Disclaimer: I do not own Austin and Ally. If I did, this story would be a movie by now.
Chapter 8:
Austin's P.O.V
How the heck do you even tie a tie? My fingers tinkered with the satin material, stumbling whenever they looped the wrong length through or flipped the incorrect piece over another. I've been standing in front of my full length mirror, trying to properly tie my tie for this dinner at Ally's house, for about 10 minutes now. The Dawson's have no idea what they got themselves into… My Dad and siblings arrived at the airport two days ago and since then the house has been in nonstop motion and the noise level certainly hasn't ceased. Having a large family wasn't really a problem for me growing up; we all were really close due to all of us loving music so much. As we grew up, my three siblings; Asher, Anthony, and Amber (And Aaron but he was sort of our manger), and our close family friend, Artie, started a band called A5. We played plenty of gigs back in Colorado, singing for the pleasure of it. But all that changed when I was approached after one of our shows by a business man with a firm hand shake. His deep voice offered me a record deal that his eyes told me would not come again anytime soon. Of course I was thrilled to have the offer; a record deal with Starr Records was something all singers dreamed of. My parents told me I should do what I thought was best, but my siblings thought otherwise. I easily could see through their fake smiles plastered on their faces whenever I asked them if I should sign. They would always reply back with quick, rehearsed answers with an uncomfortable silence that followed. But I knew if I wanted to break away from our small Colorado town and become a real performer, I had to dial those 10 digits and accept the offer. Amber, Artie, and Aaron took the news pretty well; Amber was always the glue to the band; keeping us boys in check if we got out of hand. Aaron didn't seem to mind much; being the youngest of us Moons he just wanted me to be happy with whatever I chose. And Artie…well Artie was just a loveable, humorous guy that was happy for anyone. Asher and Anthony were another story; Anthony didn't really like the idea at first but now he's getting used to me being on my own doing what I really love. I can't say the same for Asher. Asher being the oldest of all of us really wanted A5 to work out and to make it big together. I haven't had a single conversation with Asher without it ending with arguing or yelling since I decided to leave. I can tell he still hasn't forgiven me for ruining the family. I can feel the bitterness in his words towards me and he can't even look me in the eyes properly without a flash of anger raging over his hazel brown eyes. I don't blame him though, I was selfish and rash in my decision but I couldn't not take it; and he knows it. But I know he's trying to be less tense around me, I'm his little brother, his flesh and blood. Holidays always brought the rest of my family out to Washington seeing that I had to move closer to California. Mom came with me and Dad stayed with Asher, Anthony, Amber, and Aaron in Colorado. I knew it was hard for Mom to move away from the rest of her family for so long but she kept a strong face around me. This family is so dysfunctional I have no idea how this dinner is going to turn out tonight. After fiddling around with my tie for five more minutes, I groaned loudly and rolled my eyes as I finally gave up; plopping down on the edge of my bed and falling back with my face in my hands in defeat. A crude knock on my door brought me out of my weariness. "Come in," I called out, not bothering to move from my position. I heard the door open and a burst of noise from the rest of the house gushed through as the person walked into my room. "Hey uh Mom sent me up here to tell you we leave in five minutes," I raised my head a bit to see Asher leaning against the closed door with his hands stuffed in his navy jean pockets, his facial expression emotionless. Asher was the only one out of the five of us that looked exactly like me but older. His golden hair fell into his hazel brown eyes and he was a few inches taller than me for a 21 year old. He dressed in his light blue button up shirt with a plaid pattern tie. I groaned again at how even Asher could manage to tie his tie probably without any help. His eyes flickered down to my untied strings and he smirked mischievously, "You having trouble?" I narrowed my eyes and spit back, "What does it look like?" I pushed off my bed and walked back over to my mirror and proceeded to try again with a determined look. Asher stood there watching as I struggled then finally let out a loud sigh and rolled his eyes. "Let me show you," He roughly grabbed my shirt collar and pulled me towards him. I searched his face as he was focused on the tie; he lost all his composure and looked like the older brother I used to know before all the family drama happened. I missed Ash and the rest of the family; I missed having the chaos and noise all around me. Now only the sound was of my Mom calling my name that rung through the large empty house. Suddenly the tugging on my tie stopped and I glanced down to find it tied perfectly. I smiled widely and turned to face the mirror again. My fingers ran down the length of tie; slightly adjusting it around my collar. "Thanks Ash, I was really struggling man," I said smiling and retracting my arm, ready to grip his hand and pull him in for a "dude" hug when he unexpectedly turned and exited my room, muttering under his breath, "Whatever," My smile slowly slid off my face and my arm dropped back down by my side. Will he ever forgive me? I shook my head turning back to the mirror one last time to quickly fix my hair and straighten my red dress shirt. "Austin we have to leave!" my Mom screamed. I took a deep breath and smiled uneasily. Maybe this dinner won't be as bad as I'm thinking…
I ran down the stairs to be greeted by pleasant smells from the kitchen and many voices circulating around the house. I leaned against the stair banister and observed my surroundings. Mom was scurrying all around, weaving through or around people, carrying different plates of foods and shouting commands at different family members. My older brother Anthony was at the mirror by the staircase carefully combing back his brown with special concentration and smoothing his large eyebrows. The 18 year old was the only one from my siblings that had brown hair. We always joked that he was a modern day Elvis because he always had the aura to him; along with his great hair and his lazy half closed eyelids yet somehow his hazel eyes shown through with his bright side smile. I shook my head as he undid a few of his buttons and popped the collar of his white shirt. My eyes shifted over to the living room to see my older sister Amber fuzzing over my little brother Aaron. Her hazel eyes were fixed on him; trying to find a misplaced hair or hanging thread. She blew at her front blond bangs as it fell into her face. Her gray dress fit her 19 year old body as it swayed while she circled around Aaron licking her fingers and trying to wipe his mouth. I stifled a laugh as Aaron scrunched his face and tried to escape from Amber's hands. "Amber get off!" For a 15 year old, Aaron was a little genius; managing the band and still having time to be a teenager. As soon as Amber moved from something else other than his brown and blond highlighted hair, he proceeded to quickly shake or mess it up only to have her fix it right back to the way it was. "Mike! No, honey that's not how you cover the lasagna," My Mom frantically swatted away at my Dad's hands and he rapidly put them up in surrender and kissed her cheek. She smiled and patted his chest only to go back to gathering the food. Chuckling at my Mom's strive to have everything "perfect", my Dad maneuvered his way to the living room to sit down next to Asher who was tiredly flipping through channels of repeats and infomercials. My Dad groaned as he sat down and wriggled to find the perfect spot. Once he did he closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. "Alright everyone, let's go!" His eyes flicked open at the sound of my Mom's loud announcement. "Here we go," he murmured as he advanced off the couch and towards the door where Mom already was. "Austin dear go put on your jacket," Mom instructed me. "Yeah, Austin dear don't forget your jacket!" Aaron mimicked in a false imitation of Mom. I rolled my eyes and playfully smacked the back of his head. "Hey I just fixed his hair!" Amber protested slapping my hands and swiftly turned back to a groaning Aaron. "Anthony how many times must you comb your hair, it looks fine honey," Mom said grabbing the comb out of Anthony's hands and pinching his ear to drag him to the coat closet. "Ow ow ow! Okay Mom I'm going!" he said trying to gently shoo off her fingers. I smiled as I pulled my leather jacket over my shoulder. "Okay everybody have everything?" My Mom turned and looked around hastily just to double check. "Honey we are good okay, let's just go before we're late," My Dad planted a soft kiss on her forehead to calm her down and opened the front door to bring in a prickly cold gust of mid-December.
We rapidly hustled over to the Dawson's front steps and I rang the doorbell. A few moments passed by and I could have swore I heard a shrill Mrs. Dawson yell through the stone walls, "Allyson the door!" Just as my fingers started to feel the harsh coldness, the door flung opened and I was being pushed from behind into the warmth of the Dawson's before I could even comprehend my surroundings. Mrs. Dawson ran down the stairs and frantically offered to gather our coats and ushered us to the family room. Once my eyes adjusted to the brightness of the house, I finally saw Ally smiling widely at the sight of my large family. Her brunette hair with the blonde ends was its usual bouncy curl and was left to cascade down over her shoulders. Her dark red shirt and black jeans hugged her curves and fit her petite statue perfectly. The small gold belt around her waist was braided and her gold flats shone against the marble floors. I smiled back at her but felt a cold stare burn a hole through the back of my head. Asher brushed pushed me and stood next to Ally and I. His menacing eyes flickered from me to Ally then back to me again and a devilish smirk curled on his face. "I'm Asher, and who must you be?" he said as charmingly as he could and extending his hand towards her. "Ally," she replied back with a growing pink blush on her cheeks and taking his hand and shaking it. "Pretty name," he remarked evilly while winking. My eyes narrowed pretending to be mentally shooting laser at him through my eyes. Ally opened her mouth to reply but Mrs. Dawson cut her off and beckoned her to the kitchen. Ally gave us an apologetic smile and departed to the kitchen. I glanced at Asher who still stared at Ally as she made her way to Mrs. Dawson with a smirk on his face. "Dude she's 17," I said with an annoyed air. "I know. Kind of how I know it ticked you off," he said nonchalantly moving away from me. But he stopped right before my shoulder and whispered in my ear, "Tonight should be fun," He pushed forward, knocking my shoulder while passing with a wicked smile on his mouth. I rolled my eyes in irritation and took a deep breath while saying my prayers; Dear God let this night go well…
A/N: Woo! Chapter 8! As I said before Im going to be taking my time updating from now on so im not so stressed to update every Friday, so just keep checking back to see if I uploaded! I hope you like this chapter, it was really fun to write about Ross' real family and make them my own in my story! Thanks to all you reviewed, favorited, and followed. And to my silent readers, thank you for reading :) Review review review!
~ Jazzy xx
