Long time no update, sorry! To make up for it I'll post another chapter today. :)
Ally was sitting at her dining table, organizing what would be written into their engagement and wedding invitations. She had decided to properly discuss the invitations with her bridesmaids, and while Trish couldn't be there, Georgia and Zoe had agreed to come and help her.
A loud buzz filled the entire room, and Ally ran to her intercom.
"Hey, Ally. It's me and George." Zoe called into the device. Ally held down the microphone.
"Come on up." Ally said, pressing the key button. A few minutes later the two friends knocked on the door and Ally yelled for them to come in.
"George, are you seriously okay with designing my invitations?" Ally asked seriously toward Georgia who seemed to be more than willing. In fact, even a little annoyed.
"Ally, come on. It's my job, and I love it. Besides, I wanna help you out as much as I can in this whole process." Georgia replied. Ally exhaled deeply and nodded.
"I know, I just don't want you to think I'm just dumping all of this on you." Ally confessed. Georgia shook her head.
"No way. Happy to do it." Georgia assured her.
The three friends drank coffee and conversed about Ally's plans. Soon, Ally showed the girls her and Austin's engagement photo shoot and the two girls stared in awe and the perfect photographs. Ally smiled sheepishly. Even she couldn't deny how cute the pictures were.
The photograph she and Austin had chosen to put in their engagement invitation was gorgeous. The pair stood beside a typical New York City brick wall, incorporating an out of focus alley way behind them. Cars and traffic could be seen at the very end of the photograph on the road outside the alley way, and Austin stood against the wall, smiling into Ally's temple while Ally looked down toward the ground. Her left leg slightly lifted from the ground, and she held his arms as he held her by the waist. Next to them against the wall, sat a traditional guitar.
"Ally, this might be the most beautiful picture of you and Austin. Or of any couple for that matter." Zoe complimented, holding the photograph between her fingers. Ally blushed.
"Yeah, the photographer was absolutely amazing. She's seriously talented." Ally diverted. Georgia tilted her head at Ally.
"Yeah, but subjects and models are what make great photographs." Georgia pointed out. Ally smirked and looked at the picture again. At that moment her phone began to buzz and Ally looked at her phone to see a picture of her mom fill the screen.
"Excuse me, guys." Ally said politely, taking her phone and heading into the bedroom.
"Hi mom." Ally said warmly. Ally heard a gasp at the other end of the line.
"Ally!? Thank god. Where have you been? I've been calling and calling!" Penny Dawson called. Ally frowned.
"Sorry, I guess I've just been busy. What's up?" Ally asked.
"Well, Ally, you've barely filled me in on anything about the wedding plans. And have you sent out the engagement party invitations yet?" – Penny. Ally sighed.
"Uh, no. They should be going out by next week." – Ally
"Where is it going to be?" – Penny
"The Plaza. Trish has already booked it in for February 26th. So please keep the date free. You and Paul could probably stay at the Plaza as well." – Ally. There was a silence.
"Ally, are you okay?" Penny asked with concern in her voice. Ally looked down. The truth was that she wasn't fine at all. At least with her mom.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just getting kinda stressed and stuff about this whole thing." Ally lied.
"Well honey, if you're having trouble you know I'm more than happy to help." Penny offered.
"No seriously, it's fine for now. I'll call you if I need anything, don't worry Mom." – Ally
"Okay, but please keep in contact with me. I don't want you to do this alone." – Penny
"Don't worry, Austin, my bridesmaids, everybody is helping. I'm fine." Ally repeated. There was another silence.
"Mom, I better go. I'm trying to organise the invitations." Ally said.
"Yeah, yeah sure. Call me soon, Ally." Penny said. Ally farewelled her, and upon pressing 'end' on her phone, Ally looked toward her window.
The truth was that after Penny had remarried only half a year earlier, Ally did not take it well. She had pretended she was fine with it, but something about her mom's new husband bothered her. Not only had she married him without telling either her father or Ally herself, but they had been seeing each other for several years and she had never bothered to tell Ally. She thought they had a better relationship than that. Ally didn't like her mother keeping secrets from her – why had she felt it necessary to keep someone so important in her life a secret?
While Penny had never really been around for Ally while she was growing up, they always remained close and felt like best friends. Her recent marriage proved that wrong. Part of Ally didn't even want to talk to her, but Ally knew she wanted her whole family to be a part of her wedding, no matter what.
Ally walked back into the kitchen and saw the girls looking over a mock-up made by Georgia of one of their invitations.
"So when do I get to meet the two other bridesmaids?" Georgia asked happily as Ally walked toward them, thinking for a moment.
"I think they should be coming in a couple of weeks actually, all three of them. Including Dez. That way we can all hang out as you know, the official bridal party." Ally chanted, slightly giddy about calling her friends a bridal party.
"You know, I'm anxious to meet Dez. He sounds really … interesting." Zoe giggled. Ally laughed.
"Trust me, he's the most interesting character you'll ever meet." Ally assured her, making the girls laugh.
Ally lay on the sofa, flicking through their engagement photographs. She couldn't help but smile at every photograph. She realised she should probably work on some music but being engaged to Austin had become increasingly distracting. Creative careers required a lot more work than simply going to an office and coming home at 5 in the evening. Now, both Austin and Ally had seemingly put their song writing on hold due to their engagement.
"How's you doing?" Austin called from the kitchen as he walked in. Ally dropped the photographs on her chest and looked up with her eyes wide, confused with Austin's weird accent.
"Where did you come from? The bad accent academy?" Ally teased. Austin pretended to laugh as he walked to her but soon began to run as he neared her and playfully dropped the photographs on the coffee table and wrestling her on the couch. He was finally straddling her as she fought him, but Austin held her arms still and waited for her to stop squirming.
"Hmm, what else could we do in this position?" Austin teased, nearing her face. Ally shoved him away as Austin laughed and they both sat upright.
"By the way, your mom called me this afternoon." Austin said. Ally abruptly turned to him.
"Why?" Ally pressed.
"Well, she wanted to know if you were okay and I said you were, and then I invited them to dinner a few nights before the engagement party." Austin explained.
"You invited them to dinner? As in my mother and her new husband?" Ally repeated. Austin looked at her in confusion.
"Yeah, is that a problem?" Austin asked slowly. Ally looked away.
"Since when are you and my mom so tight?" Ally challenged, looking away from him. Austin was silent, only opening his mouth a moment after Ally had turned to him. He pressed his eyes into her gaze, obviously very serious.
"Aren't your parents, my parents too?" Austin asked quietly. Ally didn't say anything, her heart just jumped. Tears formed in her eyes. How could anyone be so caring like Austin? She suddenly felt extremely guilty for blurting out something she didn't even mean to say.
"Oh, Austin … of-of course." Ally stammered, looking down again. "I'm so sorry." She whispered. Austin didn't touch her, he just remained silent. They hadn't felt uncomfortable with each other since their engagement, and Ally felt really bad.
"I'm- I'm so sorry, Austin," she repeated, cuddling up closer to him and placing her arms around his chest. Austin immediately placed his arm around her waist as she leaned her head on his shoulder, still not saying anything.
"I haven't been all that great with mom recently. I don't know why, but I certainly shouldn't have brought you into it. It's actually great you invited them … it's important we also have dinner with your parents too." Ally tried to divert the conversation.
"What's going on with you and your mom?" Austin diverted back. Ally didn't answer right away. She herself couldn't even understand why she was having difficulties with her mom, how would she explain it to Austin?
"I don't know, I guess her getting remarried is really hard for me." Ally muttered. Austin stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head after a moment. As he kissed her, Ally closed her eyes, wholesomely enjoying his touch.
"It's normal to be a little uneasy about your parents finding new people," Austin told her generally, as Ally listened. "But it's a part of life. And we have to learn to accept it." he said.
"Especially now that we're getting married. We have to keep our family close. We need them." Austin went on. After a moment of understanding what he was saying, Ally looked up to him with a smirk.
"When did you become so wise?" Ally asked. Austin smiled toward the floor, sighing.
"One of the many things you taught me." He replied. Ally playfully shoved him and sank back into his chest.
Hope you liked it! 3