Author's Note: Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Disclaimer: I do not own Austin and Ally or anything else you might recognize, especially 'Kiss Me' by Ed Sheeran.
Chapter 14
When Ally woke she realized that it was really early, her room was still dim. She sat up and pulled the covers up to cover herself, but she needn't have worried, there was no sign of Austin anywhere in the room. She could hear the guitar from the living area of the suite however so she got up, stretched and slipped on her robe before wandering out.
Austin was sitting on the couch bent over his guitar, playing softly and humming to himself. Ally smiled as she realized he was only wearing his bright blue boxes, he looked so cute.
"Hey," she called softly as she made her way toward him and sat next to him.
He smiled over at her. "Hey, yourself," he responded as he stopped playing.
"You didn't have to stop playing for me, I love hearing you play," she said, reaching out and placing a hand on his arm.
He just grinned wider at her. "Do you want to hear my new song? I finished it."
"Of course," Ally said, relaxing back into the couch.
Austin smiled at her again as he bent over his guitar and began to play. He sang softly never taking his eyes off Ally.
[Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran]
Settle down with me
Cover me up
Cuddle me in
Lie down with me
And hold me in your arms
And your heart's against my chest, your lips pressed to my neck
I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet
And with a feeling I'll forget, I'm in love now
Kiss me like you wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love
We're falling in love
Settle down with me
And I'll be your safety
You'll be my lady
I was made to keep your body warm
But I'm cold as the wind blows so hold me in your arms
Oh no
My heart's against your chest, your lips pressed to my neck
I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet
And with this feeling I'll forget, I'm in love now
Kiss me like you wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love
We're falling in love
Yeah I've been feeling everything
From hate to love
From love to lust
From lust to truth
I guess that's how I know you
So I hold you close to help you give it up
So kiss me like you wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love
We're falling in love
Kiss me like you wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love
We're falling in love
Through the song, while Austin sang everything that was in him to her, Ally could hardly breathe. She had no idea that the little snippet of lyrics she had read earlier would be such an amazing song. There were so many feelings competing for dominance inside her: happiness, confusion, want, need, fear, desire, anxiety, trust. But the one emotion that was filling her quickly and completely was hope.
Ally was filled with hope, hope that this was really the way Austin felt for her, hope that everything would work out for the best, she was just bursting with hope. The smile that crossed her face as he finished lit up the room.
Austin watched her closely as he sang, this weekend could be the beginning of something really special and this song was important to him. It showed how he felt, how he wanted things to go. He watched the emotions flit across her face while he sang, and he was happy that she was smiling at him when he was finished.
Ally sat up as Austin set the guitar on the table in front of him and turned toward her. He raised an eyebrow at her silently asking for her opinion. Her grin grew wider as she flushed, her cheeks tinting pink as she looked down, her hair falling across her face.
He reached out and lifted her chin to look in her eyes, brushing her hair back as her flush deepened. "That was beautiful, Austin," she said softly.
He swallowed hard and really just wanted to kiss her, but he knew that they needed to talk, make some sense of what they were doing, answer the questions that they both had. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth as he dropped his hand.
Ally looked down at the hand that had been caressing her cheek and back up to Austin's face. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the look on his face, he seemed so serious. Was he going to tell her the song wasn't about her, or was he going to tell her it was. Her heart started beating faster and faster, her breath coming in short gasps.
Austin smiled at her reaction to him and reached out taking both of her hands in his and rubbing them with his thumbs. "Ally, calm down," he whispered. "I just think it's time for that talk don't you?"
She looked up at him and, seeing the love and hope in his eyes, she began to clam down. Her breathing came easier as she tried to relax, but Austin was right, it was time for them to talk about this.
"Where do we even start?" Ally asked, a little lost as to how this conversation should actually go. She sat forward and looked up at Austin. "I mean, what do we even talk about first?"
Austin smiled down at her, wanting to pull her into his arms and hold her and tell her everything would alright. But he knew if he did that, they wouldn't be talking for long. "Well, maybe we should start with how we're feeling about this new aspect of our relationship and whether or not it's what we both want."
"I like this," he continued looking deep into her eyes. "This new facet of our relationship, where I get to touch you and kiss you and make love with you. I don't want that to end."
She took a shaky breath and blew it out slowly as she nodded, relief washing over her. "I don't want it to end either. I don't think I could go back to the way things were before even if I tried, even if I wanted to, which I don't," she responded. "I just don't know how it would work. We live on opposite sides of the country."
Austin shook his head and smiled. "Let's not worry about that part yet, let's just focus on one thing at a time. Is this something that we want to move forward with? Do we want to be together? I know that I want this. I want you."
Ally watched as Austin's eyes darkened as he told her what he wanted, she was amazed that what he wanted was the same as what she wanted. She licked her lips and met his hot gaze with her own. "That's what I want too," she breathed and she was amazed as his eyes darkened even further as his smile split his face. "I'm just scared, I guess. The last time we tried to be together, we couldn't figure it out."
His smile diminished a little as he nodded. "I know. But we're older now, and more equipped to deal with this. Neither one of us is afraid to speak our mind to the other now. Our friendship is stronger than ever. I think we can do this, no, I know we can do this."
She nodded and looked down at their joined hands. She knew that he was right, she just had to let go and have faith; faith in him that he meant what he said, faith in herself that this was what she wanted and faith in their friendship that could and had and would weather anything and everything. She knew one thing for certain, she really wanted to try, to do this with him.
She squeezed his hands with her own and looked back at Austin. Ally smiled at him and nodded again. "Okay, so that is that. We want to be together, so we make it work."
Austin's smile lit his face again as he leaned to kiss her lightly, not able to stop himself. She smiled into his kiss and he reached one hand up to cradle her cheek. He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers, relief flooding through him.
He could hardly believe that they were finally on the same page, that they were actually going to do this. He was absolutely ecstatic at this turn of events. "So now is probably a good time to tell you that I want to move back out to L.A." Austin said softly.
Ally pulled back so she could look at him again, her eyes roaming over the contours of his face. "Really? When did you decide that?"
"On the plane on the way here, really, but I've been thinking about it since I moved to New York after my last tour. I was going to talk to you about it this weekend," he began. "I've been unhappy in New York for a while, and I missed you. I want to live in the same city that you do."
Ally thought about that for a moment, she tilted her head and pursed her lips together. "Did you expect this to happen between us?" She waved her hand between them as she spoke.
Austin sucked his bottom lip into his mouth as he thought about how to best answer that question. "This? Did I expect us to meet here in Vegas, go out for the evening, get drunk, make out on the dance floor, and end the evening with us married and enjoying each other in bed? No, I didn't expect that."
Austin laughed softly before continuing. "Did I expect at some point to act on the more-than-friendship feelings that we both know exist between us? Yes. Yes, I did."
"Really?" she asked shaking her head not quite able to wrap her head around that thought.
"Yes, Ally. I know that there is something between us. You know there's something between us. It's always been there even from the very beginning. It's strong and has been pulling at us both for a while now. What happened before between us, neither of us was ready for the kind of feelings we were feeling, neither of us was prepared to be in a serious relationship at that age. If we had continued with our relationship then, I doubt that we would even be on speaking terms now."
Ally nodded sadly, she felt the same way. "I know. We would have hurt each other badly and not known how to recover, to fix it again so we could work together. Or even be friends with each other."
She stood up and wrapped her arms around herself as she paced over to the window, staring blankly out at the Strip glowing in front of her. She leaned her head against the window. "How can you be so sure that it won't happen that way now?" Ally asked softly.
She wasn't sure he had even heard her, as he didn't respond right away. She sighed and hugged herself harder. She jumped a little when she felt him behind her as Austin slid his arms around her and pulled her flush with his body.
"I can't be sure," he answered and he felt her shudder against him. "Look, Ally, we can't be sure of what's going to happen, but we can be certain that you and I both want this. We'll both work hard to make sure that what happened before doesn't happen now, I know I will."
She smiled at turned in his arms to rest her head on his bare chest. "I will, too," she whispered. Ally tilted her head to look up at Austin as he yawned. She giggled softly causing him to look down at her. "Maybe we should go back to bed for a while, it's still really early and we have all day to talk," she continued.
He nodded down at her and took her hand, leading her back into her room. Austin pulled back the covers and crawled into the bed, turning and watching her as she went to remove her robe. Ally froze with her hand on the belt, remembering what she had on under the robe, which was exactly nothing, and she blushed and tilted her head forward, letting her hair fall into her face.
Austin chuckled softly as he realized her dilemma. He patted the mattress beside him, "Come on, Ally. I've already seen you naked, just come to bed." He covered his face with his hands. "I won't look, I promise."
Ally smirked at him and went to sit on the edge of the bed, with her back to him. She quickly slid the robe off and lay down pulling the covers up. She rolled onto her back to look up at Austin's smirking face. "You looked," she pouted as Austin slid down beside her wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.
Austin chuckled again, "Can you blame me? You are gorgeous and now that I get to look at you naked, I'm going to take every opportunity to do just that. I am a guy."
Ally laughed up at him snuggling against him tighter, letting the warmth radiating from his body fill her up. "You are most definitely a guy."
"And," he said slyly. "I like the way you look, naked or not."
"But more naked than not, right?" she asked looking up at him.
"I will take you any way I can get you, but naked is definitely good," he sighed as his eyes began to drift shut.