Did you sleep with him?" she demands excitedly.
Ally chokes on her spit and her eyes pop out of their sockets. "No, no, I haven't!" she cries frantically with a desperate shake of her head.
"Oh..." Trish actually sounds kind of disappointed and Ally has to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
"But, um, we've been spending every night together," she whispers quietly. She presses her hands to her suddenly hot cheeks and averts her eyes.
"But no sex?"
"Triiish," Ally whines exasperatedly.
The Latina rolls her eyes. "Okay, okay! I won't ask any more embarrassing questions."
A small sigh of relief. "Thank you."
A beat. And then, "... Is he hot? Because he sounded way hot on the phone."
"Hey!" Dez scowls, jealous boyfriend mode kicking in slightly.
"I'm not going to hit on him!" she scoffs with a roll of her eyes. "Not when he's my best friend's boyfriend and when I'm a taken woman!"
Dez's grip on the steering wheel loosens ever so slightly and he relaxes.
"So is he?" Trish presses.
Ally flushes a deep red and is grateful for the night drive so Trish can't fully see her complexion. "Um. He's... he's..."
"Be honest."
"He's probably the most attractive guy I've ever met in my life," Ally sighs tiredly.
Trish whistles excitedly. "When am I going to meet your new hot boyfriend?"
Ally sinks in her seat and massages her forehead with a hand. "He's actually not my boyfriend..." she grumbles.
Admitting that out loud for the very first time makes her heart sink in despair.
"What?!" Trish and Dez cry at the same time.
"He's not your boyfriend?" Dez frowns.
"But you've been spending every night together?" Trish follows up.
Ally gives an aggravated groan and throws her hands up in the air. "We haven't made it official or anything, but I like him a lot, okay?!"
Trish raises an eyebrow. "And he feels the same way about you?"
Her short burst of confidence disappears as quickly as it came. "I'd like to think so."
"Ally, I don't know how I feel about this..."
Ally flinches at the amount of concern in her friend's voice. She meets Dez's worried glance in the rear view mirror for a second before tearing her eyes away.
"Austin's a good guy," she says quietly, confidently. "We might not have an official label or anything but I know that we care about each other other, alright? I wouldn't be mentioning it if it wasn't serious to some extent or if I didn't plan on getting serious with him."
She doesn't miss the couple exchanging glances in the front seat, but chooses to stay quiet.
"We want to meet him," Trish says firmly. "Whether he's your boyfriend or not, we definitely want to meet him."
Ally finally feels the beginnings of a smile coming on as she relaxes into the seat. "Of course," she promises in a relieved tone.
"But text me a picture of him if you see him tonight!"
Ally rolls her eyes but doesn't make any sort of promise over Dez's very loud protesting.
After Dez drops Ally off at the apartments, she quickly rides the elevator to the fifth floor. Within seconds, she's standing in front of 508 and knocking tiredly on Austin's door, waiting impatiently for it to swing open. She knocks again when he hasn't answered in a sufficient time frame.
The door swings open and Austin looks down at her with an affectionate smile. "Hey," he says as he leans in closer to her.
She grunts and quickly slips past him and into his apartment. He blinks at the empty space and turns around to eye her with concern as she collapses in an exhausted heap on his couch. He closes the door and meets her in the living room.
"Ally? You okay? I thought you'd be happy after seeing your friends." He joins her on the couch as his brow knits together.
"I'm just tired," she murmurs. This is, of course, only the half of it.
His eyes soften and he gathers her up in his arms and kisses her forehead. "You want to go to bed early? I was going to heat up some dinner, but if you're tired..."
"I grabbed something when I was at the airport waiting for Trish and Dez," she says as she snuggles against his chest. "But I don't want to go to bed yet," she admits.
"Alright," he says.
She remembers something else that she had picked up from the airport as well. She'd been browsing some of the stores while trying to kill time. She saw something that reminded her of their conversation that morning and had been giving Austin some trouble, so she had impulsively purchased it for him. However, after her conversation with Trish and Dez in the car, she's now hesitant to give him his little gift, especially since it kind of came with some implications.
"So how did it go?"
"I got something for you." The rush of words tumbles out of her mouth and she groans at her own stupidity.
A beat passes. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting that response.
"You, uh, got me something?" he asks in mild surprise.
She sits up a little straighter and his grip around her loosens up. "Yeah, at the airport when I was waiting for their plane to land." She berates herself for even bringing it up. "It's stupid, never mind."
She moves away from him and he frowns from the loss of contact. His hand quickly captures her smaller one and he gives it a firm squeeze. "I'm sure I'll love it," he grins encouragingly.
Ally freezes and her eyes bounce around the room as she refuses to look at him. "No, you won't. It's really stupid," she says in a low voice and a blush creeps into her neck and up to her cheeks.
Austin rolls his eyes. "Is it in your purse?" he asks flatly as he makes a quick grab for it.
She squeals and moves it out of his reach. "Austin!"
He gives her a playful smirk. "Just tell me what it is!" he demands.
Her jaw works silently for a few minutes and finally, her shoulders slump in defeat. She rifles through her purse for a few seconds before fishing out his little gift and placing it in his hands.
Austin blinks at it in confusion.
"It's a toothbrush."
"Uh huh."
She blushes as he eyes her curiously. "I got it for you because you've been staying at my place the past couple of nights and I know how much you care about dental hygiene. But you've been dragging yours back and forth this entire time and that just seems silly and annoying so I got you a permanent toothbrush for my apartment."
His eyes widen in surprise.
Her blush deepens and she realizes that a toothbrush is usually considered as the first step to moving in. "I'm not—I'm not trying to imply anything! I just thought that if you had one here and one at my place, it'd be eas—"
Austin interrupts her with a slow and deep kiss. Her breath hitches and her wide eyes flutter briefly before shutting completely. She's just about to melt into the kiss when he starts to pull away.
"I love it," he murmurs against her lips before kissing her again.
"You do?" she asks timidly after he pulls away again. She bites nervously at her bottom lip.
He chuckles quietly and nods at her. "It's very thoughtful of you," he says with a smile. "My very own toothbrush. It's like we just took another step."
She swallows and realizes that he just gave her a great opening. "Another step for what?" she asks hoarsely.
Austin shoots her a confused look. "For us," he states simply.
She flushes. "So... we're exclusive, right?"
He suddenly frowns. "I certainly hope so. Why? Have you been meeting Randy Raz behind my back?" he jokes.
Ally rolls her eyes. "So... can I call you my boyfriend?" she asks hopefully.
Austin quickly looks guilty and he sets the toothbrush on his coffee table to focus all of his attention on her. "I didn't know you needed confirmation about us," he admits softly. His brows knit together worriedly. "I never said anything because I thought it was pretty obvious..."
She shakes her head. "It's not—I just—" she breaks off with a sigh. "This past week has been so crazy, you know? Everything happened pretty fast and we never had time to talk about anything and I just—I didn't want to assume anything." She reaches up and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "And I didn't know what to call you."
"By my name, would be nice," he shoots at her playfully. At her exasperated stare, he winces. "Sorry."
She continues. "You're not just my neighbor anymore and you're definitely more than a friend."
A beat as both their minds wander back to some of their more physical memories.
"I mean, clearly," Ally states bluntly as a small blush colors her cheeks. "But I was afraid to call you my boyfriend without... your permission, so to say." She raises an eyebrow at him. "I didn't want to resort to calling you my 'Austin'."
Austin shoots her a delighted little smirk. "I didn't realize you were so possessive."
Ally cracks a smile. "Shut up."
He sighs and nods a bit. "But I guess you're right. And to be perfectly honest, I was kind of waiting to have the whole 'boyfriend/girlfriend' talk," he admits quietly.
Ally freezes. "What do you mean?" she asks carefully, trying to keep the mild hurt out of her voice.
"We have been doing everything pretty backwards... I mean, I haven't even taken you out on a real date yet."
She frowns, feeling more and more disappointed. "You took me to Jimmy's party," she reminds him softly.
He rolls his eyes and waves it off with a dismissive hand. "That doesn't count! We were only going to call it a date as a back up plan, remember?"
"Oh yeah," she mutters.
Austin runs a hand through his hair, staring at her purposefully. "Look, I want to take you out on a real date, not an 'at home in our apartments' date. Like, a real dinner, at a fancy five star restaurant, with a waiter that will serve us wine, and at the end, we share a ridiculously decadent dessert."
And eyebrow arches. Her lips twitch with the beginnings of a smile. She definitely likes the sound of that. "Really?" she asks coyly.
He nods, his familiar smirk starting to reappear. "Yeah. And I'll feed you off my fork and we'll fight over the last bite of whatever type of cake or mousse we're having but we both know that I'll eventually give in and let you have the last bite, anyway."
Laughter bubbles up from her throat, but she does her best to keep her expression schooled. "Wow. You've really thought this through, haven't you?"
Austin gives a nonchalant shrug. "There's a script if you want to read over it. But just so you know, I gave you two monologues; they're both about how amazing and gorgeous I am."
She fixes him with a bemused stare. "That doesn't sound narcissistic at all," she says sarcastically.
"I think you start crying over my chiseled six pack at some point. It's all very Oscar-worthy, don't worry," he reassures her with a straight face.
She can't help it as her eyes drift down to his lower abdomen and she gives him a small smirk. "Well, your six pack does already have its own fanclub," she says in a sultry whisper. She leans into him, and her hands land on the smooth planes of his chest as his arms quickly reach out to wrap around her. "I have to admit, it's perfectly merited."
Austin slowly lowers their bodies until they're lying down on the couch. His head rest comfortably against the arm rest and he grins down at her she settles in against his chest. She looks up at him with a playful smile and his hands slip underneath the hem of her shirt to rub circles along her lower back.
He smirks down at her. "Well, your approval is the only one that actually matters," he says in a husky whisper.
"Oh, trust me. I approve," she laughs.
The smirk widens. "Why, Ally Dawson, are you feeding my ego?" he asks in a shocked voice.
She rolls her eyes. "Revel in it, Austin. This isn't ever going to happen again."
He chuckles and kisses the top of her head. They relax and let a moment of comfortable silence take over. A hand moves from her lower back to run a hand through her soft hair. Her eyes flutter close as she lets him massage her scalp and trail his fingers down the length of her hair. After a few moments, he sighs contently into the quiet.
The sound makes her stir. "What are you thinking about?" she murmurs. Her eyes remain blissfully closed.
"So you're my girlfriend now," he says. He sounds mildly awed, like he can't quite believe it.
An eye pops open. As his words fully sink in, she feels a rush of warmth spread through her, from head to toe. She wiggles her toes experimentally. She's still warm and fuzzy. "I'd like that, yeah," she smiles softly.
He returns the smile and shakes his head. "We're so backwards," he laughs. "I haven't even taken you out on a real date yet, and I get the pleasure of calling you my girlfriend."
She snorts and rolls her eyes. "I got you a permanent toothbrush for my apartment," she reminds him with a pointed stare. At his bright laughter, she grins again. "Austin, you know you don't have to take me out on a date, right?"
He groans. "Argh. But it makes me feel like such a bad boyfriend," he moans in a guilt-ridden voice.
Ally wiggles up the length of his body and kisses the corner of his lips. "I just like spending time with you," she says simply with a small little shrug.
His brown eyes soften as they stare back at her. "Me, too, Ally."
With a wide smile, she moves her head back down to rest her cheek against his chest, tucking her head right underneath his chin.
Is it too horribly cliched of her to make a mental note of how perfectly well they fit together?
"But I'm still making reservations for this weekend."
Her laugh echoes through his apartment.