Notepads & Phone Calls

A/N: Apparently I wrote this story around August 2013 and it's been sitting on my laptop since and I just decided to upload it because why not. I'm horrible and haven't put up the second of three chapters for Home, Sweet Heart and who knows if I'll ever continue this. I sure don't. Anyway, enjoy, I guess? Also, PS: I think Ally is probably super OOC okay sorry bye.

Ally gets a new job as secretary at Moon's Mattress Kingdom. With a mean coworker, her paranoia of failing, and a flirty blond boy constantly bothering her on the job, there is definitely hassle in her castle. (AU)

Never in her life did she think it would come down to this – secretary at a mattress store. It's not that Ally ever looked down on the people that worked there, or that she thought she was better than them, but her career seemed to be skyrocketing just the other day.

…

Two years into college and working part-time at a record company, Ally believed that she was about to make her big break. Fresh out of high school, the brunette songwriter sent out a demo to dozens of record executives, never once getting an answer. Determined not to give up, she figured her next option would be to work from the inside up.

It was an easy task to land the job as Jimmy Starr's personal assistant. Her high grades, great recommendations, and drive for perfection sealed the deal. For the following two years, Ally found herself breathing the same air as some of the top celebrities, both a blessing and a curse.

Interfering with Jimmy's clients was one of biggest "No's" on the list and Ally, being the rule follower she was, knew that she couldn't talk directly to any of the celebrities about her songwriting skills. One day, while trying to discreetly slip a demo into a client's bag, a hand gripped her wrist and another swiftly grabbed the demo from her hand.

"I wouldn't if I were you," a deep voice whispered in her ear. Ally quickly snapped her head in the direction that the voice came from, finding her face inches from that of a muscular and tanned blond boy. Her mouth popped open, forming an "O" at his smirk as he continued. "Jimmy was a little suspicious. Well, either that or he was checking out your ass. To be honest, I wouldn't blame him about the latter."

Disgusted, and a little shocked that she had almost been caught, Ally wretched her hand free of his grip. "You're disgusting," she fiercely whispered to him. The male's smirk only widened before it turned into a sickly sweet smile, his gaze moving above her head to look at Jimmy, standing tall with a leggy black haired female.

"Hey Jimmy, sorry about that. I swiped this off of your secretary's desk and it turns out that I shouldn't have," the blond male said, holding up Ally's demo CD. Her eyes widened and she swore that her heartbeat echoed in the room. The songwriter twisted her head to look at Jimmy and took in his furrowed eyebrows. "I don't know about Linda over here," the boy said, gesturing to the black haired girl. "But I'm going to stay loyal to my label and not switch over. Here's someone you should sign though." With that, the boy tossed the demo to Jimmy, effectively caused Ally to become flustered and appalled from a single wink, and swaggered out of the room.

Dropping the demo to his desk, Jimmy quickly ran after the boy in a flourish that she had never seen before.

"Austin! Wait! Let's talk this over!" Jimmy had nearly shouted as he followed the blond out the door.

The next day, Ally found a contract situated on her desk and Jimmy smiling a little too brightly for only nine in the morning.

…

A week after Ally signed her contract, and became the freshest face of Starr Records, she found out why Jimmy ran after the blond boy, apparently named Austin, in such a hurry. It was a last stitch effort to save the record company which had secretly been going under for quite some time. Jimmy didn't even listen to Ally's demo, she had sadly found out, and just did so because of what Austin said (though Jimmy knew nothing would come from it).

That night, Ally walked out of the building and into an empty parking lot of Starr Records with a box full of office materials, a useless recording contract, and no way to pay her bills coming in next week.

…

And that was how Ally found herself here, sat in the back office of Moon's Mattress Kingdom in the midst of an interview.

In the back of her mind she heard the laughter of old family members, an echo of "I told you so!" as a constant reminder of their failure to believe she could actually make it in the music business.

If she was being honest in that moment, she would say that she didn't think so either.

…

"I think you would be a lovely addition to the Moon kingdom, Ally," a perky, older blonde woman said to her, sticking out her hand. A plastered a fake grin on her face and shook the offered hand.

"Thank you, Mrs. Moon. I appreciate this opportunity."

With those words uttered from her lips, Ally Dawson found herself as the newest secretary of Moon's Mattress Kingdom.

…

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" a sneering voice said, the smirk evident in the words as Ally approached the front desk.

She froze on her spot, eyes wide and lips in a tight line.

"Afternoon, Tilly!" Mimi Moon said in greeting to the blonde girl in the desk chair. "This is Ally Dawson, she'll take over your weekday hours as you move to the weekend."

"Perfect!" Tilly said, her voice sweet enough to poison. Mimi turned to Ally to let her know that Tilly would be training her for the next two days, though the words fell on deaf ears. Tilly Thompson, the girl that hated Ally since kindergarten, was her new coworker. Fabulous.

"Yaaaay!" Ally said with little enthusiasm, forcing a weak grin to the peppy blonde owner. The eldest of the girls couldn't help but squeal in excitement that everyone was getting along since apparently, none of the previous girls could handle "the work".

…

Relatively, working as a secretary at Moon's Mattress Kingdom was an effortless job. The only things that Ally had to do were to answer phones, greet customers, and on occasion order shipments.

In the down hours, there was little that Ally could do. She found out from Mimi that she was allowed to bring work with her to occupy her in the off-time. It was only after a gruesomely long and uneventful day that Ally found this out, Tilly having failed to inform her.

The brunette grinned at the opportunity to bring her book to work. She was basically getting paid to read since customers were more frequent on weekends and after she got off the clock on weekdays.

(Her nighttime coworker was Trish, a lazy Latina who came in an hour before Ally got off work and snoozed through her hours. Though rough around the edges, Ally quickly befriended Trish over their common dislike for Tilly.)

The most exciting days for Ally came when Mike Moon, Mimi's husband and the co-owner of mattress store, informed her that they would be preparing to shoot another commercial in a couple days.

Though she loved to read her book, Ally also loved working and the feeling of accomplishment after a particularly busy day.

…

"If our son calls, can you transfer it to the back immediately?" Mimi asked sweetly, maneuvering her way across the showroom to the back office door. Ally nodded her reply and grabbed a nearby notepad, quickly scribbling down a reminder just in case.

One hour and three deeply intriguing book chapters later, a ringing office phone interrupted Ally.

"Moon's Mattress Kingdom, how may I help you?" Ally politely answered, bookmarking her place and settling the novel down on the desk. In a quick, automatic flourish, a notepad and pen made their way into her tiny hands as the phone rested between her ear and her shoulder.

"Ooooh, you sound a lot hotter than that other girl," a flirty male voice said on the other end. Ally's nose scrunched up in disgust and she gritted her teeth as she repeated the question. "Not even a giggle? Damn, you're really not like the other girl," the voice, somewhat familiar to Ally, said aloud in thought.

"I'm sorry; it seems you've got the wrong number. Have a nice day!" the brunette said in an obvious tone of false sincerity before hanging up the phone. A deep huff of air escaped her lips as she made ready to settle back in her chair only to be disturbed by the phone once more.

"It's not polite to hang up on someone, you know." Ally held in her groan as the male voice on the other end spoke before she could say her greeting line.

"I also don't appreciate the way you were speaking to me. There's this thing called respect, you know?" she responded, mocking the male's voice. She knew this behavior could get her fired but she had no patience to put up with it. Her day had started off bad enough, with her alarm clock not going off and Tilly not accomplishing any of her assigned tasks from over the weekend (ultimately leaving them for Ally to do when she came in on this dreary Monday); an annoying flirt with little respect was something she would rather not deal with.

"Woahhh, chill!" the male said after he let out a laugh. "Just patch me through to my folks."

"Excuse me?"

"Can you transfer me to Mike & Mimi? I'm their son… they said to call about the commercial." The tone of the Moon's son was bored and he slowed down his sentences as if talking to a first grader that was given a reminder. With an audible huff, earning yet another low chuckle from the male on the other end, Ally quickly alerted the married owners of who was on line one.

"Thank you, dear," Mimi began.

Mike continued her sentence. "I hope our son wasn't giving you too much trouble!"

Though the amusement was clear in his voice and Ally could tell that he knew of his son's antics, she still uttered one of the biggest lies she ever told. "No sir, not at all."

…

"Hey, can you tell me what time I need to be there tomorrow?" an annoying voice said when Ally answered the telephone, unable to get her greeting out for the second time that day.

"Eight tomorrow morning," she answered, quickly and curtly.

"Thanks sweetie."

"I am not your sweetie," she all but growled. "Write that down, by the way."

Ally could hear the smirk in the male's voice as he spoke. "Okay, what was it? 'I am your sweetie,' right?"

"Ha ha, you're hilarious. If you're not here by eight tomorrow morning, you only have yourself to blame."

"Are you sure it's 8AM?" the male asked, his tone questioning.

"Do you still not listen to your parents when they speak? 8AM, bright and cheery. Write that down as a reminder, set an alarm, I don't care."

"8AM, got it. See you tomorrow, hun!" he said, his obvious smirking evident in his cocky tone. The phone call ended before Ally could reprimand the boy once more and with that, she slammed down her end and let out a long groan.

…

The next day consisted of Ally, Tilly, and Trish all coming in at seven in the morning to help prepare the store for the shoot in two hours. While Ally had busied herself in actually doing what the two Moons wanted, with some help from Trish, Tilly worked on checking her reflection every two minutes.

"Why do you check your mirror so often?" Trish asked as she stood by a bedframe, not assisting Ally to put on the sheets and blankets like she was supposed to be doing. "You're already ugly enough and I don't think Mike can replace yet another mirror for you."

Tilly sneered at Trish's smug expression only to smirk and cock an eyebrow.

"If you must know, Mike and Mimi's son is coming today. He is just so…" Tilly trailed off in a wistful voice, trying to find an appropriate adjective to describe how much she liked the youngest Moon.

"I'll tell you what their son is," Ally began, her back to the front of the store as she fixed the blanket and grabbed some pillows to fluff. "He is an annoying, arrogant, cocky jerk who-"

"-Still thinks you have a great ass," Austin finished as he smirked at the trio who all turned to look at him. He stood by the door, leather jacket covered arms crossed with sunglasses adorning his face as his tall, muscular frame towered over them. His footsteps were swift as he moved to the front desk, leaning an elbow on it as he picked up the notepad and pen.

"YOU!" The three girls shouted at once; Ally's in repugnance, Trish's in disbelief, and Tilly's in a fangirling squeak.

"Don't touch my notepad!" Ally shrieked, dropping the pillow on the bed and clambering over it to grab the notepad out of Austin's hand, screwing up whatever he happened to be doodling on it. She clutched the pad to her chest, making her way behind the front desk to delicately place it in the locked drawer, glaring at Austin the entire time.

"Wait, hold up!" Trish exclaimed, still trying to register the fact that the boy before her was related to her owners. She raised an eyebrow, pointing at the blond boy. "You, The Austin Moon, world renowned singer and dancer, are related to Mike and Mimi Moon, two mattress store owners?!"

Austin simply shrugged in his cocky manner, a smirk dancing on his lips as he slid his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose slightly just to eye the short, curly haired girl. "Yep, you got me."

Tilly's existence was remembered as she began hyperventilating. "I – I – can't believe it's really you!" she squealed, Ally and Trish wincing at the high frequency. "You're nothing like the pictures – you're hotter!"

Before Austin could open his smirking lips to respond, Ally gave Tilly an annoyed look. "Don't inflate his ego anymore, Tilly. He won't be able to leave the store with it so big."

"THAT'D BE GREAT!" the overexcited blonde girl exclaimed.

Trish gave Tilly a look as she spoke, her face turning sympathetic as her gaze moved to Ally. "It seems like that'd be slow torture for Ally."

The brunette songwriter nodded her head sadly. "That's putting it lightly." Tilly only snorted and rolled her eyes at the two.

"It would be heaven, okay?! Especially having him locked in here at night… with just me and him around… and all these empty mattresses-"

"Okay, you need to stop before I am forced to see a therapist!" Ally nearly shouted, quickly throwing her open palms down in frustration.

"Uh… still here?" Austin said unsurely, not used to being ignored by three attractive females his age.

"Unfortunately," Ally muttered.

The sound of the front doors falling closed and Mike and Mimi's laughter brought the group to their senses, realizing that the entire store was full of employees that were shooting the commercial who were currently looking at them.

"I don't believe it Mike but finally, a girl Austin can't swoon!" Mimi said, coming over to the front desk that Austin still leaned on and Ally stood behind. The older woman grabbed her son's cheeks and quickly kissed each one as he blushed slightly from her affection.

"Never thought I'd see the day! I should give you a raise, Ally," Mike joked, clapping his son on the back as he smiled proudly to the short brunette. Austin turned to her as well and Ally noticed that he had his father's eyes.

"No worries about that inflated ego; my parents just popped it."

Ally tried to suppress her grin but couldn't once a giggle escaped. His parents only laughed, tapped his cheeks, and shuttled him over to the camera crew, nodding to the girls with a smile. Austin snuck a glance behind him and grinned at Ally who was covering her mouth to hide her giggles.

Trish sauntered over to the desk, grinning smugly at Ally as she pulled her notepad from the drawer with a frustrated sigh. "Looks like someone already won over the parents. You're on a good track so far." Ally only furrowed her eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?"

A laugh escaped the Latina's lips as she rolled her eyes in good humor, a smile still on her face. "It's so obvious Austin likes you! And apparently you guys have some past?" she said, trailing off to let Ally know she wanted the full story.

Scoffing from her spot, Tilly closed in on the desk, sneering at Ally and Trish. "Oh, please! Austin does not like Ally. There's not much to like, he only does it for the fun of it!" Trish's fists balled and clenched shut, ready to defend her friend but stopped when she heard Ally laughing as she pointed to Tilly. Confused, the blonde narrowed her eyes. "What's so funny, Dorkson?"

Between fits of laughter, Ally shook her head while trying to catch a breath. "You actually think I care about your opinion." A small smirk graced her lips as she laughed again, Trish's entire expression becoming one of smugness as she cocked an eyebrow at Tilly. The mean girl huffed before stomping over to the Moon family, gathered by the camera crew.

"Now that the cockroach is gone," Trish began, earning a soft giggle from Ally who had begun to calm down. "What really is going on between you and the Austin Moon?"

With a shrug as she reorganized papers, Ally replied, "Nothing." The Latina furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms, leaning them on top of the counter as she looked over it to the tiny brunette standing behind the desk.

"That was definitely not nothing, Ally. Something is going on between you two, and Austin has a thing for you too."

"Really Trish, there's nothing going on," Ally said, looking up at her friend, the papers clutched in her hands. "Austin doesn't have anything for me. We met once before for two minutes and that was it. The only other time I've talked to him after that was when he called the other day." Leaning forward even more, Trish's interest was instantly peaked and a wide grin formed from the smirk her lips held.

"No way! Tell me all about it!" she said quietly though it did nothing to hinder her excited tone.

Ally gave a small laugh as she shook her head at Trish's school-girl excitement. "Remember that blond guy from the record company I told you about two months ago? I didn't know until now but that was Austin." She took the papers that were neatly piled in her arms and grabbed the designated folder for them, easily slipping them into it.

"Wait, you didn't know who he was before?!" Trish asked incredulously, her eyebrows shooting far up her forehead. Sheepishly, Ally shook her head. Trish opened her mouth to retort but was silenced by the store's phone ringing. Sighing to herself in relief, Ally picked it up, cheerily greeting the customer on the other end. In annoyance at her interrogation being cut drastically short, the curly haired girl turned on her heel and observed Austin across the room through narrowed eyes.

…

"Austin, sweetie, this is Linda and she'll be in the commercial with you," his mother told him, introducing him to a tall, dark haired female around his age. She wore a tight, dark blue dress that hugged her curves and left not much to the imagination. Austin smiled politely at her and nodded his head, offering his hand to accompany his charming grin.

After being in the music business for a few years, Austin was used to these super model types. They played hard to get and sometimes acted like they were better than him, trying to see if he would enact in the chase. The blond singer was much into games. He didn't like the easy girls that threw themselves at him and he wasn't into the girls that played hard to get and acted like a mystery to spike his interest. He had met many girls that acted like they didn't like him to get his attention, and he's met plenty that truly didn't like him. So why, he thought to himself as his eyes traveled over for what seemed to be the millionth time to the brunette at the desk, was she so different?

"Austin, pay attention," he heard his father whisper quickly to him. Snapping his gaze away, Austin looked to his father who simply rolled his eyes. Moving swiftly to his required place, Austin slipped his arm around the girl's waist (What was her name again? Elizabeth?) and grinned to the camera.

Acting came easy to him and so this commercial for his parents was nothing compared to what he's done prior. Yet, as he repeated his lines, the commercial felt off. Austin couldn't tell what exactly it was that bothered him but it didn't feel right.

…

"This isn't working," Mimi muttered to her husband and son, who were quick to agree, once the camera stopped rolling once more. It was around lunch time and each take that the group did got worse and worse.

Mike rubbed his hand up and down his wife's back in hopes of comforting her. "Maybe we just need a lunch break. I'm sure it'll be okay after." Mimi quietly nodded her head, not fully convinced. The older male Moon looked over to Ally, his favorite and most loyal employee, who sat at the desk working on back orders with Trish, ignoring Tilly who had sauntered over once more to his son's side. "Hey Ally?"

Immediately looking up, Ally snapped her head in the direction of where her name was being called from. "Yes, Mr. Moon?"

Grinning softly at her formalities, no matter how many times he tells her to call him Mike, he asked her, "Do you mind staying here while we go on lunch break? We promise you can have two hours when we get back."

"That's fine, Mr. Moon. You don't have to worry!" Ally responded with a grin.

"Ready to go, honey?" Mimi asked as she turned in her husband's arms to her son. She grinned when he hesitantly torn his eyes from where Ally was.

"I think I'm going to just go over the commercial's script once more here and then I'll meet up with you guys later," he said. Mimi worked had to suppress her giggle at her son's obvious fib. She knew that he was just as talented at acting as he was with music, and his lie to stay at the store just to be around Ally was one of his weakest to date. Knowingly patting his chest, Mimi kissed her son's cheek softly.

"Behave, mister. I like her and I don't need you doing anything to scare her off," she teased her son, biting the inside of her cheek to keep her joyous cry at his flaming cheeks to herself.

Mike bid his son goodbye and ushered everyone else out of the store before following behind them all. He closed the door, looking through the glass doors to see his son take a deep, nervous breath before moving towards Ally. He had a good feeling about this.

…

"You don't look like you're reading over your script," Ally said when Austin had approached her desk, not bothering to look up, continuing to type away on the computer.

"Just an excuse," he said cockily, giving him his usual grin/smirk. Ally looked up at him with a bored expression before returning to the computer. Completely thrown off his game, Austin stared dumbfound at the brunette, forgetting momentarily just how different she was from everyone else. She didn't even care that he told her he used an excuse to spend time with her.

Trying to think of a way to bring back his game, his rested his elbows on the desk's high counter and tapped his fingers against the surface deep in thought. Ally raised an eyebrow, turning towards him. When he didn't notice and continued to tap, she took a pile of folders and not-so-gently tapped them against his palm.

"Hey!"

"Stop," she said firmly, earning a pout from Austin before returning to her work. Austin absentmindedly began picking up things around the desk. This was so unlike him. He was usually confident no matter the situation. He was usually nice and polite, sometimes flirty, but when he couldn't help himself, he did admit that he could come off as a cocky jerk which is what Ally probably saw him as.

Frustrated from Austin tinkering and playing with every object on the span of her desk, she quickly grabbed his hands to stop him from moving any further. "If you're going to stay here, at least be useful," she said and grabbed a pile of papers, thrusting them into his chest as she stood from her rolling chair.

Eyes wide, and in shock, Austin took the mind and almost robotically moved back to the mattress they were using the commercial and sat the papers on it before plopping down beside them. It had been years since he had to organize these papers, one of his least favorite tasks of the mattress store when he helped out here.

In silence, the duo worked on opposite sides of the store. That was until Austin muttered a few curses under his breath but loud enough for Ally to hear in the quiet store. Groaning slightly, she stood from the desk and made her way over to Austin, the swift flow of her pale yellow sundress brushing against the mattresses she passed.

"What's wrong?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she stood before him with his arms crossed. He bit his lip, eyebrows furrowed as he held up two papers and studied them intently.

"I haven't done this in years and I thought this paper," he said, shaking his right hand and causing the paper to flop noisily, trying to indicate that he meant that one, "went first then the other but now I'm halfway done and I don't remember if that's the order."

Ally couldn't help but giggle at the blond rocker before her. She had only seen him as the confident, somewhat cocky flirt he could be but as he sat in front of her, clearly befuddled, she observed that he looked boyish and a bit like a puppy.

"You were right, don't worry," she said, rolling her eyes goodheartedly. Spinning on her heel, she moved to go back to the desk before he called her back. "Yeah?" she asked, only slightly annoyed as she turned back to him and made her way to rest her hip against the high mattress.

"I'm sorry things didn't work out with Jimmy. You're really talented," Austin said sincerely. Ally's eyes widened and her mouth popped open as she stared at him in shock. She didn't know that he remembered their day in Jimmy's office. But what puzzled her more was how did he know what her musical abilities were? As if reading her mind, Austin responded in a sheepish manner and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I was really curious and saw a second copy on your desk. I kind of took it before Jimmy caught up to me," he said, finishing with a wince. Ally didn't know how to react to this new information, her mind and mouth clearly not connected as she responded.

"You really don't know how to keep your hands to yourself, do you?"

"You really don't know how to take compliments, do you?" he said, mocking her almost although it was true. Ally blushed a light pink and looked down to brush a few locks behind her ear before glancing up at him.

"Thank you," she said softly. He gave her a boyish grin in delight as he accepted her thanks and patted the spot on the mattress beside him.

Hesitant, Ally sat down beside Austin and reached over him, taking half of the unfinished pile to help him. She started organizing the papers instantly and Austin took a moment to smile at her, adoring the look of concentration that took over her face. Feeling his stare, she continued to look at the papers despite the pink that started to tint her cheeks and lightly nudged his side with her elbow.

"Do your work, slacker," she joked lightly.