Ally's POV
I must have fallen asleep in the car on the way home, because the next morning I was in my bed. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was Vanessa and Elliot talking about something. I don't even remember what, but I guess it wasn't my business anyways. But I do remember Elliot carrying me into the house. I must have been tired from crying.
Rubbing my eyes, I sat up and checked the clock- 6:30. I no longer felt tired. Pulling the covers off of my body and running my finger down my soft hair, I got onto my feet and went out of my room. Elliot was still asleep, snoring loudly, but Vanessa's bed was empty. She must have had to leave for work early.
I entered the kitchen and got myself some ceral, took a shower, brushed my teeth and hair, got my backpack, and I was ready.
Today a strange event happened when I got to school. I went to my locker, which was normal; I hung out and talked with my friends, which was normal. But wasn't was Piper. She looked the same and talked the same, but she didn't act the same.
She hugged me.
She hugged me.
Piper has never hugged me before, or even talked to me. She never showed me any effect on in any way. And she giggled. She never giggled. I've never heard that girl giggle as long as I've known her. I haven't known her long and when I do say hi to her she always gives me dirty looks.
Carrie and I watched her walk away. "What's her problem?" I ask, watching her walk away, hugging everyone. They looked just as surprised/weirded out as I was. Maybe worse because some of them didn't know Piper.
"Nothing," she answered, going to her locker, and I quickly followed. Nothing? Did her own sister not see the problem here?
"Carrie," I say, and she looks at me once she gets her books out and she hugs themy to her chest. "How could you say nothing?" I ask in disbelief.
"Sorry?" she said slowly.
"Don't be sorry. But did you see her hug me?"
"She's been hugging everybody all morning. What's the problem? It's..." she put her head up as if she was trying to figure out the right words. "Nice," she finished.
I guess she was right. It was nice to see Piper in such a good mood. But what made her in such a good mood? "Why's she all giggly and friendly all of a sudden?" I asked, starting to feel impatient.
"She was up all night talking to some guy," she told me, "drove me wild. She was keeping everyone up with her babbling about herself. God it was annoying. I didn't barely get any sleep. I told her to shut up but she just replied with "you've done it to me talking to Dez." So I texted Dez and I slept over at his house." She finished her story.
I nod. Wait a minute. I heard Elliot talking when I got up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water but I wasn't really paying attention. "It was my brother," I muttered dryly. How could my brother make someone so happy? He doesn't even like anyone! All he seems to care about was cars and cigarettes. But I have to give it to him, he wasn't bad looking; in front of girls he acted different. Maybe Piper did too.
Carrie smiled. "Well you called it." After a small pause, she spoke up. "Hey our group of friends is going skating on Friday. Wanna come?"
I haven't been skating in forever it felt like. I remember one time I went skating with Elliot and some girl, and I fell on my face multiple times. But he was too busy making out with this girl he barely met a day ago. It pissed me off, really; I mean here's your sister, falling on her face and all you can do is suck faces with a girl you don't even really knew. Vaness wasn't there at the time, she had to work and my parents were out for dinner.
But the point is I'm terrible at that kind of stuff. But of course, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to hang out with friends. "Sure," I smile.
I thought this whole Piper-Elliot thing would blow over, but I was wrong. I should have known Piper was going to invite my brother. But knowing Elliot, I assumed he would have already done something stupid to blow his chance with her. But he hasn't done anything dumb yet, which surprised me. But if you take two tough and cold people, they've obviously have found their perfect match.
Anyway, I slip on some jeans and a t-shirt. We were going to meet Austin there. I wished Vanessa could come, but she had night school. I'd rather have her come than Elliot. "You almost ready pigeon?" Elliot asked, entering the door with a cigarette in his mouth.
He was about to light it, but I immediately stopped him. "Whoa! No! If you were to light that mom and dad would roll in their graves!" I said, taking it away from him. I knew Elliot liked smoking, but I never thought he'd do something as stupid as that. Plus it would stank up the house! "And if you wanna impress Piper, smoking isn't attractive," I add, throwing the cigarette in the trash.
"Oh, r-right," he stuttered, turning red.
"Is my brother blushing?!" I ask, surprised. Elliot never blushed, even when it came to girls. He always just had that look of lust in his eyes when he saw a pretty girl, but he never blushed, or stuttered, if I may add.
"N-No," he answered.
"Oh my God. Oh my God!" I punch his arm. "My brother actually feels something for a girl other than lust!" I smile big. I know that the official test would be the way he looked at her, and more so where he looked.
He doesn't say anything, just takes exhauls and claps his hands together. "We-We don't wanna be late." Of course he changed the subject. You could never talk about anything like this with him, he always changed the subject when he was too embarrassed to tell me what he was really feeling.
"Right," I say, sighing as I followed after him.
I hung on the wall for dear life, my skates scratching against the ground, making a weird sound. I was terrified to let go because if I did I knew I'd fall bad. I'm not good ato this stuff, no matter how hard I try; I'm just not good at any sports, unless you count songwriting as a sport (which I doubt).
"Ally?" Austin asked, skating near me. "Do you need help? You look scared to death!"
I turn to him. I WAS scared to death. I was paranoid of cracking my head open or something. But I kept my grip on the wall, turning my back to him. I didn't know what to say. I was dumbfounded. I knew that he'd probably be able to help me, but I was still embarrassed over my little break down less than a week ago. I knew he cared about me; he always asked me if I was okay. Even when I was smiling he asked me. Because he just knew when I was sad, despite my smiling. It was like a 6th sense.
"I-I..." I stuttered, looking back at him.
"C'mon." He interrupted me by taking both of my hands. "You're never going to learn if you don't get off that wall."
I start to protest, but nothing comes out of my mouth. His touch just makes me speechless. I begin to feel weak in the knees. Why does he do this to me? Does he like making me look like a complete idiot? If I didn't know any better I'd say you're falling in love, a voice says. No! I'll admit that I like him but I'm not falling in love with him! I knew love once; once was enough. Love is nothing but heartbreak when it comes to me. When I look at people like Dez and Carrie, my doubts about love fade away.
"They key is to be soft on your feet," he tells me gently, and I awkwardly skated with him, his hand in mine. After a while, I started to feel better with Austin beside me. We don't go fast, just slow and steady. "One foot after another," he advises, his tone calm. "That's it." I've never met anyone as patient as Austin. He's patient and kind to everyone he meets, even if they're not the same. "You're doing fine," he whispers in my ear.
"T-Thanks," I stammer as we continue to go slowly, and I feel myself starting to get the hang of it.
"Aright, I'm letting go now." I feel his hands leave mine, and I start to suddenly lose my balance.
"Aus-"
"You'll be fine sweetheart," he says, and I completely lose my balance because of what he said. He called me sweetheart. I know it didn't sound like a big deal, but it was to me. Sweetheart was what my father always called my mother; it was also what he called me. I missed him.
"Ow..." I fell smack on my back. That was going to leave a mark for sure.
"Sorry!" Austin apologized frantically and the second after my back hit the hard floor. He quickly helped me up. "Are you okay? Do you need ice? Are you lightheaded? Do you need-"
"Austin!" I interrupted his sea of questions that somewhat gave me anxiety. Why was he so good to me? I never asked him to be so concerned for me. I donno why he even cared. No one did at my old school, but I had a feeling things were different here. People actually cared about each other here. "I'm fine," I assure.
"Let's sit down for a few minutes just in case," he says, and he leads me to the booths where the food and stuff was. "You want a snack?" he asks after a few minutes of sitting.
"No thanks." I say politely, then turning back and spotting Dez and Carrie. Instead of teaching her, Carrie was teaching him. He looked even more lost than I did. I saw her say something. I wasn't sure what it wss, but her eyes were calm so I'm guessing it was reassuring.
"They're cute, don't you think?" Austin asks.
"Yeah," I say, smiling. I then spotted Elliot and Piper. I noticed she fell down; Elliot held out his hand, but she didn't except it, just shook her head and got up herself. She was independent. When she got up, he took both of her hands and she looked at him; he looked at her. But it wasn't lust this time around. He looked into her eyes, not anywhere else. I couldn't believe it. They just stood there smiling, both looking so happy.
I glanced back at Austin, to see if he noticed this, and he did. "Well look at that," he said, rubbing his chin and smiling."They finally look happy."
This place had to be famous for its pizza. Some people only came for the pizza, and just stopped by to have dinner there. I remember my dad and I stopping for dinner here for pizza. He'd always give me the bigger piece.
I tried my best to keep the cheese on the pizza as I ate it. I didn't want all if it coming out; I just realized how gooey it was. Elliot looked at me and shook his head, rolling his eyes, and went back to his pizza. While I was getting weird looks from my brother, I felt someone else's eyes on me.
Austin.
"What?" I asked, pizza still in my mouth.
He just smiled and shook his head playfully. "You're just cute," he said, and I swallowed my pizza and smiled to myself.
I felt like Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer when Clarisse called him cute, and he shouted "she thinks I'm cute" excitedly and flew higher than the other raindeer. That's what I wanted to shout, but I just said it in my head.
He thinks I'm cute.
It's almost 3 in the morning and I'm not even tired. I'm on a couch with no pillow so it's really uncomfortable.
So 1) The reason I mentioned Rudolph was because I watched it today and I thought it'd be fun to add XD 2) This also is a reference to one of my first A&A stories I've ever posted. I honestly had no idea what I was really doing even though I thought I did. It was full of mistakes, it didn't really make any sense, the chapters were short and it was rushed. So yeah. It was called "Regrets". Did anyone read it that actually thought it was at least decent? Just wondering. (I deleted it by the way.)
