red lips and rosy cheeks


Austin Moon hated clichés.

He never enjoyed how everyone's life is either some big, extravagant fairytale full of colors or an affliction of never getting to meet your soulmate, doomed to be living in a monochromatic setting, forever.

He always thought he'd be the cursed portion of the population who never gets to meet their soulmate and see the world in color at all.

Of course, in true Austin Moon fashion, he was wrong (he was kind of— okay, really happy about being wrong for once).

The only thing that had a different color to the achromatic world Austin was accustomed to was the alluring, breathtaking brown eyes from the petite girl standing at the entrance of the coffee shop.

"Hey Austin, stop eye-fucking the girl who just entered the coffee shop," Elliot hollered causing spectators to chuckle in amusement at the situation at hand. "C'mon, it's a family environment!"

The two finally averted their gaze from each other and began blushing profusely at his words. Of course, I had to make a big fool of myself in the first couple of seconds of being in her presence! Gah!

"Jokes on you, Elliot! You're the one who just cussed." Austin remarked as Elliot rolled his eyes before going to pick out a blueberry tart for the customer who ordered one. Austin cleared his all-of-a-sudden dry throat, stuttering as his confidence levels squandered to an ultimate low.

Damn. Who knew one moment could just change your life like that?

"Okay... I—well uh—I guess I'll just continue the song... here's brown-eyed girl." He stammered as the brown-eyed beauty gave a small, yet genuine smile while she stood in line for the register causing his heart rate to frantically beat against his chest. The rest of the song was spent with Austin admiring her beauty. Her button nose and light-tinted lips were a sight as well. However, the only feature being enhanced was her eyes.

Once he finished the song, the spectators clapped, before carrying off to their evening lifestyle. Austin nervously walked over to the chocolate brown-eyed girl by her table.

"Hey— my name is... I mean wait— I'm—" He babbled incoherently, causing her to chuckle at his antics.

"MY MIDDLE NAME IS MONICA!" He blurted before looking at the girl wide-eyed who was now snorting at his statement.

"Your middle name is Monica?" She asked suggestively before composing herself enough to continue. "Hello Monica, my name is Ally. Ally Dawson."

"Well hello Ally Dawson, my name is Austin. Austin Monica Moon." He finishes dejectedly, cursing inwardly that his parents gave him the middle name Monica.

"So, Ally..." He nervously chuckles before rubbing the back of his neck quickly. "I— I guess you saw the thing... uh with—the eyes and all—and you know what color my eyes are—which means that we're soulmates apparently and... holy crap that means we're like—uhm... you have nice eyes and ugh— I'm not doing well, aren't I?"

"No, you're doing fine." She reassured before giving him a smile that turned him into goop.

"Well, I uh—since we're apparently well— soulmates... maybe I could—well we could... hangouttogethersometime?" He breathed before glancing at the brown-eyed knockout who was beaming at him.

"Of course, I would love to get to know who my soulmate is." She chirped as his insides threw a party.

"Uh... so maybe we could meet here, Friday at 7?" He added while Ally nodded.

"Okay, it's a date!" Ally exclaimed, before she could stop herself, she placed a quick peck on his cheek just as Elliot called her name for her drink. The pair froze and immediately became flustered at her action. Austin then noticed that her cheeks were tinted... pink?

"See you on Friday, Austin." She was now sputtering, grabbing her drink and leaving the coffee shop leaving a dazed Austin in the coffee shop.

"Dude," Elliot remarked as Austin turned to acknowledge him. "You are whipped, and you haven't even gone a proper date yet."

Shit. He's right.


It was now Friday.

To keep things simple... Austin was freaking out.

What if I mess this up?

What if she hates me?

Oh no...

What if she likes waffles better than pancakes?

Okay the last one was a stretch.

But who knows?

He was in the middle of destroying his closet when he noticed the time, blaring across his digital clock beside his very manly ladybug nightlight.

6:52 pm

"Oh— damn no I'm going to be late—ugh!" He groaned before going to find some old dark jeans that didn't smell horrendous as the others that needed to be washed. Girls still like guys who wears flannels, right? He rummaged for his red and black button-up flannel and applied some gel to his hair.

He looked at the mirror, shrugging at his appearance as he ran to put on his shoes

Hopefully all goes well.


7:03 pm

Ally Dawson sat by the window sill, waiting for her coffee date to show up—who is apparently her soulmate.

Now, she knew that he could be a freak—or a douche for that matter, but the moment she met him, all she saw was hazel chocolate eyes, the only color in her world of tints and shades, she wants to at least know the guy.

She sees the barista from yesterday that claimed she and Austin were eye-screwing making a latte for the customers in the queue. She also noticed that there were little vague tints of brown inside of the café and hazy hues of pink, the color of Austin's cheeks from when she pecked him.

Ally immediately blushed, knowing what she did was totally abnormal as her shyness ultimately got the best of her around strangers. However, it seemed as if Austin wasn't a stranger to Ally, almost like her—other half. Oh.

Someone you click with instantly, your other half, your soulmate.


Austin was sprinting down the street again, cause his luck with the New York subway has always been rotten. He finally reached the café as the tinges of brown and pink casted over the tints and shades he was accustomed to. He walked right in to see Ally sitting by the window, beaming that she was here.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late, that damn subway." He greeted her before going to take off his jacket that kept him from freezing in the cold New York winter.

"Yeah, I totally understand." She said noticing that his cheeks were once again pink. Probably due to the weather, she thought.

"So— I erm... you have really nice eyes," He stated, inwardly execrating over his way of starting a conversation with coughs his soulmate.

"I've been told," She says cheekily, understanding how nervous and caring he seemed. "Hey, don't worry, I'm one of the shyest people in the world. I mean one time I was on a date and I was so uptight that I ended up throwing up all over him."

He laughed as she shook her head sadly. "I've been on my share of bad dates but—not that bad."

"Yeah, wouldn't have worked out anyways," She trailed off, as he grinned at her statement. "He was always mispronouncing library as liberry. Big pet peeve of mine."

"Yeah, libraries in general are just eh."

"Eh? Libraries are amazing, I love to read all genres of books and—"

"Oh lord, you're a book-geek. Not the books." He teasingly covered his face in horror as she rolled her eyes in amusement.

"I wouldn't say I'm a book-geek, I just enjoy reading. Besides, I'm more of a music-geek, you know? I'd rather play, or listen to music, any day."

"You like music?"

"Like it? I love it! I'm actually a major at Columbia University, but of course my parents being parents said that I needed to minor in business as backup." His eyes widened in awe, as in holy shit, we basically have the same life.

"Same here! Except I go to New York University."

"Wow, that's really cool."

"Yeah, it's fun and all but I am terrible with any form of composition and writing songs. It's what's bringing my GPA down."

"It's okay, you'll have the inspiration to write some songs. As for composition, just remember four-part melody writing and drawing out the bass in SATB pieces. I can help you out with it, I'm actually doing pretty well in that area." She offered as he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I'm going to need all the help I can get. Finals are coming really soon."

"Well, as your soulmate and tutor, I think we can find a way to do so." She teases as he smirks at her charisma.

She's perfect.

The rest of their conversation continued with the two talking about music and their weird, but endearing interests (Austin decides that going cloud-watching doesn't sound too bad, and Ally decides horror movies aren't as boring and stupid as the ones she was forced to watch as a teenager). It seems as though their opposites in everything but music (but they didn't seem to care).

After splitting half of a cake slice from the coffee shop and purchasing a latte for each of them, they decide that they should in fact go get dinner.

"Ugh, I could eat a horse." Austin grumbled, realizing that he skipped out on lunch.

"What should we get to eat?" Ally questioned while they walked out of the coffee shop together.

"Let's go to IHOP!" Austin suggested, getting a sudden craving for pancakes.

"At this time of night?" Ally inquired as Austin nodded his head vigorously.

"Duh! You can eat pancakes at any time of the day!"

"No offence, but I'm more of a waffle person." Ally remarked as Austin gasped in shock.

"Ally whatever-your-middle-name-is Dawson! Did you just say you were a— a waffle person?" He gawked, knowing that even his soulmate would have the flaw he feared of.

"Yes, but I guess I don't hate pancakes," She voiced, noticing her sudden declaration of her being a waffle person got him somewhat riled up.

"I knew you couldn't be that perfect." He muttered causing her to smack his arm playfully.

"Seriously?"

"Well I—"

"Are we going to IHOP or not, Moon? If this discussion continues, I'm going home to eat my jar of pickles."

"Pickles?"

"Yeah, I love pickles. Maybe just as much as you love your pancakes." She joked as he chuckled slightly.

"Okay, let's go then."

Once they arrived at IHOP, they placed their order before going to find an open booth. Ally ordered the classic stack of regular buttermilk pancakes while Austin ordered his favorites, a stack of strawberry banana pancakes and a stack of chocolate chip pancakes (to which Ally stared at him, while he quipped "I can take the rest to go").

A couple of minutes three stacks of pancakes were being placed in front of them as the two began to indulge in their meal.

"Wow, it's been so long since I've had pancakes," Ally began, cutting her pancakes into slices. "Usually for breakfast I just take some cereal and head off to classes, you know?"

"Yeah, same here, it's been a long time since I've had pancakes." Austin added while Ally raised an eyebrow.

"When's the last time you had pancakes?"

"...This morning..."

The rest of the date consisted of the two talking about their everyday lives (also figuring out that they're both from Miami). Austin decides that this might be the best first date he's ever been on.

He doesn't plan on going on another without Ally.

Same goes for her.

After finishing their meals (and fighting over paying the bill), Austin walked with Ally over to her apartment to drop her off. They stopped in front of brown, modern building that was probably built just over ten years ago.

"I had a really great time today." Ally gushed, stopping by the doorway as he smiled down at her.

"Yeah, me too."

"Is it enough for a... second date?" She babbled while Austin smirked at her sudden change in behavior.

"Definitely."

"Okay, I'll text you then." She mentioned, as earlier in their date the two decided that they should exchange phone numbers.

"Yeah... goodnight Ally."

Before he could psych himself out, he took a step towards her so he was almost towering her and leaned in to place a soft, gentle kiss on her lips. Austin should've expected that her lips tasted like maple syrup, but that added to the experience as he placed his hands on her back while she had one hand rested on his chest and the other on his cold cheek.

She pulled away with a nervous cute smile, as her lips were suddenly a different color— red. Austin smiled bashfully, preceding to hug her. His arms wrapped around her waist while hers wrapped around his shoulders. Ally pulled away as Austin nodded at her.

"Goodnight Austin."

Best. First. Date. Ever.


hopefully you guys enjoyed this, I feel like I could've written some parts better agh. also this is probably going to be another 1-3 chapters and then it'll be over so :/

I guess I kind of made austin out of character here with his rambling but I kind of find it funny when the guy is the flustered and/or clumsy one... or both characters are. I was about to make ally have a bf but I didn't want this story to drag on, it's supposed to be cute and fluffy and whatnot, I'll save my angsty drama sap for another story in the future.

stay safe!