:D
Hello! I hope you're all having a lovely day, whenever you're reading this. Personally, I'm not. I have this small, annoying headache that's just there in the back of my mind. It gets better but then worse so :/.
So, yeah. THIS IS MY FAVOURITE CHAPTER EVER! I'M SO EXCITED AHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I don't own anything. So without further ado, ENJOY!
Sunday morning only had one optional outing; attending a mass. Ally had put on her old debate clothing and decided she was going to spend her Sunday morning in a church. She wanted to relax after she dove into her debate notes after a day out.
And because she wanted to clear her head a little.
Ally grabbed her brown trench coat off the top of the dresser and headed to the lobby where all the people who wanted to head to church were waiting. Ms. Krum was obviously chaperoning this kind-of outing.
Ally counted twenty nine people, including herself and Ms. Krum.
Ms. Krum led the small group down the street, around the corner and down three more blocks to a nearby church. The service hadn't began yet, which meant the group could enter the church and pray for a while by themselves.
Ally sat down beside a redhead girl who looked a lot like that Dez Wade kid, and Sun Hee. Ally wasn't usually religious, but a new country meant new experiences, right?
The service started as the choir in the pew towards the left began to sing. Ally paid careful attention to everything that was happening at the altar.
The last time she was in a church and actually made it through the entire service was when her mother took her. But that was a long time ago. She couldn't remember what to say and when to sit and stand. It was a little embarrassing.
Albeit she wasn't really participating in the service, it was nice to hear the choir sing and hear the priest talk about life in general.
Ally thought about life in that time. Life was great. She was on the brink of a debate scholarship, she had great friends, a job succeeding her dad to fall back on if she didn't get what she had in mind. She had plan A and B all figured out.
The choir's voice broke into her thoughts. Ally paid careful attention to the rest of the service.
When the mass was over, Ms. Krum took everyone who went to the service for ice cream. It was a little funny how there was a church on the same street as an ice cream shop. Ally hummed as she licked her green ice cream cone. It was Fruity Mint Swirl, her favourite ice cream.
The group walked around the block for a while as they finished their ice cream cones. Ms. Krum was talking about how they should go see a theatre show next time as a group outing. Not many people were listening.
Ally finished the rest of her frozen dairy and shivered. Why were there so many frozen treats to enjoy in Vancouver yet it was so cold?
The brunette's phone buzzed in her coat pocket. It was a text from her dad. He was regularly checking in with Ally.
Of course he was she was, she was three thousand miles away.
hey honey how was your sleep?
Ally grinned. Her dad texted her every morning and every night before she went to bed. Sometimes in between. Sometimes just to ask where she put the extra drumsticks back at Sonic Boom.
it was great, dad
how was yours?
good good
Ally threw her phone back into her pocket when the texts stop coming. Her dad was eventually going to remember to reply to her. After he was done his daily routine of fishing change out of the mall fountain.
One month, Ally counted how much change he got everyday and averaged it out over the course of the month. Her dad made seventeen extra cents every day.
Ms. Krum made the group walk around the block a few more times, just to stretch their limbs. Ally used that time to zone out and think about what was said during the liturgy.
Ally walked back to the hotel with the debate group. It was two in the afternoon. Ally spotted Trish at the buffet right when she walked through the hotel doors.
She broke away from the group. "Hey, Trish," Ally beamed at her. She was feeling all nice and holy and happy after that ice cream. A little cold, but it never killed anyone.
Right?
Trish glanced up from her plate. She had the prongs of the fork in her mouth and was looking through the pastries at the dessert table. "Hi. Where were you this morning? I was looking for you so we could go to the all-day karaoke thing later."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. I went to mass this morning."
"Mass?" Trish made a face. Ally new the only reason Trish didn't like the services was because she just didn't like to sit through them. She did however liked to sing along with the choir.
"Yeah. And then Krum took us out for ice cream."
"It's like negative seventy outside right now."
"It's not."
Trish shrugged and continued to look for some pastries to eat. Ally grabbed a few cookies with a napkin and ate them as she followed Trish deeper into the buffet. The karaoke could probably be heard from seven floors up.
Ally and Trish chose a seat right at the back. Trish said if they needed to leave, the back was probably the best place to sit.
It was also the only place to sit. All the other seats were taken.
Ally hadn't realized open-mic karaoke was so popular. She even saw some of her debate team members lining up and choosing a song to lip-sync to. The rest were right in the front row.
They must have been there all morning.
Ally bit into her chocolate chip cookie as the next act got on stage. It was two middle-aged men. They both had grins on their faces and mics in their hands.
Ally immediately recognized the song they were singing. It was a Taylor Swift song. And they were doing an awful job at it. But the two men both had grins on their faces as if they were having the best time of their lives.
Someone in the crowd started clapping. More people began to join in. Soon, Ally herself had her cookie in her mouth to free her hands to clap. The two guys on stage were laughing their heads off. And the crowd was loving it.
"These guys are pure comedy," Trish was laughing. Ally giggled at seeing Trish with her mouth stuffed with cream puffs and chortling loudly.
"Exactly," Ally said. "We should do a comedy act on open-mic night next Friday."
Trish looked at her. "What happened to that stage-fright?"
Ally rolled her eyes. "I got over that when I joined debate, remember?"
"Does that apply to comedy acts?"
"You tell me. Debate is speaking on serious topics. Comedy is well—" Ally motioned to the stage where the two guys were just finishing up their song, screaming into the mic and sliding on their knees to do an air-guitar solo.
Trish nodded. "We gotta start writing down our acts."
Ally was about to reply when there was a sudden bout of tumultuous clapping from the crowd. The two men on stage bowed and hobbled off. Ally grimaced. Air-guitar on your knees must hurt.
Especially when you're nearly forty.
Ally's phone buzzed. She checked her messages without looking at who texted her. It was probably her dad, finally remembering what he wanted to say.
hi you busy?
It was Dan.
Suddenly, Ally forgot how to breathe. She remembered seeing him, sitting there with her perfect hair and perfect posture and his cute hair and glasses and how he was reading a book in the middle of the food court. Ally was swooning.
She chose the safe thing to say
i can text
that's great! so can i, as i have two thumbs
Ally giggled. She heard the next act get on stage. They were going to sing a song from Panic! At the Disco. Ally kept her ears open, just in case she knew the song.
gee, never would've thought
we have to meet up soon
im dying to see your face again
Ally felt heat rush to her cheeks. He was dying to see her again? She clenched her teeth together, looking up from her phone to check if anyone was staring at her. A tap on her shoulder startled her into dropping her phone into her purse.
"Chuck and Dez are going on stage," Trish told her. Ally snapped her head around to look at the Latina.
"What? I thought those two hated each other after the Great Potato Sack Race incident," Ally frowned. She looked at Dez in his wacky, colourful clothing on stage, doing some stretches and preparing to sing. She then glanced at Chuck who was doing vocal exercises.
Those two sure were something.
"Well, who cares. Looks like we're getting more comedy," Trish said excitedly. Ally rolled her eyes. She knew Trish and Dez had a friendly rivalry going on. It was healthy.
In a way.
Ally watched with an excited Trish as Dez and Chuck did a medley of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had A Little Lamb. It oddly all balanced out and harmonized together perfectly. Ally was impressed.
Trish on the other hand had her phone up and was filming the entire thing, occasionally zooming into Dez's face and laughing, then doing the same for Chuck. Trish sure was living life to the fullest.
i miss your cute nose
and your brown eyes
and your smile
Ally tried extremely hard not to combust.
Especially not while Sun Hee was supposedly singing some sad Korean song. The lyrics where in Korean but they provided a translation. It was depressing, alright. All about past lovers and broken promises and dreams.
Past lovers, broken promises and dreams. It was just like a sadder version of every depressing love story throughout history.
Ally blinked a few times to clear her head.
Once Sun Hee had finished, the bar was taking a short break to fix the mics, since some had been dropped. Ally watched as everyone began to grab snacks from the buffet and return to their seats and wait for the noise to die down and the audio to be fixed. They were going a little haywire.
At the thought of the word hay, Ally realized that she hadn't seen Austin and his straw-coloured hair all day. Just the thought of his name sent her blood boiling. She could remember exactly why she was mad at him, for every single reason.
She clenched her purse tightly in her hand as she glanced around. Everyone was chattering loudly and speaking amiably. Trish was even talking to Dez and smiling.
Oh wait, she was showing him her video of all the face-zooms she did on him and Chuck.
Ally sighed, shaking her head. Something in her mood change, but she couldn't pick it up. All she knew now was that she shouldn't have been wasting time on karaoke when she could have been studying for debate or something else worthwhile.
Ally excused herself from the buffet even though no one was really paying attention, and she didn't really direct her speech towards anyone.
Just herself.
Ally walked into the lobby and pressed the button to call the elevator.
It was already four thirty in the afternoon.
Four thirty! That was when Elliot wanted to meet up with her on Wednesday. It was going to be lovely. She could only imagine what they were going to do this time. Maybe they could go hiking and just talk for a while. She'd like that.
Ah, good ol' Elliot.
Ally rode the elevator up to her suite, thinking about Elliot the entire time. His honey brown hair, his muscular arms, his cute blue eyes that glimmered in the light and shone when he was making a joke. Ally was having trouble breathing by the time she unlocked the door to her suite.
But then she remembered that Dan had just only texted her and she went back to bursting with giddiness.
Dan. Elliot. Dan. Elliot.
Dan. Elliot. Dan. Elliot.
She decided to text Dan.
stop it
And then text Elliot.
i can't wait for our date on wednesday
Ally felt guilty. It was like she was leading a double life.
Ally sighed, flopping down onto her bed. She was wearing an old knit scarf her grandma had made for her and a jacket over her shirt. She took those off and turned the heat up in her room.
She wandered into the bathroom, pulling out a braid she put in her hair just for mass. She brushed it out a few times.
Ally was about to wash her face when she stopped abruptly. She needed to get dinner from the buffet later. Maybe she'll wash her face right before she shut the lights off for the night. It was already getting dark, anyway.
She sighed as she threw on some comfortable clothes. A cotton white t-shirt, flannel pajama bottoms and some mismatched socks. She slipped her feet into her monkey slippers and threw her binder of notes on her bed.
Debate wasn't the only thing she had to study for.
Ally hummed as she took out her green highlighter and began to find the main points of her notes. It took a while before she found everything she thought was important.
me too! it's going to be great
i was thinking about where to take you
Ally sighed a content sigh. Watching as the little bubble with three dots appeared, indicating that Elliot was typing.
maybe someplace cool that you haven't been yet
we've been around ms krum took us nearly everywhere
It was true. They've seen weird raindrop art, they've been to a park, they've been to a cathedral, Science World. Ally herself has been to the art museum, the mall, the debate complex, a party. She's done it all.
guess i'm just going to have to surprise you hey als?
Ally blinked and cringed intentionally. Als? She absolutely hated being called Als. It was like they were too lazy to pronounce her name right. It was four letters with two syllables. It wasn't that hard, yet they still shorten it?
Ally grunted as she texted Elliot back.
haha i'll be looking forward to it
She considered calling him Ells.
Ally spent another hour studying the notes she created for Chemistry. It was almost impossible to concentrate as the karaoke from downstairs seemed to get louder and louder with each passing minute.
Not to mention the fact that people were raving in all the other suites. It was as if Sunday was a day for partying. Didn't everyone have school and work tomorrow?
Ally frowned as she looked at an equation that always frustrated her. She bit the tip of her highlighter, trying to concentrate while her entire suite vibrated.
A text snapped her out of her trance. Ally picked her phone up. It was from Trish, calling her down. They were serving sushi at the buffet, which they rarely did. Ally didn't even finish reading the text before she hopped off her bed.
She just changed out of her sleeping bottoms into a pair of leggings. She was going to grab some sushi and head right back up to her suite. She was sick of karaoke.
Ally decided to take the stairs as the elevator had a group of people milling around and waiting for it to carry them down from her floor. Ally made a mad dash down seven flights of stairs, nearly tripping after the fourth flight.
She jumped them near the bottom, two at a time. Sushi made her mouth water. Seafood in general made her mouth water.
But sushi wasn't seafood, was it?
How does one classify seafood?
She made it to the buffet just as people began to realize they were serving sushi. Ally grabbed a plate and began to fill it how she wished. She got a few tuna rolls, avocado rolls and cucumber rolls. Then moved to the big guns; dynamite roll, salmon rolls, yam rolls, those rice balls with fish on them that are only classified by a foreign name.
Ally couldn't find Trish anywhere in the mob. The music was deafening and the people were relentless. Maybe that was why they brought in sushi; because the people were growing wild.
Ally ran into someone as she deployed her exit. Her sushi shifted on her paper plate. "Sorry!" She called over her shoulder as she raced into the elevator. She realized that she could've just called room service.
But what was the fun in doing that?
Ally made it back to her suite. She ate two cucumber rolls and a California roll before she even opened her room door.
She changed back into her flannel bottoms and dove into her meal. It was like heaven was happening right inside her mouth. She let out a groan because damn, she really loved sushi.
There was a TV mounted on the wall opposite of her bed, right to the left of the drawer. She never had time to watch any before, but now that she was eating in bed and bored out of her mind, she decided to turn it on and browse through the channels.
There was nothing to watch. Nothing at all. There was no TV service. Ally frowned, looking at the screen that was saying 'Channel unavailable. Please check with your provider.'
Ally sighed, deciding to pull out a random book from her suitcase. She reached around for a while before finding one. The Great Gatsby.
She approved of her choice.
But after a while, she couldn't focus on the words swimming on the page. The damn karaoke was impossible to ignore. There was just a constant thumping of the music ringing somewhere in the back of her mind while the room vibrated in turn.
Ally tried looking at her notes again. The green highlights were helping her focus. Oddly enough, she got through two pages of history notes before there was a knock on her door. Ally checked the time on her phone before opening the door to her suite.
8:39pm.
Was God finally here to stop all the bad lip-syncs?
Ally flung open the door. She probably looked like shit after groaning and complaining to herself by yelling into her pillow about how much the karaoke was bothering her. Her hair was all messed up, and her clothes were wrinkled. If someone looked close enough, they could probably see a soy sauce stain on her pajama pants.
"Jace?" Ally asked, rubbing her eyes, to make sure she wasn't delusional. Jace was the last person she expected to see right now. There was even Trent and Gavin behind him.
Great, the entire dick squad had seen her looking like hell.
What else is new?
"Hey, know-it-all. You know where Austin is?" Jace said, getting right to the point. He had his hands in his pockets but Gavin and Trent both had a beer in hand. Ally rubbed her forehead.
"If I knew where he was I'd probably be as far away from there as possible," she muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
Jace crinkled his forehead. "You don't know where he is, do you?" He sighed as he said that. Ally frowned.
"No, I don't. Why should I? He can do whatever he wants." Ally muttered the last bit.
"Well, you're buddies, right? You're like his keeper or something. Like, shouldn't you know where he is?" Jace asked. Ally thought about that. She probably should know where he is. But she didn't.
"What do you mean?" She asked, leaning against the doorframe now. Her arms were crossed over her chest.
Jace sighed again. "Well, like. You don't want to get in trouble for not knowing where your buddy is, right? Like, what if Krum asks ya where Moon is and you have no idea? What happens then?"
Ally frowned. She never thought of that before. She was responsible for knowing where Austin was in a way. Like, if he went somewhere for instance. Where one buddy goes, both buddies go.
Ally furrowed her eyebrows. "You've got a point," she said slowly. It was hard admitting she was wrong, especially to someone like Jace.
"I tried texting him already, but either his goddamn phone is dead or he's dead." Jace shook his head, looking at the screen of his phone. Behind him, Trent burped.
Ally sighed, rubbing her forehead again. Great, now she had to go figure out where Austin was before Ms. Krum could figure out that she lost her buddy somewhere.
"You think his parents would notice if he isn't back in Miami by next week?"
Jace looked at her as if this were an actual question to consider. "Well, yeah." Jace rubbed his own forehead, still looking at his phone. "The last thing he texted me was that he was going to a protest."
Ally frowned. "A protest?"
"Yeah, something about a liquor protest." Jace dismissed that without saying anything else. "Anyway, just like, tell us if you find him. Or like, tell him we're going to the lounge," Jace said. Ally nodded, glad they were finally leaving her alone.
"Will do," she said, flashing them a thumbs up as the three males left. Ally sighed, closing her door. She made a face to herself before sighing and grabbing her phone to check the time.
It was nine.
She had an hour to find Austin before curfew. Ally groaned. I don't want to do this. Please no. I'd rather stay in my suite and study. I'll even tolerate the thumping and raving.
A loud but muffled scream rippled through her suite walls. Ally flinched, then groaned.
Ally sighed again, finding her suite key and slipping it into her pocket, nothing else. She grabbed a small windbreaker and left her suite in her pajamas. She didn't even bother changing. She was fuming. When she found that little golden retriever she was going to give him a piece of her mind.
She was halfway out the door of the lobby when she realized that her shoelaces weren't even tied. Ally ignored them, jogging down the street. If she were a little blond imbecile, where would she be at nine at night?
Ally sighed, walking around the block. A liquor protest? That sounded odd. Very peculiar for sure. If anything, he would be the one protesting for the age of drinking to be sixteen.
Liquor protest.
Liquor. Protest.
A light bulb went off inside her head. Of course! Ally grunted as she pivoted on her foot, turning into the other direction and began to sprint west. She knew the place. She saw it when she was heading to the mall with Trish.
Austin wasn't going to a liquor protest, he was going to the liquor bar called Protest. It was an odd name.
Ally huffed as she ran. It was a ten minute drive from where she was, but she didn't bring her phone to call a taxi. She considered hitching a ride when one came around but who knew how long that was going to take.
Ally kept jogging as she waited for the crossroad light to go off. Why not workout at the same time? Ally dashed across the street right as it allowed her to do so.
The frigid air cooled down her increasingly rising temperature. Ally realized that her hair was a mess, she was in her sleeping attire and her shoelaces were undone. On top of that, she didn't have her phone. If she got mugged, she wasn't losing much.
Her dignity was already gone.
Protest was a wild bar. You could hear the screams and shouts and loud music and see the lights from a mile away. Ally slowed as she neared the block. The thumping of the music only reminded her of the karaoke bar back at the hotel.
God, she hated karaoke.
As Ally neared the bar, she came to the realization that she probably needed an ID or something to get into the bar. Great, her mighty plan fails now, when she was so close to victor—
Stumbling out of the bar was Austin Moon in the flesh. He was clutching his stomach and his eyes were shut. Ally didn't see it coming but he found a trashcan right outside the bar and threw up.
So much for not getting hungover.
Ally wrinkled her nose in disgust as Austin clumsily wiped his mouth with a tissue he found on the ground. God, he was a pig.
He was stumbling a lot. It was as if his feet couldn't decide if the right one should move or the left one should move. His was groping at the air, a light grin on his face. Gibberish was flying out of his mouth.
He was going down the block in the opposite direction.
Ally darted after him. She didn't want Austin to get into trouble, which would result in her getting into trouble. She barely had time to follow him down the block before he turned on his heel.
Suddenly, he was barrelling towards her. He stumbled right into her without stopping. Ally almost fell over if it weren't for the fact that she actually did stop to tie her Nike laces up at the last crossroad. Austin would've stepped on them.
"Thank Jeeeesus," he slurred. "Bumping into a hot chick like you heeere," he laughed. It would've meant a lot more if his eyes weren't shut tightly as if he were underwater.
Ally took the time to survey herself. She was a sweaty mess from running, her face red and blotchy. Her hair was a nest, her clothes smelled like sushi and soy sauce. Ally sighed.
"It's me, Ally," she snapped. Grabbing him by the arm, Ally turned on her heel and tried to pull him back to the hotel, which was fifteen minutes away. At this rate, with him stumbling around so much, they were going to need twenty or even a half hour, tops.
Austin resisted her tugging on him. He was fighting back so hard, Ally's hand slipped and he ended up punching himself in the eye, hard.
"Ouch!" He shouted, rubbing his eyes with his hands. "Whazzat for?"
"For being a little pain in the ass and sneaking out of the hotel without telling me," Ally snapped. She yanked on his arm again. "And for getting so wasted that you called me a hot chick. Geez, open your eyes dimwit." Ally was just firing insults that played at the back of her head now. She was so done with his shit.
"I can't," he said. Austin demonstrated by trying to lift his eyelids, which apparently were glued to his lower lids. Ally sighed, pulling him along. He stumbled and tripped over his laces. Ally let go of him and watched as he hit the ground, landing on his face.
"Awsh, fuck," he mumbled. Ally giggled as she watched him in a helpless pile on the ground. Then she thought back to the mass she went to in the morning and about how you should help people, not stand aside and watch them suffer.
Damn it.
Ally groaned, grabbing him by the shoulders and helping Austin stand up. She shook his shoulders. "Get up, we have to get back to the hotel before Ms. Krum whoops your ass."
Austin was still struggling to open his eyes. He must've hit the ground hard, as his forehead was now bleeding. Just a little cut on his brow bone. She felt a little sympathy for him. "Whaddabout yousss asssss?" He slurred. Still trying to insult her even though he was drunk out of his mind.
Wonderful.
Ally just grunted as she threw one of Austin's arm over her shoulders and grabbed his waist with her hand. Damn, he was heavy. They walked for a bit before Austin's foot caught behind hers and he went tumbling down again, laughing.
Ally sighed. "What happened to you anyway?"
Austin rubbed his eyes. "This guy bought me a ssshot. It was called a sssstuntman and when you do it you squirt a lil' lime in your eye and it sounded like a weird idea but the shot was freeee ya dig? And what kind of ugly American would I be if I turned down a free shot." He hiccuped at the end of the sentence.
"Real smart, asshole," Ally grumbled. She helped him up again, holding her hand out to his. He had trouble find her hand, but when he did, it was easy to get him up off the ground. His hands were so calloused and rough.
She threw his arm of his shoulder again and walked carefully this time. They made their way back in the direction of the hotel. Ally wished she brought her phone and her wallet. That way she could've just shoved him into a taxi and be done with his ass.
"Lissen. I wass juss thinking about your sit-sit-situ-sitiation," he says, pronouncing 'situation' wrong.
"What situation?" Ally asked, looking up. He was beaming at her, his eyes still partly closed. He looked happier than he has been in a while.
"Ya know, Elliot and Danny?" Austin said, hiccupping. "I say theys both assholes. So ditch 'em for a better guy. Maybe like, a Johnny. Or a Bill."
He wasn't making any sense now. Ally just sighed. "Is that so?"
Austin didn't reply. His eyes were finally open, but he was blinking a lot. They were nearing a street with a bunch of 24/7 fast food restaurants. Austin saw a McDonalds and he was gone. "Look, Ally! Mc-McDonalds! I love McDonalds. And fries, and burgers and ssshakes and, and—"
He was shaking so much it was putting a physical strain on her as well. "Calm down, Austin," she grumbled.
"Look, there's Ms. Krummm eating a sanmich," he said. Apparently sandwich wasn't a word he could pronounce on his own either. Ally's head shot up in alarm immediately, looking through the glass windows. Indeed there was Ms. Krum sitting at a table and eating a burger.
Shit.
Ally crouched down. They were only three blocks away from the hotel now. Not much further to go. She yanked on Austin's arm and sent him tumbling towards the ground again.
Sorry, buddy.
"Hey!" Austin protested. He tried to stand up again but Ally had a grip on his shirt. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Resting," she murmured. She was tired. Austin slumped down beside her.
"I needa rest, too," Austin mumbled, breathlessly. His face hit her lap in a matter of seconds and Ally resisted the urge to scream. His body relaxed and Ally felt his nose on her thigh.
She didn't know what to do other than keep watch for Ms. Krum. She was still enjoying her burger, occasionally stopping to drink from her soda cup.
Ally had to keep her hands on Austin's head to prevent him from looking up. She hadn't realized that she was softly running her hands through his tousled hair, tapping her fingers on the base of his neck. His cheek was against her thigh now.
Ally got up abruptly right has Ms. Krum had turned around. Ally got up into a crouch again. She turned to Austin who was looking up, confused at the loss of her. He looked like a lost puppy, his hair all messy and his face blank.
"Now, listen carefully. We're going to run while crouching to the end of his block. From there it's just a sprint to the hotel, got it?" Ally asked.
Austin nodded rapidly, blinking at the same time. "You have great plans, Ally."
She snorted. "'Bout time you noticed. Now get off your ass and start running." Austin obeyed her, surprisingly and sprinted ahead of her in a matter of seconds. She forgot he was fast.
She caught up to him just as they reached the hotel doors. Austin nearly crashed, headfirst into the two golden doors if it weren't for the doormen. Ally muttered an apology and watched as Austin hit the carpeted lobby floor, his leg giving way under him. He tumbled right to where her feet were, knocking her off balance.
Ally flailed in the air for a second before she landed on top of Austin's back. He groaned underneath her. Ally got up quickly and yanked on his arm again. Ms. Krum could stroll through the lobby doors at any second.
Ally jammed her finger on the elevator button. "Alllllly," Austin whined from the floor. He held out his hand. "Help me."
Ally yanked on his arm again. He was up and stumbling again. He found support by hugging her small frame from behind, his chin on her head, his hands tight on her waist. Ally willed the elevator to go faster.
"Are we-we home yet?" Austin mumbled. She felt the rumble of his throat on the back of her head.
"We're nearly there," Ally replied, not sure what to do with her hands. "How drunk are you?"
Austin didn't reply. "Iss not sooo bad. Especially now that you're here. You're the best buddy ever. The best!" Austin said, his energy making her body vibrate.
The elevator doors open and Ally stepped inside, careful not to topple Austin over. Unfortunately, his legs gave way again and he slammed into the back wall of the elevator. Ally sighed. He sure was a shitty drunk.
Although he could've held on to any of the support bars in the elevator he opted to drape himself back over her. This time, from the front. Ally felt his body relax.
"Thanksh, Alllly," he murmured into her hair. Ally just sighed, holding her arms around his waist so he didn't topple them both over.
They made it to his floor, the ninth. Austin bolted down the hall as soon as the elevator doors opened. Great, now he runs properly.
Ally darted after him, careful not to disturb the rest of the sleeping population of debaters on the same floor as him. She spotted him at the front of his suite door, trying to get the key into the hole. He kept on missing.
Austin pushed the key straight into the doorframe this time, dropping it to the ground.
"Let me get that," Ally sighed. However, they both bent over at the same time, bonking their heads together. Ally groaned.
"Ow!" Austin giggled. "Your head is haaaard. And mine huuuurts."
Ally clenched the key in her hand. Her patience nearly running out completely. She flung the door open and shoved Austin inside. She hesitated for a second when she saw him make a b-line for the floor again.
She sighed and followed him inside, closing the door behind her. Austin had made his own way up and onto his bed, falling onto the freshly made sheets. "So comfy," he mumbled.
Ally filled a glass of water from the bathroom for him. "I know. I can't wait to get in mine." She was exhausted.
"Is yous bed as comfy as mine?" Austin asked. "I bet it's not. Twenty, no a hundred bucks!" He laughed, burying his face in the pillows. He was still in his bar attire. Ripped jeans, a band tee.
"I'm sure all the beds feel the same," Ally assured him.
"Come on, try it out," he said. Austin raised his head from the pillow and scooted over, patting the spot next to him on the bed. Ally turned away.
"Haha, no thank you," she muttered. She placed the glass of water on his nightstand. "That's for you. Drink up."
Austin rolled over onto his stomach. "Don't need it. Feel great," he murmured. "You're the best. Have I told you that? You're the best ever!"
"Yup, thanks. I try my best," Ally said, brushing her hands on her flannel pajamas bottoms. "Alright, good night blondie." Ally didn't hear a reply. He was already snoring.
She sighed, tossing his key next to the glass of water. Ally reached into her pajama bottoms to fish out her own key.
Only there's no key in her pocket.
In fact, it doesn't seem like she even had a pocket on her bottoms. Ally began to panic. "Shit."
"You said a bad word, Alllllly," Austin mumbled from the bed. Apparently he wasn't asleep.
Ally took a deep breath and ran over her options in her head. She could go to the front desk and beg for another room key. But that would require something from Ms. Krum. A note, maybe. And who knows, she might be in the lobby right now. Ally glanced back at Austin, curled up on one side of the bed, leaving the other free and untouched.
Ally sighed, taking off her windbreaker and chucking it onto the floor. She was in her pajamas anyway. Ally eased herself onto the bed, careful not to make too much movement in the presence of a sleeping dog.
She tensed, waiting for an indication that she woke him up. But she didn't. Ally sighed, thinking that she was never going to fall asleep. But in seconds, she was pulled into her dreams by exhaustion.
YAAAAAS. YAYAYAYAY. THIS IS MY FAVOURITE THING EVER I DONT KNOW WHY.
drunk!austin is the best, don't you think? If you wanted to know, this was the other side of a certain character. So yeahh.
The latest reviews have made me so happy! Ahhh. I love reading your guys' opinions and reactions and speculations for the story! It's funny and sometimes I even take into account some of the things you guys same and slip it into future chapters. Hmm...
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review and tell me what you think!
home shouldn't have to be a place
