Day one: The First Sighting.
The goofy blond boy with the carefree smile on his face froze.
And back tracked three steps.
He had been walking along, planning on meeting his best friend at the nearby surfing shop. Sure, Dez would probably kill himself surfing, but the boy needed a wetsuit.
And then he saw her.
It was strange that he had never noticed her before; after all, she was working in the music store, Sonic Boom. He loved music and kept at it with a passion, occasionally going into the store to longingly gaze at the set of guitars.
And now there was something else to gaze at longingly.
He scrambled behind a plant and peeked through the leaves at the girl, just to make sure that his eyes weren't fooling him.
Nope. Up close, she was even cuter.
She was a petite girl, with the biggest brown eyes he had ever seen, like little pools of chocolate. Her hair was dark brown and wavy, curling just at her shoulders. Her skin was a creamy, beautiful white.
No way his eyes were fooling him.
The blond boy with the carefree smile blew a breath into his hand to make sure he didn't smell, tousled his sun bleached hair, and popped his collar.
Taking confident cool strides, the boy strode into the store, spun around in a circle, and propped himself up on the counter. He grinned and slammed his hand down on the smooth wooden surface, sure that the sharp noise would get her attention.
But to his dismay, she didn't look up. In fact, she hadn't been looking at all. She was busy scribbling down something in a faded leather journal that was in her hand.
The boy glanced around, just to make sure that he wasn't invisible. No, some people in the store were eyeing him oddly. He smiled sheepishly, and then actually sat on the counter, putting his hand right across her line of vision.
"Hey there—" here he leaned in to peek at her name tag— "Ally Dawson. Sup? I'm Austin."
"There's no eating in the store," Ally said in a monotone, still scribbling in her book. Austin frowned quizzically.
"Ummm… what?" he asked.
"You're chewing gum. I can smell it. Now either spit in out in the trash or leave," she replied, never once looking up.
Austin's mouth dropped open. He had forgotten the mint flavored gum that was in his mouth.
Austin scrambled for a comeback, anything to earn her attention.
"Um—" Austin began, when the brunette turned her back on him.
"Dad! I'm going up to the practice room! Can you take care of the customer at the counter?"
Without waiting for a reply, she darted away from the counter and up the stairs, her floral skirt bouncing brightly. Her scent of strawberries and vanilla lingered.
A friendly looking, stout man appeared before Austin.
"Hi, I'm Mr. Dawson. You alright there?" he asked curiously; the boy was pale and shocked looking.
"I think I just got ignored... by a girl," Austin breathed, eyes never once leaving the door she had disappeared into. This girl, this elusive enigma who was pretty and intricate and obviously into music...
It was then Austin decided he needed to find out more about this girl. She was just too beautiful to pass up on.
And then his thoughts were interrupted.
"Say, kid; do you mind getting off the counter?"
Day two: The Stake out
"C'mon, man! I thought we were going to watch 'Zaliens 6 1/2: The 6 1/2 return of the Zaliens'?" Dez complained as Austin dragged him into Sonic Boom.
"Dude, I have to find out more about this girl!" Austin stage whispered, pulling him behind the tall stack of guitars.
"We have to have a stake-out to find out more about her! I'll go get the donuts and a van!" Dez screeched excitedly, and sprinted toward the door, accidentally slamming into the cymbal tower.
CLANG!
Golden cymbals smashed to the ground and rolled everywhere. Ally looked up, panicked.
She's even prettier when she's angry, Austin mused. He had a big goofy grin on his face. Her eyes are so big and beautiful. And look at the red spots on her cheeks! She's got to be furious...
"What are you doing?" she yelled, eyes wide.
"I'm getting a van made of donuts! What does it look like?" Dez shouted, panicked, and pulled himself to his feet.
"Go, go, get out!" Ally shouted angrily, ushering Dez out.
"Okay, cool! Can I bring my friend with me?" Dez asked, his eyes wide.
"Both of you, just go!" Ally yelled, not even flicking her glance toward the sheepishly hidden Austin.
Austin stumbled out of his hiding place and glanced longingly at her retreating figure. He walked out of the store, head held down low.
"Well, at least you know more about her," Dez commented while rubbing his head. He had hit the cymbals pretty hard...
"What would I know? We didn't even talk," Austin grumbled, his cheeks still red with embarrassment.
Dez turned to Austin solemnly and placed his hands on shoulders.
"We know she hates cymbals."
Day three: The Guitar
Austin walked in front of the music store.
Then turned around and walked by again.
And again.
"And...go!" Dez whispered from his perch in the palm tree. That meant Ally wasn't looking.
Austin strode in the store and circled around the counter.
His plan? He was going to serenade Ally with a song. Only, he didn't have a guitar yet. So that meant that he had temporarily borrow a guitar and amp from the store.
Once safely hidden behind the grand piano, Austin reached for the plastic walkie-talkie that he had gotten as a toy for his eighth birthday.
"Dez; the batter is in the frying pan. I repeat, the batter is in the frying pan. Over," Austin whispered into the walkie-talkie.
"Okay, I just need to get out of the tree... okay, I got this..."
Austin could hear the thud of Dez falling out the tree even from inside the store.
There was a flash of red as Dez strode into the store, dramatically flipping his hair.
"Welcome to Sonic Boom, how may I help you?" Ally mumbled, her head buried in her leather journal.
"I need a purple kazoo with gold etchings in it. Do you have that?" Dez asked with a deeper tone.
Meanwhile, Austin struggled to yank a guitar off the wall. It was held in with plastic ties. Austin grabbed his guitar pick that was in his pocket and began to saw through the ties.
"We don't have gold etched kazoo's, but we do have purple ones— hey, you look familiar," Ally commented. "The kazoo's are over here..."
Austin succeeded in breaking one of the ties when his guitar pick snapped.
He stared at the broken pick and suppressed the urge to either shout in frustration or laugh out loud. How had he broken the pick? Isn't that impossible?
"Um... what are you doing?" a voice asked.
Oh no.
"I was just... trying to fix this plastic tie! The guitar might have fallen..." Austin trailed off and gave an embarrassed grin to the angry Mr. Dawson.
"You weren't trying to steal it, were you? And why is there a broken guitar pick in your hand? How do you break a guitar pick?" Mr. Dawson asked.
"No! I was, uh, um... I, uh, you see..." Austin flushed, then grabbed his radio. "DEZ! THE PANCAKES ARE BURNT! THE PANCAKES ARE BUUURNT!"
Austin sprinted away from the confused looking man.
"Bye, Ally!" he called out, but the petite brunette had her earphones on.
Day Four: The Piano
There was a back door that they left unlocked.
Austin spent most of the day peeking through the window and watching Ally write furiously in her leather journal, sweetly greet customers and help them, and talk with a Latino girl with bushy hair.
He snuck through the door and sat himself on the grand piano. Maybe playing a song on the piano would get her attention.
Austin splayed his fingers out on the shining white keys as he contemplated what to play. A goofy smile spread across his face as he decided what to play. It was perfect; a bit of a catchy love song that was a little old fashioned, but timeless all the same. What were the words to it? Oh yeah...
Just then, someone poked him in the side.
It was a small, adorable little boy. He was a bit dorky looking... what's the word?
Adorkable.
"Hi. My name is Nelson, and I have a piano lesson with Ally soon. Can you move?"
"You have a piano lesson with Ally? What's she like?" Austin asked curiously, unwilling to move from the piano bench.
"She's nice, but she's always making frowny faces when I play piano. I guess I'm not very good," Nelson said, hanging his little head.
"Well, that's why you're taking lessons, right? You can't expect to be perfect right away," Austin said, smiling at the little boy.
"Ah, nards!" Nelson said, swinging his little fists. "Can you move?"
"Well, actually, I—" Austin began, but then the Latino girl appeared at his shoulder.
"Hey, Nelson. This guy givin' you trouble?" she asked. Nelson shrugged.
"Good enough for me," she said, and tipped the piano bench so Austin slid off, tumbling to the ground.
"What was that for?" He asked indignantly, scrambling to his feet.
"No reason. I just always wanted to do that!" the girl said cheerfully, and skipped off to one of the couches to read a fashion magazine.
Ally walked over and sat on the bench. She then turned her head and smiled— not at him, though. At Nelson.
"Hey Nelson. What's up?" Ally asked, and it occurred to Austin that Nelson wasn't the only adorkable one in the store.
"Nothing, Ally. Trish pushed a boy off the bench and made him fall!"
"Trish pushed a little boy off the bench? Well, that's not nice," Ally said disapprovingly.
Austin flushed. It was embarrassing enough that a girl half his size shoved him off a bench with ease, but he was also called little boy. He walked out of the store, head hung low.
I'll try again tomorrow, he thought.
Day Five: The Drums
"So, what's the plan again?" Austin asked, reviewing everything with Dez one more time.
Dez sighed. "We sneak in through the back doors and hide behind the stair case. The second Ally is alone, you start playing the drums—LOUDLY. Then, we—"
"She's alone!" Austin shouted gleefully, peering through the windows. They immediately snuck through the doors, trying to be very stealthy.
Austin checked out the drums. To his dismay, he saw that there were no drumsticks.
"Problem, Dez. No drum sticks," Austin said, his heart thudding. Not another failed plan!
"Here, I have some," Dez said, searching through his backpack. Austin sighed in relief.
"Thanks, man," he said.
Dez pulled out a bucket of chicken.
"Here, I have some chicken breast, some wings, drumsticks, and corn dogs."
In desperation, Austin grabbed the corn dogs. "Let's go!"
They raced to the drum sets and Austin immediately began to drum, fast and loud. Dez pranced around, pretending to take a video.
For the first five seconds, nothing happened. Austin's heart sank to his toes.
Then, he heard it. A loud whistle, in his ears. A beautiful face, close to his.
Austin stopped drumming.
"Did you not see the 'Please do not play the drums' sign?" she asked, and he's afraid she'll walk away in a second.
So he says, "It's okay. I'm an awesome drummer!"
He begins to drum again, and she grabs his wrists. His skin tingles at the contact.
She starts to talk, but Austin isn't listening.
She's holding his hands.
She's talking to him.
Mission accomplished, Austin thinks, his mouth curving into a smile.
He thinks its over. But then he follows her, and hears her song.
Two days later, he's an overnight internet sensation.
And finally, they become partners.
She's the shy, beautiful song writer. He's a rock star with moves.
How could they not be perfect together?