"An ABC challenge where we have to list the things we like about each other in alphabetical order…?" Austin summarized again in disbelief, fighting a smile. "You're kidding." The brunette only continued smiling at him. "Ally!"
"Fine! The first one to make it through the whole alphabet would be the winner." She sighed placidly, leaning on the sonic boom counter. "I would've won anyway."
Austin caught the bait and broke into a boyish grin. "Nuh uh Dawson. I'm gonna win it."
Ally's eyes shot up and she smiled wide. "Loser has to give up something they like for a week."
"As long as it's not you I have to lose." Austin commented, leaning forward to tilt Ally's chin up delicately by his hand and kissed her.
"Uh...A. Easy. You're adorkable."
Ally shot him a look over her shoulder as she was putting up new instruments.
"What? Adorkable is good! You're such a dork at times, but it's adorable," Austin said as a matter of fact, following her to the other side of the store. Ally was shaking her head, hiding her smile from him. After she finished assisting a customer, she went back to the counter. Austin hopped onto his usual spot on the counter to sit. "Your turn."
As the petite brunette worked the cash register, she looked at him over her shoulder before turning her attention back to the register. Austin blinked. "You came up with the challenge but you don't even have one for me on A?" He accused, feigning hurt.
With a grin, Ally spun to him and pointed a delicate finger up at him, giving him a pointed look. "Oh I was well prepared for this, Moon. A. Ambitious." She beamed proudly and Austin could only blink and found himself smiling back. She had that effect on him. He settled for it, giving a shrug with an approving smile.
"Alright." He laughed. He thought of the next word. "B. Even easier. Beautiful." He softened his gaze when she glanced back at him, their eyes meeting. He reached out to tuck a stray wavy lock behind her ear and she smiled down, her cheeks turning a warm pink.
"B. Bright." She said in shy mumble as she wavered away from him to attend her work again. He chuckled at her demure and then brought his mind back to the alphabet.
"C. So easy! Cute."
She laughed with her back to him. "I dare you to find try a little harder than that," She called.
"Wait, does it have to describe you or be what I like about you?"
She turned to him. "Uh…both, I guess."
He suddenly put his hands on her waist and dragged her closer to him against the counter. She made an "oh!" by the sudden action and he answered in a lower voice. "Cozy. I like how you fit in my arms perfectly." He grinned wickedly at her reappearing blush. He was beginning to like this game more and more at how he could make her react. He was so tempted to kiss her again. Right when he leaned closer, she placed one hand on his chest to stop him.
"Whoa there, cowboy." She laughed almost breathlessly. He smirked and squeezed her waist once before letting go. She backed up until she leaned against the other counter. She kept her hands behind her, forming a thoughtful face. There were several words she could use for Austin with C. Cool, collected, chill, confident, creative… but what was her favorite? She eyed him, who was looking around innocently, busying himself like he always managed to do. Childlike. She wanted to say. It was was an incredibly endearing quality Austin had but she wasn't sure he'd like being called like a child. He already took pride in that already, admitting it before. Cocky. Nope, that won't do anything. She zoned out and thought of their last years together and thought of all the things he's done for her. She lit up. "Considerate."
He looked back at her and after a beat, he just smiled.
They made it to the letter H before it was finally break time for Ally.
Austin: Ambitious, Bright, Considerate, Dancer (Austin was aiming for "dreamy" but settled with teasing Ally that she thought his dancing turned her on), enticing (She asked him not to laugh at her for that but he did anyway), faithful, genuine.
Ally: Adorkable, beautiful, cosy, dainty, endearing, friendly ("F...fancy." "Fancy." Ally replied flatly. "Really." "I don't know! What words begin with F?" "This is when it starts getting hard, huh?") , Gifted, ("Ge...germane." "Germane means relevance." "Oh- uh, girly. Gorgeous!" He tried to redeem himself. Ally bit her cheek to keep from smiling and reminded him to keep from biased adjectives. He argued it wasn't biased but went for gifted anyway.)
They were on the couch upstairs in the practice room, cuddled together. She laid on his chest as he played with her hair. "H." She mumbled after a few long minutes of alone quiet time. She felt him take a deep breath and she closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat.
"Harmonious." He answered. "I like how our voices sound together." He continued playing with her hair. She smiled, agreeing in her head, her eyes still closed. It was her turn but neither of them pressed for it immediately. His hand traveled through her hair, twirling the ends.
Heartfelt. She wanted to say. That was the special thing about Austin. In his singing, his dancing, he'd put his heart into it. Even when he spoke normally. Everything was him, from the heart.
"Hot. You think I'm hot." He interrupted the comfortable silence. Ally opened her eyes to look up at him questioningly. He was joking, his eyes fixed on the wall with amusement before looking back at her. After staring agape, she laughed, lightly smacking his chest with her arm.
"Shut up," She said. "I should've made E egotistic."
"Egotistic? I'm hurt." He said aloof, a smirk playing on his lips. She rolled her eyes, holding back the laughter bubbling in her.
She snuggled on him again, his hand reaching to hold hers and intertwine their fingers. "Hilarious." She said. "You always make me laugh."
"Glad I can do that, milady." He kissed the side of her head.
"I think we can take a break from the game." Ally said, giving in for now.
"Thank God," He held onto her tighter. Her break would end in 30 minutes.
The rules to the game were they had to avoid "biased" ones, like just saying someone is "gorgeous" or "amazing" as Ally put. It didn't make sense to Austin but he knew better than to mess with Ally's rules.
As time went by, Austin felt the small girl's breathing and wondered if she fell asleep. He didn't say anything and just closed his eyes as well.
He thought of the game and realized if they were going at the rate they were, one after the other, the winner would only be determined on who went first on turns. Didn't catch that.
So he thought of a few words to fit Ally while she was asleep.
He woke Ally up before her shift started again and he went to go hang out with Dez until he picked Ally up again at closing time.
Hours later, when Ally was closing, Austin came in. "Hey beautiful," He greeted.
Ally smiled at him, turning the open sign to a closed as the last thing. She brought her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly and the two went up to the practice room.
"Innocent, juicy, kind, literate, musical, novel, optimistic, perfect, quirky, reliable, strong, trustworthy, upbeat, voice, world changing." Austin started listing. Ally choked on her water at the word juicy and could only stare at him as he finished.
After a second or two, she pointed. "Did you just?"
"Yup. And Ally it's impossible to keep going to Z unless you want me to make up words or go into a different language." He gave her a pointed look.
Ally slowly sat down on the couch, still sputtering. Austin sat next to her. "And you memorized all those words?" She still sounded astonished. He had to have spent time looking up words in a dictionary or something.
Austin squinted his eyes, gritting his teeth. "Well… kinda. I have the list here." He pulled out a small piece of crumpled paper from his pocket. Ally stared at it and then looked over it when he showed her.
She lifted her wide eyes back to him. "Care to explain some of them?"
He scooted closer, looking at the list. "Well innocent, you are innocent. Juicy- there's not much for J. You really want me to explain?" He deadpanned, giving her a straight face and she refused to turn red for the nth time today. She avoided his eyes as he continued. "You are kind. Literate- you're the writer, not me. Musical, that says it for itself. Novel- I think it means original right?" He looked at her to get a slow nod. "Well close enough. Optimistic, yeah. Perfect-" He paused, waiting for her to scold him for the "bias". When he turned to her, she turned back, brown eyes meeting hazel. She had wide eyes, still bewildered, waiting. "Well. You're perfect Ally. Not that you have no flaws but, you're you… and you're perfect." He lowered his voice. A flash of touched tears appeared in Ally's chocolate orbs, and could only smile. Before he continued, she quickly planted a thank you kiss on his cheek. He glanced at her for once second and back at the list, ignoring his cheeks turning red. "Quirky. Ties with adorkable. Reliable. I could always count on you Alls. Strong- you've conquered your stage fright and don't let anyone beat you down anymore. I always knew you could do it. Trustworthy. Upbeat. Voice- I like it hearing it. World changing. My world changed when I met you."
Speechless, Ally was taking in the words. Austin took a deep breath, putting down the list. Then, Ally was hugging him. She rocked him side to side in the tight hug. "Thank you, thank you," She cried. Austin hugged back, having an automatic smile and lowered his face into her hair.
When she pulled back, she held his face in her hands. She was kneeling on the couch, up to his height. She searched his eyes. "You really got into the game, hm?" She gave a weak half smile.
He brought his hands up to hold her wrists and brought them down. "Only for you," He laughed lightly and pressed his lips against hers. She melted into it, resting her arms around his neck. It was almost odd she was at a taller height than Austin at the moment but he didn't mind. His hands held her waist again and Ally let herself fall on her knees again so she was shorter. They pulled away for air and Ally grinned at him. He grinned and pressed a fervent kiss on her cheek. Ally made a squeal, falling over with him and made a hearty laugh as she felt his grin against her skin. "You know," He said as he continued to pepper her hair and cheek with affectionate kisses. "This means you lost," Ally's eyes widened for a second. "What are you going to give up for a week?"
"Definitely not this." She joked, a little out of breath. He pulled back, not fighting his grin.
"I bet it was just pickles." He said.
She looked away embarrassed. "And you were going to give up pancakes."
He rolled his eyes. "Good thing I won." And snuggled his head into her hair like a puppy.
A/N: Happy New Years! I know I have SR to update but I still don't know about it. Well, I hope everyone had a happy new years. 2014 is here. Rock it.
Take care always.