day thirteen (part 2)

They had him wait alone in Patrick's office for what felt like hours, his hand throbbing and mind racing to the worst possible scenarios, most of which included him being shipped in a rehab facility in North Korea and Ally being violently murdered by a drunk Elliot after years of broken marriage.

When the door finally opened, he shot up.

"You have to get that guy away from Ally!" he shouted, turning around towards whom he expected to be Patrick, but turned out to be the dark-haired woman who'd introduced him the first day.

She looked surprised for a few seconds, but then just smiled softly.

"Sit down, Mr Moon. I think we should have a talk."

Austin obeyed, his mouth suddenly dry, while he tried to remember the therapist's name.

She slowly walked towards and around the desk, sitting on Patrick's usual spot as if she'd done it countless times already. She joined her hands under her chin, her eyes scanning him quizzically.

"Did they get you some ice for that hand?" she asked, after a few long seconds.

Austin shook his head, still unable to talk. She frowned and pulled the office phone towards her, lifting the receiver with one hand as she dialed two numbers with the other.

"Tilly? It's doctor Friedman. Bring up an icepack for Mr Moon's hand, please. We're in doctor Hale's office."

She hung up as soon as she got the confirmation from the other end and went back to staring at Austin.

"Do you know, Mr Moon, that we have a non-dating policy for our live-in patients?" she very slowly asked.

Austin gulped, his mouth even drier. "I've heard about it."

"Do you know this policy is particularly strict when it comes to teenagers?"

He nodded.

"Do you know why?"

"I'm nineteen," he felt the sudden urge to clarify.

She tilted her eyebrows. "Yes, and Miss Dawson is seventeen."

"What?" his surprise was authentic. He'd thought Ally to be at least a year older.

Doctor Friedman nodded. "To be fair, she'll be eighteen in a couple of months. Still, you are both teenagers and, as such, forbidden to have sex while recovered in our facility."

Austin didn't answer. He knew better than to admit something like that. He didn't want Ally to get in trouble as well.

"We don't want to have to explain to parents why we didn't keep an eye on their children if they come home pregnant, or with an STD. This is a place of cure, not some kind of school trip where you can just hook up."

Her voice was firm, but she didn't look angry. Tired maybe, but still very professional, and she definitely had a point.

"I understand," he said, nodding slightly.

She smiled. "Mr Moon, are you in a sexual relationship with Miss Dawson?"

Austin shook his head, maybe a little too quickly. "No, I'm not."

"Do you have feelings for her?"

He bit the inside of his cheek. Did he? Of course he did. Could he say that to her shrink, though?

"I—don't know."

She gave him a condescending look that irritated him the slightest. "Are you sure?"

He sighed. "Okay, maybe I do. But I have a girlfriend."

"So you're not gonna act on said feelings towards her?"

"No, I'm not."

"Alright," she joined her hands over the desk. "May I know why you hit Miss Dawson's boyfriend?"

Austin felt a prick of painful jealousy in his chest. "He's not her boyfriend."

"That's not what he thought when he asked for visitation rights."

"He was lying! He told me they're not together anymore. And how did he get to visit so soon? Don't you have to ask three days before or something?" questioned Austin, now definitely irritated.

"Given the situation, I thought Miss Dawson would benefit from getting a visitor," she explained.

"What situation?"

"That, Mr Moon, is a private matter. I would however love to know how you knew for sure that Elliot didn't call three days ago."

Austin cursed himself. He knew because Elliot didn't even know that Ally was in Palm Beach until they'd seen him on Friday night. He couldn't tell her that, though, because he would've had to admit to sneaking out. He sighed.

"That's a private matter also," he weakly tried.

She furrowed her brow, but didn't protest. Maybe she didn't care that much about it.

"Okay, let's try this again. Why did you punch Elliot?" she asked a second time.

"He was being a dick."

"Care to elaborate?"

Austin rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm sorry I caused a scene. I really am. I should've counted to ten and ignored him and all that shit and I will next time, I promise. Right now, though, I would really like to talk to Ally, please."

"Miss Dawson is with her visitor right now."

"NO! You have to get him out of here! He's not a good person!" he yelled, urgency dripping out of every single one of his words.

"He seems like a perfect gentleman, actually. And Miss Dawson is really fond of him," observed doctor Friedman.

"That's because she doesn't know what I know!"

Doctor Friedman sighed. "Mr Moon, how long have you known Elliot for?"

"I—look, that's not important. I know what kind of guy he is."

"Miss Dawson has known him since she was seven years old."

Austin opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to say anything. The situation was getting shittier by the minute, and he was trapped in that damned room while Elliot was trying to get into Ally's pants somewhere in that same building and she had no idea about what he'd told him. How he'd spoken about her and how he just wanted to fuck her to get back at him.

"He's gonna try to have sex with her! He told me!" he desperately admitted.

"I can assure you, Mr Moon, the nurses are keeping an eye on them. I doubt they're gonna be able to have sex without anyone noticing."

Was that the reason she had believed him so easily when he'd denied having had sex with Ally? Because she didn't think it was actually possible without her knowing about it? Austin rolled his eyes.

"In any case, don't you trust Ally to be responsible for herself? If this guy is really such a bad influence on her, don't you think she'll know better than to have sex with him?"

Austin sunk deeper into his chair. She had a point, but he wasn't really a hundred percent sure that Ally knew what a dick Elliot could be. She'd definitely looked flirty enough with him earlier at the pool. But why, if on Friday she'd been the one to suggest hooking up in his car? Had she done it just because she was high? Had Austin screwed up somehow? She had been weird that morning too, after all.

Tilly the nurse knocked and came in a moment later with an icepack wrapped in a towel that she put on Austin's hand.

"That took long enough," pointed out doctor Friedman.

"I'm sorry, doc," she said, her head low.

She waited to be dismissed to exit and when she did, she closed the door behind her.

"I'm gonna have to call your parents, Mr Moon," said the doctor, after a minute of silence. "And talk to doctor Hale about making your therapy hours longer. Perhaps you should meet with your meditation instructor for private lessons, too. It'll help with the anger management."

Austin kept looking at his knees without giving any sign he'd heard her. She didn't seem to mind.

"You're gonna be confined in your room for the rest of the day, dinner will be brought to you up there as well. I advise you get some rest, you have a busy schedule tomorrow," she went on, and when he kept ignoring her, she just sighed. "You're dismissed."

He got up, keeping the ice on his hand, and walked out of the room. He would've felt like punching a wall, if his hand hadn't already been bruised. He pondered trying to find Ally, but doctor Hale was waiting for him at the end of the hall and, without a word, walked him all the way to his room.

Austin let himself fall on the bed with a frustrated groan and punched the pillow with his healthy hand a couple of times. He had a feeling there was already a nurse guarding his door from outside. He cursed loudly to the empty room. He felt fucking powerless and he loathed the facility more than he ever had.

He found his phone in his pocket together with Ally's panties. He threw the latter against the wall in frustration before searching for Ally's name in his contact list.

Don't trust Elliot

He sent the text and waited. She didn't answer.

Dez came back sometime after dinner and, catching his uncomfortable gaze, Austin didn't find it in himself to be angry at him anymore, so he smiled at him. Dez smiled too.

"Did they bring you food?" he asked, closing the door behind him.

"Yes, Patrick did. Then I had to eat with him staring at me and saying nothing."

Dez nodded. "Yeah, he's a quiet one. Likes to observe."

Austin looked down and waited a few beats, while his roommate took off his shoes and slipped his laptop out from under his pillow.

"I'm sorry about freaking out," he told him.

"I'm sorry I tried to manipulate you into talking."

"You had good intentions..."

"Still, I'm sorry."

They smiled at each other again, this time much more relaxed.

"Maybe there is something wrong with me," sighed Austin, lying down on his bed.

"It's probably just the stress of the business," offered Dez.

Austin looked at him long and hard, wheels turning into his head. Sure, the business was stressful, but there were plenty of celebrities who didn't let it affect them. Plenty who managed to find a way to actually keep their lives private and their slips out of the press's eye. Sure, it was different with stars like him. The whole world was looking at him and expecting him to fail at every moment, so he was pretty much bound to at some point.

"Can I see your laptop?" he asked Dez, still lost in thought.

"Sure."

He walked to his roommate's bed and pulled he computer towards him, then he opened the browser and looked up his own name. Hundreds of links popped up in a matter of seconds, most of them about rehab and the rumored Kira and T-Fame relationship. He clicked to the first one at random and within five minutes he was immersed in reports about the escapades of the previous year. The partying, dismissing his own fans, feuding with celebrities, insulting paparazzi, being late for work, canceling events for no reason. He quickly read through long articles about the dancer he'd fought with, trying to remember the real story without much success. He was high on something when it had happened and truly didn't recall sounding so aggressive, but it wasn't implausible.

"I'm an asshole," he said, in a low voice.

Dez didn't say anything, he just stared at him with slight worry in his eyes.

"I always thought that tabloids made most of this stuff up and sure, it's not all real, but still... I—I spent most of this year either high, drunk or hungover. No wonder everybody hates me."

"You'd never googled yourself before?"

"No, I—no."

Austin kept staring at the screen, no longer reading as his brain fired question after question he didn't have answers for. He remembered his last English teacher explaining about epiphanies some years before when he was still in school, and he guessed that was what he was having. An epiphany. He was looking at his own life from a whole different perspective and it scared him. Was that the person he really was? Or just the jerk the press had wished him to become?

"Do you want me to call Patrick?" asked Dez, after a few long minutes of silence.

"No, it's fine... I'll just sleep it off."

He got up and walked towards the bathroom to take a shower. He didn't want to talk to Patrick, he wanted to talk to Ally.

an: Hello! I hope you liked this chapter! The next one will be kind of a dramatic one I guess, but in chapter 16 you'll start to learn a bit about Ally's past and the reason why she is in rehab, I know many of you have been waiting for that! I know I made Elliot a pretty huge jerk in this story, it's only for plot reasons though (I needed a jerk), I have absolutely nothing against the character in the show. Anyway, I guess I can tell you he's not gonna appear in the flesh anymore. You can look forward to another pretty huge jerk who will definitely stir things up (any guesses on who he is?) I am a couple of chapters away from the ending, and if everything goes according to plan the story should have about 24 chapters. I went through a bit of a writer's block last week and I literally couldn't write a word for days, but now it looks like it has past and I think I will be able to finish the story in the next two weeks. After I do, I might update more often (like three times a week, or even every other day, if I get more reviews).

Gosh, I thought I had nothing to say but I'm actually ranting! I'll sign off here, but not before I thank all of you for your wonderful support. I couldn't have gotten so far with this story if it hadn't been for everyone who reads and sends me such nice comments. I love you all 3

See you next friday! Please keep letting me know what you think! xx