He's known her longer than anyone else here. They grew up together—they were never all that close, but childhood connections seem to feel stronger after high school. Even if you were barely even acquaintances all your life, if you see someone you grew up with in college, you immediately have some sort of deep, unbreakable bond, whether you like it or not. You knew each other before you reinvented yourselves for college. They know what you looked like with braces, with acne, they remember when your voice was cracking and that one time you threw up in the hallway in second grade.

And at a smallish arts college where everyone has come from different places, knowing someone there has really seen you can sometimes be comforting. Depending on the person, of course.

But Ally Dawson was always nice. She's about a million times smarter than him, so they never had classes together and didn't interact much, but he's known her since kindergarten. Still, when he saw her in his freshman year theory class he breathed a sigh of relief, and they sat together for the whole semester. After that, they still didn't interact much, but they still see each other at most parties and events—side effects of a small school.

Like this party, for example. It's at the house her boyfriend Dallas shares with some of his friends, and even though Dallas hates him, they have the same mutual friends so he was invited.

He's not quite sure why she's dating Dallas. She's so nice, and he's so…not. But they've been dating for nearly two years now, and rumor has it she pined after him all of freshman year until he finally asked her out at the end of the year.

Still, a small part of him that he hates kind of judges her a little when she settles down next to him on the floor as a few of them form a loose circle in the living room. But maybe Dallas is different around her. He doesn't think so, of course, but he'd like to give Ally the benefit of the doubt.

"So, house rules," Dallas says with a grin, looking around at the group gathered to play truth or dare. "If you don't want to answer or do the dare, you have to either do a shot or remove an article of clothing. Victim gets next turn. What happens here, stays here. Everything and everyone is fair game."

Everyone nods their agreement, even though Austin can't be the only one uncomfortable with those rules, and they start the game.

An hour later, everyone is drunker, and their game is getting more and more precarious. All of them are in various states of undress, whether by specific dares or refusal to answer questions/do their dares.

"Dallas," one of the girls, Brooke, says with a grin on her turn. "Truth or dare?"

Dallas smirks. "Dare."

Brooke places an empty beer bottle on the coffee table. "Play spin the bottle."

Ally's cheeks are already flushed, either from the alcohol or the fact that she's been called on so many times and gotten so many far-too-personal questions that, even alternating between taking shots and removing clothes, she's still in just a bra and underwear. Now, as Dallas holds the bottle and flicks his wrist, sending it spinning, her cheeks turn pinker and her back stiffens.

The bottle lands on Cassidy, sitting on the couch a few people to Dallas's right. She grins, and he smirks and moves over to her. Then he kisses her, far more intensely and longer than needed, their hands all over each other, so much that Austin notices a couple people look away in discomfort.

But his eyes are on Ally. He's on a chair, directly across from her, and he watches her face go through a million emotions within just a few seconds. Her cheeks go from pink to red and her eyes go wide with hurt, then she glances around and makes herself smaller. Then she sets her jaw, her eyebrows pulling together and her eyes flashing dangerously. Finally, her face seems to relax as she sits up straight again, pushing her shoulders back, eyes going hard with a determination he didn't realize she had.

She catches him staring and holds his gaze. He only looks away when Dallas speaks.

"All right. Ally," he says with a smirk, his lips tinted from Cassidy's lipstick. He's been giving Ally the hardest time in this game, and Austin's fists clench at the laughter in his eyes. "Truth or dare?"

She lifts her chin. "Dare."

Her first dare of the night. Interesting.

Dallas's obnoxious smile grows. "Glad to see you finally grow some balls. I dare you to give someone in this circle a lap dance."

Austin can see where he's going with this. She'll try to give one to Dallas, and then he and everyone else will laugh when she messes up, clumsy and awkward and so not that kind of person as she is, and gets embarrassed.

But she just gives him a small smile and nods, standing up from the floor. Dallas starts sitting up straighter, presumably to grab a chair, but Ally pushes him back down.

And then she walks past him.

And stops in front of Austin.

His eyes go wide, and she raises her eyebrows at him, out of everyone else's view, asking a silent question. He glances over at Dallas, whose surprise is already melting into anger.

Then, looking at Ally again, he gives her the slightest nod, hoping to God she doesn't embarrass herself. Mostly for her sake, but he'd also love to see Dallas's plan fail completely.

She swallows, the only sign that she's nervous, before stepping in close to him. She trails a hand over his bare chest and shoulders as she slowly circles his chair. And then…

Well, she definitely doesn't embarrass herself.

She moves her hips fluidly, like she does this all the time, and he knows that everyone around them is as dumbstruck as he is. Then she turns around and bends towards the floor, giving him a full view of her ass—as much as he tries to look away—before slowly rolling her body back up.

She turns back around and fixes her dark eyes on his. She bends with her back arched and puts her hands on his knees, spreading his legs just slightly, and rolls her body up again. He grips the chair's armrests and really tries not to look at anything, but it's a little hard not to when her breasts are so close to his face there's nothing else in his line of vision. Then she straddles his lap, wraps her arms around his neck, and leans so close her lips just barely brush his. When his breath hitches, he feels her smirk. She holds his shoulders and leans back, arching her back and letting her hair fall behind her, and then starts grinding her hips against his as she sits back up.

He feels his cheeks heat when she stops, her seductive smirk turning cheeky and teasing. He knows that she can feel just how well this is working. She starts grinding her hips again, this time in a figure eight, and his hands tighten on the armrests. He can't decide if he wants her to stop or if he needs more more more. Then, still merciless, she does another body roll, pressing her chest to his and doing one more agonizing figure eight before finally swinging her legs off him.

Everyone stares at her, slack-jawed (except Dallas, who looks like his ears might start spewing smoke at any minute). She gives a slow, sarcastic bow, and he wonders if she knows her ass is right there again.

Then most of the group starts laughing and cheering. He hears Ally speak, but he doesn't hear what she says. Before anyone can pay him too much attention, he mutters something about needing to grab another drink and stands up, practically running to the kitchen despite his discomfort.

She joins him a couple minutes later, fully dressed again, as he grips the kitchen counter tightly and stares at his freshly poured drink. Other people mingle all around him, but his head shoots up as if his body senses her there before he realizes it.

"Sorry," she says awkwardly. "About…" She clears her throat and nods, glancing down as if she can see his now too-tight jeans through the counter between them.

He shakes his head, shifting slightly. "Dallas's face was worth it," he tells her.

She smiles. "Did you see it? I only got a glimpse at the end before he tried to hide it. Was it amazing?"

"I mean…I was a little, you know, distracted, but I'm pretty sure his pupils turned to flame."

"Yeah, he's given me that dare before. I cried to Trish about it the next day, so she decided we would spend the next few hours learning and practicing giving lap dances for this specific moment." Ally sighs. "Sucks that she wasn't here to tell me every facial expression he made. She'll be proud though."

Austin nods, conjuring a vague image of Ally's short, curly-haired best friend in his head. "Definitely was not expecting that," he says.

She winces a little. "Sorry. Again. I didn't mean to embarrass you. It's just—he kissed Cassidy like that, and—"

"It's okay," he says. "Really. Pretty sure no girl has ever had to apologize for giving a guy a lap dance."

Her cheeks tint pink. "I know, I just…wanted to make sure you were all right. You kinda rushed out, and—well, I didn't mean—"

"I know," he says quickly, feeling his own cheeks heat and wanting more than anything to be done with this conversation. "All good. You wanna head back in there?"

She takes a deep breath. "Not really. I might just go home and go to bed."

Austin frowns a little. "Don't let him ruin your night."

Ally shakes her head, giving him a small smile. "He isn't. I think I used up all my mental energy on that dare."

"Oh. Well, want me to come with you to make sure you get home okay?"

"And piss Dallas off even more?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. Austin avoids her eyes, and she laughs a little. "Yeah, thanks, but I think I'll pass. I'm just gonna text Trish to come pick me up."

"Okay, well…I'll see you around, I guess."

Ally nods, then leans over the counter and kisses his cheek. He grips the edge of the counter tighter as she smiles up at him with those deep brown eyes. "See you around, Austin."

He runs into her again at Dez's birthday party. Dez, whose rich parents rented him a party boat to take out to the middle of the bay. Dez, who invited everyone in their grade's inner circle except Dallas specifically because Austin hates him, and Dez is the best, most loyal friend Austin has ever had.

He ducks down into the small indoor part of the boat to get another bag of ice out of the little freezer for the coolers up top. For some reason, Ally is there, still in the damn red bikini that he's been trying to avoid looking at all day, her hair still a little damp from when she jumped in the water earlier and falling in messy waves over her shoulders. She's sitting at a little table, looking out the tinted window. Trish examines her reflection on the other side of the window, apparently unable to see Ally through it.

"What're you doing in here?" Austin asks. "Party's outside."

Ally looks over at him and smiles a little. "I had to get out of the sun for a minute. I burn like you've never seen. Like, redder than this swimsuit."

Austin glances down at it, then clears his throat and meets her eyes. "Trish is probably looking for you."

"She knows I'm in here," Ally says. "She was supposed to be trying to keep people out."

"So it's not just the sun you're getting away from."

"I'm not a huge fan of crowds, believe it or not. And I'm not drunk enough today to stop caring."

"Well, you should find a new bodyguard. She told me to come in here and get ice for the coolers."

Ally chuckles. "Well, maybe she knew I don't mind you. Or had some devious plan of her own."

Austin knits his eyebrows together. "Devious plan?"

Ally stands up from her seat, and Austin takes a step back, forcing himself to hold her gaze. "I told her about the party and the dare. She doesn't really like Dallas either, so you letting me weaponize Dallas's hatred for you won you some points in her book."

"Did you tell her Dallas kissed Cassidy?"

Ally shakes her head. "I prefer my boyfriend alive."

Boyfriend. Austin swallows and starts turning towards the freezer.

"Trish already wanted to kill him for trying to embarrass me, though," Ally adds. "I think her devious plan sending you in here might involve more revenge."

If she doesn't stop looking up at him through her eyelashes like that, he's going to do something he'll regret. Already, the cabin feels like its closing in around him as Ally takes a step closer to him.

"Your relationship with Dallas seems a little…"

He watches her eyelids lower as her gaze falls on his mouth and she stands up on her tiptoes. "Let's just not talk about it," she breathes, and then her arms are around him and her mouth is on his.

He knows that he's just being used as a tool for revenge against her boyfriend—and a part of him will probably be angry about it later—but in that moment his mind shuts off as he pulls her against him and kisses her like he's been wanting to since she stopped in front of him at that party. It's hard and sloppy and so not what he would've expected from Ally Dawson that he almost pulls away to ask what they're doing. But then she pulls on his hair and he moans into her mouth and that's the end of it—his hands are everywhere and he can feel her heartbeat against his own and every single one of his nerve endings seems to now be attuned to her every movement, every sigh, every breath.

He lifts her up onto the table and moves a hand into her tangled hair and he could almost swear he hears her growl before she wraps her legs around him and pulls him closer.

He just about loses his goddamn mind.

She has too much bare skin in that swimsuit and he doesn't have enough hands and it's so frustrating that he slams his hands on the table on either side of her hips and uses it as leverage to kiss her harder. She runs her hands down his arms and back up, then over his bare chest and abdomen and around to his back, everywhere she touches leaving trails of fire on his skin. Then she wraps her arms around his neck again and pulls away, dropping her legs from around his waist.

He opens his eyes in a daze to see her already looking at him, their heavy breaths intermingling between them.

"Why…?" he manages.

She shakes her head. "Don't ruin it," she says quietly. "Just promise you won't say anything and that this will never happen again once we leave this room."

"Promise."

"Thank you. Now kiss me like you mean it this time."

He raises his eyebrows and laughs, and then she laughs, and then he does what she says.

They start hanging out more after that.

He keeps his promise—he doesn't tell a soul about what happened and he doesn't even try to touch her again after Dez's party, but she starts texting him and inviting him to things and he's not about to say no.

He's oddly surprised at how okay he is with what happened at Dez's party, though. He was sure he'd be mad at himself for letting her use him like that, and at her for using him, but he's finding that he doesn't really give a shit. Especially when he remembers that the boyfriend she cheated on with him is Dallas.

So when she texts him inviting him to a drive-in movie after Dallas apparently cancels on her, he doesn't even hesitate before saying yes. He doesn't really want to consider why he's so eager to hang out with her—or why he can't seem to get her out of his head (not even the kiss, just her)—so the best way he can think of to distract himself is just hanging out with her more.

That's how he ends up alone in her living room with Trish hours before the movie while Ally records a vocal homework assignment in her room.

"I like you," Trish tells him.

Austin swallows. "Um, thank you."

"I wasn't done. I like you, but that doesn't mean I won't beat your ass if you hurt Ally. In fact, the only reason I like you is because I don't think you'll hurt Ally, which means that if you do hurt her, you'll be betraying both of us."

Austin tries not to be afraid of the girl an entire foot shorter than him, but her eyes constantly blaze with barely contained fury and it's a little hard not to want to run away from her. "I—I don't plan on hurting her," he says. "But you do know we're just friends, right? She's still with Dallas."

"Oh, I know," Trish says. "I know everything."

She smirks at him, and his cheeks heat as he remembers Dez's party. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Trish shrugs. "I'm not talking about anything."

"Sorry about that," Ally sighs, walking back into the room. Austin breathes a sigh of relief. "I don't know what kind of asshole professor makes things due on Friday nights."

"Only Satan himself," Trish says, and Austin can feel her eyes on him as he stands up and walks over to Ally.

"But the good thing is that I'm done and now I don't have to worry about rushing home after the movie to finish it," Ally says.

"Right," Trish replies. "You can do whoeveryou want after the movie. Er, sorry, whatever you want."

Austin swallows nervously and glances at Ally, but she just rolls her eyes as she grabs her purse off the counter. "You should be a comedian, Trish," she deadpans. "I'll see you later."

"I won't wait up," Trish says as Austin opens the door for Ally.

He shoots Trish a dark look as Ally walks past him, but Trish just shrugs and waves in response. He sighs and follows Ally out the door.

"So, where do you wanna get dinner?" Ally asks as they walk to his car. "I'm kinda feeling pizza."

"Pizza works," Austin replies. "Any specific pizza place in mind?"

Ally shrugs. "We have a few hours to kill. We could go to Peter Piper."

Peter Piper Pizza is an arcade like Chuck E. Cheese but with better pizza, and he can't remember the last time he was there. Definitely not in the last ten years.

He smiles over at Ally. "Peter Piper it is," he says, opening the passenger side door of his car for her. She smiles back and gets in, and he wipes his palms on his jeans before he gets in the driver's side.

When they get there, they share a pizza and tell their biggest arcade success stories from when they were kids.

"Remember when our elementary school would do those Peter Piper Pizza nights?" she asks him as she watches him gather the tokens he insisted on paying for into a plastic cup.

"Yes," he says. "I used to spend the entire time in that zombie shooter game."

She laughs. "I used to be a skee-ball champion."

"You? Skee-ball? Don't you have to be, like, coordinated for that game?"

"Hey!" She whacks his arm and rolls her eyes, but her smile is lighting up the room.

"I'm just saying, I'll believe it when I see it," he says with a laugh.

"Fine," she says. "I challenge you to a skee-ball tournament. Highest score at the end of three games wins."

He narrows his eyes and leans down, his face probably too close to hers for a friend, but she's still smiling. "You're on," he says.

She beats him. Miserably. And then she wins the rematch, and the second rematch. He beats her at the basketball game, though, but then she wins five times at the racecars. He tries to distract her when they're playing Pac-Man by playing with her hair and waving in her face, but she isn't even fazed. Then, she tries to distract him by saying his name over and over again and grabbing his arm to throw off his balance. He loses, obviously, but that one was kind of worth it. When they play the jump rope game, she laughs at him every time he takes a turn and loses almost immediately while she hardly even breaks a sweat and ends up hitting the jackpot.

When they run out of tokens, he carries an armful of her tickets over to the ticket counters. He gets his receipt of his own measly fifty-six tickets, and then helps her feed her tickets into the machines.

"I think I won," she giggles as her machine crosses the three hundred mark.

"I'd say that's a safe assumption," he says, watching his own machine's counter keeps climbing with her tickets.

She gets him a giant stuffed frog with six hundred of her eight hundred tickets, and he pretends not to see that soft look in her eyes when he hugs her and then the frog. With her remaining tickets, she gets a small stuffed dolphin, which she declares is named Dougie.

The back of his hand brushes against hers as they head for the restaurant's exit. Then the swing of her arms changes to match his, and she extends her arm just slightly so their hands touch again.

As they cross the parking lot, their fingertips touch and he slowly, hesitantly intertwines his fingers with hers. When she doesn't pull away, he glances over at her and finds that her cheeks are pink and she's looking at the ground, her lips pressed together in a failed attempt to hide a smile.

They don't say much when they get in the car, but her hand finds his again over the console and he can feel her eyes on him every so often. His heart pounds the entire time, but he can't wipe the grin off his face.

When they get to the lot for the drive-in, he opens up the back of his car and leaves Ally to set up the pillows and blankets while he goes to buy their concessions. She tries to go with him so he doesn't have to pay for hers, but he doesn't let her. And while he obviously wants to be a gentleman (even though, as he's already told himself a million times, this isn't a date), he mostly goes alone because he needs a couple minutes away from her.

He repeats variations of She has a boyfriend or She's dating Dallas or You're just a friend in his head over and over again in line, so much that he's caught off guard when the cashier asks for his order. Then, as he's carrying their drinks and candy and popcorn back to his car, he continues the mantras until it feels like a broken record is in his head.

"I put the back seats down so we'd have more room," she says from inside the car when he gets back, crawling over to him and taking her drink and the back of popcorn out of his full hands. "I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not," he says, setting the rest of their concessions down and climbing in to sit next to her. "So, remind me, what movie are we watching?"

"It's about an up-and-coming piano player who gets in an accident and loses movement in her hand," Ally says. "It's supposed to be really good. Thanks for coming with me, by the way," she adds. "Dallas said it sounded boring. And then made other plans."

His jaw tightens involuntarily when she mentions Dallas, but he forces himself to relax. Dallas is her boyfriend. He needs to be okay with his friend talking about her boyfriend.

"Yeah, of course, Ally," he says, reaching over and grabbing a handful of popcorn. "Thanks for inviting me to go with you."

The movie starts, and they sit in silence for a while. About an hour in, she scoots closer to him and he feels her head drop onto his shoulder. He swallows and rests his cheek on her hair. Then at some point his arm ends up around her, and throughout the movie they slowly sink lower and lower against the pillows until they're almost entirely laying down. Her arm is draped over his stomach and her head is on his chest and her legs are intertwined with his, and he hopes she isn't going to try to talk about the movie after this because he stopped paying attention a while ago. He tightens his arm around her to pull her body closer to his, and as she presses herself as close to his side as she can get, he wonders if she's even paying attention either.

He tries not to think about the fact that she can probably feel his heart pounding against his chest. He pretends he can't feel her heart racing where her chest is pressed against his side. He tried to ignore the way she tightens her arm around his stomach every once in a while and nuzzles her cheek against his chest in what he thinks are the most snuggly hugs he's ever gotten.

"You should stay over tonight," she mumbles when the credits start rolling.

He looks down at her, but she doesn't seem to notice. He can't see her face from his vantage point, but she sounds sleepy.

"As a friend," she adds. "Friends can cuddle." She gives him another one of those hugs. "And I really don't wanna move."

He sighs and turns on his side to wrap his other arm around her and pull her into him, and he feels her smile against his chest. "Yeah, okay," he says, feeling himself falling. "I'll stay over."

"We should get ice cream first, though."

"I thought you were tired," he laughs.

"I am. But also, ice cream. And, honestly, I kinda don't want Trish to see you."

"Yeah, I think you were onto something with that devious plan theory at Dez's party. She's not subtle."

Ally giggles. "No, she's definitely not." But when she pulls away a little to look up at him, her smile is gone. "I'm sorry about earlier, by the way."

"No worries, Ally," he says, searching her eyes and giving her a small smile. "She just doesn't get our…friendship." His heart rebels against the word, and he hopes she can't feel it.

She smiles back at him. "Exactly."

Eventually, they work up the willpower to get up and drive to an ice cream place that's still open. Then he drives them back to her apartment complex and he follows her to her room.

He falls asleep alone on top of her covers while she gets ready for bed, but he wakes up to her trying to pull the covers out from under him.

"Sorry," she whispers with a wince he can barely see in the darkness of her room. "I didn't wanna wake you, but I get cold."

He shakes his head as she climbs into bed next to him, and then he pulls the covers over them both. "It's okay," he says. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

He hesitates, then slowly drapes an arm over her waist and pulls her into him. "I'm, uh, assuming I'm not telling anyone about this either?"

She bites her lip, and he's brought back to Dez's party when it was his lip between her teeth. He swallows and forces his thoughts back to the present.

"I'm being kind of a shitty friend, aren't I?" she asks.

He shakes his head. "No, it's okay."

"I'm pretty sure good friends don't sneak around with their friends and make their friends promise not to talk about it."

The self-sabotaging part of him speaks up before he can stop it. "I'm just a little more worried about…y'know, your boyfriend…"

"I'm probably definitely being a shitty girlfriend," she says. "But Dallas has been a shitty boyfriend lately, so I guess I don't really care." Then she hesitates. "I hope you know I'm not just, like, using you because I know Dallas hates you. I like hanging out with you. A lot."

He swallows. "I know, Ally," he says quietly. "I really like, um, hanging out with you, too."

She snuggles closer to him, and he exhales, relieved to be done talking about Dallas. Because the more he thinks about the fact that Ally has a boyfriend that isn't him, the worse he feels. It isn't guilt, but it isn't anger either. It's something deep inside, churning in his stomach like a building storm.

He tightens his arms around her, as if that might make the feeling go away. Because no matter who her boyfriend is, he's the one falling asleep next to her right now, and that must count for something.

Although, no matter who falls asleep next to her, Dallas is still her boyfriend.

yeah idk what this is but it'll probably be like a three shot? idk but it's definitely not a one shot so nobody get ur horses in a twist

anyway finals and a big event i'm planning for my club are coming up so i prob won't be able to upload for a couple weeks, but like i said there will be more to this story so yeah kay thanks love you bye