Pairing: Austin/Ally
Prompt: None, this time.
Notes: Two chapters in one day! I'm on a roll.
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize, and some things you don't. No copyright infringement intended.

"Hey, Austin. Wanna work on that new song?" asked Ally, sitting down at the piano bench.

"Can't," groaned Austin. "I've got math homework to do. Wait," his eyes lit up. "Ally, you're in Honors Math, right? Help me!"

Ally sighed. "Alright, alright." She went over to him and picked up his math book. "Okay, so you should start this problem by making an equation from the words..."

They worked for two hours, and, surprisingly, they had a lot of fun. In the middle of a problem, Austin suddenly crumpled up a piece of paper and shot it at Ally's chest. Surprised, she blinked at him for a moment, giving him the chance to launch another paper ball at her. Ally sprung into action, and a paper ball war began. At the end, the ground was littered with paper balls, and Austin was a lot more willing to learn.

"OH, I get it now!" cried Austin. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" He grabbed her up in a hug.

"Ow- Austin- can't breathe," Ally choked out.

Austin laughed, releasing her. "Sorry, Alls."

"AUSTIN!" A shrill voice reverberated through the store. "Austin? Is that you- oh, hi, Ally." A tall blonde girl suddenly showed up in front of Ally.

"Oh, yeah! Ally, meet Carrie. She's my date for the movies tonight. Carrie, this is Ally, my best girl friend!" Austin beamed at them both.

"Hi." Ally's greeting was short, clipped, and tight.

"Hi, Ally." Carrie's greeting was no less cold.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Austin looked confused. Why weren't they hugging and laughing like they were supposed to?

"Nothing. Um, I'd better leave you two, so you can have some privacy." Ally gave a tight smile, then left.

"Austin, baby, let's go." Carrie took his arm and led him out the door. But along the way, the only thing Austin could do was puzzle over Ally's abrupt goodbye. Where was the quirky, bubbly, amazingly talented, slightly adorable girl he had been used to, and why was this new, cold, kinda scary girl in her place?

"Oh, no he didn't!" Trish's voice was outraged, and Ally could hear the sound of furious pacing over the phone.

"Relax, Trish, it's not like we were together, or anything, right?" Ally tried to calm her down. She had told Trish about Austin and Carrie, and being the loyal, overprotective best friend that she was, Trish had blown up at Austin- through the phone, to Ally.

"Uh, you might as well have been! Hello, Ally, he kissed(1)you! That's it, I'm coming over there to talk some sense into that boy!" Trish couldn't stop fuming.

"It doesn't matter. He already left with Carrie." Ally was very careful to keep her voice controlled as she said that girl's name.

"Oh, sweetie, are you okay?" Immediately, Trish's voice softened.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Ally's voice was soft. She had, inevitably, fallen for Austin in the past year and a half, and she had fallen hard. Trish and Dez both knew how she felt about Austin, but Austin, oblivious, carefree, amazing Austin had never noticed. Austin had gone on many dates before, but none of them had meant much to him. For him to want her to meet and like Carrie obviously meant that she meant a lot to him, and that hurt. A year and a half could change a lot of things, including the way Austin and Ally behaved around each other. They were considered a pseudo-couple, and he hadn't gone on any dates since he kissed her.

So what if they both happened to be at the park at the same time? Doesn't mean they can't feed the geese (the pond hadn't been removed upon unanimous request) together. And if they both happened to be at the same restaurant at the same time, then why not share a table and leave more space for other customers? If Ally needed more pickles, of course Austin would go, too, because he needed pancake mix. And if they happened to see an ad for a movie that looked really good, why not go see it together?

But now that Austin had started dating again, the fragile almost-relationship between the two had been shattered.

And Trish was furious about that. "Who said he could go on dates, huh?" she complained to Dez, that following evening.

"I dunno. Austin's kinda oblivious," he replied, playing with the ends of Trish's hair.

"Don't touch my hair," she snapped.

"But it's so soft! What conditioner do you use?" he asked, curious.

"DEZ!"

"What?"

"Focus!"

"I am focusing! Jeez, woman!" And so the arguing begins again.

A week later, Austin was back, asking for more help in math.

"Ugh, this is so hard!" he complained.

Patiently, Ally explained it to him once again, but Austin couldn't help but concentrate on her lips as she talked...

"Austin? AUSTIN!" Ally waved a hand over his eyes, jerking him out of his trance.

"Um, yeah. Sorry. What was that?"

Ally just rolled her eyes and explained it to him. Again.

"Ally, you're a saint," declared Austin, after their long study session. "You know, I'd take you out for ice cream or something, but Carrie and I are going to the bowling alley. See ya later!" he called out, leaping over the counter and leaving out the door.

"Bye," she replied softly.

"ALLY! LOOK AT THIS!" Austin ran up to her, yelling her name in the middle of the school hallway. When he reached her, he waved a piece of paper wildly in her face.

Ally laughed, blocking his excited face from coming too close to hers. "What is it?" She took the paper, read it for a brief moment, then shrieked, "OHMYGOD! I'm so proud of you!" She leaped forward into his waiting arms.

"100 percent in math, baby! Whoo!" he cheered, planting a brief kiss on her cheek, making her freeze. He didn't notice, though, because Carrie was behind her. "Oh, hey, Carrie! Look at this!" He released Ally from his arms to show Carrie his math test.

"Great job, baby!" Carrie beamed at him.

"And it's all thanks to Ally!" declared Austin.

"Oh, I'm sure it is! Still, you did amazing!" Carrie smiled slyly at Ally, before grabbing Austin and kissing him.

Ally tried to turn her head away, but she couldn't. It was like watching a train wreck. You wanted to stop watching, but you couldn't. Tears threatened to leak out of Ally's eyes, so she picked up her books and ran. She ran, and just kept running. Anything to get away from the sight of Carrie basically molesting Austin.

That night, Austin leaped up through the tree branches on the great oak tree next to the balcony of Ally's room. "Ally!" he hissed, pelting her window with a rock. Goddamn it all, he felt like some kind of a modern Romeo.

"Austin?" Ally opened the doors to the balcony sleepily, only to find Austin perched precariously on a tree branch. "Austin! What are you doing here? Oh, who cares, come in before you fall off!" She urged him inside her room.

He collapsed on her bed, then sat up, staring at her as she scolded him for climbing trees in the middle of the night. He didn't hear a word she said, but what he did notice was how wisps of hair kept escaping her messy side-braid. His hands itched to brush the strands of hair away. When she started blowing her hair out of her face, he snapped and lifted a hand to brush her hair back.

"Ally." he stated. "Stop talking."

"Oh, yeah?" Ally crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. "Tell me why you're here, at two-thirty in the morning."

"Why'd you run away from me and Carrie this morning?" he asked bluntly.

"Carrie and I," she corrected.

"Don't avoid the question."

"I'm not avoiding the question."

"Yes you are, you always avoid the question when it's something you don't want to talk about."

"So do you!"

"Don't change the subject."

"I'm not changing the subje- Damn it, Austin, what do you want?" Ally dropped onto the bed, her body close to his. "Just tell me now. What do you want from me, because you've already got mostly everything I've got to give."

"Can I have your heart?" asked Austin.

"That was cheesy," snapped Ally, her brain only processing the meaning behind his words a second later. "Wait, what?"

"Trish and Dez cornered me after you ran away," he said. "Ally, why didn't you just tell me that you liked me?"

"Because you started going out with Carrie!" she burst out. "You went out with Carrie, barely a month after you kissed me! What was I supposed to do, break you guys up?"

"No," replied Austin quietly. He stood up defiantly. "But you didn't kiss me back! In fact, you ran away!"

Ally stood up as well, indignation lighting a fire deep within her. "Yeah, well, you didn't run after me!"

"I can't be perfect, okay?" he hissed, taking a step closer. "If you wanted someone like that, you should have stayed with Dallas!"

"Dallas and I broke up, and you know it!" She took a step closer, stabbing his chest with every word. "You. Are. An idiot."

"Yeah, well, so did Carrie and I!" He shot back, backing her up against the wall.

That stopped her for a second, but only for a second. "Oh, that's great. Just tell me that I'm a relationship-wrecker, won't you!"

"Can I kiss you now?" he pleaded.

The tension in her body was instantly gone as she relaxed against the wall, giving him a look that said maybe... She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

He groaned, arms caging her in between him and the wall, their foreheads touching. "Ally..." he pleaded.

She grinned and stood up on her tip-toes, kissing him swiftly on the cheek.

"Please. Stop teasing me," he breathed out.

Laughing, she looped her arms around her neck and pulled herself up to his height. Nodding once, she let him kiss her, the feeling of bliss overwhelming everything else.

Even the sound of her dad coming into her room to investigate the strange sounds. "Austin? Ally? What are you two doing- oh, my god! My eyes, my eyes!" And he promptly clambered down the stairs to get away from his daughter and her new boyfriend kissing. "Teenagers," he scoffed.

A/N: It was short. Well, I've really got nothing left to say. (1) refers to a kiss that will eventually happen in This One's For Keeps.