There's something about Austin that makes her question herself.
Maybe it's the blonde hair. She's always had a thing for blondes. The blonde hair and then the brown roots that just make it ten times more endearing. Or perhaps his eyes. While Ally can agree, you can never go wrong with the classic blonde-hair-and-blue-eyes look, the fact that he instead has the warmest, richest chocolate brown eyes that she's ever seen makes him just that much more unique to her.
Or maybe it's his stance. Broad shoulders to assert his presence, but it's not threatening or overly-dominant. Shoulders relaxed, there's not a tense bone in his body - his body is slim and muscular from a childhood that grew into a hobby that involved athletics. He's on the basketball team, number 6 if she remembers right. Not a classic blonde star football player, no, but she thinks she might prefer it this way anyway.
Because this way, he's not in the center of Marino High's popularity spotlight. He has friends, sure, and any of his friends are her friends too, therefore expanding Ally's social circle beyond just Austin and the neighbors that she's known since elementary school years (if they even count anymore. She hopes they do because otherwise her social circle really is just Austin). And his friends are nice too - not total dicks because Austin isn't a dick and he's actually pretty smart, so he makes sure he hangs out with people who aren't dicks and are pretty smart too. And the fact that Austin is just so easily kind enough that he won't even ask if Ally will join him and his friends to coffee shop hang-outs, in fact he assumes that she's already going to tag along without question, gives her an odd sense of comfort and friendship that she isn't used to.
And she doesn't have to worry about how the rest of the people around them, watching their social circle interact, will react because while Austin's nice and athletic and kind of cute, he's thankfully not the biggest jerkbender of the huge clique at their high school so Ally doesn't have to deal with too many condescending looks from other people everytime she goes to approach Austin in the cafeteria while he's surrounded by more than just his familiar friends that she knows.
Not that they ever don't spend time just alone - in fact, they're so used to being in each other's personal space that sometimes they forget they're in the eyes of other people when they're hanging out at school together and Austin's arm around Ally's shoulder or Ally's head leaning on Austin's chest gets them odd looks from other students and soon people are murmuring "I didn't know Austin and Ally were dating," and then replies of "Austin and Ally are dating?" that results in at least three people (all of them girls who are dying to get into Austin's personal space just like Ally naturally resides in) walking up to them to ask for themselves. And every single time, Austin dismisses the rumours with an easy grin and shake of his head that doesn't make it awkward at all and Ally envies him for being able to do it so smoothly - whenever she tries to dismiss the rumours, the other person ends up not believing her because she just stutters through it so unconvincingly and awkwardly.
As if Ally would lie and say she wasn't dating Austin Moon. Even if they're only friends, he's Austin Moon - a cutie on the basketball team that's friendly and genuine and also knows how to play guitar and sing and basically has boyfriend material printed on his pretty, dumb, forehead. And the fact that he doesn't even realise he's such hot stuff just makes him even more cuter, for some reason, which infuriates Ally greatly.
Because Ally kind of prided herself for not being one of those girls - those girls that always had several crushes a week and would go for any guy that could throw a ball and also have a cute smile. Not that she shamed those girls who did do that - she's no slut-shamer, by any means. But she prided herself for being reserved, because it just meant that she was being smart and saving herself the trouble from crushing and trying to pursue some boy who would end up being absolutely shallow and not worth her time at all and just end up being frustrated and disappointed and distracted.
But the thing is, Austin is worth her time. Hell, he's worth anyone's time - to be in Austin Moon's presence is really a blessing because the guy isn't just a walking candy wrapper - all sweet and attractive but nothing but paper and air inside like most other boys she knows. He's genuine, he's real, and when you talk to him he'll reply thoughtfully and playfully that shows he's got an in-depth mind that actually thinks beyond just "I wonder what's for lunch today" and "Man, I can't wait to go home and beat that one video game level."
Though Austin does definitely reach the stereotypical check-marks of what makes a teenage boy a teenage boy; on more than one occasion, Ally's gone over to his house with planned ideas to study maths together only to find Austin absolutely consumed with finishing this one checkpoint of a game that looks incredibly pointless. That didn't stop Ally from sitting down next to him anyway and listening to him enthuse about the entire game though even though she literally couldn't give a shit.
It's also not uncommon for Austin to come blundering into her house (without knocking either - Ally's pretty sure Austin dubs her house as his second home at this point) and then complain to Ally about how dare she not have any of his favourite salted potato chips left in her pantry for him because she knows it's his favourite brand and she knew he was coming over and Ally can't even get mad at the audacity because she's too busy writing a reminder down on her phone to remember to buy another bag of Austin's favourite chips for the next time he comes over when they work on studying together. And their studying doesn't even really consist of anything actually worth education's time - it's mostly Ally distractedly skimming her notes without really processing any information and that's because Austin is lying on her bedroom floor, cracking so many jokes that Ally's more focused on how to reply just as cleverly back to him than on balancing scientific equations.
And what do you know, it only takes a few months of hang-outs at each other's houses and circling around each other at school before Ally finds herself recognising signs of a crush and it's like a red-alarm goes off banging in her head, telling her "hoe, don't do it, you know you shouldn't do it" but then Ally finds herself finding more excuses to touch Austin's arm or talk to him or stride across the classroom to interrupt a conversation he's having with another gal-pal and it's not because of jealousy obviously not Ally is above jealousy she just has something very important and relevant to tell Austin instantly that moment without the audience of another person.
And soon both her own friends and Austin's friends are wondering at her about it - her best friend Trish looking at her quizzically because, "Why are you smiling so dumb like that?" when Ally enters the class to greet her after just chatting with Austin in the hall, and Austin's nerdy friend Dez smirking at her everytime he notices Ally slides into the booth next to Austin whenever they hang out at a food place together and she can say it's just because it was convenient, that it's just how they happened to file in and hope Dez doesn't remark the way Ally stepped a bit ahead of him just to make sure it happened though.
Denial and pride go hand-in-hand, especially with something like Ally not admitting the fact that she might, just might, be developing some feelings someone - one of her closest friends, for the matter, and it's so dumb because she's a strong, independent woman who has other things to worry about - academics, her job, hobbies, . but when she tries to tell that to Trish one day when she was interrogating Ally about her feelings towards Austin, Trish assures her that, "You can still be strong and independent but have feelings. Love isn't a sign of weakness, Ally."
And it's not like Ally thinks that "love = weakness," but it is a hard concept to factor because as long as she can remember, she's always been picked on because she was "too sensitive, too emotional, a crybaby." And the only reason she ever was just so soft and sensitive was because through her mostly-absent mother's lasting messages she would leave Ally when she would have to refrain from a long conversation because she was in a different timezone on video-chat, her mother always told her to "be compassionate, be forgiving," and that's why Ally always puts up with her father's disorganised antics even if they end up impacting her more negatively than they do to him himself because it's a trait she picked up from her mother, and it's something both her parents continued to train her in until Ally was so soft that she would cry if one of her classmates said a vaguely passive-aggressive remark not even fully directed at her.
Carrying it on into junior high, where things between kids especially got out-of-control, crying was basically a constant function happening with Ally because people were just so aggressive, so not gentle and so not nice that they detected the way Ally was so not standing up for herself that it wasn't uncommon that she'd get taken advantage of just because she was never one to be able to say "no" and was never one to really be able to stand her own ground because she just empathized and sympathized with everyone that she just wanted to please everyone, even at her own expense and usually wound up being the one who needed the help than they really did.
And don't even get her started on her experiences with boys - too often it was usually a case of some boy would bait the so-easily persuaded Ally into developing feelings for him just for the guy to completely fake her out and leave her embarrassed and wounded and the talk of her other classmates' conversation which was mostly just them remarking how silly and stupid Ally Dawson must be to believe that a guy would actually like her.
Needless to say, when Ally noticed herself starting to develop feelings again - and for Austin freaking Moon, nonetheless - she was not happy and did her best to shove those feelings back down into the hole they came from and make sure they stay there because she be damned if she gets all distracted by heart eyes and lovey touches again just to end up getting flicked off because "hey man, you're cool, but no freaking way."
Not that Ally would ever think Austin would do such a thing. He's a sweetheart, and would never dismiss or blow off a girl like that - especially not someone as close of a friend like Ally is. That didn't stop this vicious cycle though of Ally swaying in-between being flirtatious and on-coming while also in a constant state of "ABORT, ABORT, ABORT."
Austin didn't give her a reason to back away though. Any slightly-flirtatious actions she made like a hand resting on his arm when he commented something funny or a clever and teasing joke that bordered on being foxy was returned with an equally reassuring and also attention-grabbing response such as a finger playing with the curls in her hair or a requited response about how Ally is "just as alluring" too, and soon it's an exciting but also frightening tango that Ally can't be sure is them flirting or her sensitive self over-analysing their interactions and jumping to conclusions that Austin's naturally charming behaviour is specifically sparked up whenever he speaks to her.
Even with all these doubts and possibilities that could convince her to think otherwise though, it doesn't stop her heart jumping in her throat everytime Austin walks towards her in the hallways or across the classroom - and it's not like before where she simply acknowledged that Austin was walking towards her to probably chat with her. It's different, because now she just makes it ten times more dramatic, noting how Austin must like her so much that he'll be willing to break off a conversation with another person or put another task aside just to make his way towards her and talk to her about something and it's always something that only she gets and not anyone else - so when an unwanted mutual friend of theirs tries to join in the conversation and act all buddy-buddy, the person has no idea what to even say because practically everything Austin and Ally talk about is related to an inside joke they have just between them and the fact that they have so many inside jokes just between them makes Ally giddy with some sort of feeling of security in her bond with Austin because it just shows how no one really talks to Austin like she does.
She's special.
In fact, she must be really special because when a Valentines Day dance comes around and Austin and Ally and all their friends show up without really any dates, just all of them going together as friends to have a good time, Austin still chooses Ally to dance with when a slow song comes on, and Austin politely denies any other girl's request for him to dance with them because he says "I'm going to take this song with Ally, sorry," and Austin's hand is way too warm in her palm as he guides her sweetly and smoothly across the dance floor with this cheeky and also childish smile on his face that's just so Austin because while Austin Moon is one charming man, he's still got this childish, goofy edge to him that Ally appreciates so much more than she'd ever admit and she can see it in the way he playfully twirls her a little too hard that it makes her yelp in surprise only for her to be safely caught within his gravity again and he's jokingly insulted as he asks, "Why, Madam Ally, do you think I would drop you? I would never dare to drop such a pretty, beautiful lady."
"Oh hush, Austin. I'm not pretty. Never would I think you'd do such a thing either," Ally replies back fondly. "I was merely... caught off guard! I'm not one to dance, you see."
"You are absolutely gorgeous," Austin argues, and Ally pouts her lip in disagreement that makes him shake his head softly.
"I'm not pretty, Austin. You're just biased."
"Hey, I wouldn't lie to you! You're the prettiest girl at this entire dance."
"You only say that because I'm the one that's dancing with you."
"Don't act like you aren't enjoying it," Austin says cheekily, and Ally wants to both fume and also laugh because talking with Austin is just so fun with his witty and genuinely flattering remarks and she's beaming to herself as she allows him to twirl her again - more gently this time.
"It's hard to enjoy a dance when I barely know how to," Ally says. "I'm not one to dance, you see."
"I must be special then, since you agreed to dance with me," Austin replies with a proud grin. He's not wrong, but it still makes Ally look away. She doesn't try to tell him he's wrong. "And besides, you don't seem totally incompetent at dancing," Austin reassures. "You've only stepped on my feet twice!"
"I'll be on Dancing With the Stars within a few weeks."
At that, Austin cracks a laugh that's so sweet and contagious that it causes Ally to grin too and his voice blends perfectly with the lovely song that's playing in the background, guiding them to dance around the cheekily decorated room of Valentine hearts and red and pink streamers and balloons and moments after the song fades, a girl that Ally can't even recall the name now of is sauntering up to Austin and demands: "I thought you weren't coming to the dance with a date, Austin. Isn't that why you rejected me?"
The crude look she sends to Ally already has Ally ready to be swallowed whole by the earth, because confrontation scares her, but before she can fall into the abyss of embarrassment and absolute ohmygodpleasedonotlookatme, Austin's arm suddenly going around her waist brings her back - and also sets that area of her body firing into sparks.
"I suppose you thought wrong. Ally here is my date. Don't you think she looks pretty?"
A widening of eyes and then a sharp glare has the girl saying, "She's absolutely stunning," before she's storming off away from them and Ally doesn't really know what kind of words to use to really tell Austin how thankful she is that he just saved her ass from probably being toasted and beat by that girl because she seemed absolutely livid with envy by the fact that someone would dare reject her for Ally Dawson of all people, but Ally doesn't have to worry on what to say because suddenly Austin's lips are on hers.
Pressing sweet, soft, and he makes sure he's not too forceful to surprise her and make her jump back and it's their first kiss together and Ally's brain has fizzled and short-circuited down to just the messy boy standing in front of her and how her entire face feels like it's on fire and her cheeks feel glazed like donuts and their lips are touching like cotton candy and it's nearly perfect and the only thing that's wrong with it is that he pulls away far too soon for her satisfaction.
"You see, Alls? Told you, you are pretty."
Blinking, realising he just now after they had their first kiss found a way to finish their argument because this boy has always has got to have the last winning word, Ally simply decides to smack him on the chin that makes Austin laugh and grab her hand that just slapped him and he kisses her knuckles and the back of her hand, pecks of sugar sweet affection that makes Ally absolutely "!" with glee.
And when he kisses her again, their smiles interrupting most of it, Ally decides that this time, the kiss is perfect.
i wrote this at 1-2 am and i haven't uploaded to this fanfic account in year.
leave reviews on what you thought !
- Cynthia