A/N: Hello wonderful people. So I wrote a lot of this story in advance, but then I decided I hated it and I'm re-writing a ton of it. I'll try to update as frequently as I can, but I don't want to rush this story and end up with a quick, crappy product. I have a habit of doing that. Anywho, enjoy the update. -Lo
The music store isn't awful busy, which is both good and bad. It's good because Ally has time to think. She catches up on work she didn't get done at Starbucks because of a certain blond-haired boy.
She sighs; it's such a weird situation. She used to be best friends with Austin, but now they were strangers. Strangers with a history.
She wants to see him so badly. She wants to just be with him. She wants to be his friend and partner again.
As soon as she gets home to her apartment, she calls his cell phone. He answers quickly. "Hey Als," he chirps. She smiles.
"Hey Austin, I was just wondering if you were doing anything tomorrow. We could go to lunch or something," she suggests hopefully.
"That sounds good. I'm working the evening shift tomorrow so I'm free for lunch," he says. She smiles to herself.
"Awesome, how about meeting at Sonic Boom tomorrow at noon the going from there?" she asks. Suddenly she feels like a kid in high school. She feels like she did when she asked Dallas to dance with her at Trish's quiñceanera. This memory causes fear of rejection to creep into her mind, but he settles these fears.
"I'll be there. See you tomorrow, Ally," he says cheerfully. "Bye, Austin, see you tomorrow," she exclaims. She hangs up the phone and lets out an exuberant yelp before running over to her closet to pick out something to wear.
Austin strolls into the music store at promptly noon the next day. Ally is excited to see him. "Hey," he greets. He's wearing a plaid collared shirt with a purple sweater. He looks so classy and smart and cute. She smiles.
"Hey Austin," she says, giving him a hug. He smells like cologne and coffee grounds, which Ally finds cute and fitting.
"Where are we headed for lunch?" he asks, his hand still on her shoulder. She bites her lip. "Your choice," she says nonchalantly. He grins. "How about my place?" he suggests, sounding a bit too giddy.
She gives him a slightly suspicious smile, and he responds with a glare. "Come on, Als, don't you trust me?" he says, his lips twisting out into a pouty face.
She grins. "Fine, of course I trust you. Your place it is," she says. He smiles triumphantly and holds her hand as he leads her out. She locks up the store and they move towards the parking lot.
"Nice car," she muses as they walk up to a teeny tiny red sedan. He points at her defensively. "Hey, I love my tiny car," he says. She laughs and rolls her eyes.
On the way to his house, the talked about work. She learned he had earned degrees in music and business in four-year college. He had worked as a flight attendant for a year or so, but he quit because all the traveling and being weird places at weird times sucked. He then got a job as a drug rep, but he got laid off when the drug was discontinued. He had been working at Starbucks for a year or so.
They pull up to an apartment building and take the elevator up to the fourth floor. He opens apartment 412.
"This is it," he says as he opens the door. The apartment is bigger than Ally expected it to be. He has a nice kitchen, a living room area, and even a little bar. It's not really messy, just lived in. It's a lot like Austin.
"Cute," she says, looking around. He smiles. "Yeah, I take pride in having my own place. Now, what shall we do about lunch?" he asks, walking over to the fridge.
She shrugs. "Anything's fine with me," she says. He takes a box of pasta out of the pantry. "Spaghetti it is."
She laughs and goes to the kitchen to help him. She fills a pot with water for the pasta and sets it on the stove. "So I see you haven't become any better at cooking since high school?" she says playfully. He rolls his eyes. "Laugh all you want, but I'm better than most guys. I only get take-out, like, three times a week," he says. And for some reason she find this hilarious and bursts out laughing.
Austin smiles and shakes his head at her. "Let me tell you something, Dawson, you're just as crazy as you used to be," he says as he bustles around the kitchen.
Together they finish cooking and sit down on his couch to eat their meal. He looks over at her for a moment, and she cocks and eyebrow.
"What?" she asks, just a little defensive. He smiles. "You're just...so completely and utterly Ally Dawson," he says, "It's like you're different, because you grew up. You're a little more tired and more busy, but you're still you. You still believe what you did back then," he explains.
She stops and thinks about this for a second. She had never thought about it that way, but it's true. She still wanted the same things. She still liked the same things. She was just...a grown up now.
She decides to take his remark as a compliment. "You're exactly the same," she muses, and he laughs. "I really am. I'm still just a kid trying to make it big," he admits, eating his spaghetti. She smiles. "I knew you wouldn't grow up, even back then. You're so hopeful and optimistic, and I really like that about you," she says, eliciting and sincere grin from Austin.
"Thanks, Ally. I don't feel that way sometimes though, you know? Honestly, it's hard without Team Austin. It's different," he says. She smiles and lays her hand on top of his. "Well we have each other now," she says, but then she corrects herself. "I mean, we have each other again."
He nods and squeezes her hand, and that's all the reply she needs.