ten: rings & reflections

two and a half(ish) months later

A little over two months later, a flustered Austin burst into the music factory. "Trish, I need your help!"

Trish, who'd been sitting over on the couch, enjoying every second of her free time until it was time to start planning the international tour, groaned and looked over at him. "Tour's over, Austin. I don't have to cater to your every need anymore!"

"No, no, it's not about tour...for once. It's about Ally's engagement ring." Trish's eyes grew wide.

"Oh my gosh, did you pick it out? Let me see!" she squealed, running over to him.

"Uh, yeah! We did," Austin smiled slightly, and it turned into a frown. "But... there's a little problem."

"Well, what's the problem?"

Austin cleared his throat. "Dez?" Dez waltzed into the factory, the song "Single Ladies" blasting from his phone. There, on his left ring finger, sat Ally's engagement ring that Austin had picked out less than an hour before. Trish narrowed her eyebrows.

"Why is Dez wearing Ally's ring?" She asked a little too loudly.

"Well..." Austin started, but Dez interrupted him.

"I wanted to try it on, but it got stuck," he mused, not seeming to have a problem with wearing his best friend's soon-to-be-fiancé's ring. He danced around to the song, flipping his left hand back and forth like Beyoncé. "We tried everything."

"Not everything," Trish mumbled and went up to Dez, grabbing his hand. "We're getting this thing off one way or another." Dez shrieked in terror, and Trish added, "Yeah, you should be scared."

two hours earlier

Austin sat in his car outside Dez's house, rubbing his hands together. They were already starting to get clammy, and he wiped them on his pants. Why won't he hurry up? Austin thought to himself. We were supposed to leave ten minutes ago!

He had discussed going ring shopping with Trish and Dez the day before; Penny was in town for the weekend and Ally would be unable to hang out with them for a few days, making this the perfect time to find her dream ring. Dez had reluctantly agreed to go after Austin begged him, but Trish insisted she had "plans," that of which were reading fashion magazines and taking a nap. She did give them details about what style of ring Ally wanted and reminded them of her size, because she didn't necessarily trust them to pick out a ring themselves. Now, less than twenty-four hours later, they were about to take off for the jewelry store...if only Dez would hurry up.

It was a good five minutes and about seven missed calls later that Dez came out the front door, wearing a sly grin on his face.

"Hey, buddy! You ready to go get the girl of your dreams the ring of her dreams?"

Austin nodded. "Yeah. I'm a little nervous, though. What if I pick out the wrong one? I wish Trish would have come with us."

"Relax, golden toes. We'll be fine. We have that sheet of paper Trish gave us."

"Yeah, that's true. You did remember to bring it, right?"

Dez's eyes widened. "Uhhh, I thought you had it."

Austin groaned. "No, I don't have it! Did you lose it?"

"I thought it was in the pocket of my pants..." Dez thought hard for a minute. "That my mom put in the wash..."

Austin leaned back and put his hands over his face. It's fine, he told himself. Everything will be fine. "Well then, call Trish because I don't remember anything she wrote down."

Dez nodded curtly. "You got it." The phone rang twice, and was answered by a groggy, tired voice that they assumed was Trish's.

"What do you losers want?" she asked.

"Good morning to you, too," Dez responded. "We need some help. See, Austin put the note in his pants pocket and then washed them"—

"Nuh-uh! Dez put them in the wash, not me!" Austin interrupted, putting the car into gear and backing slowly down Dez's driveway.

Trish sighed. "It doesn't matter who ruined the note. The point is, you ruined it, correct?"

"Correct," Austin and Dez said together, giving each other dirty looks.

"Well, then I'll just tell you what she wants and you can jot it down on your phones." Dez grabbed Austin's phone and set his down on his lap. He pulled up the notes and stated, "Ready."

"Okay. She's a ring size four, and she wants the 14-karat gold round diamond engagement ring from Freddy's Jewelry. It's"—

"Nope, nope, nope. Don't want to know the price." Austin stared straight ahead at the road, shaking his head.

"Alright, I won't tell you, then. But you're lucky it's on the cheaper side," Trish mused. She yawned and said, "Did you get all that? Please tell me you wrote that down."

"Yuppers," Dez replied. Trish narrowed her eyebrows.

"Repeat it back to me, then."

"Okay, fine," Dez said. "She wants 14 gold carrots and a round, diamond engagement ring from Freddy's. I don't know where we're going to get fourteen gold carrots, but I guess we have plenty of ti"—

"You idiot! Not fourteen gold carrots, a 14-karat gold round diamond ring! Karat as in k-a-r-a-t. It means how much of a diamond is in the ring! I swear, guys are clueless when it comes to this stuff." Trish suddenly regretted not going with them—heck, she could have just taken Austin's credit card and gone to pick out the ring herself. If she was being honest, that sounded like an enticing idea.

Oh, well. It was too late now.

"Whatever you say," Dez muttered. "I think fourteen golden carrots would have been cooler..." His voice trailed off as he jotted down what Trish had repeated back to them, and after double triple checking that they hadn't messed it up, Trish hung up the call. She rolled her eyes and picked her magazine back up.

"Bunch of doofs."

When Austin and Dez entered the store, they were greeted by a friendly associate. "Welcome to Freddy's, how can I help you?" she asked with a smile.

"Hey, uh, I'm looking for an engagement ring for my girlfriend. I have what she wants right here, uh," he paused and fumbled with his phone, bringing up the notes page and showing it to the employee. She nodded.

"Sounds good, Austin, we have what you need right here." She went over to the display cabinet and unlocked it, then pulled out the ring that they needed. "Congratulations, by the way."

"Uh, thanks," Austin said nervously. "...But how do you know my name?"

The associate, who had the name "Lauren" on her nametag, chuckled. "I'm a huge fan of your guys' music. I'd recognize you anywhere."

Austin grinned. "Right, yeah. Of course." He had been so nervous about picking out a ring that he'd momentarily forgotten he was famous.

"Now, is there anything else I can help you with, or do you want to talk price?" Lauren asked, glancing at the two boys.

"Nope. Just getting my buddy here his dream girl's dream ring." Dez slapped Austin on the back. Austin gave him a sideways glance, suddenly wishing he'd gone alone.

"Alright, then," Lauren smiled, digging for a box underneath the counter. "So this ring that you're looking at starts at about "$1200."

Austin's eyes widened and he grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket, handing the card to the cashier without saying a word. $1200?! Holy crap!

"We also have an optional protection plan that you can purchase for about an extra $500; in case the ring gets lost, stolen, or damaged, we repair or replace it for half the price. Would you be interested in purchasing that today, or do you want to pass?"

Austin thought for a moment. If Dez is going to be anywhere near this ring, it's better to be safe than sorry." Uh, yeah, I'll take it."

Lauren typed a few things into the cash register, then announced the total and Austin handed her his card. She swiped it and Austin waited for a few seconds, praying it wouldn't get declined. He hadn't had this much charged to his card since they'd broken a bunch of instruments at the music store years back. Even then, he'd managed to convince Ally to give him the "Friends and Family Discount," which, at the time, did not exist. She'd eventually broken and given him half off when he gave her his puppy eyes.

The register beeped, and the associate handed him the card back. Austin breathed a silent sigh of relief and took the receipt she handed to him. She put the ring box into a small plastic bag and handed it to him. "Have a nice day, guys, and congrats again." They exited the jewelry store and Dez put a hand on his shoulder.

"Congrats, dude! You've officially reached adulthood." Austin grinned, giving him a high five/fist bump.

"What up!"

"Let's go back to the factory and show Trish!" Austin exclaimed, unlocking his car. Now that the ring shopping process was over, he could finally breathe. That is, until the proposal...and the wedding itself.

Austin and Dez hopped into his car and he turned the ignition. He set the ring down hesitantly. "You'd better not take that out of the case," Austin warned. "It's expensive, and I don't know what I'd do if I lost it."

"Relax, buddy. You still have that protection plan!" Dez grabbed the ring and began admiring it. Austin tried not to tear his eyes off the road but stole a sideways glance at Dez every once in a while to make sure he still had it.

ten minutes later

When the boys arrived back at the music factory, Austin put the car in park and held out his hand. Since he had been focusing on the road, he hadn't noticed that Dez was wearing Ally's wedding ring. He'd been admiring it for the past two to three minutes, at least, wondering why the girls always got the engagement rings and the guys got nothing.

"Give me the ring, Dez."

"Uhhhh..." Dez muttered, covering his left hand with his right one.

"Dez, I don't have all day," Austin said impatiently, squirming in his seat.

Wincing, Dez showed Austin his left hand. Austin's eyes widened.

"DEZ!" He grabbed his friend's hand and studied the ring, which was stuck on pretty tight.

Austin groaned. "Great. This is why I should have just gone alone." He got out of the car and slammed the door. "Why do you always have to ruin everything?" He marched into the store. Dez started to follow him, but he held a hand out as an indication that he should stay outside. "No, you stay here. Just until I call you in."

Dez hung his head. What if they couldn't get it off, and Austin didn't have a ring to give to Ally? What if, this time, Austin couldn't forgive him?

back to present

After five minutes of tugging, pushing, and squeezing, the three friends were all out of ideas.

Austin ran a hand through his hair. "What are we gonna do?"

Trish grabbed her phone and pulled up Google. "Let's see what the internet says." After a few moments of silence she asked, "Does Ally have any window cleaner here?"

Austin's eyebrows narrowed. "Maybe? Look upstairs in the practice room." Trish nodded and went up the stairs, coming back down with a full bottle of Windex a few seconds later.

"She must be really good about keeping the windows clean, because there were, like, three more bottles up there," said Trish. "Anyway, the internet says that we can use window cleaner and dental floss to get it off. Gimme your hand, Dez." Dez squealed as Trish took his hand and started working at the ring.

"I wonder why she keeps so much window cleaner at the music store— there aren't very many windows," Dez commented.

"She sometimes likes to do 'The Ally Way' and clean while dancing," Austin replied, grinning. He stared off into space for a few seconds, remembering when she'd demonstrated it for him a few months ago, until Trish got his attention again.

"Does she have any dental floss?" Trish asked, spraying Dez's finger, "because we're gonna need that next."

"I'll go check," Austin replied. He zipped over to the bathroom, which was up the stairs and past the practice room. He searched through the cabinets until he found a container of dental floss. Well, that's convenient, he thought. He rushed back out to the main area and handed the container to Trish as she made a comment about Ally having good dental hygiene.

"Yeah, she does," Austin sighed. He shook his head to bring himself back to reality. "How long do you think this is going to take, Trish? I'm meeting Ally for dinner in a few hours and I want to make sure the ring is safe."

"I'll be done soon," Trish assured him. "And if I'm not done in time, I'll take good care of it. If I can ever get it off, that is. Why is it taking so long?" Trish continued to slave away with the window cleaner and dental floss for about twenty more minutes, Dez occasionally wincing in pain. Trish didn't care, though. She kept working as she wondered if Dez was ever going to stop screwing things up.

This wouldn't happen if I was living my dream on Broadway, Trish thought. She smiled slightly and found herself slipping into a daydream.

All of a sudden, she wasn't at the music factory anymore. She wasn't on a stinky tour bus either, though. She was standing on the stage of the Richard Rogers Theatre in New York, where Hamilton performances took place. The set was exactly how she pictured it— stairs running up the left side of the stage, and a balcony wrapping around. The turntable sat in the middle of the stage, and she could see exactly where it started and ended because of the indents in the stage. She smiled gleefully and twirled around, taking it all in.

"Miss De la Rosa?" She spun around to her left to see somebody in black talking to her.

"That's me," she said, grinning.

"We're taking Satisfied from the top. Are you ready to run it?"

"Absolutely," she replied, and after the stage manager left, her jaw dropped. Am I really playing Angelica?

Other actors and actresses started coming onstage, casually chatting to one another and a booming voice echoed, "Satisfied, full run. Ms. De la Rosa, you have the floor."

One of the ensemble members offered her an empty glass and she grinned in acknowledgement. The lights went down and she mad eye contact with the orchestra director, who started to wave his arms casually, cueing the piano in.

"I toast to the groom..."

"To the groom, to the groom, to the groom..." the ensemble echoed.

"To the bride..."

"To the bride! To the bri-i-i-ide bri-i-i-i-ide..."

"From your sister..."

"Angelica, Angelica, Angelica..."

"Who's always by your side!"

"By your side by your side..."

"To your union," Trish smiled as she sang. She looked around at the other cast members, who were echoing her. She was the leading lady now! Everyone had to follow her lead! She almost couldn't believe it. It didn't feel real.

"To the union, to the revolution!"

"and the hope that you provide!"

"You provide you provi-i-i-i-ide..."

"May you alwaaays..."

"Always..."

"Be satisfied..."

"Rewind..."

"Trish!" Someone yelled, and she looked around.

"What?"

"Trish, stop!"

"Why? I thought I was doing great!"

"Trish!" suddenly, she was back to her senses. She had been enjoying her little daydream...why do all good things have to come to an end?

"You've been spraying my finger with window cleaner for three minutes straight!" Dez snatched the bottle out of her hand. She frowned as she watched Dez frantically search for a paper towel to wipe off his finger, which was now dripping with the blue liquid.

"Sorry," Trish apologized. "I was just daydreaming— I was in Hamilton on Broadway and I was playing Angelica, aka my dream role! I was killing it until you two yahoos interrupted me!"

"No one cares about your dreams," Dez deadpanned, "Now get this thing off my finger before we run out of time!"

"What do you mean, 'run out of time'?" Austin's not proposing until February! Stop treating me like this is my fault, because it's clearly all yours!" Trish slammed down the container of floss she was holding. "I've spent the past, like, seven years helping Austin and Ally achieve their dreams, and I don't get to pursue mine?"

"Trish, wait! I'm sure that's not what he mea"— Austin started but Trish cut him off.

"You guys are unbelievable." Trish stormed out of the factory. Austin and Dez stood by the doors, looking and feeling helpless.

"Well, what do we do now? This thing is still stuck on me, and the only person who knew how to get it off just ran out the door!" Dez whined.

"Honestly, I don't blame her. She's been helping us all these years and every time an opportunity comes up for her, something that Ally and I are doing takes priority. She hasn't had time to pursue her passion yet," Austin sat down on the couch. "Also, you have no right to be complaining because you were the one who told her that, and I quote, 'no one cares about your dreams.' That was really selfish of you."

Dez hung his head. "Maybe you're right."

Austin nodded. "We should go try to find her." Dez agreed and they set off for the mall food court first; if they didn't find her there, they agreed to try Ally's house.

Meanwhile, Ally and her mom were in the backyard of her dad's townhome on the concrete patio, visiting. Ally had already filled her in about tour, which Penny was sad that she couldn't make it to, and the little hints she'd been getting from Austin about their future together. There was still something else that was eating away at her, though.

Penny took a sip of her lemonade. "So, in general, things with Austin have been going well, then?"

"Yeah, they have been," Ally grinned thinking about all of the memories they made on tour. "We did have one close call when we were in Jacksonville, though."

Penny raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

Ally suddenly regretted bringing it up, but knew that she needed to elaborate. There's no turning back now, she thought.

"Uh, yeah. It was the morning after we got to Jacksonville, and we got there at, like, four in the morning, so of course we were all exhausted. And anyway, Trish was sleeping, so I went over to Austin and Dez's room. Dez was down at breakfast, so it was just us." Penny nodded, and Ally could tell that she knew where this was going.

"So, we talked for a while, and then he kissed me. But it wasn't like the other kisses we've had, you know? It was...it was intense and heated."

Her mother nodded again, never losing eye contact with Ally. She was completely invested.

"And then it finally got to the point where I was like...oh my god, we're about to do it, and I put a stop to it."

Penny put her arm on Ally's leg. "I'm proud of you for recognizing that. Just another way you've grown since I last saw you." Ally grinned.

"Thanks, mom. That's not the end of it, though. We'd talked about it right after the Helen show and he knew that I wasn't ready to go that far. But apparently he'd forgotten, because he tried to make up for the whole thing by complimenting me, and I completely shut him out. Literally, like, I shut the door in his face." Penny laughed.

"Yeah, you never can know with boys. Or, in this case, men," Both laughed a little, "From what I'm hearing, it just sounds like you two need to communicate more. That's one of the keys to a good relationship. And that's something you need to talk about especially if you think he's proposing soon. If you don't do it soon, it'll only cause problems later on."

"He already apologized to me, and I apologized to him. But we never had a lengthy conversation about it on tour. I'm worried that we'll never get the chance to have it, especially since we're going to be touring internationally soon," Ally replied. "Everything's just so crazy."

"You can't let that get in the way, though," Penny said. "That's one of the mistakes that your dad and I made. Don't let everyday things keep you from having conversations like that. It'll only hurt your relationship." Ally nodded. She wished that her mom was here more often. She and her dad never had deep, personal conversations like this.

"Thanks, mom, I really needed that." Ally reached over and gave her a hug.

"Any time, sweetie."

Dez and Austin rounded the corner and stopped, looking around for Trish. They had gone around the entire mall, to the salon, to Shredder's, and now to the food court, and still no sign of Trish. Dez leaned against the wall, propping himself out from it, breathing heavily.

"So, what...what now?"

"I don't know," Austin scratched his head. "I really thought we'd find her by now."

"Think again." Dez and Austin spun around to find their friend, who was still wearing a scowl on her face.

"Trish, there you are! Listen, you didn't let me finish before you left. I was going to say"—

"You don't have to, Austin. It's not your fault. It's the red-headed dweeb I'm mad at." She glared at Dez, and he gulped.

"Anything you want to say?"

Dez scratched his head. "Hmm...not really. Nothing new to report, chief." Austin elbowed him in the side. "Ohhhh, right. Uh, I'm sorry for telling you that your dreams don't matter...because they do."

"And?" Austin prompted.

"And for... trying your girlfriend's engagement ring on and getting it stuck."

"And?" Trish said. Austin gave her a look.

"That was all he needed to apologize for."

"Oh, right. There's usually something else. Sorry, force of habit."

Austin turned to his friend. "Look, Dez, I should probably apologize too. I reacted unfairly when I found out the ring was stuck. I should have tried to help you get it off instead of freaking out like that."

"You still have the chance to do that," Dez sang, holding up his ring finger, which was every shade of black, blue, and purple imaginable.

Trish made a face. "If that thing doesn't get removed soon, it'll never come off. Come on, let's go back to the factory and try this again."

ten minutes later

Back at the factory, Trish was confident she was getting close to removing the ring. She barked orders at Austin like a surgeon operating on a patient, and he responded quickly, repeating what she'd just said.

"Dental floss, stat!"

"Dental floss!" he grabbed the container and looked nervously out the doors of the factory. Ally would be here any minute; they'd agreed to meet there for their date later that night. Austin was becoming more worried with each passing minute that she'd see the ring. Though he wasn't proposing until next year, his nerves ran high. He hadn't even told his parents that he'd bought the ring yet.

"Windex!"

"Windex!" He handed her the bottle and looked down at Dez's finger. He had to admit, Trish was doing a pretty good job. The ring was further up on the finger than when he'd last looked. It might be off in time, after all.

"Floss!"

"Floss!"

"Okay... just a couple more seconds...and..." Trish tugged lightly on the dental floss and the ring came flying off. "It's off!" she exclaimed. The three of them cheered, exchanging high fives.

"Alright, now, I believe this belongs to you," Trish handed Austin the ring. He pulled the box out of his pocket and tucked it in the leather case. "And we have approximately..." she checked her watch, "five minutes before Ally gets here to clean all this up. Go! Run!" Austin grabbed the dental floss and made a break for the bathroom. Dez picked up the bottle of window cleaner and went promptly over to the window.

"Dez, what are you doing? I meant clean up the mess, not clean the windows!"

"What? No, I'm just doing this because there's a smudge, see?" Dez sprayed the window once before Trish snatched it out of his hand.

"This isn't the time." She jogged up the stairs and put the Windex away, and Austin came back, patting his pocket.

"Yup, it's still there."

"Do you want me to take care of that for you while you guys are gone?" Trish asked. "I'm more responsible than him, I promise."

"Uh, yeah, that'd be great. We'll probably be out later so I'll grab it from you sometime tomorrow." He cautiously handed it to his friend, who wrapped her fingers around it, clutching it like it was hers. Just then, they saw Ally approach the clear glass doors. Austin nodded at Trish and she grinned, slipping the ring box into her purse and zipping it shut.

"Hey, guys," Ally greeted, giving Austin a side hug and a peck on the cheek. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing much," Trish said, picking her magazine back up. "Cheetah print is back in, so I guess that's pretty big news." Ally cracked a smile.

"Well, we should get going, our reservation is in a half an hour. We'll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yep, sounds good." Trish held the magazine in front of her face until Austin and Ally were outside, and then put it down and unzipped her purse. She was dying to know what the ring looked like— Ally had talked about it plenty of times, but had never shown her a picture or anything. Trish opened the box and stared at the ring, about ready to burst into tears. It was so Ally: not too over the top, yet just sparkly enough to make Trish jealous. She sighed and closed the box. When would she ever find her 'person?' She was becoming convinced that he just didn't exist.

The next day, Trish was rudely woken at nine a.m. (which was rather early for her) by her phone buzzing. Austin had been spamming her with questions about the international tour. Trish eventually accepted the inevitable and rolled over to read them.

Trish squinted as she read the messages, barely able to keep her eyes open. She didn't normally go to bed at an unreasonable time, but she had been missing out on her naps lately, and that was seriously affecting her sleep schedule. She looked more carefully at the messages and groaned.

8:37- hey trish, i was thinking about the proposal and i really wanna be in Paris for valentine's day, just like we talked about back on tour. is that too tight of a timeline? i really want to give Ally her dream proposal.

8:41- if not, totally understand.

8:42- but i really want to do this. i know it'd make her happy. i want to give her the world.

Is he serious? Trish groaned. It was the first week of November. If they were going to get to Paris by Valentine's Day, they would have to start the tour in the middle of January. This timeline was even more ridiculous than the last! She rolled out of bed grudgingly and threw on some clothes. If the national tour caused her a lot of anxiety, international tours were at least ten times worse. Trish knew that Austin meant well. But she also knew that she had to get started right away if they were going to pull this off. She didn't like being on this much of a time crunch, but if it meant Ally got her dream proposal, it would be worth it.

Right?

Ten minutes later, Trish was out the door and on her way to the factory. She grabbed a coffee on her way there and made herself comfortable in her makeshift office that also functioned as a dance studio half the time. This time of year was when business was usually down because school was in session, and she felt like they'd been spending every spare second they had at the factory. After all, it was completely empty during school hours. It had always been their hangout spot, and she felt guilty that she wanted to jeopardize that by living out her dream on Broadway. Still, Trish knew her time as Austin and Ally's manager was coming to a close. She had priorities, after all.

Trish spent a good portion of the morning making phone calls and answering emails until Austin, Ally, and Dez arrived. They knew not to interrupt her while she was at work, so she joined them in the lobby after she'd hung up the phone.

"Hey, Trish," Ally greeted. "I'm surprised you're up."

"Yeah, well, you guys kept lighting up the chat so I forced myself awake. And because I'll be a workaholic from now until the international tour ends, I figured I'd get started with some things."

"You're amazing, Trish. You know that, don't you?" Ally stood up and gave her a hug.

Trish grinned. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm the best manager ever, you love me...blah blah blah. Stop it already, it's too much!" The four friends laughed at Trish's acting. Austin cleared his throat.

"Um, Trish can I talk to you in private about," he saw Ally glance curiously at him, "uh, a tour thing?" Ally narrowed her eyebrows. If it was about tour, how come he didn't talk to her first?

Trish nodded, remembering she had to give him back the ring. "Yeah, sure." They retreated back upstairs to the dance studio and Austin closed the door behind him.

"You brought the ring, right?"

"Of course, I did. Here." Trish zipped her purse open and handed him the box. He clutched it tightly.

"Thanks."

"No problem," she responded, sitting back down at her desk. Austin glanced at the door. It would probably only be a few seconds until Ally got suspicious.

"Uh, while I'm here, I've got a quick question."

"Shoot," Trish said, barely looking up from her laptop.

"You never responded to my messages this morning. Will you be able to pull the whole Paris... Valentine's Day thing off in time?"

Trish grinned. "That's why I got here early this morning. It's gonna be hard to get the Paris venue, especially since you want it for after Valentine's Day. But I'll make sure to get that done. I know how much this means to the both of you, and I won't let you down."

"You're the best," Austin replied. He thought he heard her say, "I know," as he walked out, but he couldn't be sure.

Austin made his way back to the main area nonchalantly, trying to pretend like Ally's ring wasn't sitting in his pocket that very second. He decided to make a few calls to help Trish out. They really didn't give her enough credit...for anything.

Austin glanced over at Ally, whose long, brown locks were flowing perfectly down to her shoulders. She worked at her computer, typing away, while her eyes darted left and right. Austin smiled at just the sight of his soon-to-be-fiancée (he hoped). He couldn't wait until they got to Paris. While the thought of getting down on one knee and asking Ally to be his wife was extremely nerve wracking, it also brought him so much excitement. He couldn't wait to see what the next few months would bring.

AUSTIN GOT THE RING! *frantic, excited claps* and Dez got it stuck on his finger... *slow, dramatic claps* I can't wait for you guys to read the next one...Austin asks Ally a very important question (if you're picking up what I'm putting down) ;) Thanks for all the love for this, and always make sure to follow, favorite and review! - EJ