(Just after Road Trips & Reunions S3 - the night before the morning of the final few scenes of the episode)

Finally. After 2 months of waiting, Austin and Ally were together on his tour. It was so exciting for Trish, Dez, and them when she decided to stay and finish out the tour with them backstage at his last show, and Austin was on such a high after their last hug that he performed the best he had on the whole tour when he returned to the patient fans- who by then had low hopes that he'd stay on the stage this time. The words "chasing the beat of my heart" had a more impactful meaning to him that night as he sang them passionately to the crowd, now knowing that Ally needed him around to inspire her. Every time a dance move caused his head to face the side of the stage he felt like time slowed a little for him to see her face.

Ally was on a high too, but she was careful to balance her excitement about being with Austin again that night with her value of her blossoming career. She was already compromising things by choosing to stay on the tour, even though it would probably help her write good songs. She knew she'd be tempted every day to just spend time with her friends instead of focusing on her music. She knew that it would bother her leaving her dad alone in Miami for a month. She knew that there would probably be an onslaught of celebrity gossip articles about her previous decision not to join Austin on the "Full Moon Tour" changing, which would come with overwhelming amounts of paparazzi and uncomfortable interview questions. She knew she would have trouble convincing herself that maintaining her and Austin's current relationship status- just friends- was the right thing to do. Spending all this time with him on the tour would make her doubt that every day. But, along with her new confidence in performing her music came more confidence in herself. She'd just have to put her feelings aside for a while.

As she stood backstage watching Austin perform, Ally felt his eyes meet hers for not even a second as he danced and she couldn't stop a wave of butterflies from erupting inside her. The last 2 months of her life felt irrelevant in that small moment…

"This is the right choice." She reminded herself in her head, knowing that even though she and Austin needed to stay friends, a month of travelling with her best friends would be a blast. She turned her attention to Dez and Trish, who were next to her at the side of the stage cheering on Austin.

"Sheesh, I can't believe how good he's doing tonight! If only he'd danced like this in LA, maybe the owner of the venue wouldn't have kicked us out early." Trish yelled to Ally and Dez, glaring at Dez as she said the last bit. Ally gave Dez a confused look.

"I uh… may have sewn myself a suit jacket out of their felt curtains before the show." Dez said with an apologetic cringe.

"I- I don't even have a response to that Dez." Ally replied over the roar of the music and crowd. Dez's ridiculousness was becoming so regular to her that it barely phased her, but he managed to leave her lost for words with this one.

"I swear I had a good reason. I…" Trish cut Dez off with a pointed look at Ally.

"No. No he didn't." She said, and Ally laughed to herself. Being around Dez for a few hours magnified to her just how boring it had been in Miami for 2 months.

"I'm so happy to be around you guys again! We have SO much to catch up on Trish." Ally exclaimed after "Chasing the Beat of My Heart" ended and Austin prepared to exit the stage.

"I know I know! This is the best!" Trish exclaimed back, but she ran closer to the stage before Ally had a chance to hug her, since Austin was about to come off.

"It's ok Ally, I'll hug you." Dez said, and before she could stop him Dez had lifted her off the ground.

"Oh um… thanks Dez, but you really didn't have to-" Ally was stopped short as Dez immediately dropped her and she stumbled to regain balance.

"Austin!" He yelled, also running in the direction of the stage.

"thanks for the hug." Ally muttered to herself, regaining her composure and feeling incredible as she saw Austin approach her. They embraced tightly.

"You did amazing Austin! The only bad part of the show was hearing about Dez's felt curtain suit jacket in LA." Ally told him as they separated.

"Oh… yeah, there is a reason why I didn't tell you about that." Austin replied, and they laughed.

"How he had a sewing machine on the bus without Trish and I knowing will forever be a mystery. And when he learned to sew." Austin continued to her with a confused look, but meanwhile Trish was getting antsy for them to leave and Dez was wandering off somewhere, so the conversation ended.

"We need to get to the bus now, the crowds are gonna be hard for security to tame outside tonight." Trish said, pulling them towards the door and ordering Dez to follow. The four of them finally got to the bus after ten minutes of enduring the screaming of fans and flashing cameras from every direction and collapsed at the seats in the living area, feeling deafened. The roar of screams outside was more muffled now, but Ally was ready for some peace and quiet.

"Does every concert end like that?" She asked with a huge sigh of disbelief.

"No. Normally I have fans just like those come INSIDE the bus to meet Austin so we make more money." Trish said proudly, and Austin gave her a look.

"Yeah, at my expense! They don't meet me, they tear me apart." He told Ally.

"You're saying that those screams come inside the bus?"

"I know right?"

The four of them talked for a little while longer as the bus revved and the venue security worked on clearing out the crowds. It was so nice for them to all be able to catch up, but there was some clear tension between Austin and Ally. It was evident that they needed to have a one on one conversation as soon as possible. The bus finally started moving around 11:30 PM and by then Ally was almost finished unpacking her things in the bunk area, catching up with Trish while the guys had cereal. Trish of course wanted to know all the details of her feelings for Austin and if anything would be happening between the two of them, and Ally had to admit that she definitely wished they could be together, but there were far too many reasons that it would be such a bad idea that it may tear them apart in the end anyway. After the two of them talked about it all, Ally was caught off guard by the last thing Trish said.

"It all makes sense Ally and I totally trust your guys' decision. But just so you know, I'm totally on to you. I know that you and Austin were together a lot longer than you let me know last year. No judgments of course, but, just know that you two aren't great liars, and if you're gonna do a secretive thing again, let me know about. I could help." She said, leaving Ally speechless, but Trish left for the kitchen before she could answer. She knew Trish didn't mean what she said to sound rude, she said it to show Ally that she'd be there for her- and also to give a subtle scolding for hiding something so big from her. But it didn't make it less shocking. How would Trish have known, and how long did she know? Did Dez know? Her conversation with Austin was about to get more complex than she had first thought.

She sat down in her bunk to get a hold of her thoughts when another surge of butterflies rose in her chest as she realized that Austin's bunk was right next to hers, their heads would be so close...

"Oh come on, snap out of it!" she had to scold herself internally. She wasn't even near Austin yet and was already struggling to suppress her feelings. She needed to talk to him. Luckily both Trish and Dez walked through the curtain right as she finished up packing, so she could catch Austin alone. He was on the small couch in the living area strumming his guitar lightly.

"Ally! I was hoping we could talk." He said with a light, nervous smile that she returned.

"Yeah, me too. I think we need to." She replied, taking a seat next to him as he set down his guitar. Both of them were visibly exhausted and hadn't even changed out of their clothes from the concert yet, but this was important.

"I'll just get the big things out of the way… Are we still on the same page?" Ally asked carefully.

"As in… I like you and you like me but we shouldn't be together?" he asked, looking like he had a sour taste in his mouth, and she nodded.

"Yeah, that page." She said gently.

"I guess I am. I don't want to be, I hope you know that. But, even though I hate to say it, being on this tour has shown me even more that maybe now isn't a good time for us. We are so busy every day that I have to sleep right when we finally hit the bus after shows, and every destination where we will be tourists will be totally busy and public. But honestly, that stuff doesn't matter so much to me anymore. I didn't want to tell you this part... but I know I should." he said wearily. Ally feared that this was yet another curveball being thrown at her. She was also surprised by Austin's mature outlook on this.

"What is it?"

"Jimmy Star told me something before I left for the tour that really bothered me. Do you remember when there were rumors going around that I was dating that one chick who sings country music under your record label? It started a few days before the tour?"

"Yeah…" Ally didn't like where this was headed.

"Well they were totally fake of course, but Jimmy made a point to call me and tell me that if it were true, it wasn't going to 'fly' with him, whatever that means."

"I don't get it… he has a problem with you dating someone at all? Or just someone on a rival record deal? That's just so weird. Either way, why in the world would he care?"

"I asked him the same thing, and he basically said that he didn't want any more bad blood between Star Records and any other company. Plus he didn't want me to be in a public relationship because it would lower my female audience. It's so dumb right? I'm realizing that all Jimmy seems to care about is numbers, ratings, money, etc. I'm glad he wants me to succeed but can he seriously say that I shouldn't be in a relationship?" Austin went from cool and collected to frustrated quickly as he explained it.

"I can see why you're mad, I'm mad with you… that is so out of line. Did he say what he'd do if he found out you were in a relationship with that random country girl?"

"No… he was avoiding it. But I was not getting a good vibe about it." They each sat with one leg up on the sofa now, facing each other and sharing disappointment.

"I can't believe it." Ally said, lost for words.

"I know. Everything has been so unfair to us." Austin said, and Ally got a bit nervous. She could feel her strong stance on them needing to be friends right now slipping away as she watched his face, and she couldn't let that happen.

"It just feels silly to be constantly aware of our feelings for each other and just ignore them. It's so hard to be with you and not be with you." Austin said, and Ally could feel the emotion charging his words.

"Believe me Austin. I know." she replied, her voice slightly cracking. She couldn't stop herself from leaning in and kissing his cheek. Austin had missed her touch and found it hard to sit still. He had started this conversation feeling pretty confident that they could keep up staying friends, but every second that passed now was breaking that down.

"But the reasons we stayed friends last time haven't changed. In fact, it seems like there are more." Ally said, hoping that she was right. She did her best to swallow the deep emotions she was fighting, including her deep desire to run her hand through his perfect hair. To feel his soft lips again.

"Let's just have fun with our careers right now, we are doing amazing." She finished, now deciding that she shouldn't even bother mentioning the Trish thing to Austin, because she was certain Trish and Dez were spying on them. It had suddenly become far too quiet on the other end of the curtain to the bunks. She'd just have to totally come clean to Trish and tell Austin some other time.

"Yeah. I know." He said, and the hint of sadness in his eyes pained her. Ally began to feel like this was an exact repeat of their walk on the beach a while back when they first made the decision that it would be best to stay friends. It was frustrating, but she was glad she was sticking to her guns on encouraging the smartest plan.

"But yeah... you're so right. We've both had space to rock at our own music careers lately. Not that I haven't wished you were around this summer of course. I missed you every minute of every day. But there is so much in life to be excited about right now and I still can't wait to face that by your side. As friends." Austin said, looking reassured. Ally couldn't stop herself from happily melting as he so casually said how much he had missed her, but also felt a boost in her confidence that they'd be able to keep up friendship.

"I completely agree. Our careers are at a crucial point and time is on our side." Ally said, feeling surprisingly determined that they could do this as she remembered her career.

"I say we get to bed, focus on all the fun we will have with Trish and Dez this month, and wake up with this out of our minds. Let's make the most of our amazing opportunities." she finished, and he smiled in agreement.

"Yeah, perfect. But can I finish my fruity pebbles first? They are probably soggy by now." He said. Only he would be able to attractively change a serious subject to fruity pebbles so fast.

"Austin, I was saying that figuratively- nevermind." She said with a laugh as she marvelled at his serious expression, and got up to go get ready for bed. She heard Trish and Dez scramble as she opened the curtain. With no hesitation she announced "Guys, I knew you were there eavesdropping."

"Oh uhh, what? Nooo." Trish stammered, but Ally just looked at her seriously.

"I'll explain everything to you tomorrow, ok? For now, you have no idea how much I need to just go to bed."

(Later that night)

As she finally laid her head down to sleep on the rumbling bus bunk, Ally had time to process the chaos of her thoughts and feelings. They'd all showered and had the lights off to sleep, so here was her peace and quiet. Hearing Austin's breathing right by her head was not helping her focus. She felt that he had become more mature since she last saw him outside of a video chat, and it was especially obvious after their last interaction. He was the one who was honest and logical at first… she had to internally smack herself to stop these thoughts.

What had just happened in the living area did make her happy, but it also hurt badly, she now couldn't ignore that. What Austin said about Jimmy was especially bothersome, but she wasn't sure how relevant it was to their situation- if they ever went down the relationship road again that is. She knew deep down that the only reason it wasn't crushing them to keep agreeing to stay friends was the comfort of the hope that eventually they'd be able to be together. And the somewhat steady amount of kisses they'd been able to have even within their friendship period… that always lingered in the back of their minds too. Their "friend" kisses gave them something to think of when they missed each other.

"...so ridiculous. friend kisses. what is my life." she immediately thought in response. She had to admit that their situation was a little bit funny in it's own tragic way. One of those kisses was the vampire kiss when they filmed Dez' "Rockumentary" about them, another was a peck on the cheek in a moment of glee the night of winning America's Top Talent (after ep. 24)- and the other was when she kissed his cheek again an hour ago in the bus-

Ally's thoughts stopped in her tracks as she realized that Trish probably put two and two together about that kiss during the "Rockumentary". She'd been too dazed that night to think of Trish's suspicions. Trish didn't really know the details about their past secretive relationship. How would she have? She thought that they did a surprisingly good job at hiding it. Which meant, Ally didn't have to share much detail about it to Trish. She must have just acted like she knew everything a bit ago to get all the details from Ally. This made her feel relieved, because she knew that telling Trish about how amazing it all was would certainly put her over the edge. At the same time, Ally reassured herself that she was proud of her self control and the way she had prioritized her career before risking things to be with Austin. She could handle this whole mess with ease. Austin was her friend and that was that. Right now was a time for them to focus on themselves and grow on their own. These final self affirmations were what allowed her to fall asleep securely and enjoy the rest of the tour with her friends, all of them just being friends, for the next month.

While Ally completed that entire analysis in her head until she was satisfied to stop thinking about it for a long time, Austin had just one thought that gave him peace as he fell asleep, enjoying the new presence of Ally in the bunk next to him.

"It's just a matter of time." and with that he fell asleep, excited about life.

They woke up in the morning with it all put aside for the time being, as Ally had hoped, and enjoyed the rest of the tour as they had planned. Staying friends was a success with how busy every day of the tour was, as well as how much they each had to think about with their music deadlines. However, there was no shortage of shameless "friend" flirting. There may have even been a night where they became so close to a kiss after a concert that for a brief moment it felt like they should just get together again right then and there. But that was ok. That was Austin and Ally.

Hey everyone, sorry for getting this one out much later than the others have been. I'm very busy with my personal life right now and I don't know when I will have the next chapter posted- it could be anywhere from a few days to a week or longer. I promise that this fic will not go unfinished and I already have a couple of the later chapters written, I just need to find the time to write what is next chronologically... Thanks for understanding and for taking the time to read these chapters! I'm keeping your suggestions in mind as a write, I love to hear it!