AN: Oh my gosh, I'm so glad people liked this story! I'm updating today because I'm so happy about it!
We'll just consider last chapter a prologue of sorts, okay?
BTW, I don't own Austin and Ally or 5SOS.
Heartbreak Boy
Third Person
"Hey, Ally!" Austin grinned.
"Oh, hi Austin." Ally managed to smile.
To anyone else, it might be easy to see that the girl was faking her smile. Strangely enough though, one of her best friends could not even see that. It's kind of strange, in the way that your friends can see through your tiniest lies and unveil your smallest secrets, yet sometimes they can't see the things that are most obvious.
"So, um… about last night…" Austin leaned forward slightly. The girl's eyes widened for a second, and she looked—nervous, maybe?
To other people, it might've looked like Austin was about to kiss Ally. Maybe it looked like Ally was about to kiss Austin. Even though Ally wished that was the case, she knew that wasn't what was going on.
"Please don't tell anyone about that." Austin finished, whispering so no one else could know. Why he whispered was beyond Ally. It was Sunday morning, and it was a slow day for the usually busy music store.
"Have I ever told?" Ally raised her eyebrows.
(It was a rhetorical question. She had never told. Not even Trish or Dez.)
"I mean, it's always hard when a breakup happens, and it's nice to have a friend there, you know?" Austin pleaded, shoving a hand through his hair.
"Yeah, I know." Ally agreed.
(Total lie. She didn't really know. She'd never had her heart broken. Well, she had kind of had her heart broken by Austin, but that was completely different. That was over unrequited love, not once-requited love.)
"I just wanted to say thanks for everything you've done for me." Austin finished. "It's nice to know that you'll help me through all of these heartbreaks."
"It's nothing, really." Ally shook her head a bit.
The blonde leaned back, smiling. Before either of the two could say anything else, his phone began to buzz.
"Crap, it's my parents. They're having a sale over at their store, and it's crazy busy, plus a couple workers called in sick today." Austin frowned, reading the text that had popped up on his phone's screen. "They want me to head over and lend a hand. I'm sorry. I'll come back over when I'm done, okay?" Austin smiled charmingly at Ally.
"Oh. Of course!" There Ally goes, faking that smile again.
"Thanks, Als. See you later!" Austin waved before jogging out of the store, leaving Ally alone with only the instruments, a lone customer, and her thoughts.
"You need any help?" She asked the customer, a man in his fourties.
"I don't need any help, especially from a teenage girl, of all people," The man sniffed snootily. "You're lucky you're even getting business from a professional musician like me."
"Oh, you're a musician?" Ally said, sounding genuine. Inwardly, she rolled her eyes. People these days think that they're a musician if they can play a scale on the piano. "Will you play something for me?"
"Of course. Maybe you can learn something from me." The "musician" slid onto a bench that held an electric keyboard. (Not the real piano, Ally noted. I mean, what musician, when picking from a real piano and an electric keyboard, picks the electric?)*1
The musician began playing a melody Ally faintly recognized as some Top Forty pop song. It was a miracle Ally could recognize it from the way the customer's fingers tripped over each other, and all the awkward pauses and wrong notes.
Seeing as Ally had nothing better to do while the customer tripped his way through the pop song, Ally pulled out her songbook and began attempting some lyrics.
I wish you could see the truth
See beyond all the masks,
No, that's pretty cliché. Ally thought, crossing the lyrics out.
High dive into frozen waves where the past comes back to life,
Fight fear for the selfish pain, it was worth it every time, *2
Does that even make sense? Ally thought, crossing the lyrics out again.
Maybe I'll work on these lyrics another time. Ally thought, defeated, before looking back up at the man working the piano. Good timing, as the man was just finishing and was looking at Ally expectantly.
"Wow!" Ally said, sort of meaning it. However, she meant wow as in, "wow, that was really awful," and was trying to turn it into wow as in, "wow that was truly great."
"Yes, well, I try." The man smirked, obviously thinking he was the best piano player in existence.
A few minutes later, he had purchased the electric keyboard and was exiting the store.
Well, it wasn't easy, but at least I can tell dad we sold something today. Ally thought before opening the songbook again.
This is not what I intended
I always swore to you I'd never fall apart
You always thought that I was stronger
I may have failed
But I have loved you from the start. *3
That isn't awful. I'll start with this. Ally decided.
And for a while, the only sound in the store was a pencil being scratched into a songbook, the holder of the pencil furiously trying to put feelings into words that, maybe one day, could tell Austin how she felt.
*1: Sorry if that offends anyone. :P And yes, I'm stealing the annotations idea from We Don't Do Rhyming. It's a good idea, OKAY?
*2: These are lyrics in the song "Clarity" by Zedd.
*3: Lyrics in the Secondhand Serenade song, "Fall for You."
I don't think that was completely awful… Tell me your thoughts!
-I Don't Want to Say Goodbye