Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I had some writer's block and I was working on a short story. Aside from that, I hope you enjoy this!
Ally's POV
"Ally, I think I have stage fright."
What? Did Austin really just say that? The Austin Moon has stage fright? Is this a joke? Am I being pranked or something? Austin doesn't have a happy look on his face, which means…it could be true. I don't know if he really does have stage fright, but we'll figure it all out. Austin's a confident guy though. That boy never lets anything gets in his way. This might be from what happened at that earlier concert.
Gosh, those old fans were mean. I wanted to help him on stage, but what was I going to do? Go out there and do what? Get pelted by tomatoes? Austin would only step in the way and it would cost us more good publicity. At least Jimmy was able to help out. And as much as I'd love to go back to Buenos Aries we have to move on. I know that someday we're going back though.
The boy simply stares at me and I stare back at him, in disbelief at what he just told me.
"Austin," I sit us both down in the chairs in his room. "Are you sure you have stage fright?"
"Well, I…" Austin looks at me and then down at the ground, then back at me again. "I don't know. I'm confused! Now when I think of performing, I get this weird feeling in my stomach, like I don't want to perform. I really don't know if I do or not. Ally, what am I going to do?"
"Just hope for the best Austin. You'll do perfectly fine at the next concert like you always do. Here, I'll go get us a drink, and then maybe you can practice some of our songs. You know, to help you feel better about performing."
"Alright, sounds good Ally. Thanks."
"No problem." He still has a somewhat sad look on his face as I go into the small kitchen of our tour bus. Trent is there making some lemonade.
"Hey Trent," I say to him.
"Hey Ally," he says. "What's up?"
"Do you mind if I take a couple of cups of lemonade for Austin and me?"
"Of course not." Trent pours two cups of the drink and gives them to me. I thank him and I go back into the room.
Giving Austin a cup, we both drink, but when I sense that the first few drops hit Austin's tongue, he gets a sour look on his face. It's basically when you eat or drink something really sour and you get that weird 'sour' reaction. My drink however, tasted fine.
"You okay Austin?" I ask him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he assures. "Let's just practice a couple of songs." I go with his flow, but I'm still concerned for him. We sit down at the electronic keyboard and start playing the keys for The Way That You Do.
Nobody rocks it
The way that you do
You got style
Pop your collar
You're all kinds of cool
You're legit
You're the boss
Even when the mic is off
Nobody rocks it
Rock-rocks it
The way that you do
No-oh-oh oh
The way that you do
You're off the charts
You're number one
You got the fire
And you can't be undone
You're breaking records
You make it pop
You got the fire
So keep burning it up!
After that lyric, I hear him cough and clear his throat. It's not like Austin to stop in the middle of the song.
I ask Austin, "You okay?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. I think I want to work on a different song now."
That's weird. Suddenly switching songs? We usually finish a song before practicing another one. But I didn't want to worry Austin or anything because of his 'stage fright' problem so I agree with him.
"Oh, okay. How about Illusion? We haven't done that in a while."
"Sure."
Step right up on the stage
Free yourself from the cage
Pick a card and guess it girl
Here's a lesson girl
It's just an illusion
1, 2, 3, I disappear.
Coming right back so stay right here
Ain't no second guessing girl
I'm impressive girl.
But I'm just an illusion
Oh-
Austin then coughs again before he could start the next verse.
"Okay, now I think we should Heartbeat." There he goes switching songs again. What could be wrong with him?
I can get your heart
Beat be-be beatin' like
I can get your heart beat-beatin' like that
You know you got my heart
Beat be-be beatin' like
Aye, aye, aye-
Austin begins to cough really hard this time. I put my arm around him and tried to get him to stop, but it's no use. He continued to cough harder and harder. Even if there was a cup of lemonade beside me, I quickly ran to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and brought it back to him.
"Austin, drink this." I give the bottle to him. He accepts it and gulps down a fourth of the water inside.
Austin tries to thank me, but his words are slurred. They're barely comprehensible. I'm afraid to admit what his happening to him; Austin must have lost his voice. It looks like he feels a little better now, but his face is red and sweaty.
"Austin, don't say anything," I tell him. "Because, I think you might have lost your voice." He listens to me by not saying a word. But, Austin's hazel eyes grow wide to the conclusion of him not being able to sing, much less speak. "You'll be fine, okay. I promise this won't be a problem." Austin nods at me, but that worried feeling doesn't go away.
A knock on the door has me stand up to answer it. Trent is at the door bringing news.
"Hey Ally, you and Austin have to get ready for the concert." I notice Austin stare blankly at Trent, with an 'oh no' reaction. Trent happens to notice the way he looks too. "Austin, you okay?"
"Oh, um…" Well, this couldn't get any better, can't it? I note my sarcasm to myself. "Actually, I think Austin lost his voice. What do you suppose we do?"
"Uh, hang on. I'll get my uncle." Trent runs in the direction of Jimmy's room and brings back the head of our record label back.
"Austin," Jimmy says. "Did you really lose your voice?" Austin nods. Mr. Starr pinches the skin at the top of his nose, closing his eyes and facing the ground. This is turning into a complete disaster.
"Well," Jimmy figures out a solution to the problem. "I'm afraid you two are going to have to lip sing at the concert."
"What?!" I shout. Austin doesn't say anything, but has the same facial expression as I do. Trent looks surprised at this too.
"I'm sorry Ally, but what other choice is there?" Before I get the chance to argue, Jimmy continues speaking. "There are fans out there that spend a lot of money, waiting for this day, and none of them are going to want a refund. South America isn't the richest continent, so many of them give up a lot to see you and Austin. They won't be too happy if you two don't show up."
Sighing, I try to come up with an argument, that maybe fans won't be that way. But I know that there are girls crazy for Austin, and they want to see him more than me. My mind feels empty and distracted being concerned for Austin. I feel bad for having to lip sing, but Jimmy might be right. I don't want to disappoint any fans like when the equipment malfunctioned. The thought of lip singing had never even crossed my mind until now. If it was the only way to keep people happy, then I'd do it for the fans.
"Alright then. You and Austin get ready. I'll see you both in a couple of hours." Jimmy and Trent exit the room, leaving me and Austin alone.
Austin and I only stare at each other. We were just sitting on the keyboard bench, staring into each other's eyes. Neither of us knew what to say, or at least I didn't, so we only sit there, unsure of what to do now. It was then that we started to lean in…again. I excuse myself, deciding that I don't really want any romance in my life…for now at least.
"Well," I excuse. "I should probably get ready for the concert. I'll see you later Austin." He simply nods at me, with a slight hint of disappointment in his eyes. I open the door and exit his room.
Going to my room, I see Trish and say that I'm going to get ready for the concert. I grab a cute outfit from the dresser that was provided for me and go into the bathroom. I get changed into my clothes and put away my earlier outfit.
In the remaining time I had before the concert, I casually talked to Trish. I told her about what happened with Austin and having to lip sing later. Trish tells me that this shouldn't be much to worry about; it's just one concert. Plus, there's a bit of a gap in between the last few concerts in South America, so Austin should be able to recover his voice in the meantime.
After a while, we all head to the, stadium I guess you could call it, for the concert. Backstage, I see Austin playing with his thumbs. It's so obvious he's bored and nervous. I'm not even sure if I'm actually ready for this. I just feel terrible and nervous; like I'm lying or posing or something. It's just wrong to me.
Approaching Austin, I say to him, "Are you ready for this?" Austin nervously nods at me and we walk up on stage.
We don't introduce ourselves or anything, because the music immediately starts. The song that's playing is what I recognize to be Can't Do It Without You. The song, decided for tour tradition, is now always the one we sing first.
As I move my lips to the lyrics, I can tell that nobody is able to notice anything suspicious. Looking at Austin, I catch a quick glimpse of guilt on his face. Austin is trying as hard as he can to not mess up or cough or anything. I know he feels bad about this as much as I do. Everything seems to go perfectly for a long time, making me feel a little better about and less worried about Austin. This isn't as horrible as I thought it would be. No wonder other celebrities do this; it's easier and less tiring. It's just more fun to be able to speak into the microphone for me I guess. The same goes for Austin.
When I'm finally done with my performances, including my solo one, I go back stage as Austin begins his next song, Illusion.
I listen to the lyrics, admiring the way he dances across the stage. I watch how his hair flips every time he actually does flip, how his footwork matches the rhythm of the music, how his whole body moves so perfectly to the music. It's just so…perfect. He's perfect. All that could have gone wrong at the concert didn't go wrong. Except that I think I spoke too soon.
Suddenly, the music stops, and I don't think Austin realized it at first, but he kept lip singing even though there was no sound coming through the speakers. When he does finally close his mouth, Austin was a little too late. The 'boos' had started, and so had the tomato throwing. Ugh, not this again. I can't believe this is happening again. I assume Austin's afraid of being hit with the fruit, because he swiftly runs backstage to me. He doesn't say anything, but runs behind me tightly holding my shoulders and trying to hide from the fans. Austin has a frightened look on his face as if he just saw a ghost right in front of his face. I don't exactly blame his reaction though; I might have acted the same way.
It occurred to me that while Austin was performing that it looked like he didn't have stage fright. I thought that at first he was over reacting when he first told me, but maybe the fact that he lost his voice distracted him from the stage fright he had.
Pulling me away from my thoughts, Trent runs out on stage with one of those microphones you put on your head. What is he doing?
"Hey everybody, sorry about the trouble for tonight," he says to the crowd. The 'boos' continue on, but the tomato throwing slowly stops. "Maybe, this will help." Trent cues a thumb up and music begins to play. I know this; it's the song he'd usually sing at every concert.
He happens to not lip sing, which is a good thing, and begins to use some of his dance moves throughout the song too. I hear a few swoons from the audience and the crowd starts to cheer for him. People start to remember him as T-Fame and scream louder for him. They are full of happiness, and it almost seems like they've forgotten about Austin. I'm so glad Trent was able to make it up to the fans.
At the end of the song, he comes back, a little out of breath. "I think that went well."
"Thanks Trent," I say. I'm not sure what else to say, but I'm grateful for what he did to attempt at saving the concert.
"No problem." Trent goes off to who-knows-where, and I realize Austin is still clinging onto me.
"Austin," I say to him. "Do you mind letting go of me now? No one's going to throw tomatoes at you." After telling him that, he lets go and blushes down at the ground. I know he feels slightly embarrassed at this, but it honestly looks cute. Did I just think Austin is cute? Well, of course he's cute, he's Austin Moon for crying out loud.
All of us soon go back to our tour bus, me and Austin being able to avoid the paparazzi and any angry fans. Once again, Jimmy is able to cover up for us. I would have no idea what we would do without him. As for Trent, it turns out he's gotten more famous. He also didn't really mind answering questions from the press about his performance afterwards, but avoided anything that involved Austin and me. Austin and I have been lucky to not get caught up in the press too much; we've done a few interviews and such. It seems Trent is all for it. I bet if they follow him, that he wouldn't mind at all. Okay, maybe, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but he really does seem to enjoy the spotlight.
The whole accident of the music turning off, I think, was no accident. Maybe Austin's right; someone is causing this to happen. We need to figure out who it is, and why exactly they're doing this to us.
Just to clarify, Austin doesn't really have stage fright; I was just messing with your heads. xD And for the record, I don't own ANY of the songs used in the story. They all belong to Disney/Austin & Ally/ Ross Lynch.
Reviews are appreciated!