A/N: Here is the update! DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything except the plot and a few minor characters such as-Conner Fobs and James. Shout Out to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. If I could remember each one of you guys I would mention you, but you are incredible either way. This chapter was based on David Guetta's song Play Hard, so there isn't any angst.
Cassidy held her breath and gripped her seat as Austin zipped through traffic. Her fingers were turning white with the strength of the grip she had on her seat. It surprised her that Austin was in such a hurry to get to the meeting. Usually Austin didn't care if he was late to meetings—especially if it had to do with another record company. But, for some reason Austin seemed to be in a hurry to- Cassidy let out a groan, as realization dawned on her.
They were headed to Fob Records.
Ally Dawson worked for Fob Records.
Austin was in a hurry to see Ally, not attend the meeting.
Cassidy felt her heart start to race, her hands became sweaty and while she was very well aware of the feeling that was creeping up into her – she wasn't about to let it dampen her mood. She shook her head, and for all she knew, Austin was probably trying to be responsible or give off a good image. There could be a number of reasons why he could be driving down the highway at ninety miles an hour and none of them would have to do with a certain brunette. Cassidy's jaw clenched at the thought. Right?
"Hey babe, are you okay?" Cassidy jerked from her thoughts and saw the worry on Austin's face.
She managed a weak smile and answered, "Yeah, just trying to deal with your crazy driving." She cleared her throat before saying, "At this rate we're going to die before we get there."
Austin chuckled. "I guess you're right. It's just that I really don't want to give Conner and Fobs Records a bad first impression." Cassidy felt a sigh of relief escape her as Austin decelerated the car. A smile slowly crept into Cassidy's face as she thought on Austin words. He was honestly in a rush just because he wanted to give off a good image, not because he wanted to see Ally.
But she wanted to be sure, "By the way, are we the only ones who are having the meeting with Conner?" Cassidy glanced towards Austin who was biting his lip. She felt her smile slowly drop - Austin only bit his lip when he was excited or anticipating something.
Cassidy averted her gaze as she stared out the window before answering. "Yeah." She heard her fiancé take a sharp breath. "Conner mentioned that Jimmy Star would be there." Cassidy answered.
"Oh." She felt completely unsettled with by how sad Austin sounded as he breathed that last word. The rest of the car ride was spent in silence until they pulled up to Fob Records. Cassidy quickly exited the car and made her way to the building, ignoring Austin's shouts to wait for him.
She needed a moment before she dealt with anything else. However, as she entered the building, her eyes landed on a poster in the center. There in the center of the building was a black and white picture of Ally Dawson on the piano singing. She looked breathtaking, and Cassidy felt her stomach turn into knots as she felt a familiar presence behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was. She knew the moment that she heard the word "amazing" escape his mouth. Austin Moon, her fiancé, was most likely checking out another girl in front of his soon wife to be. To make matters worse, the so called girl was his ex-girlfriend. Cassidy felt her anger rise, as a small lady approached her.
"Mrs. Kane, Mr. Moon. I'm so glad that you could make it." Cassidy didn't miss the sarcastic tone of the secretary. "Mr. Fobs and Mr. Starr have already arrived. If you would, please follow me. I have been instructed to take you to them as soon as you arrived.
Cassidy simply nodded her head as she followed. She only looked back once to see if Austin was behind her, and sure enough he was. They followed the secretary until they reached an elevator that was occupied by a red-head man and a little blonde boy. She groaned as she heard the boy begin to tell the man about how much fun he had, and how much he was looking forward to spending more time with "Uncle Dez." Fighting the headache that she seemed to blindside her from the minute she realized why her fiancé was so excited to come to the meeting, she decided to lean against the wall of the elevator and close her eyes. She zoned out as the kid's endless chatter suddenly stopped. Cassidy felt relief wash over her, and opened her eyes to find out why everything went silent when her eyes fell upon Austin.
"Dez, what are you doing here?" Cassidy glanced between Austin and the redhead, as the latter grabbed the boy and pulled him closer.
"Just here to see Ally, and drop off James. What about you?" Cassidy didn't miss the cold tone of Dez's voice.
"Cass and I have a meeting with Conner. Wait, Ally's here?" Cassidy felt her cheeks flare as she heard the hopeful tone in Austin's voice.
"Yeah, that is the reason why I'm dropping her son off at her work." Cassidy rolled her eyes at Dez's harsh statement.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Austin we should really get going." She said as she exited the elevator, she heard footsteps behind her and she glanced back. She muttered under her breath and crossed her arms. It seemed as if Austin and she were headed the same way as Dez and James. Austin began to fall into step after her as she continued to follow the secretary. Cassidy chanced a glance over her shoulder and felt her anger subside, as she realized Dez and James were no longer behind them. She then moved her attention to Austin.
"So, that was Ally's son?" She asked in a light tone, as an image of the child came back into her mind.
She saw Austin shrug. "Yeah. His name is James." She heard a hint of sadness in Austin's voice as they continued walking.
"Isn't that the name of the artist that Ally mentioned in the Helen Show?" Cassidy asked between gritted teeth.
"Yeah, so I'm guessing that he is the real dad of little James." Austin answered as a frowned began to form on his face. Cassidy felt her stomach drop and her cheeks become red. She stopped walking, and turned to face Austin. "Hey, um Cass what's u-" Austin never finished his phrase as Cassidy reached up, grasped his collar, and pulled Austin in a searing kiss. Then Cassidy pulled away and left Austin standing dumbfounded in the hallway. She felt anger coursing through her bones as she quickly made her way after the secretary. Austin was an idiot. A stupid idiot who never knew when to shut up. Cassidy heard Austin catch up to her, but she refused to look at him. Suddenly, the secretary stopped in front of a door and knocked before disappearing. Austin took this opportunity to lean over towards Cassidy and whispered into her ear. "I'm sorry love, please don't be angry." Cassidy looked up and her eyes met Austin's, and she felt her anger dissolve a bit. She nodded her head and gave him a small smile.
"Come in." Cassidy heard a voice say on the other side. She saw Austin reach for the door, but not before intertwining their fingers together. He turned the nob and entered the room pulling her behind him.
"Why welcome! I'm glad that you guys could make it." Cassidy looked up to see Conner Fobs and Jimmy Star looking straight at them. "We've been waiting for you guys so that can get this started. So if you'll please follow me. I'll show you the way." Cassidy quickly stepped aside to let Conner Fobs walk by with Jimmy Starr, then she made her way with Austin following them into a recording studio, as a melodious voice entered her ears. She felt Austin become rigid. Then as the voice stopped singing, Cassidy heard applause around her, as her eyes fell upon none other than Ally Dawson.
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Austin felt his breath hitch at the sight of Ally. She looked stunning, even though she was wearing sweatpants and a Bastille t-shirt—hell, if all she wore was sweats she would still look beautiful. He sighed, he shouldn't be thinking about this especially since his fiancé was sitting next to him with Ally's son in between them. As a distraction, he let his mind wander to the events that landed him in this situation.
He stood there shocked staring at Ally leaning over the sound system, as he began to applaud. In an instant, her head whipped around to look at the people standing in the doorway. He saw her grow rigid at the sight of him, and her cheeks turn pink as she glanced to his left to look at Cassidy. Then suddenly a smile graced her face.
"Fobs, what are you doing here?" Ally asked with a sickly sweet voice, as she avoided all contact with Austin or Cassidy.
"I just wanted to introduce your tour group to our new guest." Fobs said motioning towards someone, and that's when realization hit Austin. Fobs had called them so that he and Cassidy could bond with Ally's son. He felt his stomach turn at the thought. He was supposed to bond with the son of the woman he loves—loved. This day could not get any worse.
"That's great, but I can't right now. I'm about to head over to the practice room to practice dancing with the dancers. You know how bad I am at dancing." Ally answered with fake enthusiasm.
"That's perfect!" Every head turned towards the direction of the voice, as all gazes fell on Jimmy Star. "Austin and Cassidy have the rest of the day off, so they can watch over your son as you practice." Jimmy said as he patted Austin and Cassidy on the back. "Right guys?"
Austin let out a weak chuckle. "Sure, that sounds like fun. Right babe?" He said as he turned his gaze towards Cassidy.
"Nothing else would make me happier." Cassidy said with sarcasm.
"Great! Well then Ally, I'll leave everything to you." Conner said as he quickly rushed Austin and Cassidy out of the room and led them towards the elevators to go to the dance studio. Once they arrived, they were introduced to the dancers until Ally appeared twenty minutes later with James in hand dressed in sweats and a t-shirt. She quickly scanned the room until her eyes fell upon the blonde couple, and leaned down and whispered something in her son's ear. James nodded his head as he bolted across the room and wrapped himself around Cassidy's legs.
"Hi! My mom says your name is Mrs. Cassidy Moon. Are you related to Mr. Austin Moon by any chance?" Cassidy let out a small laugh, as the kid looked up to her with big eyes.
"Why yes I am. I'm actually going to be his wife." James's eyes grew big as he stared at Cassidy.
"Are you serious? That is awesome. I've always wanted to meet Austin Moon!" James whispered. Cassidy smiled, and Austin couldn't help but smile also. James was a very cute kid.
"Well if you want to meet him, then look to your left." Cassidy answered with a smile in her voice.
James looked up towards Austin, as his eyes grew wide. "Wow. You're taller in person Mr. Moon." Austin let out a loud laugh as he gazed up. His eyes automatically locked upon a pair of deep chestnut eyes. His laugh slowly left him as he saw Ally walk away with a blush slowly creeping on her face. His gaze followed her form as she connected her iPhone to the speakers and looked through her song list.
"We better move. Mommy and the dancers are about to warm-up." James said looking up at Austin, as they slowly backed up to a bunch of bean bags in the corner of the room.
And that was how he ended up here, sitting down staring at Ally as she chose a song and made her way to the group of dancers. Suddenly David Guetta's Play Hard came on the speakers as the dancers began to stretch. Austin felt a lump develop in his throat as he watched Ally remove her t-shirt. Immediately, he felt a familiar tightening in his pants as his eyes roamed Ally's upper body clad only in a sports bra. She quickly pulled her hair into a bun, as she instructed the dancers to begin.
"Alright, you know the drill. This is just for warm-ups. We'll get to the real stuff soon." Ally said as Ne-Yo's voice came on the speaker. "Alright, then let's start."
Austin felt his mouth go a little dry as he watched Ally dance. She was amazing the way that she could pop, lock and drop it. The Ally that he knew before had no idea had to dance, but apparently this Ally had some skills. She was almost as good as Beyoncé, maybe even better. Austin couldn't help but stare in awe at the beautiful creature in front of him, completely unaware of his surroundings.
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Cassidy felt as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest. Here was the man she was about to marry - OGLING another woman in front of her. They hadn't even been in the room for five minutes before he had gone all space cadet on her, as he stared at Ally's dancing form. She knew this was a bad idea, but she didn't want to be seen as a jealous girlfriend. Besides, things had been going well until they had sat down, then she began to become confused as James talked about how amazing dinosaurs were and Universal Studios was the greatest place on earth. So she had decided to look up and convince Austin to talk with James because they have a lot in common, and she could rest for a little bit. When suddenly as she looked up, she saw her fiancé staring at something very intently. She followed his gaze, and felt her stomach fall as she found herself looking at Ally Dawson's dancing form. She sighed as she noticed that Ally was dancing rather rigidly, as if she knew someone was staring at her.
As the music began to slow down, Ally stepped away from the group of dancers and made her way to the speakers. As she looked for a new song, Cassidy noticed that Ally's gaze was wondering between Austin and James—as if she was torn between which one to stare at, before she shot a glare to Austin and shook her head. Cassidy felt a swell of rage rise up within her, as she looked at the crestfallen face of her soon to be husband. Realization slowly dawned on her as she saw Austin shift his gaze away from Ally, as he shook his head and ran a hand through his hair—the universal Austin sign for being frustrated. Cassidy watched Ally chose another song and begin to dance all over again. She felt the rage multiply itself within her, as she saw Austin struggle to keep his eyes off of Ally.
As Cassidy stared at this scene she came to a conclusion. She, Cassidy Kane, hated Ally Dawson. She hated everything that the brunette stood for. She hated how much Austin still cared about Ally. She hated how much influence Ally still had on Austin. She hated how famous Ally had become, but most of all. She hated how much Austin loved Ally. Why? Why couldn't Austin look at Cassidy the way that he looked at Ally? Why couldn't he write songs about her instead of Ally? Why? Because he wasn't in love with her. Austin Moon was in love with Ally Dawson, and Cassidy knew that. She knew that she would always be second best. That she could never, ever, compare to Ally. She knew all of that, and it broke her heart. Cassidy felt a sudden tug at her shirt, and she gazed down to see James with an annoyed look on his face.
"Are you even listening to me, Mrs. Moon?" James said as he crossed his arms. Cassidy stared at James for a good bit, something about the boy was just too familiar.
She slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, I was listening." She managed to put on a smile.
James shook his head and ran a hand through his head, as he answered with a frustrated sigh. "That's what adults always say, but they never listen." Cassidy froze at the action of the boy. Slowly she shook her head, and smiled at James.
"Sorry, I was just distracted. You were saying?" Cassidy said as James's face broke into a smile.
"Well, I was talking about the video games Uncle Dez bought for me…" As James continued talking, Cassidy cast a glance towards Austin, and saw that he was once again captivated with Ally.
A/N: Man... I feel bad for Cassidy. Well these next few chapters should be interesting. Tell me what you guys thought about the story. Next chapter should be ready probably on Friday, maybe Saturday. Oh, before I forget shoutout to Queen A, my wonderful sister and editor. Also, if you guys have some songs to recommend, I would greatly appreciate them. I sometimes get writers block and music clears my mind and give me amazing ideas!