There are those moments in life where everything in the world comes to a halt, where everything just stops, and for Dez this was one of those moments. It was like watching the sky fall or seeing two trains collide and Dez just couldn't look away.
On the one side of the room sat at the grand piano was Ally, next to her a boy who looked as though he should be walking a catwalk in Paris or New York, not sat in a music store in Miami. On the other side of the room there was himself, standing in the doorway like a child's toy who had been cast away.
Ally and the boy had been singing when he walked in, their voices blended together brilliantly but Dez couldn't help but feel like the sight before him was wrong. So wrong that he wasn't sure whether he should leave or stay and interrogate the two. It didn't take him long to decide on the latter, after all he had nothing better to do.
Dez cleared his throat to attract their attention. Wow, they're sitting really close… A few more inches and they'd be – Upon his quick realisation Dez sprang into action, darting across the room until he was directly behind the couple.
"Hey Ally! Who's your friend?"
Ally and the boy separated quickly as though they had both just been burnt. "Hey Dez, what are you doing here?"
"Just came to see you," Dez shrugged, watching Ally carefully. "Why? Should I leave? Did I interrupt something?"
"What? No," Ally scoffed. "I was just showing Elliot some scales on the piano."
Dez resisted rolling his eyes at her lame excuse. Contrary to popular belief, Dez wasn't an idiot, in fact he could be quite perceptive which is why when Ally's hand twitched towards her hair he didn't miss a beat.
"Oh, so this is Elliot, huh? Hello Elliot," Dez thrust his hand out and grabbed the dark-haired boy's own rather roughly. It wasn't in Dez's nature to be so rough but then it wasn't in Dez's nature to ignore his own best friend either.
"Um, hi?" Elliot said cautiously, his arm was flopping around wildly as Dez shook it.
""Um, Dez are you okay?" Ally asked, her voice raising an octave. " You're acting really weird, like weirder than usual."
"No I'm fine," Dez assured her, though he wasn't. He was still feeling quite upset after last night's discussion with his dad. On the bright side at least he had gotten Elliot and Ally away from each other before Austin showed up. "What time is Austin coming over?"
"Two, I think but you know what Austin's like. Two in Austin time could be four o'clock next Tuesday in reality."
"So, you're Dez?" Elliot asked, turning to the redhead. "You're the one who films all of Austin Moo's music videos, right?"
Dez nodded. "Yeah, why?"
Elliot shrugged. "No reason, I was just curious that's all. You do really good job filming them by the way. What editing software do you use?"
Immediately all of Dez's unreasonable hatred towards the boy vanished, no one had ever asked him about his part in Team Austin, they usually only ever talked to Trish and Austin, it was only now that the blonde rocker's career had started to take off had anyone started paying Ally any mind.
"I – uh – err – I use Cutting Room Flow."
"Is it compatible with the latest myTAB? Because I just got a new one and I want to start editing some old videos of mine, so it would be good to know whether it's worth downloading the software."
"Uh, yeah. I guess so but if you hold off on buying it for a couple of weeks then the newer version should be released."
"Thanks man," Elliot pulled his phone out of his pocket. "What website do I download it off?"
Dez recited the website he knew by heart to him and then told him the best options to pick for the best prices. Directing, filming and generally making movies was something he was very, very passionate about and it touched his heart that for once someone was interested in what he had to say.
Elliot swiveled around on the piano bench and turned his back to Dez so that he was once again facing the piano. "So Ally, would you like to play me another brilliantly crafted tune?"
Dez watched as Ally blushed and covered her face with her hands. He made a mental note that if he ever wanted anything out of Ally all he'd have to do was use flattery. Dez knew that whilst he was in room the Ally would not sing for Elliot which was a good thing because eventually Elliot would get bored and leave meaning Dez had done his duty as a best friend and kept Austin's girl away from a jerk, well Dez assumed he was a jerk, he couldn't say for certain, and even then by calling him a jerk Dez felt mean considering the guy had appeared genuinely interested in his video editing…
"I don't know, I think I've played enough for you for one day."
Dez nodded in agreement with Ally. He was just wondering what he could do next to attempt to get rid of Elliot when he shivered at the vibration sent up his leg by his phone. The ringtone told him it was his grandmother calling, this probably meant she wanted him to show her how to use the internet, again. Letting out a heavy sigh, Dez dismissed himself and left the store to answer his phone. He had only walked a few paces away from Sonic Boom when he heard the sound of a piano playing a slow tune from within the store.
Seriously? He'd left literally seconds ago!
Dez stared at his phone then looked back towards the store. No matter how much he wanted to help Austin, there was no way he could ignore his grandmother.
"No Grandma, no. You have to open a window to use the internet. Just click on the little square in the upper right corner it open a window."
"But I don't wanna open a window," His grandmother replied. "It's already too cold in here."
"No that's not what I meant."
"What didn't you mean?"
Dez looked up, his eyes squinting in the sunlight. "Oh, hey Austin. I was just - Austin! What are you doing here?"
"I have rehearsal with Ally, what are you doing here?" Austin asked looking both amused and confused.
"But your rehearsal with Ally isn't for another thirty minutes," Dez could hear his grandmother nattering away down the phone line to him even though he wasn't answering her, but his concern wasn't with his grandmother now. It was on Austin and how if he entered Sonic Boom he would be crushed.
The blonde shrugged, a lopsided smile playing on his lips. "I don't know, I guess I wanted to surprise Ally."
Seeing Austin move forward towards Sonic Boom, Dez jumped up in front of him blocking him from taking any further steps.
"Dez... what are you doing?"
"Oh, nothing. Just stretching and talking to my grandmother well I was but then you showed up and -" Dez babbled hoping to keep Austin standing outside for as long as possible, though he doubted he would be able to keep this up for thirty minutes.
"Right... I'm just gonna go then so you can finish talking to your grandmother," Austin said slowly as he side-stepped his friend.
Dez wasn't about to give up that easily. He spun around on his heel, hung up his phone and grabbed Austin by the back of his plaid-shirt pulling him back. "No, don't. Who needs grandma right? So, do you want to head over to Mini's or McBurgerTown or -"
"I'm not hungry. I just want to see Ally," Austin detached himself from Dez's grip. "Are you okay? You're acting weird."
That was the second time someone had asked him that today. Maybe he wasn't okay, but that didn't matter right now. He had to protect his friend. "Yeah, Im -" and then an idea hit him like Trish's fist to his face. "Actually, you know what? I'm not okay. That's why I was ignoring you last night."
Austin's face softened and he took a step towards Dez this time. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Dez and Austin were never ones for the emotional talks, that was Ally's job and occasionally Trish's, but when one guy was feeling particularly down the other would sacrifice their manhood and offer a shoulder to cry on.
Dez nodded and attempted to look pathetic and sad for the sake of his lie. Sure, last night hadn't been a particularly happy time for Dez and he was in an awful mood all night long, but that didn't mean anything. People got moody all the time, especially teenagers. Besides it wasn't like Dez was moody because Trish was out with that jerk Trent, because that would be a pretty dumb reason for him to be upset. Pfft.
"Come on, we can head over to Mini's. You really like their tacos, maybe that will cheer you up," Austin suggested brightly.
The two boys had just began their walk to the food court when Austin stopped abruptly.
"Hold on, what about Ally? I should tell her that I may be a little late for rehearsal today. She won't mind though, she likes when we get all girly and talk about our feelings," Austin shuddered at his own words before turning around and starting off in a sprint towards Sonic Boom.
Dez groaned. His legs may have been longer than Austin's but that certainly didn't mean he was faster, there was no way he'd catch up with him in time. All that, for nothing! With another loud groan Dez too began sprinting after his friend in the vain hope that maybe some crazy fans had ambushed the rockstar and stopped him from reaching the store.
No such luck. Dez could already hear the sound of the piano coming from inside the store. He could see Austin just ahead, slowing down to walk in. Dez slowed down too, his chest tight from all the running he had just done, and it was only going to get tighter at the sight of his best friend's heart being broken.
As Dez turned to walk into Sonic Boom, prepared to see a crestfallen Austin standing in the doorway, he was surprised to see Austin stood behind the piano watching Ally play by herself a beautiful melody. When she finished both boys applauded loudly causing her to blush.
"Austin? What are you doing here? You're like three days early," She teased.
Austin smiled bashfully. "I wanted to surprise you by being early but Dez is upset so I need to cheer him up -"
"So you're going to be missing rehearsal?" Ally finished.
"Yeah, do you mind?"
"No, not at all. Actually I think it's a good thing, he was in here acting pretty weird earlier."
Dez rolled his eyes in exasperation. If only they knew he was only doing what he was doing for them. People could be so blind sometimes, especially Austin and Ally.
Austin nodded in agreement. Dez concluded that if Austin were a puppy his tail would be wagging at a mile a minute right now, he was insanely happy. "I'll be back, I promise."
"Okay, try not to be too long. I do actually have to work today you know," Ally laughed.
"Haven't you been working all morning?"
Oh no.
Before Ally had chance to answer Austin jumped in. "Never mind I get it. You were working on that song, that's cool. It's a really good song too Ally. Hey! Maybe it could be a duet, you know between you and me?" Austin sat down beside her on the piano bench and played the first few notes.
There was nothing Dez could do now, other than stand at the front of the store with his head in his hands waiting patiently for the world around him to end.