Thanks for all the great feedback, the drama continues so enjoy! :D Plus, for all you Auslly lovers out there that like my fanfictions, I've got a surprise for you!
*Ring*Ring*
"Hello?" Ally yawned into the receiver.
"Morning, Ally," she heard Cassidy's voice on the other end, "Do you wanna come to the recording studio today, y'know, the whole band would love to have another songwriter to listen... so, y'wanna come?"
"Absolutely," Ally said, sitting upright, "When?"
"Want to meet at my apartment around 10? Austin's gonna come too so it won't just be a bunch of people you don't really know or anything."
"Okay, see ya then." Ally rubbed her eyes and checked the clock on her nightstand, 9:12 a.m., looking around at all the unpacked boxes she yawned and stood up. It took her all of 15 minutes to get dressed and make her breakfast so she just hung out until 9:55 then headed over to Cassidy's.
"Hey, Ally," Cassidy chimed, waving goodbye to Kira who was eating breakfast and moving Ally out the door. "We just gotta go by Austin's apartment, he's always sleeping in late." Cassidy smiled as she and her and Ally walked down the hall and the stairs.
"Knock, Knock," the two of them called, rapping at the door and laughing.
"Calm down you two!" Austin opened the door and pulled his jacket off of a hook. He put it on and escorted the two of them out of his apartment and they continued to the lobby. "So, Cassy, what work of musical perfection are we going to hear today?" He nudged his girlfriend and, realizing their company, slowly pulled away giving Ally an awkward smile. He resolved to just holding Cassidy's hand as they walked to the corner to Austin's truck.
When they arrived at Starr Records' main building, they parked in a "reserved for artists" parking spot and went in, smiling and waving at the woman behind the main desk. Cassidy's band was already waiting in the studio along with their manager and another man to work with the sound board. Cassidy and her band went into the sound booth, Cassidy grabbing a couple of sheets of music out of her bag and giving one to her manager. Austin grabbed one copy, smiling at his girlfriend, then took a seat on the couch alongside Ally whom had already made herself as comfortable as possible.
"Alright, we're just going to practice this time," said their manager into a microphone and winked at the band. Just then they started to play and the music began drifting into the outer room and had everyone dancing in their seats. It was really a good song, Ally had to admit, hoping that hers were as good or better, though.
About an hour later the band's manager called them out of the booth, praising the two songs that they had successfully recorded and gathered them together, gesturing toward the door. All of them headed out the door and towards an office to discuss, leaving Austin, Ally, and the sound manager to themselves. he made a discrete and hasty exit into a room going off of the booth room and it was just the two of them left.
"So, what have you been doing since New York? We haven't really gotten to talk since you arrived yesterday," Austin started, staring into the booth and avoiding Ally's gaze.
"Just some songs," Ally replied, scrutinizing her palms.
"Do you have any I could read, perhaps...," Austin said to her after a few moments.
"Um...," Ally looked at Austin, hoping for some kind of answer as to whether his request was genuine or the spawn of an awkward situation, "Sure, I have one in my bag I think."
"May I read it?"
"Yeah," Ally grabbed her iPad out of her purse and scrolled through the pages, searching for the correct app, "here, it's called 'You Can Come To Me, but y'know, it's a work in progress," Ally said, handing him the iPad after opening her most recent song.
"This... this is awesome," Austin said, reading through it over and over, "can you sing a little?"
"I will if you will," Ally smiled, suddenly regretting it, "it's kinda a duet."
"Yeah, come on," Austin grabbed Ally's hand and pulled her into the booth. Standing in front of the mic she smiled at him and started to sing.
When you're on your own
Drowning alone
And you need a rope that can pull you in
Someone will throw it
Austin smiled and studied the iPad, then began to sing:
And when you're afraid
That you're gonna break
And you need a way to feel strong again
Someone will know it
Both of them were smiling, Ally started in again and the moved closer to each other, abandoning the microphones.
And even when it hurts the most If you wanna cry, I'll be your shoulder If you wanna climb, I'll be your ladder
Try to have a little hope
'Cause someone's gonna be there when you don't
When you don't
If you wanna laugh, I'll be your smile
If you wanna fly, I will be your sky
Anything you need that's what I'll be
If you wanna run, I'll be your road
If you want a friend, doesn't matter when
Anything you need, that's what I'll be
You can come to me
That's when they felt it, a spark jumping between the two of them and making their hearts beat abnormally fast. Both of them quickly looked away but were drawn back to each other's eyes, Ally gathered herself and sang the last few notes:
You can come to me,
Yeah
Finishing, the two of them heard a clapping from outside the booth and looked abruptly towards the sound man.
"What are you doing?" Austin yelled at the man, taking off the headphones and walking out the door.
"Well," the man began, "I had to grab a couple of notes I made during the session and you two were singing in the booth, I turned on the mic for just a moment but it was such a good song. I had to keep listening to it, who wrote it?"
"Me," Ally explained, "I'm a songwriter, I've just started working for a branch of Starr Records and I'm just hanging out with a couple of friends."
"Well, they've certainly found a diamond. That was an amazing song, and um, if you want a copy... the machine was recording," the man grabbed his computer and after a few actions that Ally couldn't quite understand, he had copied the song, apparently, to a USB and handed it to Ally. At this moment, the band came back laughing and the three people broke apart.
"Hi, Ally," Elliot came over to Ally, smiling, "so, about that date."
"Yeah," Ally smiled shyly, receiving a laugh from Elliot and an unknown glance from a certain blonde boy talking with the rest of the band.
"How about this evening, unless you've got other plans," Elliot inquired.
"Absolutely," Ally agreed, feeling herself becoming more outgoing, but an all too familiar sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"So, babe, are we still on for our date tonight?" Cassidy asked her boyfriend, regaining his concentration and grinned.
"Yep," Austin replied, hugging her with the arm already around her.
"Come everyone, out," the manager called, everyone left the room and he escorted them to the lobby. Ally, Cassidy, and Austin made their way to Austin's truck and started home. When they arrived, all three parted ways to prepare for their evenings.
At 6 o'clock, Ally had gotten dressed and did her hair. There was a knock at the door and Ally joined Elliot in the hall and they walked towards the stairs, on their way they met Austin who was coming to collect Cassidy for their date.
xxx
"So, Ally, what made you want to write music?" Elliot inquired, watching her pick at the bread in her hand.
"Oh, um, sorry. In kindergarten... we had to write a song and it I wrote one about a butterfly." Ally felt the words tumbling from her lips, she couldn't quite form a good sentence and she wasn't sure why. It wasn't anything in the way of "butterflies" because of Elliot, maybe more of a guilt. She felt it welling up inside her and wasn't really sure why.
"Well, that's pretty cool...," Elliot pressed. Ally knew she should be focused on her date, but she couldn't help thinking of Austin. In the way Elliot smiled and laughed, she couldn't help comparing it to Austin, everything he said was just a comparison to Austin, but it wasn't very much of a contest to her.
After they ate, Elliot took the hint and drove Ally back to her apartment, before she got out of the car he said, "We don't have to do this again if you don't want to." Elliot looked ahead at the wheel and then to Ally. "I get it, there's probably someone that you're not over or you're just not ready for anything or you're busy. Or, y'know, maybe you just don't like me?"
"No no no," Ally smiled apologetically, "You're a great guy and I do like you, it's just, you're right. I definitely have some... uh, unfinished business to take care of before I get involved with anyone or anything, plus work and all."
"Okay, but friends right?" Elliot asked, looking into her eyes.
"Of course," Ally replied, "goodnight." She kissed him on the cheek and pushed the car door open. "Thank you so much for dinner." She walked into the lobby and towards the stairs.
xxx
"Austin, why are you acting so strange tonight?" Cassidy asked, taking a bite of pizza and looking at her boyfriend.
"I'm not acting strange," Austin replied, nearly done with his pizza which he had eaten impressively fast, "I'm just really hungry."
"Ha, okay, but you're always hungry," Cassidy stated, laughing a little and dropping the topic. Austin stood up once he had finished and said, "You mind if we cut the date short tonight? I'm feeling a little ill, actually."
"Yeah, Austin, of course we can," Cassidy finished he slice and quickly drank the rest of her soda, "let's go."
"Thanks," Austin replied, giving her a kiss on the lips which turned into a kiss on the cheek when she dodged it, commenting that she didn't want to catch anything he had. When they got back to their apartment building, Austin walked Cassidy up to her room and, after confirming to her that he was sure it wasn't contagious, kissed her goodnight.
"Oh, sorry," Austin said quickly after bumping shoulders with someone.
"It's alright," Ally replied, then, realizing that it was Austin, laughed. Austin returned it and touched her shoulder.
"Well, night," Ally said, making her way around Austin.
"Hey, wait," Austin called after her, "do you wanna hang out some time?" Austin felt immediately stupid after asking, with all there history there was no way that she would want to spend more time with him than she had to.
"Sure," Ally said, "when?"
"Oh, uh, do you wanna hang out now?" Austin rushed out the request and kept regretting everything coming out of his mouth.
"Yeah, it's only 7:30, why not," Ally replied, walking with him towards the stairs.
xxx
"Here ya go," Austin said, handing Ally a bottle of beer and sat down on the couch a few feet away, opening his own bottle.
"So, what do you wanna talk about?" Ally asked, taking a sip. Anxious, she stood up and started pacing around the room.
"Nothing, I don't know, I just felt like we ought to talk, y'know, about us and stuff," Austin said slowly, almost testing her reaction to mentioning their relationship.
"There isn't much to discuss, Austin, we were just a fling, honestly," Ally walked towards a bookcase and started flicking her finger across the spines.
"Mystery, mystery, action, horror, do you have any books that aren't- whoa, what is this?" Ally laughed at the book she held in her hand, "You read sappy romances?"
"No!" Austin jumped and grabbed the well-worn book from her hand, pulling it quickly away but not before a paper fluttered out of the cover, he cursed himself in his mind and quickly reached for it. Unfortunately for him, Ally's reflexes had beaten him to it and she had already grabbed it and held it tight. "Give," Austin playfully demanded, reaching behind her back for her hand and trying to tug it out of her hand. She took off through the room and made her way around the coach, of course Austin followed in hot pursuit.
After one of the least exciting chases in history, Austin tackled Ally on the couch but she held tight to the note and held it out of Austin's reach.
"Just let me read it." Ally demanded, standing quickly and, after realizing that Austin was going to honor her request to read it, she opened it. Austin put his face in his hands shook it slightly, waiting for the response that he knew would come from the letter. After a moment, Ally let her eyes lift from the page and, with a tear threatening to escape, managed to say;
"You kept it."
Do I even have to say it? Well, I will anyway, OOO drama! Who can guess what he kept? I have a surprise for all of you guys that are fans of my fics and Auslly, perhaps an all new fanfic soon :)? Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :D