Hey guys! New chapter up, and I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks for all the reviews and such, you are all amazing! Please review this chapter and let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

Austin's POV

It was 9:30 A.M. and I've been up since 7:00. I have no idea how I even woke up that early since I didn't go to bed until one in the morning. I had to be at Ally's house in thirty minutes, and I still haven't decided which clothes I don't mind getting paint on. You'd think I would since I've been awake for two and a half hours, but that wasn't the case. I could get paint on my pajamas since I only where those to sleep. Wow, how could I have not thought of that earlier? I scanned my drawer that had my pajamas in it and grabbed a pair of black sweatpants and a plain blue t-shirt. I put them on quickly and headed to the kitchen after. My dad was sitting at the table reading the newspaper… great. My dad and I don't really get along, so I usually try my best to ignore him. He looked up from his paper and stared at me as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Just waking up?" He asked me. He was calmer than normal, which shocked me. Maybe he hasn't drunk any alcohol this morning, but that was pretty much wishful thinking.

"Nah, I woke up a couple of hours ago," I said cautiously as I walked toward him. He didn't smell like alcohol, so I think I'm in the clear this morning. He nodded his head and resumed reading the newspaper.

My dad was always a good father, but that all changed three years ago. When my mom got a new job that caused her to travel a majority of the time, he got really depressed and started drinking. First it was just a couple of beers, but as time went on, he'd be drinking up to thirty beers a day and hard liquor with that. Recently he's been cutting back, but it still is really bad. The worst part of it all is that he takes everything out on me, and I just let him. That's why I liked to stay out of my house as much as possible.

I grabbed an apple from out of the fridge and bit into it. I sat at the table with my dad, who was still reading the paper and drinking his coffee. Something was different about him today, and not just the fact that he wasn't drunk. He was clean shaven, smelt like the cologne he used to wear before he started drinking, and had some nice clothing on. This could only mean one thing: Mom was coming home for a while. Thank God. When my mom is home, my dad is the nicest guy in the world; he acts like his old self. We sat at the table in complete silence for about fifteen minutes until my dad said something.

"You're mother's coming home tonight," He said happily. I looked at him and nodded my head.

"Really? For how long?" I asked. Usually she was only home for a couple of weeks. She worked at a company that manufactured mattresses and the company itself had branches all over the world. My mom owns the whole business since her brother retired, and since she's the one who owns it, she's the one that always has to travel.

"Three months," He said, smiling at me. He was actually smiling at me? This is really strange. But, wait! Three months? This is strange, too.

"Three months?" I asked excitedly, "This is great!" I really miss my mom. The last time I saw her was two months ago, and two months is a long time to go without seeing your mother. Her being here also means my dad won't be drinking, which makes me happy. I hate being his punching bag, I really do.

"Yes," He said nodding his head. "I'm so happy," That was the first time I have ever heard my dad say that, and it was kind of nice hearing him say it.

"Me too," I said. I took my phone out of my pocket and read the time. It said 9:59 and I jumped right out of my seat. I'm supposed to be at Ally's house in one minute. "I'll be back later, dad. See ya." Before my dad had time to answer, I was already out the front door. It was extremely cold out today. I could feel the hairs on my arms rise while I was running to Ally's house. I walked up Ally's stairs and rang the doorbell. It only took about twenty seconds for someone to answer the door, and when they did, it wasn't Ally.

"Hello," A woman with brown hair and hazel eyes said to me, I assumed it was Ally's mother.

"Hi," I said, clearing my throat. "I'm Austin. Ally wanted me to come over to help her paint today."

"Oh, sweetie," She said, taking me by the shoulder and leading me inside. "I'm Mrs. Dawson, but you can call me Penny." She lead me into the hallway and stopped us in front of a white door. "Ally's still sleeping, but you can wake her up,"

I nodded my head, and put my hand on the doorknob, but then looked back at Mrs. Dawson, "It's really nice to meet you… Penny." I smiled at her, and she smiled back and then walked away.

I twisted the door and pushed it open slowly, trying to prevent it from making any noise, but of course it ended up creaking a little. Ally was sound asleep on her bed. It was actually pretty funny, the position she was in. She was lying on her stomach, hair all in her face, and arm hanging off the side of the bed. I walked up to her bed and kneeled beside it, then put my hand on her arm hanging off the bed and shook it a little.

"Ally?" I said softly, but she didn't nudge. I moved the hair out of her face, then put my hand on her shoulder and shook her again. "Ally?" I said louder, but she still didn't move. I shook her a little more but longer than before. She let out a groan and opened her eyes slowly. She stared at me with groggy eyes, blinked twice, and then jumped when she realized what was going on.

"Austin!" She said quickly, and I started laughing. "When did you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago," I said simply as she started taking her covers off. I stood up and watched her. She was wearing a plain red shirt and grey sweatpants with the waistband rolled. I could see a bit of her stomach and I looked away, it felt weird to look at her like that since I've only known her a couple of days. So, I just did what any gentleman would do.

"I had meant to set my alarm for nine o'clock, but I forgot," Ally said with a hair elastic placed between her top and bottom teeth. She was pulling her hair back and then took the elastic from her mouth and pulled her hair up in a pony tail. "I'm sorry,"

"It's fine," I said, smiling at her. "Don't even apologize." She smiled back at me while mine just grew bigger.

Ally's POV

I really did mean to set my alarm, but it honestly slipped my mind, which is really odd because I don't forget anything.

"You ready to paint?" I asked, looking him up and down. He looked comfortable. "Nice clothes choice."

"Of course," He said, then looked down at his outfit then back up to me. "How about you? You need to get changed." I looked down at my clothes and shrugged my shoulders. I didn't care if I got paint on these clothes; I only ever wore them to bed anyways.

"No, I'm just going to wear this." I said. Austin looked me up and down, not once, but twice. I may have just met the guy the other day, but it was clear that he was checking me out. I raised my eyebrows at him and that's when he stopped before scanning his eyes over me a third time. "Not the cutest outfit, I know. But, I'm not trying to impress anybody today."

"You look nice," He said. "Beautiful like always," He was smiling now. This is the second time he's called me beautiful, and I must admit, I kind of liked getting complimented. It's not everyday someone tells you that you're beautiful when you've just only rolled out of the bed minutes ago.

"Thanks," I said with a small smile. He nodded at me, and we just stood there for a few seconds in an awkward silence. "But yeah, anyways, let's start painting now. Come on."

I walked out of my room first and he followed behind me. We walked past the kitchen, into the dining room, and both stood in the center of the floor. There were already newspapers laid out covering every inch of the floor and maroon paint cans on the floor in front of us with paint brushes beside them. My mom thought ahead of the game, very smart of her, and it's safe to say I'm grateful for my mother because it's less work on our part.

Austin reached down for a paintbrush, handed it to me, then reached down for another paintbrush and picked up one of the cans of paint. We walked up to the wall in front of us and Austin put the can down. He dipped his brush in first and then nodded to me to do the same. For the first couple of minutes, we just stood there, painting silently.

"So," I said, stroking my brush up and down the wall and then looked at Austin who was doing the same as me, "You really have nothing better to do on a Saturday than help me paint?" He shook his head no and smiled, his dimples now showing. So he didn't only get dimples when he laughed? Good to know… I mean, I don't know what I mean really.

"Not really," He said as he continued to paint, "I usually just go out and do absolutely nothing, but now you've given me something to do. So who am I to decline?" He smirked at me and stopped his brush, but then started painting again after a few seconds.

"Well, Austin Moon," I said, dipping my brush into the can of paint. "This is going to be the most fun you've ever had, trust me," I said sarcastically and he just smirked at me.

We finished painting two out of four of the walls in about two hours. During that time, Austin and I talked, listened to music, and sang to songs playing on the radio. After we finished painting the second wall, I looked down at my clothes to see if I got any paint on me, and to my surprise I didn't. Austin, on the other hand, had paint spots on his shirt, a mark on his face, and drops of maroon on his right arm.

"You're a mess," I said, laughing as he crinkled his nose.

"And you're not," He replied, crossing his arms with the paintbrush in his hand, causing him to get paint on his arm and a part of his sleeve. I laughed even harder and shook my head.

"I know I'm not," I said matter-of-factly. "See, unlike you, I know that I actually have to put the paint on the wall, not myself." He looked at me with a mocked hurt expression and I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"That one hurt, Ally Dawson," He said, putting his hand over his heart and shaking his head.

"You'll get over it," I said, throwing my paintbrush down on the newspaper before crossing my arms. He smiled widely at me. He knew I was just messing with him.

"I don't think I will," He said seriously. Wait, did he think I was being serious?

"Austin, I was only jo-." I said, but stopped as he slapped his paint brush on my shirt. I looked down at my shirt then back up at him with my eyes wide and mouth agape. "You did not just…" I started, but stopped when his paintbrush hit my shirt again. He wasn't going to get away with this. I reached down for my paintbrush, dipped it in the paint quickly, than jerked my arm forward, causing the paint from the brush to splatter all over Austin. I smiled, feeling accomplished with myself.

"Ally Dawson, you just made the biggest mistake of your life," He said, dipping his paintbrush in the paint, and did the exact same thing I did to him, to me. He seriously just backfired on me. I went to dip my paintbrush in the can again, but he took my brush out of my hand, causing me to take a few steps back. He dipped both brushes in the paint and walked over to me slowly. I backed up a step with every step he took until I was against one of the walls that wasn't painted.

"Austin, you don't want to do this, believe me," I said, trying to reason with him. I looked to me left and noticed I was only about five feet away from the doorway that leads into the hallway. Maybe I could escape. He wouldn't be able to get me if I'm not actually in the dining room. I looked back at him, and he was closer than he was before.

"I think I do want to, though," He said, smirking evilly. I shook my head no, and he nodded his head yes while he walked closer to me. I looked at the doorway, then back at him, then back at the doorway, and that's when I made my move. I started to run for the doorway but was soon pulled away by an arm grabbing me from behind around my waist. I was quickly lifted off my feet and I knew I wouldn't be able to escape his grip. His ring finger and pinky finger dug into my skin on my lower stomach that was exposed because I had rolled my sweatpants, while the rest of his fingers dug into the rest of my stomach from over my shirt. He was really strong, given the fact that he could pick me up with one hand with no problems. "Where do you think you're going?" He said against my ear and splattered paint from the brush in his opposite hand all over my pants and he started laughing.

"Put me down!" I said, trying to hold in a laugh. I put my hand over his and tried to pry his hand off of me, but it was no use since he only ended up holding me tighter. I sighed and stopped struggling in his grip. Austin kept laughing as he eventually put me down. I turned around and glared at him, but then ended up smiling slightly. "Yeah, that's what I thought,"

"Oh yeah?" He said, raising his eyebrows at me. I nodded my head and put my hands on my hips. Before I knew it, Austin grabbed me and started tickling me on my sides, and I started laughing. He kept tickling me until I fell onto the floor, lying on my back. He kneeled down over me and kept tickling me, and I felt like I was going to die from laughing so much and trying to catch my breath. I tried to grab his hands and pull them away, but from laughing so hard I hardly had any strength.

"Austin, please," I managed to breathe out, but then started laughing again, "Please, I'm begging you."

Austin's POV

Who knew Ally was so ticklish? I just figured I'd go for it and see what would come out of it, and well, the outcome was good. Ally quickly fell to the floor and I followed her down, still tickling her. She begged me to stop, but I was having too much fun to even think of stopping. I couldn't help but laugh along with her. Her laugh was contagious, to say the least. I kept tickling her and her laughs weren't audible at all, she was laughing so hard to the point she had to catch her breath.

"I'll stop on one condition," I said, smirking down at her. She was still laughing, and tears started coming out of her eyes.

"Anything!" She managed to say. "I'll do…haha…any…haha…thing."

"Promise?" I said, still tickling her. She nodded her head and laughed more.

"I promise!" She shouted, before laughing again.

"Okay," I said, and then stopped tickling her. She laid there, breathing heavily as she looked up at me. "Come see a movie with me next weekend,"

"What?" She said, still breathing heavily.

"Come see a movie with me next weekend," I repeated myself. "We're friends, yeah?" Ally nodded her head at me and her breathing seemed to go steady. "Then be a good friend and don't let me go alone,"

"Yeah, alright," She said, sitting up and smiled a little. "I'll go with you."

"Really?" I said excitedly.

"Yes, but the good friend thing works both ways," She said and I looked at her confused, "You be a good friend and pay for my ticket."

"Sounds more like a date if I do that then," I said, biting my lip.

"You wish!" She said defensively, but ended up laughing. Man, she really had the best laugh. I don't think I could ever get sick of it.

"So you don't want to go on a date with me?" I asked in a mock sad voice.

"No," She said, smiling at me. "But I still want you to buy my ticket,"

"You're not going to stop until you get your way, huh?" I asked. She shifted her body and was now sitting in front of me, just looking me in the eyes. She had really pretty eyes, even though they were just plain brown.

"Nope," She said, shaking her head, and popping the P at the end of nope.

"Fine," I said, finally agreeing. "But you're buying the popcorn and drinks. Sound fair?"

"I guess that's reasonable," She said sarcastically, but then ended up laughing. I watched her as she laughed and smiled to myself.

"I love your laugh," I said, and she stopped laughing and looked at me.

"Do you?" She asked, smiling at me.

"Yeah, I really do. I can't help but want to laugh when you do, it's contagious." I smiled at her, and she looked down and I swear she was blushing, but she was trying to hide it from me. I took my finger and put it under her chin and tilted her head up. "Why are you trying to hide that pretty face of yours?" Her face turned even redder, and I loved it.

"Why are you so nice to me?" She asked seriously.

"I'm just being honest," I said, taking my finger out from under her chin.

"Well, you want me to be honest with you?" She said, and I nodded my head. "You are honestly the nicest guy I've ever met, and I'm really glad I have a friend like you." I grinned at her because I knew she wasn't kidding. She was telling me this in all seriousness, and I'm happy she's glad that we're friends, because honestly, so am I.

"I'm glad I have a friend like you, too," I said honestly.

"Yeah, you should be," She said, smirking. There's the smart ass Ally that I've come to know.

"Should I?" I asked, returning the sarcastic attitude. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Come on," She said, getting up from the floor. "Let's finish painting." She reached both of her hands down to me, and I grabbed them. She squeezed my hands as she helped me up, which she was finally able to do after the third time. We walked over to one of the walls that weren't painted yet and started painting again.