Hi everyone! I'm super sorry it has been so long! (like really really really sorry) We just finished taking state tests (aka finals) so I have been super busy and stressed... And I have like, 5 Word documents for my Auslly stories so I'm kinda working on a lot right now though I've kinda been having some writer's block on all of them...
Also, as I look back on my stories they haven't had a lot of conflict between Auslly, so if anyone wants to suggest something for them to argue about place it in the reviews or PM me cause I kinda wanna write that! XD Also if anyone wants to suggest a story do the same thing and also add some details!
Anyways, I have been getting lots of requests for something right after The Helen Show in Duets and Destiny, and here it is! It may be kinda boring but I couldn't really think of much, I hope you enjoy anyways!
** Right after the Helen Show incident in Duets & Destiny**
Austin and Ally's fingers were intertwined as they walked into the Music Factory, since they left the Helen Show set neither had once let go of the other's hand.
"Wow," Austin said, looking around at the Factory that looked exactly as they had left it. "Trish and Dez were really taking care of this place," Ally nodded, "I guess they hoped we would come back," she said.
Austin led the way up the stairs to the practice room and entered it. Nothing had changed, Trish had taken out all her stuff and moved the piano, fosse ball table, jukebox, everything back in. It was as if they never left.
"It looks great," Ally commented. The two of them walked over to the couch and sat down, "Its so good to be back," said Ally.
"I'm just glad I'm back with you," Austin admitted and put his arm around Ally, finally unlocking their fingers.
"So am I," Ally said. Austin pulled Ally close and held her tightly, as if she would disappear as quickly as a snowflake in your hand if he let her go.
In turn Ally cuddled up close to him, her head resting on his shoulder, and let out a little sigh, no pillow in the world was as comfortable as this.
Austin's mind had gone blissfully blank except for his constant relief he was back with Ally and one line from one of their first songs. There's no way I could make it without you.
Ally's mind, on the other hand, was buzzing with thoughts about being an actual duo and writing and performing and touring, finally it stopped on one, and its wasn't the most positive.
"What are we going to do about Jimmy and Ronnie?" she thought out loud.
"What?" Austin asked, clearly confused.
"We're signed to different record labels," she said and rolled her eyes when Austin just looked back at her blankly. "We're and official duo now! A single act! We can't be signed to two record labels," Ally exclaimed.
Austin let out a sudden, understanding 'oooh'. As if on cue both of their phones rang and both of them picked up, separated from their cuddling.
"Hello Ally, I'm glad you're back to performing and back with Austin…" Ronnie started and it was clear he was trying hard to stay calm. "Just let me get right to the point, you can't be a duo with Austin."
"Hello Austin," Jimmy said through Austin's phone, "I saw the Helen Show and I was thinking… Isn't Ally signed to Romone Records? Isn't Ally with a competing record label?" he continued to ask.
Both Ronnie and Jimmy continued to tell both Ally and Austin that they couldn't be a duo for another minuet, barely letting either get a word in before hanging up.
Austin and Ally looked at each other nervously, "This is going to be a problem…" Austin said.
Ally nodded, "Ronnie doesn't want to let me go." She rested her head back on Austin.
"Neither does Jimmy…" Austin confirmed.
"Maybe they could work together?" Ally suggested hopefully.
"They're opposing record labels, do you think they would?"
Ally was silent for a moment, "I guess not," she finally said.
There was a long silence while both of them thought of solutions. Their blissful peacefulness from before has disappeared and replaced by the stress of the real world.
"I think the best idea we have is to see if they can work together… unless you have anything, Harvard graduate?" Austin finally said.
Ally laughed a little, "No, I guess we can talk to them tomorrow… urg why can't we stay like this forever?!" Ally asked and Austin pulled her closer.
"If this works out we can, I promise," he whispered in her ear and gave Ally a gentle kiss on the head, which was conveniently located right under his chin.
Suddenly the door burst open and in came Trish and Dez, Trish was looking a little nervous, Dez was beaming.
"Guess who heard what happened?" Trish said, doing the same hand thing she had done for years.
Dez plopped down on the chair opposite where Austin and Ally were sitting while Trish stood near the piano.
"Jimmy and Ronnie both called me telling me to try to get this duo idea out of your heads," Trish said.
"Well I think it's the most genius idea since alpaca fur coats!" Dez commented.
Austin shook his head, then nodded, looked confused for a second, then just ended up saying, "We agreed to talk to them tomorrow and see if there is even a chance of them working together."
I'm not letting her go again! He added in his head, his arm still placed firmly around Ally.
The next day Jimmy and Ronnie had agreed to meet Austin and Ally separately to properly discuss what would happen now.
Ally sat down the table opposite where Ronnie was sitting and waited for him to start ranting again, which he did.
"I can't believe you said you would be a duo on national television! Let me get straight to the point, now Romone Records is going to get a bad rep. for not accepting new artists and not being open to new ideas!"
"Well, Austin and I were thinking you and Jimmy could work together?" Ally interrupted.
"W-work together?! With the competition!?"
"Well they wouldn't be the competition if you worked with him…"
"I'm sorry Ally, I can't! You will continue to be a single act and I know fans are eager to hear more music from you so I want you to work on some songs and be back in the studio in two weeks tops." Ronnie said stubbornly.
Ally felt anger begin to flare up in her, though she tried to push it down and stay calm as she spoke. "Well then I'm sorry Ronnie, if we can't work with Austin and Jimmy then, I'm afraid I'll have to drop from your label, I'm sure Jimmy would welcome another artist."
I will not let them take away Austin again! She thought, but then, Maybe that's a bit extreme…
Ronnie looked taken aback and sat there for a moment, his jaw opening and closing, trying to form words but not being able to. Ally stood up and turned to walk away.
"Wait! Ally… I guess I'll… think, about it," Ronnie chocked out the words and Ally couldn't stop a satisfied grin from creeping across her face.
"Thank you," Ally said and started to walk away. It was a short meeting but a progressive one, at least she got Ronnie to think about it.
Meanwhile Austin was having a little bit more trouble with Jimmy.
"Why did you want to meet me? I already told you, you can't be a duo with Ally; she's under another label!" Jimmy said when Austin had sat down in a chair across from his desk.
"What if you and Ronnie worked together? You could work as one label…" Austin suggested.
"Work together? With another label?! That's never been heard of!"
"Well theirs a first for everything, you and Ronnie will be the first labels to work together."
"Nope, I won't do it, I can't work with Ronnie."
Austin sighed, Jimmy was starting to act like a child and it was getting very annoying. "Look, why don't you want to work with him?!" Austin asked.
"I tried to! When we first entered the music buis we worked together both being the head of one record label, Romone Starr records, but we had our differences and couldn't agree on anything so we had to split, creating two new record labels." Jimmy said and Austin swore he saw little flames in Jimmy's eyes.
Ok then… this makes things more difficult… at least he has a reason and isn't just stubborn.
"Well maybe you can work things out, or set your differences aside so that one of you doesn't have to drop one of us." Austin said.
"If Ronnie needs to drop Ally that'd be fine with me, she could just join your act."
Austin sighed, "He doesn't want to drop her though!"
"Welp, looks like you two will continue to be separate acts," Jimmy said pitilessly.
Throughout the whole 'discussion' Austin's irritation level had slowly been rising. "Ok look, if you and Ronnie don't stop acting like stupid children then I'm done! I will no longer be a Starr Recording artist! Call me when you are ready to work with Ronnie."
Austin tried to keep his cool as he stormed out of the room leaving behind a very surprised Jimmy Starr.
By the time Austin reached the Music Factory, where Ally had told him she would be, he had calmed down.
"So, how'd it go?" Ally asked from the piano seat.
"Ok, I guess, I mean I kinda told Jimmy that if he didn't start getting along with Ronnie I'd quit but other than that it was ok," Austin said, joining her on the seat.
"Same…" Ally replied.
"Wait, WHAT!? You put your record deal on the line too!? But you just got back to music you can't do that!"
"Woah Austin, calm down, I already, kinda… quit…"
Austin gaped at Ally in horror, "You. Did. What!?"
"I already kinda quit…" she said.
"But you just got back to music!" Austin repeated.
Ally sighed, "Austin, I'm one of Ronnie's best artists, I'm sure he would take me back if needed."
"Ok, well what else did he say?" Austin asked.
"Well basically he said he'd think about it." Ally said 'getting straight to the point'.
Austin nodded, "Ok, I guess Jimmy will too, I told him to call me when he's ready to get along with Ronnie. I also found out why they don't want to work together."
"Really? I guess that helps, so why? Don't they wanna work together?" Ally asked.
"Apparently they had a record company a while ago but couldn't agree on anything so they had to split," Austin explained.
Ally nodded, "Oooooh, ok that makes more sense."
The two sat in silence for a moment until Ally's hands found their way onto the piano and started playing the melody she was earlier.
"Maybe we could use these chords?" Austin suggested while playing a G chord then a C chord.
"Perfect!" Ally said, beaming. Even though they hadn't sat at a piano together for four years it was still so easy for the two to write together,as if two pieces of a puzzle had found there place.
The two continued to play the piano and work out a song. When their hands brushed, as they always did, Ally rested her head on Austin's shoulder; that moment would never get old.
Three days passed and Jimmy still hadn't contacted Austin about working with Ronnie and Austin was starting to get a bit worried that he really would not work with Romone records.
Ronnie, on the other hand, messaged Ally saying that he would work with Jimmy, if Ally were still signed with his label, which, of course, she was.
"What if Jimmy isn't doing it? What if he doesn't drop me? What if he never speaks to me again!?" Austin asked worriedly while walking with Ally to the mall food court, they had been spending the morning writing songs.
"Austin, you're getting worried over nothing, maybe he's still thinking, maybe he's been too busy, and I'm pretty sure he will have to talk to you eventually," Ally reassured him.
"I guess that's true…" Austin said, "Woah they still have Stuff In A Cone here!" he suddenly exclaimed.
Ally looked to where Austin was pointing and sighed, "How? It's not even that good… though I guess they get points for creativity."
Austin ignored her comment and walked over to the counter to order a pancake in a cone while Ally waited for him at a table.
When they had finished eating they went back to the Music Factory to write more. Eventually Trish and Dez stopped by.
"Nothing from Jimmy yet then?" Trish asked, Austin shook his head.
"Well he's a busy man, you can't blame him," Dez said, just then Austin's phone went off and when he checked it he saw a text from Jimmy.
"Good timing," Ally commented.
"YES!" he cheered and quickly swiped to read it. "Fine Austin, I'll try to work with Ronnie, just remember, you're still signed to my label," Austin read out loud.
"Hey look he even put a little duck face!" Dez pointed out, making the face himself.
Trish rolled her eyes, "Doofus," she muttered.
'Great! :) when are you available for a meeting?' Austin texted back, then turned to Ally, "Ally do you know when Ronnie is available for a meeting?" he asked.
Ally shrugged, "I'll ask," she said and pulled out her phone. 'Jimmy agrees to work with us! When are you available for a meeting?' she wrote.
"Now all we need to do is wait for a reply," Dez said, "This could take hours!"
Suddenly Austin's phone went off again, "That wasn't too long," Austin commented.
"He'll be tomorrow, in the morning," Austin read.
Ally's phone went off. "Do they have coordinating schedules?!" she asked before reading the text.
"The earliest he'll be ready is tomorrow," Ally said already texting back a reply, 'we were thinking in the morning?'
They continued figuring out a time and place for a few more minutes until it was finally settled to meet at Shredder's at 9:30.
The next day Ally got to Shredder's early, at about 9:10, Jimmy and Ronnie came on time, but Austin, as always was late, finally he came at 9:40.
"If you want this to go well I would suggest not coming 10 minutes late!" Ally whispered to him as they sat down, Jimmy and Ronnie across from each other and Austin and Ally next to them.
Ronnie and Jimmy continued to stare at each other from across the table until Austin cleared his throat a little and they looked away.
"So Ronnie…" Jimmy started coldly, "It seems two of our clients want to work together," he continued formally
Austin and Ally exchanged a nervous glance.
"But neither of us is going to let them go," Ronnie said with equal coldness and formality.
"Which is why we suggested working together. . ." Ally interjected.
It was silent for a while longer, until Austin finally broke, "Ok, are you guys going to be able to set your differences aside and work together or not!?" he burst out. Remember what's on the line… he added to them in his head.
Jimmy started to nod a little, "Fine, I will but only if Ronnie won't disagree with everything I say!" he said, and if his word were weapons, Austin was pretty sure Ronnie would be dead by now.
Ronnie exchanged the glare evenly, "I will, if he will," he retorted.
Ally quickly jumped in with her logic, "And he already agreed so I guess we're good, you two can work together meaning that we can work together as well!"
"I guess so," Ronnie said and Jimmy nodded. Austin thought he saw the smallest hint of a smile when Jimmy glanced at Ronnie in which Ronnie may, or may not have returned, though the exchange was so quick he wasn't even sure if it had happened.
Austin and Ally tried to keep their cool while the two head-of-records left and they hurried back to the Music Factory.
"YES! We can stay together!" Austin cheered, embracing Ally in a tight hug.
"That could have gone so much worse," she said when they finally separated.
"Now we just need to make sure nothing happens to make them want to stop working together," Austin pointed out. Ally nodded, "I guess so."
The two sat down on the couch and talked about when their world tour would be, where they would go, what songs they would perform, etc.
Sorry, abrupt ending...
Oh my gosh that was my longest one so far! (about 800 words longer then Boxes and Broken!) I hope you enjoyed! And this is the first appearance of Trish and Dez! I'm really surprised they haven't appeared earlier... Also, thanks for your patience! Anyway bye 'till next time! (hopefully it will be sooner)
