Disclaimer: I do not own Austin and Ally.


Ally had never been good at staying calm under pressure.

Everyone knew that. Her dad knew that, Trish knew, so did Dez and Austin and she's pretty sure Dallas has noticed by now. Heck everybody walking down the streets could tell this girl was a mess just by once glance at her nervous stature and darting eyes.

Maybe it was the way her voice would raise suspiciously high when she spoke. Or the fact that her gesturization would increase by tenfold out of nowhere all of a sudden. Maybe it had something to do with the way beads of sweat would automatically form on her forehead as she would profusely try to wipe them away.

It might also be related to her tendency to chew on her hair whenever she was nervous. Yeah, that one was a pretty dead giveaway.

Even at the simple thought of performing an act which involved her to lie on spot or act natural, the poor girl would quite literally come undone.

This might explain why Ally was currently hyperventilating as she walked alongside Austin down the long halls of the cruise. The hallway was lined with different paintings, all of which she'd never seen before.

"Oh god, they're gonna ask us questions." She exclaimed shaking her head with grief. Her brown hair flopping wildly. "They're gonna ask us questions. They're really gonna ask us questions."

The blond boy beside her playfully put an arm around her shoulders in comfort. He seemed far too cheerful for her to believe he was going to even attempt being sympathetic. His airy intonation made her conclude her assumption had been correct.

"Would you relax? Of course they're gonna ask us questions!" His tone implied she was supposed to feel better after hearing his words. Normally she would have set her hazel eyes in the best glare she could manage and shoot it in his direction. But she was far too mortified and nervous at the current moment to do anything but let out a low whimper.

She expected Austin to retract his arm and continue his attempts at trying to make the situation sound a lot better than it was. Instead his grip on her hardened.

Ally sneaked a peek up at him to make sure he was doing alright; she had been searching for his gaze in his mess of blond hair before their eyes interlocked. As soon as brown met brown, Austin's eyes glimmered and he took it upon himself to flash her a brilliant smile both radiating and comforting at the same time.

At precisely that moment, all thoughts of uncertainty and anxiousness washed away.

Even if just for a second.

Ally shook herself out of the momentary trance before hesitatingly returning the smile with a smaller and lot less visible smile. Austin caught it anyways and gave her shoulder a slight squeeze.

It could be her imagination but she was sure the pace they were walking at had slowed down considerably from when they first exited their room.

"You seem awfully calm for someone who is minutes away from telling the biggest lie ever, to his parents and new family." She teased out of habit.

He made a dismissive noise before opening his mouth with a retort ready on his tongue. "Technically, I told the lie a long time ago," he shrugged. "Now I'm just adding more lies to my lie in order to ensure my first lie is buried deep."

"In other words you're just digging yourself a deeper hole?" Ally asked with a knowing grin. Austin's eyes flickered as he scrutinized to come up with an argument.

"No I'm-"

"Feeding flames to the fire?" The brunette supplied, cutting off the singer.

Austin grumbled feebly in retaliation. "You and your metaphors,"

Ally rolled her eyes. "Don't you mean analogies?" Laughter was evident in her tone while he simply glared at her.

They approached the elevator soon enough. Austin impatiently pressed on the elevator button multiple times. Way too many times to be necessary. Ally maturely ignored him until he began pressing on it with an escalating force.

The number of similarities shared between him and a child were simply too many to count.

She gently grabbed his sleeve and tossed his hand back by his pocket. She then proceeded to shake her head at him with disapproval, even going as far as tutting the boy. He merely smiled in response.

They waited in silence for about a minute or so, the two of them shifted awkwardly with each second.

Just as Austin was about to press the button again the elevator doors opened with a chorus of mechanical grunts. Both Austin and Ally stepped in the empty elevator without so much as a second thought.

Once inside the elevator, Ally leaned her head against the cool, glass mirror present in the fancy elevator. Wide eyed and tight lipped Austin raised his hand to press the button for their floor level before Ally stopped him by catching his hand halfway.

He dejectedly dropped his hand before crossing his arms grumpily. Ally simply smirked and pressed the correct floor number professionally. She leaned her head back against the mirror with a sigh.

"Would you relax?" he stated, as his hand gripped the metal bar behind him. She looked up with a perplexed glare. She didn't bother to ask him how he knew she was nervous. It was probably written all over her face.

"How are you so calm?" She asked once again.

Austin laughed humorously. Ally however, didn't find the situation quite as funny as he did as she maintained her unamused frown and half raised eyebrow. He finally stopped laughing, yet his eyes still gleamed merrily.

"It's you and I." He answered easily. He brushed some scattered bangs out of her face as his grin transfixed into a thin line, "how can I not?" he said in a softer voice. The feeling of his touch burned into her skin, her legs felt wobbly and she found herself all of a sudden mesmerized.

Ally allowed herself some time to appreciate the warmth his dark brown eyes supplied before taking a deep cleansing breath.

"Okay," she replied, finally finding some courage in her tiny figure. The 'ding' of the elevator signalled that they have arrived at their desired floor. Ally shook the nerves away once again as Austin looked to her with approval. His hand was still lingering close to her. The doors of the elevator slowly began to open.

"Let's go give them a good show."


"So how'd you two meet?" Edna asked curiously with her hands pressed together and supporting her head while her elbows rested on the dining table.

Everyone's attention was turned to duo of lovers as they confidently looked to each other with ready expressions, both already knowing they wouldn't have to lie for such an obvious question.

They had just sat down in the high class, all you can eat, 4 star service guaranteed buffet and already after selecting their own preferred foods from the self serving buffet the questions were zooming in.

The dim light theme of the restaurant also did not make things better. In fact the lighting seemed scarily similar to an interrogation at a police department.

"Did you guys meet at School?" Joseph cut in as he took a sip of his wine. The two teenagers both shook their heads no. The adults nodded their heads, waiting patiently for them to elaborate.

Ally answered on behalf of both of them, "Well I work part time at my dad's music store," more like full time, she thought to herself bitterly. "And Austin being Austin here, had to be obnoxiously playing the drums one day," She sent him a genuine smile as she spoke. "Even though, there was very clearly a no playing the drums sign."

Truth.

Austin ducked his head sheepishly as all members of the table laughed. Even his father offered a small chuckle. Although that chuckle was probably meant for his son's stupidity rather than the cute story that had just been told.

"And he asked you out then?" Mimi Moon inquired, looking very similar to eager teenage fan girls. Ally smiled before shaking her head.

"Nope, we were friends for a while." She twirled a fork in her spaghetti. "And then he asked me out." She explained, thankful for the fact she hadn't need to tell any serious lies yet. She thoughtfully looked into the distance as if the event of him asking her out really did take place.

"Friends so quickly!" Edna exclaimed. "You two must be destined for each other!" Ally could feel herself flush.

"Well we're both into music so…" she tried to reason, yet a blush still crept up her cheeks. Mr Moon's ears seemed to perk up at the mention of music and his eyes immediately travelled to his son was wearing a similar blush to the brunette.

"How did he ask you out then?" Austin's mother asked again.

Ally's mind blanked and before she could start stuttering Austin picked up for her.

"I took her to her favourite restaurant and asked her out there." He answered suavely. He thought for a second before adding details, "Then we took a nice long walk down into the park paths to watch the sunset." He leaned back smiling.

False.

"How romantic!" Edna exclaimed loudly, falling for the completely fabricated lie. Austin beamed proudly as everyone seemed satisfied with his explanation. Even Ally looked dazed and awed as she smiled at him with adoring eyes.

Austin internally shook his head. She was such a hopeless romantic.

"So your anniversary is…?" His dad piped up, saying his first words of the evening.

"February 23rd."

"January 4th."

Both of them answered without realizing the other was planning on speaking. They shared worried glances with each other as confused stares and raised eyebrows were beginning to arise at the dinner table.

"I like to think of the first time that I realized I liked you as our anniversary." Austin lied quickly, feigning a sappy smile and secretly hoping Ally would play along.

"Aw, Austin!" Ally gushed with pretend enthusiasm, even going as far to reach over and squeeze his hand in affection. He squeezed back, his eyes never leaving hers.

That seemed to dissolve the suspicion as Austin's family members each went back to enjoying the food with sly smiles playing on their faces. They each stole one more glance at the couple before shoving their faces with the different foods on their plates.

"Aren't they cute?" Mimi muttered not so subtly to her husband. Mike simply grunted in response, seemingly more enthralled by cutting his steak than speaking to his own wife.

Edna and Joseph on the other hand, we're looking at each other with 'remember when we were like that?' eyes and identical grins. It would have been awkward for Ally if she hadn't realized how comfortable her current position was.

They were buying the fact that they were a couple so there really was no reason for her to let go of his hand right? She should just keep it there just in case they get suspicious right? That was what boyfriends and girlfriends did with each other right?

She suddenly felt very queasy. And with a heavy heart and wavering mind, she let go of Austin's hand and excused herself from the dinner table with the excuse of getting a platter of fruit. She could almost feel Austin's confused gaze at her retreating back while she was walking away.

Austin's aunt had the good sense to go after her. She had hoped to get her in private as to acquire more gossip on the young couple. She too, excused herself from the table with a similar poor excuse.


Edna grabbed a clean plate off the side and with her darting eyes she found Ally by the fruits and dessert section in no time. The young girl seemed to be debating on what flavor of jello to get. She quickly shuffled up beside her, looking over the choices as to appear casual.

"So…you're both into music huh?" She asked, dumping some kiwi on her plate.

Ally's eyes widened in shock for a moment, very clearly taken off guard. She regained normalcy when she turned and saw Edna standing beside her with a wistful smile. Ally then proceeded to hide her blush as she nodded.

"Yeah, I like to write songs." She admitted shyly. She quickly covered up what she said by releasing a huge glob of strawberry jello on her own plate.

"Oh?" The older woman's eyes flashed with interest. "And so, Austin is kinda like your muse?" She asked slyly, trying to appear a lot less curious that she was feeling.

"M-muse?" Ally asked with uncertainty. It wasn't that she was unfamiliar with the term. It was just strange for her to consider something like that into her music.

"You know, inspiration for music," Edna waved the huge spoon around, trying to give her a sense of what she was talking about. "Like, motivation or just something that makes you happy." she elaborated.

Ally stuttered nervously, "I had a goose." She stated. As soon as the words left her mouth she realized how stupid she must have sounded.

Her theory turned out correct as Edna looked positively taken aback.

The song writer fidgeted with the spatula she was serving herself with before she conveniently made eye contact with a certain blond sitting from afar.

Austin flashed her a bright smile. He tapped her seat impatiently, silently telling her to hurry up and return to dinner.

Ally returned his smile, her insides doing an Irish jolt in happiness. She rested her plate on the counter before opening her mouth to speak again. "But since Pickles is gone," She began, her eyes never leaving the singer. "I guess Austin counts as a muse as well," she admitted.

Edna beamed, her plate forgotten on the counter of fruits. She leaned in close to Ally.

"That's what I like to hear."


They barely made it back to their room before Austin flopped down on Ally's bed in exhaustion. He stretched out his arms before dropping his head down on the pillows.

"I'm beat," he exclaimed, closing his eyes and kicking his shoes off as a way of explanation.

Ally walked over to him with a tired smirk. "I thought we settled this was my bed."

Austin grinned up at her. "We did!" he confirmed with a very familiar bright smile and sparkling eyes to match. Ally rolled her bed as she rephrased her previous question.

"Why, are you on my bed?"

"Because it's comfier!" he retorted. Ally scoffed.

"That's ridiculous. The two beds are identical," she countered, putting both hands to her hips.

"Then you sleep in that one," he said airily as he rolled around on the bed, turning his back to her.

She shifted her stance in defiance. "There's an ocean view with this bed," she argued.

"Psh, yeah, because the ocean is soo fascinating at night," Austin bit back, not even bothering to turn around to face her.

Ally narrowed her eyes in anger. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Okay," she said calmly. "That's fine with me." She exclaimed launching herself on the bed with Austin still drifting off to slumber. "Goodnight!" She bellowed loudly, tucking herself under the thick covers of the bedsheets and expecting him to finally get off.

"Goodnight Ally," The blond simply stated with his eyes still closed.

Unbelievable. The brunette thought to herself as she stared disbelievingly at the unmoving Austin. After staying in that position on the bed for a few minutes, neither of them willing to move, Ally finally had enough and shoved the sleeping boy right out of the bed.

He landed with a hard thud.

"Ow, hey!" He complained from the floor.

With a satisfied smiled, Ally closed her eyes. "Now it's a good night," she affirmed, ready to enjoy her good night's sleep.

But Austin wouldn't have it at that, as he pounced right back up to take his (not so) rightful position on that bed. Ally, in a moment of panic, sent a pillow flying towards his face. The action caused the brunette to fall back on her bed with laughter.

Austin grabbed another pillow in retaliation and war broke out.

The wrestling continued for a long time, both of them using the pillows and blankets as shield and armour as they battled. By this point their breathing had turned heavy from laughing so hard.

Just as Austin was about to emerge victorious, by finally pinning down the petite songwriter, a loud cough was heard from the doorway.

The two teens, whipped their heads around to find Mike Moon standing by the doorway with one hand on the knob and half a foot through the door.

He was wearing a very solemn but grim expression which clearly stated he did not like what he was seeing and was very clearly was not amused.

Almost immediately, Austin and Ally scrambled to their feet wearing identical guilty expressions.

"Having fun?" The older man inquired dryly.