Ally was holding a handful of purses. She had cash spilling out her pocket. She couldn't find Austin as she glanced around the room. She wondered where he had gone. She looked forward and her eyes widened as they fixated on the bride. Her hair was dark and her eyes were hurt. It was Trish. Dez was glaring at Ally from across the room, holding Trish tightly.

"Trish, I-"

"You crashed my wedding! You crashed my wedding?!" Trish shrieked, suddenly in front of Ally. Ally didn't recall seeing her move. Ally was speechless. She would never do such a thing. She didn't even remember getting here.

"No, Trish, I wouldn't do that to you-"

"I can't believe you! You're such a bitch!" screamed Trish. Ally was helpless, looking around for Austin. He always seemed to have her back, why didn't he now? "You're supposed to be my best friend! You just stole from my wedding!"

Trish practically spoke out a novel to Ally, describing how selfish and greedy Ally was. Ally believed every word because really she was selfish and greedy, wanting so much money and not caring about anybody but the money.

"Don't ever talk to me again, Ally! I thought not inviting you was enough to keep you away! You're a selfish bitch! I knew I couldn't trust you! I was stupid to trust you!" Trish howled. Her words were bruising Ally. She couldn't lose Trish, not Trish. Trish was her best friend after Austin. Ally had lost a lot of people in her life and losing Trish was not going to be an option. It didn't have to be an option, if it was fate.

"Trish, I can explain-"

Ally was given no chances to explain as Trish was still screaming and hollering at her, telling her about how selfish she was, telling her about how she'd ruined everything, their friendship included. Ally was losing Trish. She couldn't lose Trish, but she was. Her other concern was that she could not find Austin anywhere. He had left her. Where was he? Why had he gone away? Her eyes raked over the judgmental glances of the guests, she didn't care for their eyes, she just needed to find Austin.

Ally's eyes fly open and the room's dark but there's a silhouette in front of her, shaking her awake. Her eyes settle on the blonde boy who had been absent in her dream and she tosses her arms around his neck. Because if the dream was true, if she really did lose Trish, at least she had Austin. At least she always had Austin and Austin would never leave. He wouldn't leave, right? He wouldn't decide that he hated this lifestyle and run away from it? Run away from her?

His arms are gripping her back and suddenly she can breathe again. She guessed she was holding her breath in the dream. Dream. She's so happy that it was just a dream. Trish is still her friend, she never crashed that wedding. She did not crash her best friend's wedding.

Ally had no idea that she'd started weeping softly into Austin's shoulder until he's rubbing her back and whispering into her ear that she should tell him what's wrong, what she'd just dreamt about. She doesn't want to tell him because it was silly. Nothing to cry over. It was just one of those dreams where it's scary in the moment and then you wake up, breathe in relief, and fall back to sleep. But she's so afraid that it's going to come true, that she can't help but cry.

"Ally," Austin tried again, "What happened?"

She grips onto him like he's her lifeline. She doesn't ever want to let go. She felt pathetic being held by her best friend who was ushering her not to cry anymore, convincing her that it was just a bad dream because she does have a lot of those and every single time, Austin is the one assuring her that everything is okay.

She's not supposed to cry in front of her best friend. She's supposed to rob weddings with him, steal wallets with him, she's supposed to make fun of him and laugh when he insults her back, she isn't supposed to do this, she isn't supposed to need him so much. But she does. He was more than a best friend and a little different from a brother. She didn't know what he was, but she needed him.

He manages to get a look at her face. His eyes are concerned. Ally just wants to fall back to sleep and pretend that this never happened. It's the same feeling every other time she has a bad dream. Austin never seemed to question her about it the next day so she just prayed daylight would come soon. "What did you dream about?" his voice is soft like he's soothing a child. Oh, man, she felt like a child.

"I couldn't find you," she choked out and that was it. That was all she was willing to say. She wasn't going to tell him that she was upset because she dreamt about crashing the wrong wedding. It was silly and really, not worth the tears.

"Well, I'm here. I'm right here." Austin whispers, kissing her forehead. She liked it when he did that because she always actually felt like he cared about her. For once in her life, someone cared. He still holds her and she holds him. Ally's got issues and she never wants Austin to be the friend who always has to piece her together, hold her together, be the one who stands there only to fill the void in her heart. He's not that friend, he's just her best friend. Somebody who is supposed to do all of that and at the same time, slap you or yell at you when you're being nonsensical.

It's weird, really, when he sees her like this. She's so headstrong, dauntless, and independent that when she does break, when she does lean on him, he's hardly prepared to hold her up but he always manages. He always manages to keep her from falling apart completely. He'd always hold her together because that's what best friend's do.

Especially for the ones they feel a little stronger for than they should.

No, Austin has never concluded that this is a crush. He just believes that Ally's his best friend and he's supposed to feel strongly about her considering how long he'd known her. He's failed to notice that he really enjoys it when she smiles, especially when he's the reason, and that when he noticed Elliott check Ally out once, the raging jealousy that nearly tore his veins open.

He runs his fingers through her hair and places a soft kiss on her temple. It seems to be the only thing that ever makes her stop crying. Ally's got a history with people walking out on her and he promises himself to never ever be one of those people. He would not walk out on her, even if there was the odd reason that he had to, he would never do it.

Ally's nearly recovered from her hysteric's as she's now lying inside his bed next to him. Her arms around wrapped around his waist, she's afraid to let him go. Austin has an arm wrapped around her, keeping her tightly flush against him. He's drawing random shapes on her lower back with his index finger and every time he thinks she's asleep, he'll stop until she opens her eyes and then he continues again. He's desperate for her to remain calm and fall back to sleep. He hated when she cried. She never did it often, but when she did, it was the thing he hated to see the most.

Who knew when morning appeared, but when it did, Ally was already out of bed. She had already scanned her eyes through the newspaper and there was definitely another wedding to crash. It was small and it would definitely be tough, but of course Ally would be up for the challenge. Ally was already bouncing with excitement at the money she would find.

Ally looked over at the door where she heard the obnoxious knocking and the sounds of mumbling voices from the other side. She wonders if she'll regret opening it but she does anyway. Elliott, Trent, and Dallas are standing there.

"Good morning!" they chorus.

Austin, who still had his face in the pillows, was rudely awaken by the harmonizing voices. He groaned tiredly and slowly lifted his head. He sneaks a squinting glance towards the door and spots the three boys crowded around their door. "It's only 6 AM." Austin's voice was groggy.

"Actually, it's nearly noon!" Dallas cheers.

"Noon?" Ally gawked. She looked at the paper in her hands. The wedding was in two hours. "We have to get going! This wedding is in two hours and it's going to be a doozey!" Ally pranced off towards the bathroom.

"A doozey?" Trent echoed.

"Who even says that anymore?" asked Elliott.

"Ally does," Austin mumbled, face into his pillow. After swinging her hair up in a pony tail, Ally scurried over to Austin's bed and tugged off the blankets. Austin groaned louder.

"Austin, we can sleep tonight after we're bathing in more cash!" Ally said. She grabbed his foot and pulled him off the bed. Austin helplessly reached for something to stop him from falling to the ground with a thump, but it was too late, his head had already made contact with the floor.

"Ally," Austin growled. He was not a morning person. He scrubbed his fingers through his hair and glowered at her. She sent him a look. He sighed. "Everyone get ready. We have a wedding to crash."

. . . . . . . . .

"Well, that is just the sweetest thing I've ever heard," Ally smiles plastically at the woman she was having a conversation with. Her hands discretely slips into the stranger's purse and snatches her wallet. She glances across the hall and makes eye contact with Austin. He takes this as his cue and makes his way over. He pretends to stumble into their table and apologize frantically. In the midst of his rambling, nobody notices Ally slip the wallet into Austin's jacket.

Austin and Ally exchange a smirk before he takes flight heading towards the table of gifts. He snags a few things and he's not sure how he manages to sneak the gifts into his jacket without a stranger noticing but he did. He takes a look at Ally and sees she's now flirting with a boy. She slips a hand in his back pocket and there goes his wallet right under her arm and he's too busy going on about something to notice the robbery.

Austin looks to his left and sees Elliott dabbing at his fake tears. The girls around him are young and crying because whatever lie he'd told was a huge sob story that just got to their hearts. Austin stares for a moment and arches his eye brows when Elliott sends him a cocky grin as a red-haired woman leads him away, obviously for some business.

Austin's eyes rake over everyone before they land on the bride and groom. The bride is smiling at him with sparkling eyes and as the groom is saying something while opening his very fat wallet and flipping through tons of money. Austin's eyes grow wide with greed. He wants that money.

He scurries towards Ally and pulls her aside. Ally looks at him confused. "What's wrong?" she questioned him. He looked around and turned her to face the head table.

"That groom has a wallet full of cash. We need to get it." Austin said.

"Austin, there is no way we can sneak the groom's wallet. It's one thing robbing the guests, it's another thing robbing the groom whom everybody is watching the entire night." Ally said, turning to give him a pointed look.

"I don't fucking care! I just care about that wallet! It's fat and full of large numbers! I want it and I'm going to get it." Austin stated firmly. Ally stared at him for a moment before turning her head and gripping onto a strong, tuxedo arm.

It was Trent's tuxedo arm that she'd pulled and forced him to stand with them. He looked at Ally alarmed before raising his eye brows. "Trent," Ally said, "You need to do something about that groom." Ally told him, pointing at the groom who was still having a great time, totally unaware of what Austin and Ally wanted from him.

"The groom?" Trent gawked, "You guys are going to steal from the fucking groom?"

"Yup," Austin and Ally said in unison.

"But," Austin said, "We can't do it without some backup. So if you could please just..." he trailed off and motioned towards the groom. Trent bit his lip. Austin sighed, "I'll pay you one hundred bucks."

"Done." Trent said quickly. He smirked at the duo, "Let me work my magic." He wandered off.

Austin and Ally watched Trent walk towards the head table. "What do you think he'll do?" questioned Ally.

"I don't know, probably distract him with a warm conversation, maybe spill some juice on him or some shit-" Suddenly, Trent's knuckles collided with the groom's jaw, "-Or he could just do that." Austin deadpanned as Ally nodded, blinking twice. The guests had gone ballistic.

"Here's our chance, let's go!" Austin whispered.

Austin and Ally scurried towards the head table, pretending to be frantic and ready to help the groom. Trent was a big help, still kicking and swinging at the groom while guests held him back. He yelled about the groom stealing his woman but nobody was listening to him.

Ally reached into the groom's pocket and snatched the wallet, she shoved it at Austin who nearly squealed with joy as he felt how heavy it was. He really loved this job. He snuck the wallet into his jacket and then pushed himself and Ally out of the scene.

The duo were laughing as they made it into the quiet hallway, just outside the back doors. "Open the wallet!" Ally encouraged as Austin reached into his suit and pulled out the wallet. They gawked as they saw all the cash.

"Holy shit," Austin breathed, wonder in his eyes. The doors suddenly burst open and they dragged out a still hysterical Trent. Austin quickly shoved the wallet back into his suit jacket.

"I am so sorry about my friend!" Ally gushed to the men who had pulled him out, "He has these manic episodes. We don't know what triggers them-"

"Shut the fuck up and control your friend." spat the older man before he huffed and walked inside along with the other men who had helped pull Trent out.

Ally scoffed, "Rude."

Trent laid on the floor groaning. "I got kicked in the side," he moaned, holding himself. Ally snorted before she burst into laughter, Austin once again laughing with her. "You think this is fucking funny?" questioned Trent, breathing through the pain.

"Yeah," Austin and Ally cackled, exchanging glances.

"Fuck you guys," Trent grumbled, slumping against the wall. Dallas came running out the doors.

"Trent, oh my god, I had no idea who had a thing for the bride!" Dallas exclaimed, running his hands through his hair.

"I don't," mumbled Trent, glaring at Austin and Ally who ignored him as they flipped through the cash excitedly, murmuring softly to one another as they sorted out how much money the two of them would get.

"Then why the hell did you react that way?" Dallas questioned, frowning.

"Because these fuckers needed their money!" Trent growled. Dallas backed away slightly.

"Which reminds me," Ally grinned up at Austin, "I got you something."

"What?" Austin looked at her confused.

Ally reached into her bra and pulled out a smart phone. "I took it right out of some teen's pocket. Kids should know by now that the back pocket is the worst place to keep your phone. It's yours now, considering you threw your other one across a parking lot."

Austin took the phone, "Awesome!" he grinned.

"I know," Ally smiled bigger, "All you need to do is back up the phone and personalize it. Then it's all yours."

Trent and Dallas exchanged glances. "I thought they said they didn't have a thing?" Dallas voiced. Trent shrugged.

Ally turned around and glared, "We don't."

"Your stealing things and using it to buy him gifts...Sounds like there's something going on to me," Dallas shrugged.

"I fucking hate you." Ally said.

"I've heard." Dallas grimaced.

"Let's get out of here," Ally said, "We've got all we need."

"Where's Elliott?" questioned Dallas.

Austin was walking away next to Ally as he looked over his shoulder and voiced, "Last I saw, he was heading into a very private room with some girl."

"Man, Why does he always get the chicks?" Trent whined as he got up from the floor, wincing. His body hurt and he was sure he pulled several muscles from the instigated fight.

"Because you're always off punching groom's," said Dallas as he walked behind Austin and Ally with Trent.

"That was just tonight!"

"Whatever. You know, I like getting to know people. For who they are. Not just so I can sleep with them. One day, I'm gonna marry a beautiful woman who is going to love me for all my flaws and imperfections and I will love her the same-"

"-Dude." Trent looked at him. Dallas looked back at him. "Shut the fuck up."

Dallas only shrugged.

. . . . . .

"This is great," Ally grinned, shuffling the money in her hands as she sat on the motel bed. Austin was leaning against the wall, watching her. "Austin, over the last few weeks, we've gotten so much money...We could buy anything we want, we could do anything we want." She shook her head in disbelief and thumbed through the cash for the one millionth time.

"Yeah, I know," Austin said, but his voice sounded distant and Ally noticed because, well, Ally notices everything. She looked back up at Austin and he was staring directly at her.

She frowned slightly, "Is something wrong?"

Austin swallowed and shook his head, "No," he even managed to quirk his lips upwards slightly. Ally stared at him for a moment and Austin knew that she didn't believe him. "It's nothing...Just...I just keep thinking about... last night, I don't know."

Ally felt her insides flip because she really hated talking about the bad night's she has. Instead of ignoring him or talking about it, she gives a laugh. "You make it sound like we did something."

Austin laughed slightly, because he really should have worded that better. The laughter faded and he stared straight at her as if her in his line of vision was the only thing he could ever see, not the money in her hands, not the bed, not the walls, not the entire room. Just Ally. "But you know what I mean," he said gently.

Ally swallowed hard and stared back at him for a moment. There was no lightheaded humor in her eyes, her lips weren't quirked into a small smirk, there was no annoyance tagged in her facial expression, and she seemed to not have anything left in her to make a sarcastic or witty remark.

Ally couldn't handle the seriousness or the tension in the air so she looked back down to the cash. She really thought she was done thumbing through it but she guessed she wasn't because she did it over and over and over again. She didn't like awkwardness or tension, she liked amusement and wittiness.

"You should talk about it." Austin said, hands in his pockets, staring at her.

"I don't need to," Ally denied, a sharp edge in her voice but the corner of her lip was quirked slightly. Austin couldn't tell if it was the formation of a smile or a smirk. She was never good at keeping a straight face.

Austin shook his head, his eye brows towards the ceiling as he stared at the light there before shrugging his shoulders and looking back at her, "You always say that, Ally. Every time. At some point, you're really going to need to talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about, Austin," Ally said, finally dropping the money on the bed. She was sitting on her knees, hands in her lap.

"No, no, you say there's nothing to talk about, but I know there is definitely something to talk about." Austin replied and Ally rolled her eyes slightly because she could feel an argument coming on. It was stupid, Ally thought to herself, she had a silly nightmare and he's acting like she's some troubled girl who needs counseling.

"You have nightmare's, too." Ally tried, thinking this would bounce back but it didn't when he replied.

"Not like yours."

"Like mine?" Ally echoed, "What do you mean like mine?"

Austin didn't reply.

"No, no," Ally frowned, "Don't do that," she told him, "Don't just stop talking! What did you mean? What did you mean when you said like mine? I want to know." There was a cold amusement in her eyes. She really did want to know what he meant, but Austin knew what this was: he'd offended her.

"You know what I meant," Austin spat.

"No, I don't think I do." Ally glowered at him. Austin rolled his eyes, looking away from her and staring off at a scratch that was on the wall.

"You're my best friend, Ally," Austin said, shrugging, "Sometimes I just need to know what's wrong."

She hadn't expected that reply. Austin pushed himself off of the wall and grabbed his leather jacket. Ally straightened up when she saw him heading for the door. "Where are you going?" Ally questioned.

"Out."

"That's what he said when he left us," Ally voiced.

Austin stepped out of the motel and looked at Ally, "I'm not your Dad." Then he shut the door.

Ally stared at the door where he had just been. She scoffed and then sighed. She looked at the money on the bed and then tossed a few bills into the air and watched them flutter to the ground. "Well, that was just great." she mumbled to herself.

And in the middle of the night, it's there again. That stupid dream. That dream that's not even worth being uptight about because it's not real and it's stupid. Trish doesn't invite her to the wedding and she ends up crashing it and destroying her friendship with Trish. It's stupid and it'll never happen because Ally would never crash Trish's wedding, not even if Austin asked her to which he never would. Ally's many things, heartless isn't one of them.

Ally's staring at the ceiling, reliving the dream in her mind. It's just the way Trish looks at her that's got her tossing and turning. She's seen people look at her like that before, like she's a screw up, a fuckup. She doesn't want to be a fuckup but she knows she is because, come on, she crashes wedding's for God's sake. You can't be a bigger failure or fuckup than that. But the only real reason the look on Trish's face bothers her so much is because she knows that face. It's the same face her mother gave her father before he took off into the night and never came back the next day, or the day after that and so on. He didn't even pack, it seemed he wasn't in the mood for goodbye's.

There's a lump in Ally's throat and she rolls her eyes because it's just fantastic that a stupid dream could do something like this to a person. Ally never cries and she doesn't know why or how her dreams could make her do it so easily.

She turns onto her side and her eyes land on Austin. He's sleeping peacefully, his back to her. The plus to rooming with Austin was that he didn't snore, unless he had a cold. Other than that, it was like nobody was in the room. Her eyes were boring into the empty space next to Austin,

It didn't even take too much thinking before she'd slipped out of bed and crawled onto his bed. She pulled the blankets down slightly and tucked herself inside the bed, her cold body pressed against Austin's warm back. The coldness of her skin coming into contact with Austin's warm skin startles him. His eyes open tiredly and he frowns. He looks over his shoulder slightly and sees the body next to him. He turns over and gets a look at who crawled next to him. He sees his best friend. The girl whom he hadn't talked to since earlier that evening.

"Couldn't sleep?" he questions, his voice groggy. Ally shakes her head and looks at him. Her eyes are red and glassy - she was crying. He knows it, too. "Do you want to talk about it?" Ally shakes her head. "Didn't think so," he mumbles, "Get some sleep."

He turns onto his side, his back facing her and he tries to sleep once more. He feels Ally curl towards his back, nestling her face into the nape of his neck and suddenly he feels bad about whatever is going on in her head but he's still hostile about why she wouldn't talk to him. He knows if Trish were to ask, Ally would tell her so why can't she tell him? He's not jealous of Trish and Ally's friendship, of course not, he just wants to be the one that she runs to when things go wrong. He wants to be her safe ground. He wants to be her protector.

. . . . . .

The three boys in the backseat were looking between Austin and Ally. Ally was staring out her window and Austin was tapping his fingers on his wheel, waiting for the traffic light to turn green. The duo hadn't swapped a word all morning.

"So..." Trent started, "I'm sensing some tension."

"Trent, Shut the fuck up," Elliott said. He leaned between the driver's seat and passenger seat, eyeing the duo. "So, what happened?" he questioned, "Did he make a move on you?" Elliott gasped, "He did, didn't he? And now he's heartbroken because you don't feel the same way. I bet that Austin deals with heartbreak out of anger, doesn't he-"

"Elliott," Austin snapped, "I did not make a move on her, I'm not heartbroken, and you need to sit your ass in your seat before I get pulled over by some asshole cop." Austin stepped hard on the gas, flying through the green light and causing Elliott to tumble back into his seat.

"What the hell, man? That wasn't very nice." Elliott frowned, rubbing his elbow where he'd hit in on the door.

"I fucking hate you," Austin huffed, shaking his head.

"Isn't that Ally's line?" Dallas asked.

"No, Dallas, it's not Ally's line, it's everybody line because you're so fucking annoying and I'm starting to wonder why we even bothered to let you help us out because now it seems like a really fucking stupid idea." Austin spat, clenching the wheel.

Dallas frowned, shrinking down in his seat. He glanced between Elliott and Trent then mumbled, "Gee, I hope they're not this moody all the way to the airport."

"I hope they're not this moody all the way to Vegas," replied Elliott. Austin and Ally rolled their eyes.

"Just because you're mumbling, doesn't mean we can't hear you," Ally said, pressing her lips together in a thin line as she turned in her seat and looked at the three boys behind her. They all shrugged.

Dallas reached into his bag and pulled out an item, "Pop rocks anyone?"

Aaaand the crew is off to Vegas! Now, this is when the crazy cool stuff starts to go down. This chapter was obviously a lot more dramatic than previous chapters, but I wanted to sneak in some of Ally's background into the story, I probably won't get around to doing Elliott's, Dallas', or Trent's, but I'll try to pull in some of Austin's background sooner or later.