Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize and some things you do. No copyright infringement intended.
Copyright 2012 Multi-talented Girl.
Ally was having a nice dream (rose-tinted perspective and everything) when an insistent banging on her door woke her up. She groaned and slipped out of bed, rubbing at her eyes as she padded down the hallway to the door. She opened the door, still half-asleep, to Trish and Dez both jabbing at their smartphones while chattering into their Bluetooth headsets. Austin was behind them, looking rumpled and sleepy, as if he had just woken up from bed.
Trish and Dez both barged in like they owned the place and settled themselves at the kitchen island/countertop. Trish poured herself and Dez some coffee while yelling at some tabloid reporter (threatening him with the full force of Ally Dawson's lawyers— and a very impressive group they were—, all the while asking Austin if he would like some coffee).
Austin leaned against the island, yawning (and refusing Trish's offer of coffee— I don't drink coffee, it's too bitter). He propped his arm up and leaned his head against his cradled hand, making as if to go back to sleep. Ally flinched as memories came flooding back to her— how Austin used fall asleep in the practice room like that, with herself tucked into his chest, how Austin used to wake up from naps (or when they pulled all-nighters) with his hair sticking up like that, and how he always had the most adorable expression while sleeping. She shook herself out of her daze quickly, narrowing her eyes at the odd group gathered in her kitchen.
Pouring herself a cup of freshly brewed iced tea from Teavana(1), she asked peevishly, "What are you all doing here?"
Austin blinked sleepily at her. "Something about... reporters... news leaking out... tired... sleep..." His head thunked down onto the countertop, promptly falling asleep again.
Smiling unwittingly, Ally remembered the bad habit they both shared: a chronic case of late-birdiness. She reprimanded herself sharply for thinking about the past, and turned her glare onto Trish and Dez. "So?" she demanded. "What's going on?"
"Turn on the TV," Trish replied simply.
Confused but wanting to know what was going on, Ally led the group to the spacious living room and turned the giant flatscreen TV on (being a star has its perks). It was set to the Discovery Channel, something that Austin snorted at (and then proceeded to fall asleep again). Ally blushed hotly then remembered that she didn't care what Austin thought— and she really didn't. They had been through all the extremeties in life— up and down and even left and right. He had seen her at her best and her worst, and vice versa. Ally sighed, for the third time that day reminding herself that the past was the past.
"Turn it to TMZ or something," said Trish.
"Or just any channel with reputable gossip," added Dez distractedly, eyes focused on Austin. He prodded the sleeping blonde carefully, then when he got no response, not-so-carefully.
"Ow, what? I was having a nice dream!" whined Austin, sitting up on the couch and rubbing at his eyes.
"Yeah, what is this, anyway? Why are we watching TV when you could be explaining?" asked Ally, exasperated.
Trish rolled her eyes. "Don't you want to know why we dragged you out of bed at five in the morning?"
"Well, yeah, but— five in the morning?" they exclaimed in unison.
"Yes. It's not that early." Dez shrugged.
"Easy for you to say, you're kind of a halfway insomniac; you're fine with staying out to party until three in the morning," grumbled Austin.
"You're going to die an early death from smoking, drinking, and doing drugs," Ally informed him icily.
Austin turned on her. "Just because we're not together anymore doesn't mean that I'm going to die from not being on your leash all the time. And if you think that I would do those kinds of things, then you really never knew me at all."
Ally scoffed. "I figured that out a long time ago."
"Whoa whoa whoa!" exclaimed Dez, "This is a little too much drama for me, especially at five in the morning. Now why don't we just sit down, Austin and Ally— far, far away from each other— and watch the celebrity news."
Without a word, the blonde and the brunette arranged themselves at direct opposites on the couch. No one said a word for a few moments, then they both reached for the remote at the same time, flinching as they came into contact with each other. Austin slowly drew back, eyes locked on Ally's as he laid languidly across the couch. He made a motion, like go ahead.
Letting out a barely-audible "hmph", Ally turned the channel to TMZ.
And promptly proceeded to stare, bug-eyed, as the anchorperson started to talk about her and Austin's collaboration.
"Wha— how— we haven't even confirmed the collaboration yet!" exclaimed Austin.
Ally groaned. "How did this get leaked? I thought no one knew about the collaboration except for us!"
Trish shook her head grimly. "Ally, of course people knew about this. I had Justin and Maya draft up a contract, Jess to copy it, and Johnny was supposed to prepare to present the news in a couple of weeks."
"We had people working on it as well," added Dez. "There are tons of people who could leak this story to the press, but none of our people would do it."
"Neither would ours," Trish cut in sharply.
"Of course not." Dez conceded. Turning to Ally, he informed her that everything that could be done to keep the story contained and harmless was already done.
"Contained and harmless. Contained and harmless? Dez, this is all over the celeb news, gossip, and tabloid sites, not to mention the magazines!" Ally exploded.
Austin sighed, thrusting both hands in his hair. "So... what do we do now?"
"Well, I was thinking we could announce the collab at a big event, as if we had planned it all along," began Trish, while at the same time Calum said,
"We'll wait for it to all blow over and then annouce it at a nice, quiet, professional press conference."
Immediately, they turned on each other, staring the other down.
"If we wait for it to blow over, we'll lose all the spectacularity and excitement we have now," explained Trish.
"If we announce it now, it'll seem rushed, and everyone will know we didn't mean for the collaboration to be leaked," argued Dez.
"But don't you see? We need to dramaticize it, we need to be at the center of attention, because that's what people would expect for the unveiling of a collaboration," Trish snapped back.
Dez glared. "It was always about you, wasn't it? You just want to be the diva again, you want the world to revolve around you. I bet you don't even care about what's good for Ally; you just want more attention."
"And how would you know that?" Trish scofffed. "I have worked my ass off for Ally ever since the breakup, and look at us now. How do you think all of this" she opened her arms wide to indicate the luxurious suite, "happened without me?"
"How would I know? Well, let's see, how would I know that you always want more, more, more attention? I know because I was treated the same way during our relationship. It was always about you. Trish, Trish, Trish, if it wasn't about you, you couldn't be happy! I was always second-best, second most important next to yourself." He sneered. "Don't talk to me about hard work, Trish. You know how many dreams I gave up so that Austin could have his? So that I could manage his career because you weren't there? No, you don't know. Five times I was asked to direct a movie, six times to produce. And you know who else was up for those directing spots? Famed directors, amazing directors that I couldn't compare to, but somehow the producers thought I could. But I gave my dreams up, Trish, because I'm not selfish. I'm not like you. Never like you." He breathed deeply, turning away.
Trish stood gaping at his back, completely shocked, but also angered. "You think I'm selfish?" She laughed disbelievingly. "I gave up my dreams, too. Before I knew Austin and became his manager, I wanted to be a fashion designer. During all of my unsucessful jobs, I would be sketching new ideas for clothes, bags, shoes, everything. I was good at it, too, but I gave it all up for Ally. She said, 'I want to beat Austin. I want to be a bigger star than him, I want to soar above him, I want to be so far ahead of him that he can eat my dust.' And I said okay. Because she's my best friend, and when she was hurt, I was there to pick her up. You have no right to call me selfish." She breathed deeply as he had done, and turned away.
Ally stood slowly, heart hurting for all the harm that she had unknowingly done to Trish, while Austin sat, eyes wide in shock as to how much pain he had unknowingly caused Dez.
"Well, I think we should all calm down," began Ally, voice quivering, cursing at herself for letting that old habit get the best of her again. "and then maybe we can compromise. I know there's a lot we need to talk about, but right now our main priority is the leak, right?"
Slowly, grudgingly, the two managers turned back around and nodded.
Ally breathed a sigh of relief, then clicked into control-freak mode, as she always did when she was stressed. "First, Dez and I will go out, grab some coffee, and blow off some steam. While we're doing that, Trish and Austin should grab a bite to eat and talk. We should all be with a member of the opposing team."
Austin spoke up for the first time since Dez and Trish's argument began. "Ally, you're making us sound like we're playing football or something."
"But I don't like football..." Ally trailed off as she realized she was being weird and literal again, as Old Ally would have done. New Ally was confident and beautiful, she told herself. "What I mean to say is, would it hurt you to be serious for two minutes, Austin?"
He rolled his eyes. "All I'm saying is that this should just be a casual hang-out, not some kind of a military debrief."
"Fine," Ally replied tightly.
"Fine," Austin returned peevishly, as he didn't expect her to agree so easily.
"Let's go then," urged Trish, grabbing Austin by the arm.
"Yeah, let's," sighed Ally, taking Dez's arm. "C'mon, buddy."
"Panera Bread good for you?" Austin asked softly to a silently steaming Trish.
"Yup," she replied tightly.
"Hey," he said gently as he opened the door to Panera, "don't take it too hard on Dez. Both of you have been the best managers ever, and I had no idea you two gave up so much for us. If anything, it's me you should be mad at, not Dez."
Trish scoffed, ordering a bowl of soup. "Honey, I'm always mad at Dez."
Austin grinned, "Nothin' I can say to that," and ordered some bakery treats along with a bowl of soup. As they waited for their Panera-issued pagers to beep (signifying that their orders were ready), he didn't feel awkward as he thought he would. It may have been a few years since he had seen Trish, but the two of them were so similar sometimes that it didn't take long to slip back into the best friendship they had. "About Dez..." he started.
Trish held up a hand to stop him. "I don't want to hear it."
Austin pushed on. "He's still in love with you, you know."
Trish froze, hands clenched around her pager. It suddenly started buzzing and she shook her head, retrieving her order. Austin's pager buzzed soon after, and they quickly found a table to sit at and eat.
"It's true," Austin said after some time. "He won't admit it, but he's still crazy in love with you, and I can't say how sorry I am that my leaving caused you two to break up and then react to each other years later like... this."
Trish sighed. "I don't blame you for what happened between Dez and I. The only thing I blame you for is leaving when you and Ally were happiest. The only thing I blame you for is what happened to her after you left. You know the doctor had to prescribe sleeping pills for her because she couldn't sleep? She was up all night crying, and once her tears ran out, she started lowering her own self-esteem." Trish paused at the agonized look on Austin's face. "I know you're hurting right now listening to this, but I guarantee you, this is nothing compared to what she felt. You should feel bad, Austin. You didn't even have a good reason for leaving her except that you wanted fame. And that is the only thing I blame you for."
Austin looked at her, eyes blazing. "I had my reasons for leaving. I didn't want to hurt her, I didn't think she was strong enough for the music business. You see what it's done to me! Trish, I love it, but I'm a complete player now. I have to be heartless to be that kind of person."
Trish raised an eyebrow. "Honey, you were always a player. Honestly, I'm surprised that your personality is still pretty much the same: sunny, optimistic, and happy-go-lucky."
"And do you think Ally would have survived with herself intact?" Austin laughed humorlessly.
"Well, she's doing it now. Like I told you, she was devastated when you left, but Ally Dawson's resilient. She came back up, and when she did, all she wanted was to beat you. So she did it." Trish sighed. "She beat her stage fright through will and force, in order to compete against you. She became someone whose heart was stronger, harder, and... colder. I don't love who she became, but she became that person to cope with you leaving."
Austin groaned, leaning back against his chair. "I never wanted to hurt her," he whispered.
"She never wanted to fall in love with you, and vice versa, but that didn't stop you from having your own little fairytale, now did it?" Trish smirked, leaning back against her chair smugly, satisfied that her point had been proven.
Austin was contemplative when he replied, "No, I guess it didn't."
Meanwhile, Dez and Ally sat in silence at Starbucks. Both very awkward people (although not so much anymore, at 23 years of age), they didn't know what to say to each other.
Ally finally broke the silence with, "So... You and Trish, huh?"
Dez laughed. "Yup. Same as always, which would be arguing."
"But not like this," replied Ally softly, and they were back to best friends. "I've missed you," she admitted. "When Austin left, he took you with him, and I think he also took half of Trish with him. She's not as vibrant without you around, she's actually super serious now, can you believe that?"
Dez's eyes hardened. "Well, a lot of things have changed."
"No kidding." Ally sighed. "It didn't have to, you know. Austin could have taken us with him, but I guess he was too drunk on fame to do that." Her smile was bitter.
"No, Ally. That's where you're wrong. Austin was trying to protect you. The music biz... He didn't think you could handle it." Dez chuckled. "But look at you now. I'd say you handled it pretty well."
"So bottom line is, he didn't trust me. He probably still doesn't. He doesn't trust me to take care of myself, he doesn't trust me to be a big girl and suck it up— basically, he doesn't trust me to do anything." Ally crossed her arms, her expression one of disbelief.
"No, Ally, you know that's not true—" began Dez.
Ally held up a hand, stopping him. "He might trust me in some areas, Dez, but he still thinks I'm a fragile girl who can be broken easily." She scoffed. "I guess he never really knew me."
"Are you kidding? Ally, during the time that you were together, he was happy like I'd never seen him. You two are meant to be together, I know that." Dez stood up, eyes blazing. Do you remember hearing Baby(2) on the radio? Yeah, well, guess who Austin wrote that for. I can't believe you two... You're supposed to be engaged right now, or something!"
Ally also stood up, eyes cold. "First, we're too young for that. Second, Austin and I aren't meant to be. Obviously." She smiled wistfully. "You and Trish have a better chance of getting together. You balance each other out, plus you're both crazy in love with each other, and you have no idea how sorry I am that Austin and I tore you two apart."
Dez scoffed. "Yeah, right."
Ally plowed on. "Trish would never admit it, but you're the reason she's been having these one-night stands. Without you around, she doesn't have the other half of her. The part that makes her saner than usual." She walked to the door, trailing Dez behind her. "Let's get back." She pulled the door open and stepped out.
"... Wait. Trish is having one-night stands?"
*Laugh* "We've got a lot to catch up on, Dez."
The two pairs met back up at Ally's suite.
"So, what's the plan?" Austin leaned back against the couch, hands tucked behind his head and feet propped up on the coffee table.
"Oh, sure, just go right ahead and make yourself at home," sneered Ally sarcastically. She got irritated when he did just that. "Feet of my furniture!" she snapped.
"Fine, Little Miss Priss." Austin rolled his eyes and took his feet of the coffee table.
Ally tried not to twitch in annoyance, or worse— reach for her hair (a habit she had broken for the sake of her popstar image). Just don't acknowledge him and he'll go away, she told herself. Oh, who am I kidding, Austin Moon's never going to go away, not even after five years.
"Anyways..." Dez tried to bring the focus back on the matter at hand: how to deal with the leak. "We decided to compromise," he smiled tightly at Trish, who smiled sarcastically back, "and we're going to announce the collab at tonight's premiere of the fourth Mortal Instruments movie(3) to get that 'wow, drama' effect, but we're going to announce it to a planned press conference to get that polished, professional, this-is-what-we-planned-all-along feeling. Good?" He looked expectantly at Austin and Ally.
Who were, of course, studiously ignoring each other.
"Yes, Dez, I think that's a perfectly straight-forward plan, unlike some people." Ally glared pointedly at Austin.
"I agree with your plan, Dez, it seems perfectly reasonable, unlike some people." Austin glared right back.
Trish stood up. "Hold up. We're done with the sarcastic ribbing, there's plenty of time for that later. Right now, you and I," she crooked a finger at Ally, "have to go shopping for tonight."
"You're not going to make us go, are you?" Dez and Austin groaned, all tensions forgotten at the threat of another "hard-core shopping session".
"A lot of things have changed." Ally echoed Dez's words from earlier.
"So, we wouldn't let you come even if you begged," finished Trish, taking Ally's arm. They pivoted and left, Trish sending the boys one mocking wave and a patronizing, "Bye, boys."
"And I just can't believe him! He thinks he can just show up at my doorstep five years later and not expect me to be mad?" Ally huffed. After she and Trish had finished shopping, she had immediately gone back to her suite. Unfortunately, Austin was still there, and more unfortunately still, he was in her room. Asleep. She couldn't bring herself to snap at him and wake him, so she had closed the door quietly and went on to rant at Alec over the phone. In the dining room. When she really could've been in her bedroom, comfortably laying on her bed while watching Discovery Channel. Oh, the things she did for that blonde popstar.
"Well, I'm sure he's a perfectly fine guy, albeit a bit dense. Maybe you should give him a second chance?" offerred Alec.
Ally snorted, twirling her hair as she spoke on the phone to Alec. "Believe me, he's had plenty of second chances. I'm not about to give him another one." She sighed. "But thanks for trying to help, Alec. Talking to you always calms me down."
"Anytime, Ally. So, you going to the premiere tonight?" asked Alec.
"Yeah, you?"
"Well, I'm still looking for a date..." He trailed off, leaving the invitation wide open.
"What a coincidence! So am I, but I just can't seem to find the right guy..." Ally giggled as she heard Alec give a mock gasp of offense. Being in the biz had taught her how to flirt, and it had taught her how to flirt well. "I'm just kidding, Alec. Of course I'll go with you. I have to be honest, though, I'll probably have to go back to Asshole Austin a lot, since we have to announce something tonight."
Alec pretended to sound miffed. "Who said I was asking you?" After a pause, he laughed. "Of course I was asking you. Anyways, about Austin— don't worry about it. You can make it up to me later, promise."
Ally giggled again. "Oh, I don't doubt it. I'll see you soon, Alec. Bye!" She hung up with a smile on her face. It was true: talking to Alec always calmed her down. She wasn't a fiery person by nature, but compared to Alec, she might as well be Austin compared to herself. Alec was a peace lover, and avoided confrontation if he could. He was always so calm and reserved, but sometimes she wished he could really be passionate about something and let go of all his reservations, like Austin and her with their music. Well, Austin didn't even have any reservations, so maybe that wasn't the best example... Damn it! She cursed herself. How had Austin creeped his way into her thoughts, again?
"Done flirting with Alec?" asked Austin sarcastically, leaning against the wall.
Evidently, creeping into her thoughts hadn't been the only type of creeping he was doing. "Were you eavesdropping?" questioned Ally.
Austin snorted. "On what? Your lame Discovery Channel marathon?"
"Austin, the TV isn't even on," pointed out Ally.
"Whatever. I just caught the end of your conversation, that's all." He brushed past her on the couch and made his way to the kitchen while Ally sighed and rolled her eyes at his impossible-ness. A moment later, his head popped out around the doorframe. "Do you have pancakes?" he asked.
"Austin, it's four in the afternoon. You're not having pancakes," Ally said sternly.
Austin scoffed. "Pancakes are always welcome in my stomach, no matter what time it is. So, to repeat my earlier question, do you have pancakes?"
"No," replied Ally quietly. "Pancakes are your thing. Obviously, I don't have them here." A bit forcefully, she added, "Just go get some at a diner or something. Grab your jacket— I hung it up, by the way— and you're ready to go."
Austin blinked at her, confused at her sudden coolness. He had seen almost every side of her, but apparently not this one. Moody Ally... well, he didn't know how to deal with that. So, he did the only thing that he could think of. "Okay," he said simply. He grabbed his jacket and did what Ally thought he did best: leave.
Ally sighed, bringing her fingers to her temple and massaging them. To be perfectly honest, after their breakup, she had gotten rid of anything that linked her to Austin, except what brought them together in the first place: music. So, that meant no pancakes, no stuffed animals, no songs that she had written for him, even no pickles, which reminded her of how sweet he could be with his pickle baskets and such.
And now he was back. And she didn't know what to do.
A/N: Whoo-wee, I did not expect this chapter to be so dramatic! Or so prolonged... now my story outline has to change to fit this.. Meh. A little squishing there, a little stretching there; it'll all turn out fine.
A shout-out to my new Twitter friends! That's right, I'm on Twitter now. You can find me at SingDanceWrite. Anyways, apparently my stories are getting publicity on Twitter and Tumblr, an I couldn't be happier. Thanks so much, everyone!
Again, that's SingDanceWrite - My Twitter.
I feel like a lot of you don't read these little Author's Notes, and I don't mind, but I really advise that you do. There's important info and nuggets of gold hiding in these A/N's!
Check out my Wordpress (accessible through my profile), blah blah blah. OH! My username's changed! I am now LostAmongTheStars because that's what got the most votes on my profile.
(1) Teavana- tea store. (2) I've got nothing against the Biebs, but I'm not a fan, either. Whoever writes his songs, though, must be amazing, because the songs are incredibly catchy. C'mon, you can't deny that... Anyways, imagine Austin singing this about Ally, and imagine it in the style of Glee's cover, mm'kay? (3) The Mortal Instruments is an amazing book series; really good, I suggest you go check 'em out. They're actually in the midst of shooting the first movie, and since this is set in the future, I hope by then they'll have finished shooting the fourth movie.
I might have written that last section and this whole A/N in a very Southern kind of voice, and that's because I've just discovered a TLC reality TV series called Say Yes to the Dress. Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta is a spin-off to it and I actually like if better, and since it's in Atlanta, Georgia, everyone is very Southern. I love that, and I've been watching Say Yes to the Dress and its many spin-offs obessively on my dad's Netflix account (and on regular TV, of course).
~Sabrina