Ally lifted her head to look at her saviour in shock, "What?" she stuttered out.
"Get in the car," he repeated sternly.
She was still sitting against the pavement.
Shaking her head, she replied, "Austin, I can't pull you into this mess."
Austin looked at the fragile girl in front of him, "Ally, don't make me repeat it again. Just get in the damn car!" he said.
She flinched and looked away, tears building up in her eyes. She had no idea why him raising his voice had led her to crying. She was a strong-headed woman. A girl who hardly shed a tear when her mother left her. And she was only nine back then!
Vulnerability- it was one thing Ally hated.
Austin, on the other hand, had no experience handling crying girls. He didn't even have a sister, for heaven's sake. And his parents? Well, he never really knew them, considering how he spent most of his childhood in an orphanage. The only girl, he had ever interacted with, was so peppy, he can say with full confidence that she had never cried. In his twenty three years of life, he had never had a conversation with another girl for longer than ten minutes. Yet, here he was.
Now regretting his outburst, Austin ran his fingers through his hair, while pacing to calm himself down.
"Listen, Ally," he said, much more patiently, with the guilt of not getting her home safe, driving him insane, "Everything that happened to you today is partly my fault as well." Hearing this, she shook her head.
"Would you please get in the car?" he requested, ignoring her defiance.
They were enveloped by a thin layer of silence, until he saw her nod slowly. That was when his sad frown turned into a slight smile. Just her agreement made him happy. He just didn't know why. Probably, because it was the first time she ever agreed with him.
Gesturing towards his car, he waited for her to get up.
She was weak, beyond her imagination. Not just because of hitting her head, but emotionally as well. She blamed no one but herself for all the incidents that happened in the last few hours.
Finally, gathering up all her strength, she tried to stand up. And stand up, she did, before her legs gave out and she fell to the floor, biting her lip in pain.
Austin was standing right beside her, not realizing that she was that weak. That was when he noticed the bloody gnash on her forehead, which was now a little dry and the several wounds on her legs. He could see her bite her lip to stop the scream from leaving her system.
For some unknown reason, he knew her like the back of his hand and could understand that she was done crying in grief and pain. She was done being weak.
Seeing her struggle to get up, he slid his arms underneath her, careful not to touch her scabs, lifting her bridal style, as she watched silently. She was light as a feather, just like he had expected.
And despite the fear coursing through her veins, Ally found some comfort in her once-blonde enemy. She felt safe, for the first time in the last hour.
She felt like home.
He gently dropped her into the passenger street and pulled over the seatbelt to secure her.
She didn't say a word, but he could see that her eyes shone with gratitude to her supposed-enemy.
Austin, however, couldn't figure out why he had this sudden urge to be a good samaritan.
No- he would never question his upbringing. He was raised in a wonderful home by a wonderful family, who called themselves the Wades. That was the one and only place in the world, where he could be at peace, where he could smile and laugh with no worries, apart from his passion for writing. It was the only place he had a family. His foster family was...unique and red-headed. Their son, Dez turned out to be his best friend and brother, while their daughter, Didi always welcomed him with open arms.
Austin was raised to be a gentleman from the very tender age of twelve, but getting ready to help a crying girl, nonetheless, his mortal enemy, did not seem like just a gentleman act to him.
Getting into the car and putting on his seatbelt, Austin asked cautiously, "Ally, are you okay?" He waited for a reply, but upon being answered with silence, he started to drive. Great, he thought, I have officially scared her into shock!
That's when he heard a small squeak, "Not really."
"Do you want to talk about it?" he gently pried.
"I don't know," she whispered, "What do I do? Where do I go?"
"Don't worry about it, okay?" he assured her. He didn't know much about what had happened. But the journalist in him, had helped him realize that she had witnessed a murder, probably one at her own home.
This was followed by silence.
"How exactly, did you find my location?" she finally asked, regaining some of her original confidence, though her eyes were frozen wide in shock.
Her sudden confidence in her voice seemed to warm Ausin from inside. He was glad to see that she was trying to heal herself. He was glad to see a small part of his favourite girl (because she was the only other girl, he ever properly talked to, apart from Didi) back.
He seemed to think for a minute before fishing out a familiar set of pearls from his pocket.
"I found this on the sidewalk. Your lucky bracelet," he smiled.
The very sight of the pearls reassured her that she was alright. Everything would be fine.
She took the beads from him and cradled them to her chest, as if it were her own child.
Seeing this from the corner of his eyes, he couldn't stop the grin from forming on his face. He knew it was precious to her. He knew she only wore it to important events or her first time at things. But, he didn't know they were this important.
He was broken from his thoughts by a voice, "Thank you, Austin."
"It's no problem," he said, "I had to make it up to you."
"No, Austin, you don't need to," she heard her voice crack, "You didn't need to, but you did it anyways."
Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Even after everything I ever did to you, I..I don't know how to thank y-"
He cut her off, "Ally, don't take this the wrong way, but you were the only girl that didn't swoon over me and I had to keep it that way."
She looked at him confused, "Huh?"
"You see, I hate attention, maybe because of my past and I don't know how to tell a girl to back off and-" he rambled on.
This time she cut him off, "Wait, so you're not a conceited jerk?"
He turned his head from the front to glare at her, jokingly.
"Wait, so does that mean I was mean to you for no reason? Then why did you always act cocky?" she asked, now slightly guilty.
"Actually, remember that internship interview?" he asked her, and seeing her nod, he continued, "On realizing how you may get it over me, I tried to charm you because of the advice I took from that idiot, Dez,you know, to 'weaken your chances' in a way. That was when I realized that you weren't a swooner and I had to keep it that way," leaving out a tiny detail.
She nodded, putting the pieces together, "Oh! You just wanted a friend, who is a girl and not a girlfriend! Basically, you messed up my work, so I wouldn't crush on you?"
He smiled widely and replied in excitement, glad that she understood and didn't catch on to the detail he left out, "Yes!"
"Idiot!" she yelled, shoving his shoulder. The sudden action caused him to swerve the car, but luckily he pushed the brakes.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to," her voice getting lower towards the end. He could sense the dread that she felt. He could feel her add this to the list of things, she blamed herself for.
Austin replied, "It's fine, Ally, don't worry."
On one hand, he was happy to see the colour returning to her face, but a part of him worried that she would revert back to that timid girl, he had seen on the pavement.
That girl had scared him to no ends.
Breaking himself from his thoughts, he glanced over at the petite brunette beside him, only to find her fast asleep.
She had had a long day and a lot of things had happened.
She looked paler than usual, her hair a matted mess, but he could not understand how she still managed to look beautiful.
Stopping his thoughts from deepening, he drove quickly to his house, the one he used to share with Dez.
He lifted her to his room and gently placed her on his bed, putting a blanket over her.
She looked so at peace, though her face had some noticeable marks on them.
He applied some antiseptic on her wounds, praying that she would stay asleep.
She winced, but refused to open her eyes. That gave him the idea that she was a heavy sleeper. He smiled at her one last time, before placing a soft kiss on her forehead.
Then, he left the room, hoping that she would be okay.