Ally POV
These past few days in New York have been pretty boring. Austin and I decided to just relax in the apartment since we weren't really in the mood to do anything. But today was a different story. We were done moping around and we wanted to have some fun.
"So, what do you want to do today?" Austin asked, walking into my room. He claimed a seat on my bed
I was in the middle of putting my hair up into a ponytail when he walked in unannounced. Once I finished, I glared at him.
"You really need to learn how to knock." I deadpanned.
He grinned. "Knocking is no fun."
"Yeah, and neither is walking in on me when I'm changing."
"But you weren't changing." He pointed out. "So, what do you want to do?" He repeated his question.
"Well," I sat down next to him. "I was thinking that we could go to the Bronx zoo."
His eyes lit up and he smiled. "Awesome!" He started giggling like a child.
I shook my head, chuckling at my best friend. "You're so weird."
"You should be used to my weirdness by now."
"True," I agreed.
The doorbell rang, signaling someone's arrival. I gave Austin a confused look. "Were you expecting someone?" I asked. His parents and my father were out yet again so we were home alone.
He shrugged and walked out of my room. I followed him. He opened the front door revealing a redheaded teenage boy.
"Uh, hey, Dez." Austin greeted, somewhat shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"We were gonna play video games, remember?" Dez said. Weird name.
"Shit," Austin groaned, smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand. "I completely forgot."
"I noticed," Dez walked into the apartment and took a seat on the couch. His eyes found mine and he had a confused look on his face. "Who's this?" He asked, jabbing a thumb towards me.
"This is Ally." Austin introduced, shaking my shoulders. "She's the best friend I told you about. You know, the one that moved away."
Realization came across his face. "Oh," He then got a huge smile on his face. "So, she's the one you used to have a-" Dez was cut off by Austin who clamped a hand over his mouth.
I looked at Austin amused and all he did was laugh nervously. Why was he nervous?
"Are we still going or…?" I asked. Austin motioned for me to follow him into the kitchen, so I did. "What's up?"
"Would it be okay if Dez came with us? It's just that his parents are away and he doesn't really hangout with anyone else but me." He explained quietly and I instantly felt bad for Dez.
"Sure," I smiled. He grinned and gave me a quick hug before walking back over to Dez. I followed him and took a seat on the couch.
"Dez, do you want to go to the Bronx zoo with me and Ally?" Austin asked.
Now, I was expecting Dez to say something like, "Sure!" or "Yeah, totally!" But instead, he ran out the door. I looked at Austin who was laughing.
"Was that a yes or a no?" I asked, a confused look on my face.
"That was a yes. He's on his way to the car."
"No offense, but he's really weird." I commented.
He shook his head and laughed. "I know. But that's what makes him a great best friend."
I gasped in fake shock. "I thought I was your best friend?"
He smiled and playfully rolled his eyes. "You are, but so is Dez. And if I'm correct, I believe Trish is your best friend as well."
"Alright, I see your point." I mumbled. "Let's go." I grabbed my purse and walked out the door, waiting for Austin to follow. Once he locked the door, we made our way towards the elevator.
As we approached Austin's car, I noticed that Dez was in the backseat, smiling from ear to ear. Not gonna lie, I found it a bit creepy.
"So Austin, how are you and Skylar?" Dez asked once Austin started driving. I froze and I'm pretty sure Austin did to.
"Uh, we b-broke up." Austin stuttered.
"Oh, sorry, buddy." Dez apologized.
"It's fine. I'm over it." He lied. I knew he wasn't over it yet and the truth was that I wasn't over Dallas either.
The first five minutes of the car ride was silent and I wanted to break it, so I turned on the radio. A smile broke out onto my face when Counting Stars by One Republic came on. This song was my current favorite and I was in love with the song.
I didn't even realize I was singing until I heard clapping coming from the backseat. "Oops," I muttered, blushing.
"You're really good." Dez complimented.
"Thanks,"
"And you're blushing." Austin pointed out. He poked my cheek and I swatted his hand away.
"Shut up." I mumbled.
"You know what I just realized." Austin said. "You had stage fright right before you moved and now you don't. Explain."
I cleared my throat. "Trish kind of forced me to perform in my school's talent show and after I did that, well, I think you know the rest."
"I wish I could've been there to watch you perform." Austin said, glancing at me with a smile on his face.
I smiled. "Me too."
"Am I gonna be a third wheel?" Dez asked. My eyes practically bugged out of my head and when I looked at Austin his jaw was dropped. Luckily he had just parked the car in the zoo parking lot so he wasn't driving.
"W-what?!" Austin exclaimed, blushing furiously. "We are not together!"
"Definitely not together! Besides, I just got out of a relationship." I told Dez.
"Alright, no need to freak out." Dez said. He opened the door and stepped out of the car.
I turned to Austin. "That was interesting."
He nodded. "Yeah, that's the word for it." We awkwardly got out of the car and started walking towards the entrance.
Thoughts started flooding my mind of Austin and I being together. If I'm being honest, I used to have a crush on him when we were kids, but of course I never told him. And when I moved, the crush started to fade since I never saw him again until now. Although I just got out of a relationship, I couldn't help think that maybe my crush was coming back.
After Austin paid for our tickets, much to mine and Dez's dismay, we walked through the zoo's entrance. I couldn't help but smile as I analyzed my surroundings. The last time I was here was five years ago, and it was only two weeks before I moved to Miami.
"Brings back memories, huh?" Austin asked, causally throwing his arm over my shoulders.
I couldn't help the faint blush that appeared on my cheeks. "Yeah," I paused when I noticed that Dez was gone. "Uh, where's Dez?"
"Oh, he went to the World of Reptiles exhibit. We're gonna meet up later for lunch."
I nodded. "Sounds good."
We started walking towards the Tiger Mountain exhibit since that was always our favorite exhibit when we were kids. Austin kept his arm around me and I wasn't going to complain about the closeness. I really enjoyed it, but I knew it wasn't helping my crush that reappeared.
"Remember that one time where you begged your mom to let you get a pet tiger?" I asked Austin, chuckling at the memory.
He laughed. "Yeah, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe she said yes."
"She only said yes so you would shut up." I pointed out.
He pouted. "I don't care, I want my tiger."
I playfully rolled my eyes and turned my attention towards the different tigers in the exhibit. "You know, I haven't been to the zoo since I left New York. Zoos without you aren't the same." I said after a moment of silence.
I turned to Austin whose eyes were as big as saucers. "You're kidding?!" I shook my head. "Do we need to come here everyday until you go back back?"
I laughed. "As much fun as that would be, you'd be broke if you paid every time."
"Als, you're worth it. I missed having my best friend around." He gave me a quick side hug.
"Was Dez not enough?" I teased.
He rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Dez is my best friend, but you're my best friend times infinity."
I smiled. "That didn't really make any sense."
"You just ruined the moment!" He whined, causing a few people to look our way. "Nothing to see here, just a seventeen year old boy whining." Austin told them.
I shook my head and laughed at my best friend. "Coming back to New York made me realize that I really don't want to go back to Miami." I told him, but didn't make eye contact. I continued to look at the tigers. "I never wanted to move in the first place.
"But you did and there's nothing that we can do." He stated sadly.
"True, but I plan on going to MUNY after I graduate, so all I have to do is pray that I'll get accepted."
"There's no need for praying. You'll definitely get in. I'm the one that needs to be praying."
I looked at him and I could tell just by the look on his face that he was worried about his acceptance. "Austin, I have no doubt in my mind that you're going to get into MUNY. Do you know how talented you are?"
He shrugged. "I don't think I'm that talented."
I stared at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding? I'm surprised you haven't gotten a record deal yet."
He chuckled but didn't say anything else. After a few more minutes of staring at the tigers, he spoke up.
"Want to check out the World of Reptiles exhibit?"
I nodded. "Sure," He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the direction of the exhibit. Just when I thought he was going to let go of my hand, he did the exact opposite. He intertwined our fingers.
Austin POV
I looked nervously at Ally since I wasn't sure how she would react to the whole hand holding thing, but she was smiling so I took that as a good thing. I don't know what came over me to do that, but it just felt right. All I knew was that my old crush on my best friend was slowly returning.
Yes, I had a crush on Ally Dawson. That's what Dez was going to say before I stopped him. I didn't want Ally to know because it would ruin our friendship and our friendship meant the world to me.
When Skylar cheated on me with Ally's boyfriend, I was furious. I wanted to punch a wall repeatedly until my knuckles would bleed. I thought that Skylar would change for me and leave behind her cheating reputation, but I was so wrong. But when Ally and I were comforting each other, I felt more of a connection with her than I did with Skylar.
And when Dez asked if he was going to be the third wheel, I was blushing so hard! I really wasn't expecting that question and I could tell that Ally wasn't either.
"Austin!" I heard Ally shout. I blinked and saw Ally wave her free hand in front of my face.
I grabbed it so she would stop waving it in front of me. "What are you doing?" I asked, amused.
"You were zoned out for a few minutes." She explained, concerned. "Are you alright?"
I nodded. "I'm fine, don't worry." I took that time to notice that we were at the reptile exhibit. Wow, I really zoned out. Oops.
"You know, I should get a pet snake." I said as we looked at the snakes.
Ally looked at me and shook her head. "Please don't." She squeaked. "Snakes creep me out."
I chuckled. "So, if I were to get one and put it in your bed while you slept..."
"You would wake up in Cuba." She interrupted, sending me the death glare.
My eyes widened. "I can't tell if your joking or not."
She smirked. "I'm not. Trish is great at revenge."
"Okay, I won't get a snake." I said, my voice coming out all high. I cleared my throat. "Come on, let's go meet up with Dez for lunch."
She nodded as I grabbed her hand again. I loved how she didn't pull away.
The rest of the day was spent looking at animals, watching Dez try to get into the monkey habitat, and just having plain ole' fun. Overall, it was a really good day.
Review, review, review! Please! I'll try to update soon. Thanks for reading!
