Ally released herself from his grip and went into the other room. Shortly after, Austin woke up, looking for her.

"Morning," he yawned as he walked into the living room.

"Morning."

"Just giving you the heads up, we leave in a few days."

"I know."

"You seem tense?"

Ally sighed and tried to piece together what she was about to say. "I'm not tense, why would you think that?"

"Because you are tense."

"I'm not. Okay?"

"Okay, Als…are you sure everything is okay?"

"Actually, Austin. No. Not many things are okay. The more I'm in New York, the sadder I get. I don't know how to explain it."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I don't know what I'm trying to say, Austin. I'm just sad, okay?"

"Then go visit Rachel and your friends?"

"They're in Boston right now."

"Then let's go to Boston. Come on, I'll book a flight."

"Austin, you don't get it."

Austin sat down next to her and placed his hand over hers. "Then explain it to me. I won't get it until you explain it."

"We made a promise in high school that we'd go to New York together. We'd live our dream. You said nothing would change between us, but a lot of things changed. You left randomly, I moved to New York to pursue my dreams, but then I ran into you. Suddenly, I had no idea what was happening. I trusted you enough to get close with you again. I never imagined picking up all my things and moving out with you. I never imagined any this happening."

"I ruined your dreams…again, didn't I?"

"Well, sort of, Austin. I gave up music when I moved to New York. I couldn't write a single song. I had no one to bounce ideas off of. I went to NYU as a music major and left as an English major. I needed you for inspiration and you weren't there. I thought about calling you, but then I realized that I should be mad at you. I should never want to talk to you again after what you did, but I couldn't hate you. I could never hate you, even if you did something worse than what you did. I failed my first year in NYU, so I switched majors because whenever I touched a piano key, it made me sad. New York is nothing but bad memories to me. New York reminds me of when I was lonely, angry, and sad."

"Ally-"

"No," she cut him off. "I'm not done." Austin sat there next to her in silence. Ally has kept so much in since she moved in that he was unaware about. He used to know her so well, but now, she's a different person.

"I gave up so much just to be with you. I don't believe in true love or any of that bullshit, but there's something about us that clicks. We go together so well. I don't think you see it. What girl would give up her dreams twice to be with the person she likes? Not many. You hear what you want to hear and you see what you want to see. You look at us like we're black and white, you never look at us in color. I'm not saying this to be bitchy either. I'm being very honest with you. I worry about you a lot, too. I know your anxiety is bad and I'm trying not to throw you off the edge. You put yourself down way too much and you need to stop it. Austin, you're everything I want to be. You're successful, famous, talented, and so on. I just-"

"Ally, stop talking," Austin spoke in a hushed tone. "I know. I know how much you have given up. I never intended on you giving up your dreams. Honestly, I never meant for any of this to happen. I just want you to be happy. So tell me, Ally. Tell me what you want to do. You know I'd do anything for you."

"I want you to be the same person I met in 9th grade: The optimistic, cheerful, sarcastic Austin, not the miserable and annoyed Austin."

Things were a lot simpler in high school, especially in 9th grade. No one, expect people at school knew who Austin was. There was no pop star Austin Moon. It was just, Austin Moon, high school student. He and Dez were the jokesters of their grade. He met Ally in 9th grade and that's when everything changed. In 10th grade, the two became inseparable. They would do everything together. That's when he started falling for her. He never wanted to admit it, but he knew she was something special since they first day they met. In 11th grade, he got signed to Starr Records and instantly blew up all around the world. People wanted to see Austin Moon all over the world and that's when everything went downhill. When Jimmy told him the news, he was so excited to go on tour. He was so excited that he'd be doing what he loved with his friends, until the college presentation.

He saw that they all had their future mapped out and didn't want to ruin that. He pushed the tour into the back of his head and decided to forget about it. May 5th was the day he realized he was in love with Ally. It was the day when Dallas got food poisoning and couldn't take Ally to prom, so Austin took his place. For a girl that couldn't dance, she was an excellent slow dancer. He recalled twirling her around and holding her. She made him weak and defenseless. He was like putty in her hands. He wanted to ask her out, but he had to think about their whole friendship and partnership. So he pushed his feelings into the back of his head along with the tour.

12th grade was when everything got bad. He left without even telling her. The guilt will probably never leave. It dangles over his head everyday. He thought he was doing everyone a favor, by letting them reach their dreams, but instead, it was a nightmare. He couldn't finish the tour in Germany after having the panic attack. When he moved out to Los Angeles, he wanted to start a new life. He wanted to leave all the bad memories of the East Coast and make new memories on the West Coast. When he turned 20, he bought his own place to have independence. The truth is, he was lonely without Dez, Ally and Trish. He fucked his own life up by trying to escape his problems.

"Things we're simpler in high school," Austin finally said. "I wish things could be that simple again."

"So what do we do now?" Ally asked and Austin shrugged. He needed space to think about everything that just happened.

"I don't know, but I need to go for a walk or something," he mumbled. Austin got up from the couch and grabbed his keys and wallet from the table and walked out of the hotel room.

"I fucked up," Ally whispered to herself. "I should have just kept my mouth shut." She sat there, thinking on where he could be and what he could be doing. She shouldn't care so much. They weren't dating or anything.

Ally sighed and walked into the bedroom, noticing he left his phone on the counter. No, she shouldn't go through it. But she should, considering he's always texting someone.