Author's Note:
LoveShipper: I know :( I feel like am has the effect on a lot of people unfortunately
reader339: We post chapters whenever we get the chance :) Hope this wasn't to long of a wait!
madimaggg: Thank you! We hope you enjoy this chapter!
Here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy it!
Chapter 2
Ally and her publicity team made their way back to Ally's room. As she headed into her room, Ally threw on a pair of long, grey sweatpants, and an over-sized band t-shirt. Unbeknownst to the world, this was Ally's favorite thing to wear. She had a drawer full at home, but they rarely ever got to see the light as Penny; Ally's mother, was dead set on maintaining the image that she created for her daughter. This image revolved around tight, revealing clothing that had little to no material to them.
In an attempt to distract herself from the painful reality she was living, Ally reached for her phone that was sitting on the oak night stand beside the bed. Although Ally wasn't a huge fan of the spotlight and public standards that came with her fame, she loved her fans. If she could just be herself and have her fans, she would take all that, hide from the public, and live the life that she had in mind when she showed her talent to the world.
Scrolling through her twitter feed, she was pulled from her happy place when her mom walked into the room. The tiny brunette sighed, pulling herself up into an upright position, knowing that her mom was going to engage in a meaningless conversation as a failed effort to make it seem like she does in fact care about her daughter's well being over her image. Her mother placed herself on the adjacent bed facing her daughter.
"So.." Ally began, not being able to stand the awkward silence that was building between them.
"What were you thinking Allison? Wait, I can answer that myself; you obviously weren't." The older of the two took in a heavy breath "You need to realize that your actions have consequences. When will you ever understand that?"
"A simple 'Are you okay, Allison' would have done just fine, oh, wait, you couldn't care less if I was okay."
Penny pushed herself of the ragged mattress in rage. "You have no idea what I have done for you-"
"For me?" She scoffed "All you have ever done for me has had an ulterior motive that benefited you more than it would ever help me. And that is something that I have grown to understand quite clearly." The young girl, now fully enraged has also made her way onto her feet. "And its funny that you accuse me of not having an understanding of the subject when you constantly take actions that are single handedly ruining my life. How about those consequences? Hmm? What do you have to say about those?"
In a single swift movement, Penny stepped forward and struck Ally across the face. "Dont ever use that tone with me. I am your mother."
Allison's eyes began to water as she brought her tiny hand up to her just as small, smooth cheek to soothe the burning area that is beginning to turn a shade lighter than a tomato.
"Are you sure about that? Because last time I checked mothers were supposed to protect their children from danger. Not inflict it on them."
And with that Ally left her stone cold mother standing alone in the hotel room.
"Its really not my place to say." Austin spoke calm and collectively.
The cameras continued to flash as everyone's eyes were on the officer who was with Allison when she 'fell' off the balcony.
"Officer Moon; Austin, if I may, are you trying to say that there is more to the story than the publicists are letting on?"
Austin froze. He wasn't sure where to go from here. He thought if he dismissed the question it would all be over. He realized he thought wrong as the reporter shoved her microphone into Austin's face.
"There is nothing more to the story, Miss. The released statement is exactly what I walked into when I went to check on in her room. Nothing more, nothing less." He answered in a single breath, giving himself no chance to change his mind.
"Looks like this isn't much of a story after all. Thank you, Officer."
Austin was disgusted. He couldn't believe that all these people were more interested in a story than the state of mind that the main character of said story was in. No one really cared for Allison it seemed. He couldn't help but wonder if she saw it that way as well. The girl put on a hard exterior, but he wondered if there was a soft interior that was so bottled up she never got the chance to explore it or let it show.
Austin made his way to the elevator, he couldn't help but get the thought of that buffet Allison had mentioned out of his head. It had only been seconds before the elevator let out a loud ding and the doors pulled open. Much to his surprise, a certain sad, petite brunette was already standing inside. Something about her presence was different from usual. Her usual assertive, cocky self was not present in this elevator. This girl seemed broken, almost haunted. This was the same girl he had rescued from the balcony.
Her eyes never left the floor. Her hair up in the messy bun with strands hanging loose; grazing her shoulders. Her band tee was half tucked into her, what seemed to be, too long pair of sweatpants. Accepting the fact that she wished to keep the silence, Austin stepped inside beside her not speaking a single word. Keeping the peaceful, yet tension filled silence, he went to push the floor button of the buffet, only to realize it was already lit up.
"You headed to the buffet too?" Allison spoke, in a raspy voice that gave away the fact that she had been crying "It's a little late to be having a meal don't you think?"
She turned her head to size up the boy standing next to her. He couldn't help but notice the red tint that flooded her cheek. He also took in her red, sad, puffy eyes. They didn't have that usual light that they always do. They were dark and seemed to hold a secret in them, a secret that he was sure was eating her alive. He decided to leave it in the dark as he could sense that she did not want to engage in that type of conversation. Especially with someone on her security team that she hardly knew.
"I could be asking you the same thing." He gave her a small smirk
"I had the press conference and an oh so lovely conversation with my mother, what's your excuse?"
"Well Ms. Allison-"
"It's Ally. Just call me Ally."
"Okay, let me try this again then." Austin smiled at the shorter of the two. "Well, Ally, I was also at the press conference, and got held up by some reporters and had to release a statement if I wanted to get out of there and still have some of my twenties left to live."
Ally snapped back into her usual self when she heard Austin say he had released a statement. Defensive and reserved.
"What? What do you mean you released a statement?" She turned to Austin, keeping her words in a serious manner.
"A reporter approached me and asked me questions, and I answered them. I meant exactly what I said by 'I had to release a statement.'."
Her brown eyes grew bigger and filled with what seemed like worry and a small amount of rage.
"What did you say? What on earth made you think you could talk to the public about what you think you saw?"
Austin sighed, and pulled the elevator stop. Ally's mind crawled with questions at this point;
'Am I safe in here with him?'
'Who on earth does he think he is?'
'What if there are no pickles left at the buffet by the time we get down there?'
'What on earth would possess him to stop the elevator?'
By the time she brought herself back to reality, Austin was leaning up against the elevator wall, waiting for her to listen to his explanation.
"I know I have no business speaking on your behalf, and I had no intention of doing so, but it was brought to my attention that I needed to have a cover story memorized in order to protect how you are seen in the public eye, and apparently what I saw was damaging that so I was informed that I couldn't tell the truth about our little encounter and that I had to tell the public that it was exactly that; a little encounter."
Ally was taken back by his words. Never has anyone spoken to her with such a tone, or spoke to her as if she was a real person for that matter. She found his words oddly reassuring, however, she felt the need to question them at the same time.
"Tell the truth about what? That is the truth. What you were told was the truth." Ally exuded a large amount of confidence while delivering this statement, yet Austin saw right through it.
The tall blonde pushed the elevator stop button back in so the elevator would continue and he gave Ally one last look after doing so.
"You and I both know that that was far from a little encounter."
They reached the floor of the buffet and both exited the elevator. Before making around the corner into the main hallway Ally spun around to face Austin.
"Okay, listen, you have no idea what you saw tonight. You don't even know the half of it. So do everyone a favor and stay out of it." She poked his chest with her tiny finger in attempt of intimidation.
She proceeded to spin away, but Austin grabbed her arm and spun her back.
"Then let me know, let me understand. You need help Ally. You need someone."
He searched her eyes for any sign of hope that she would let him in, but it was to no avail. She yanked her arm from his grasp and gave him a sharp 'Don't touch me.' And pacefully made her way to the buffet. He followed suit.
The two ate in silence for quite sometime. The buffet was close to empty; minus the limited amount of hotel staff left supervising the food. The silence was soon broken when Austin's radio went off, and a man's voice eroded from the speaker.
"To all security units: Keep your eye out for Allison Dawson. She is currently MIA, her last known whereabouts were on her hotel floor. Notify me as soon as you have a visual."
Ally shot her head up from her plate and looked Austin dead in the eyes. This was a look Austin had never seen on Ally before. Her face was blatantly crying for help; pleaded for an escape. Austin knew that his job was to protect Ally, and that he should respond to the radio PA, but in the back of his mind he knew that he would be protecting her from a lot more if he just kept her whereabouts under the rug for a little while.
Austin stood up and made his way to the exit of the room. About halfway there he turned back to Ally. "Are you coming or what?"
She was caught off guard by his question, however, it wasn't completely unexpected. She knew he had to do his job, and she meant nothing to him so he had no reason to respect her wishes of remaining missing. She stood up from the table and regretfully followed Officer Moon to the elevator. Ally stood beside him waiting for the elevator to arrive, and thought about speaking up, but neglected to do so, and kept her mouth shut. Once the elevator came, the young boy and girl stepped inside. Ally, was once again caught off guard when Austin pushed a button for a floor that was clearly not hers.
"I'm on 17, not 29." She spat.
He gave her a simple response. "I know." That was followed with the closing of the elevator doors.
After yet another tension filled elevator ride, they stopped on the 29th floor, thankfully meeting no interruptions on the way up. Austin led Ally down the long hallway where the two eventually came to a door that read 'Roof'.
"It's locked." Ally looked up at Austin with disappointment in her eyes.
"You know, when you are on the security team of a high profile celebrity, they give you keys to some cool hotel places. One of them just happens to be-" Austin proceeded to unlock the previously mentioned door. "-the hotel roof."
Ally's face lit up for the first time in a long time and bolted through the now unlocked door and up the stairs, and Austin trailed behind her.
Austin and Ally sat in a comfortable silence for a while, until Austin spoke up about the elephant in the room.
"Why did you do it?" He asked softly, not wanting to set her off.
She remained looking out to the painted black night sky before her.
"Do what?"
"Jump." He spoke, his words just above a whisper.
"Why do you care so much, Moon?" She turned her head slightly to face him. "My decisions do not affect your life."
He paused. Although this was true, he still needed to provide an answer that seemed less heartless.
"That may be true; but they do affect yours."
The brunette looked back out to the sky, not wanting to converse anymore. She just wanted to think. Think about how different her life would be if she had never posted that video of her singing online. Think about how her mother and her may have actually had a normal relationship. Just think.
"So what." She spoke up "So what if it affects my life. It's my life and I get to decide whether it is or is not worth living."
"So you did jump?"
"I don't consider it a jump because I didn't get to fly." She took a hasty breath "And I guess I have you to thank for that one."
"Well, it was really nothi-"
"It was sarcasm, Asshole." She stood up and made her way back to the door. "Tell them you found me and we are heading back."
And with that Ally was through the door.
"Officer Moon found her and is bringing her back to the room now." Jimmy, Ally's manager, told everyone in the room.
The room was filled with 'thank god' 's and 'wonderful' 's for the next few minutes while they waited for the lady of the past few hours to arrive. A little time passed and then Austin walked Ally through the door.
Penny rushed to Austin and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Sir, thank you."
He nodded in response. "Just doing my job, m'am" And with that Austin left the room.
Conversation broke out and everyone was questioning Ally upon her return, and demanding answers immediately.
"Okay, hold on!" She raised her voice above the crowd. "I will answer everyone's questions but I have one request that must be met."
"What's that?" Jimmy questioned, expecting a huge, irrational desire from the pop star.
"I want Austin Moon to be bumped up to the position of my full-time bodyguard."