Okay, I'm really sorry for this chapter. It doesn't do justice to the story as it should with my making you all wait a whole month. It's very short and it's mostly because I'm out of ideas. I really need some inspiration or the hiatuses are probably just going to keep getting longer- but don't worry. I intend to finish this story and I already know the perfect ending. It's just that I don't have the inspiration to get there.
Owen.
"Owen, this is Austin. He's the guy I told you about. My partner, Austin Moon."
"Oh, wow, the infamous Austin Moon. Nice to meet you." Owen reached out his hand and I hesitantly took it, shook it slowly, and faked a smile. He smiled sincerely and I wondered whether or not he actually remembered who I was from before. Maybe I had gotten lucky. Owen released my hand and looked me in the eyes, holding my gaze and I knew that he remembered. I knew that he knew who I was, and I knew that he thought Ally might trust me. I smiled back, of course she would. Why would she trust him over me, her best friend and ex-boyfriend.
Yeah, that sounds kind of stupid, but I truly believed that Ally would trust me over her fiancé.
"It's so good to see you, Austin!" Ally hugged me again around the neck, but I kept myself from sinking into the hug and just let my arms wrap loosely around her. Owen locked eyes with me and mouthed something that I couldn't understand in words, but I understood in context. I was not to tell Ally what I saw.
When Ally finally let go, I held her arm and smiled. "How've you been?"
"Amazing!" Ally replied, linking fingers with Owen and moving away from my hand just a little. "And this guy is the reason why." She smiled and stared at him and I couldn't stomach it. He returned the gaze and met her lips for a few moments before Ally turned back to me. "Austin are you gonna be in town for a few days? Owen and I would love to take you out to dinner! Say, Thursday? I mean, it'll be a little tough with the wedding on Saturday but it's just so amazing that you're here I need to spend more time with you!" She needed to spend more time with me. It almost made me smile, but I kept my face relatively expressionless at the risk of any kind of show of my true emotion toward her.
It wasn't even my automatic distrust for Owen that made me do it, it was my love for Ally. I couldn't break this up. I couldn't hurt her like this. I couldn't force myself back into her life and shatter everything she's built up. "Um, no. I'm only in town until tomorrow. It was just to get some stuff from my parent's house and uh, yeah."
"Oh," her eyes became big and puppy-dog-like at my response. She looked at me and faked a smile. "Well, it was really great to see you, Austin."
"Yeah, it was." I held out my arms for a third hug in a matter of ten minutes and this time I didn't hold back. If this was the last time that I could hug Ally like this, before she became someone else's wife, dammit I was going to hug her like there was no tomorrow. Lucky for me, Ally's dad called Owen upstairs while I was leaning in and he left without a second look and a simple, "It was nice to meet you".
"Ally, I just wanted to tell you, it really sucks that I'm going to miss your wedding, but I wanted to come tell you... good luck." I breathed in her hair as I whispered it into her ear. She smelled so good, like home.
"Thanks for coming." she responded solemnly, almost an adjuration for me to stay in contact with her. I broke the hug and walked away, completely forgetting why I had come there in the first place as I walked out, not looking back, and feeling the weight of the songbook heavy in my backpack.
You're always on my mind
I think about you all the time
Um, no
"You freaking idiot!" I yelled into my pillow, turning my head away from the iPod speakers and trying to regain and sense of sanity or that any of my decisions were even remotely correct today. I just screwed up my last chance to get the love of my life! My best friend! What the hell is wrong with me?
Let's not talk about it
Drama: we can live without it
Catch a wave if we're bored
There's a clock we'll ignore
Find a way around it
Hey girl, I can tell there's something
Even when you say it's nothing
When you're playing with your hair
Like you just don't care
It's a tell you're bluffing
I listened to the lyrics, much more than I ever had. It's almost like Ally was screaming at me subconsciously that we were perfect for each other. Like somehow we both knew it but we didn't want to say it so she wrote this song for me and I sang it to her and neither of us had the guts to realize what it was actually about.
Now please don't take this the wrong way
I love the things you do
It's how you do the things you love
Well it's not a love song, not a love song
I love the way you get me
But correct me
If I'm wrong
This is not a love song, not a love song
I turned the radio off. I couldn't stand the fact that sixteen year old me was lying to himself, to me, to him. Well, you know what I mean. I thought about it for a minute and decided if there was any song in the world that could possibly be appropriate, could possibly change the way that I thought about things and about Ally, I'd better play that one now and stop screwing around. I lifted the iPod off the dock and scrolled through all my songs and finally picked the one I wanted. The first one that I wrote the lyrics to, and I put it back on the stand, closed my eyes, and held Ally's songbook against my chest while it started.
You're a good girl
The perfect picture of an angel smile
From a magazine...
What did you guys think? Good. Bad. Both? Probably the last one.
Anyway, INSPIRE ME! PLEASE! I hate making everyone wait this long and then having you get a chapter this short!
And for continuity reasons, OOO drama!
