Laura: Kenzie, can I do the disclaimer again today? Pleeeeeease?!
Me: Okay, okay, do the disclaimer, Laura.
Laura: Kenzie doesn't own Austin & Ally nor any of the songs! Kenzie, I have a question.
Me: Yes, Laura?
Laura: What was Ross saying yesterday?
Ross: I didn't say anything! I just did the disclaimer, I swear!
Laura: Ross, this is my disclaimer!
Me: Just ignore their argument and read the story.
"What's so special about this Dallas kid?" he asks me. That was the question? Nevertheless, I look up dreamily.
"He has hair that flops just the right way and kind eyes. And he's really tall and he's really sweet and.." I trail off realizing that Austin's staring at me.
"What?" I ask.
"You realize that you just described me, right?" he asks. "I have hair that flops just the right way-" He flips his hair "-I have kind eyes." He looks right into mine with this own. Then he stands up.
"I'm really tall and I'm really sweet. We even have the same kind of name," he says with a laugh.
"What? You two don't have the same name," I tell him.
"Austin; Dallas. They're both cities in Texas," he says with a roll of his eyes. "Duh." My face glows red realizing I did just describe Austin. He looks up deep in thought.
"What?" I ask again. He looks at me and sits down. I take my guitar off and set it on the stand.
"Have you ever thought that maybe-just maybe-you like Dallas because he reminds you of me?" he asks. I blink. What the hell did he just say? He did not just say what I think he just said. I look at his face.
He's serious.
"Dallas has brown hair," I blurt out.
"One difference between him and I," he says indifferently. I look around and shake my head.
"It-it's highly unlikely," I say quietly. I lean forward and wrap him in a hug.
"Thanks for the lessons," I say quietly in his ear.
"Anytime, Ally-Cat," he whispers in mine. He has so many nicknames for me.
I have even more back home. Like, Allly (yes, with three L's. That's what Billl calls me), Ally-Gator (which is what Ms. Suzy, my old teacher, used to call me) and Ally itself is a nickname. My full name is Allyson but Austin decided to shorten it. I pull away from Austin and smile.
"So, anyway-" Austin starts.
"Austin!" Mimi calls from downstairs. When did she come home?
"Coming!" Austin calls back. "Stay right here. I'll be right back." He opens the door and walks out of the room. I look around his room at the many different instruments.
He's got electric guitars, acoustic guitars, pianos, trumpets, a set of drums, a few harmonicas, et cetera, et cetera. I look up at the ceiling and notice some pictures...
Pictures of me and him. They were all of the bad pictures. The pictures that were retaken. I thought these pictures were thrown away?
Why are they on his ceiling? Are they there so he can lay in bed and look at them? Hm...
"I see you've found my shrine to you," a voice says behind me. I spin around and see Austin leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed.
"Y-your... shrine?" I ask. He walks over and takes his seat in front of me. He shakes his head.
"No, silly, I was just joking," he says with a chuckle.
"So what are those doing up there?" I ask him. He shrugs casually.
"I missed ya, Als," he tells me.
"What do you mean?" I ask. That didn't exactly answer my question.
"I wanted to see you," he says. "And that was the only way I could." The look on his face is so sad. You'd think his favorite puppy died.
"Oh," I whisper. "I'm sorry." He shrugs again.
"N-no big deal," he says trying to sound like he doesn't care.
"Why'd you use all of the horrible pictures?" I ask him. He lets out a laugh.
"Those are the only ones my mom would let me have. She shoved all of the good ones in a scrapbook," he tells me shaking his head and laughing. The laugh and smile slowly fade as he thinks about something.
"Austin," I say snapping my fingers in front of his face.
"Huh? What? Oh, sorry," he says quickly.
"What were you thinking about?" I ask him.
"Nothing. Just how much I missed my best friend!" he exclaims as he swoops me up in his arms and spins me around.
"Austin, put me down!" I yell. I feel like I'm really, really high off the ground and I'm afraid of heights.
"Not until you tell me how awesome I am," he says. I bite my lip.
"You're as awesome as pancakes," I say nervously. I look down at the ground. It seems so far away.
"Aw, you really think so, Als?" he asks. "You're so sweet." He sets me down. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I take it out, press a button, and hold it up to my ear.
"Hello?" I ask. Austin stares at me while I talk.
"ALLY!" Trish shouts in my ear.
"Yes, Trish?" I ask.
"Get on video chat, right now!" she yells.
"Alright, alright, gosh," I say. "Hang on just a second." I walk to my room and Austin follows me. He sits beside me on my bed. I lean over to the other side and pick my suitcase up off of the floor.
"Hurry up!" Trish exclaims.
"I'm hurrying as fast as I can, Trish," I tell her. I open my laptop and power it on. I type in my password, making sure Austin doesn't see, and open ooVoo. Dallas' name is my password which is why I didn't want Austin to see. Trish is my only friend online. She's also my only friend period... I click on the call button and Trish picks up after two rings.
"ALLY!" she shouts again. I hang up the phone.
"What's so important?" I ask.
"I needed to see my best friend! Duh!" she tells me.
"Well, here I am," I say.
"Ooh, who's your sexy boyfriend?" Trish asks. I notice that she can see Austin. He smirks. Wait a minute, did she just say my sexy boyfriend?
"Trish, he's not mine and he's not sexy nor my boyfriend," I say rolling my eyes and ruffling Austin's hair. "He's just my best friend."
"Hey, I am sexy, thank you very much," Austin says to me. I roll my eyes.
"Don't think you can replace me," Trish warns Austin.
"Actually, you replaced me," Austin tells her. "Ally and I were best friends before she even moved to Miami." I roll my eyes.
"Anyway, what's up, Trish?" I ask her.
"Oh, nothing much," she says shrugging. "What about you? What's going on in River Dale?"
"Nothing really. I don't think I've even left the house. Austin's been giving me guitar lessons," I say pointing to him. I look at the scene behind her. She's at the food court.
"Trish, aren't you supposed to be helping Jeremy watch Sonic Boom?" I ask interrogatively. She looks around.
"I am at Sonic Boom!" she exclaims.
"You're at the food court," I tell her. She closes her laptop ending the call.
"Well, that was odd," I tell Austin. Before I know it, Trish is calling back. I accept it. Trish is now at Sonic Boom.
"See, I told you I was at Sonic Boom," she tells me. I see a mess of brown hair enter the screen.
"Oh, hi, Jeremy," I say with a smile. "How's it going at Sonic Boom? Since Trish obviously doesn't know."
"Oh, it's going good. Business is flowing. The usual," he says. Trish shoves him away. Austin's eyes are moving around the screen.
"Yeah, I definitely need to go there next summer," he whispers.
"You better," I tell him with a smile.
"Hello, welcome to Sonic Boom," Jeremy says to someone we can't see. "Yes, that's a fine instrument. And we do have other colors in the back. Can my assistant go get you one?"
"Assistant? I don't think so. I have to go, Ally. You may be losing an employee soon," she says.
"Wait, Trish!" I yell but she ends the call. I sigh.
"So what can we do now?" I ask closing my laptop and moving it to the side.
"We can go swim in the pool," Austin says.
"You have a pool?" I ask. He nods.
"Yep, we got it installed last year," he tells me. I rummage through my suitcase to make sure I have a swimsuit. I pull out the first one I see.
"Yeah, I'm not wearing a bikini," I mutter to myself throwing the purple monster on the bed.
"A bikini, huh?" Austin asks.
"I'm not wearing that," I tell him looking for my other one.
"Why not?" he asks jokingly. I roll my eyes.
"I'm a bit more insecure than you might think," I say quietly.
"Insecure?" he asks. "I can't see you being insecure."
"Well, I am," I snap.
"My bad," Austin says. I pull out my other swimsuit which is a red tank top and shorts made like a swimsuit. I throw that on my bed, too and shove the bikini back in.
"I don't see why you have a bikini if you're not going to wear it," Austin says as I turn around. I shrug. Suddenly, he grabs my swimsuit.
"What are you doing?" I ask trying to take it back. He puts it inside his jeans.
"I don't care how insecure you are. You're wearing that bikini," he says. And with that, he turns and walks out of my room. I pull my bikini back out and sigh. I close my door, slip it on, and look in the mirror. Gosh, look how bony I am. I turn around to look at my back side. It looks even worse from the back. Eh, Austin won't care. He's my best friend. I walk outside my door slowly. I walk down the stairs.
"Oh, hello, Ally. Going for a dip, I see," Mimi says.
"Yeah," I tell her. I continue to the back of the house. The sliding door is open but I don't see Austin outside. I walk outside. The air is pretty warm. I look around and put my toe in the sparkling blue pool. It's freezing!
"Sexy," I hear someone say playfully behind me. I whirl around to see Austin right behind me wearing lime green swim trunks. He pushes me into the freezing cold water. I hold my breath as I go under.
"Austin, this water is f-f-f-freezing!" I yell at him when I emerge, my teeth chattering. He jumps over me into the pool.
"It's not that cold," he says when he comes up. I hold my breath and go underwater trying to get used to the temperature. I go and sit on the bottom of the deep pool. Once the water is pretty warm, I surface behind Austin.
"Boo," I whisper in his ear. He jumps, water flying everywhere. He turns around to face me.
"Geez, Ally!" Austin yells flipping his hair out of his face and splashing me.
"Oh, you really wanna go there?" I ask splashing him back. We splash each other until we hear the sliding door close. I look behind Austin and see a red headed boy about Austin's height standing there.
"Yo, Dez, what up?!" Austin asks swimming to the edge of the pool. I follow behind him and rest my elbows on the edge.
"The sky," Dez says. I see Austin roll his eyes.
"Well, come on in! The water's fine!" Austin exclaims floating on his back.
"Gladly!" Dez yells. He strips down to his boxers and jumps into the pool. I notice that Dez is extremely pale.
"Dude, you could've went and got some swim trunks," Austin says quietly to Dez.
"Why?" Dez asks. Austin jerks his head in my direction.
"Dez, this is Ally. Ally, this is Dez," Austin introduces us.
"Oh, I know her," Dez says.
"You do?" I ask.
"Yeah, Austin talks about you all the time," Dez says.
"Dez!" Austin says through clenched teeth. "Shut up!"
"Oh, uh..." Dez trails off. He goes underwater. I flip my hair over my shoulder and lean back against the edge. I watch the two doofuses chase each other around the pool.
"I brought snacks," Mimi says happily setting a tray full of sandwiches down on the table. Austin and Dez jump out of the pool and run to the tray.
"You might want to hurry before they're all gone," Mimi says to me.
"I'm not that hungry," I tell her. It's a few seconds before the boys have finished two sandwiches. They go to jump back in the pool but Mimi stops them.
"Ah, ah, ah. You have to wait an hour before you go swimming again," Mimi tells them and I smirk.
"But, Mom!" Austin whines.
"Austin, you heard me. You two have to wait or you'll get bad stomach cramps," she tells them. "Ally, keep an eye on them, will you?"
"Will do, Mimi," I say giving her a four-fingered salute. She smiles and walks back inside. As soon as she is out of sight, Austin jumps into the pool. He swims over to me.
"You won't tell, right?" he asks as Dez jumps in, too.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," I say slyly. "Oh, Mi-!" He cuts me off by putting his hand over his mouth.
"Meanie," he mutters as he climbs out of the pool. Dez follows him out. Austin sits beside me and puts his feet in the pool. Dez just walks around the perimeter of the pool.
"So, Ally," Austin says looking down at me. I look up at him.
"Now that you've met Dez, what do you think of him?" he asks. I shrug.
"He seems really nice," I say.
"Wait until you get to know him," he tells me.
"What do you mean?" I ask. He points over at Dez. I look up and he's stopped walking. He's trying to climb a tree branch that hangs over into the fencing around the pool. He grabs onto it and falls to the ground.
"I will get you, you stupid little squirrel!" he yells into the tree. "Gimme back my nut!"
"Dez, you never had a nut," Austin tells him.
"I found it on the ground, Austin!" Dez whines. I roll my eyes. He throws something at the tree and the squirrel falls out of it twitching. I jump out of the pool and run over to them as fast as I can.
"Dez, what did you do?!" I ask.
"I hit him with a rock!" he yells proudly. I stand on tiptoes and hit him upside the head.
"Are you crazy?" I ask him. He thinks about it.
"Yes," he answers. I roll my eyes and pick the squirrel up. It seems fine. It jumps out of my hands and over the fence.
"Aw, it's so cute!" I exclaim is it scampers away. I turn around and dive back into the pool.
"Okay, now you're just taunting us," Austin says as I float on my back.
"Oh, am I?" I ask sarcastically.
"Forget you," he says.
"What do you mean?" I ask confused. He doesn't answer and jumps into the water. As he hits the water, he grabs my hand and pulls me under.
"Ow-!" I yell for he shocked me yet again. He pulls me to the bottom of the pool. I try to swim back to the top but he doesn't allow me to.
"Austin, let me go!" My speech is garbled and bubbles rise to the surface. He just shakes his head. His hair looks so soft right now... Hair always looks softer underwater for some reason... I have to resist the urge to go over and touch it. I tear my eyes away from his hair. I point to my throat and Austin pulls me to the surface.
"Are you gonna tell?" he asks playfully keeping a grip on me. I roll my eyes.
"No, I won't tell. I love you too much," I tell him with a laugh. Wait a minute, what did I just say? "As a friend," I blurt out. He gives me a look. I splash him in the face and swim to the edge of the pool. He follows me. He puts his arms on either side of me.
"You love me!" he teases.
"I do not!" I exclaim. "Boys have cooties!" We both laugh.
"You love me, you love me, you love me, you love me!" he chants.
"Shut up!" I yell. "You have cooties!"
"I do not have cooties! Girls have cooties!" he says. Suddenly, his face turns serious.
"You just said that you loved me..." he says quietly.
"As a friend," I correct him. And with that, I submerge myself into the water and swim away from him.
"This was a lovely dinner, Mimi," my dad says swallowing his last bite.
"Thank you, Lester," she says. Dinner was full of conversation as it was last night. Austin kept trying to start one with me but it was quickly dropped. It was rather awkward at the pool earlier today. I didn't mean to say it. It just kind of slipped out. And I do love him as a friend and only as a friend.
"It really was delicious," I second my dad wiping my mouth with my napkin.
"Thank you, Ally," she says smiling at my dad and I. "Austin, would you like to help me wash the dishes?"
"No, ma'am, I wouldn't," he says.
"Austin," Mimi warns.
"I'll do it," I say with a smile.
"Oh, Ally, you don't have to. Austin will do it," she says.
"No, no, I want to," I tell her. Everyone leaves the table and Mimi and I stand up. We collect the dishes and bring them to the kitchen.
"So how are you liking your stay here so far?" Mimi asks me.
"It's going really well. I've missed this place," I tell her. We put the food down the garbage disposal.
"What's with those pictures on Austin's ceiling?" I ask. He didn't give me a complete answer.
"When you all moved, he was hoping you'd come back the next summer to at least visit. He counted down the days and everything. But when you didn't come or even call, he cried all day and night. He went from sad to angry. The next day, he wouldn't come out of his room and he yelled at everyone who tried to come in. He had a lot of anger for a little nine-year-old. That night, he got all of the pictures that he could find that had you in them and put them on his ceiling above his bed. He prayed every night that you would come back the next summer or call or something," she explains to me giving me a plate to dry. "You should have seen the look on his face when I told him you two were coming to visit." She smiles at the memory.
"I didn't realize that we had this effect on him," I say quietly drying the plate and putting it on the drying rack. We wash the rest of the dishes and I walk upstairs. I hesitate. I poke my head back into Austin's room, hoping he's up. He's lying on his bed with one hand behind his head looking up at the ceiling.
"Hey, Austin?" I ask. He looks up. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" he asks.
"For not coming back," I say quietly closing the door.
Hey, everybody. Sorry for not updating yesterday and updating so late today. I'll try to get caught up tomorrow. Review?
Love, Kenzie
