Hi guys! Woo hoo yet another (more than a) month has passed and here I am. I'm really sorry but I feel like apologies are meaningless if I know it's probably going to happen again so anyway... here's the story behind the last chapter so I hope it clears up a few things. Of course there's still a lot to deal with for Austin and Ally and we'll see where they end up. :)

"I don't know if I can marry Owen."

This was it, the moment I'd been waiting for to tell her that Owen was cheating on her. The moment to tell her that she was with the wrong guy.

"Why not?" My heart stirred and I felt an actual pain as I waited for her answer, just something that would keep me from going completely insane.

"Other than the fact that he's cheating on me?" I stared at her with wide eyes and bit the inside of my lip so hard I could taste blood. How did she know? How could she know? Why would she still be getting ready to marry this dick if she knew? She turned to me again and locked eyes with me. "I'm pretty sure I'm still in love with you."

I blinked and tried to comprehend what she'd just said but she just smiled back shyly and waited for my response, which came in fragmented, incomprehensible sounds. I realized at that moment that words were useless and leaned my head closer to hers, watching as her lips faded from a smile to a little frown, her eyes glancing down at my lips. She closed the gap and it was blissful. Just knowing that the possibility of having her in my arms like this again was euphoric.

She pulled away from me suddenly and rested her head on my chest as I lay back against the comforter and rest my hand against her back.

"How'd you find you?" I asked, rubbing her shoulder as her warm breath spread around my chest.

"Austin," she said, turning to face me, both hands holding my chest down. "What if we could go back in time to that night that we almost," she paused, "you know... and actually do it?"

I waited a moment, letting my eyes wander from one corner of the ceiling to the other before I finally met her gaze. "Maybe."

"Is that a 'yes'?" She asked.

"I guess so. Knowing what you told me about how it actually happened, if you wanted to, if that were even possibly, if-"

She cut me off by kissing me. It was intense and passionate, just like in the music store earlier. I wrapped my arms around her and rolled onto the middle of the bed so I was on top and her head was lost in my pillows as we continued. She grabbed the hem of my shirt and started taking it off. It got stuck by my neck but we let go of each other long enough for her to rip it off and throw it across the room. I did the same and her shirt joined the clutter on the floor. I moved my hand under her to unhook her bra before I realized that this was not ten years ago. We were adults making out in my old bedroom two rooms away from my parents - not to mention the fact that one of us was engaged - despite the fact that she had told me she didn't want to marry him anymore.

I pushed myself off of her and watched as her lips formed a frown and her eyebrows furrowed as she watched me sit on the side of the bed, running my hand through my hair and trying to work out exactly what was going on.

"Austin?" She reached behind her back and clasped the one part of her bra that I had undone before I pulled away and then joined me on the side of the bed.

"This isn't right," I said, looking her in the eye and watching her face as she nodded her head in agreement.

"You're right. I'm sorry." I half-expected her to leave right then, to grab her shirt and hop right back out the window and make me regret stopping. Instead, she rested her cheek against my shoulder and nodded again. "I think I just wanted to get back at him. Revenge, y'know?"

"Oh I know," I said with a laugh before putting my arm around her waist and pulling her closer to me, feeling her skin against mine and missing when we could be this close all the time.

"Do you mind?" Ally picked up her songbook from the floor where it lay closed. I laughed.

"It's yours."

"Oh yeah," she said, as if she hadn't heard me. She opened the book and skimmed through the songs and journal entries she'd made. She stopped when she got to one page and, after reading it for a moment, continued to turn pages very slowly, reading each one a little before turning it.

"What are you looking for?" She didn't answer right away, instead she stopped flipping the pages and read one page two or three times before she handed the book over to me.

"This," she said. I picked up the book and read the entry she pointed to at the top of the page. I'd never read this page before, as I'd skipped around the book a lot and didn't end up going through the middle pages too much unless I was looking for a song or something. Besides, most of the journal entries were the same, something funny that had happened at the store or something about Trish or somebody else in their group. There were a lot of entries about her mom. I read and reread the entry before I looked at Ally. She smiled and nodded at the confirmation of what she'd told me earlier. The entry was short and sweet.

I know that Austin and I have only been dating for a year now - Only? Maybe Trish was right, I am a bit of a prude. Anyway... we went to a movie tonight. It got really intense and when we got back to Austin's house I was almost sure that we were going to, well, have sex. Wow. That's really weird to write in here considering I've had this since I was twelve. We didn't. I don't know why but I almost wish we had. Is that weird? I'm barely 18 as it is but... I just love him.

I handed Ally the songbook back and she placed it on the dresser. I didn't quite know how to feel about it, but I suddenly remembered why we hadn't gone all the way that night: I thought Ally didn't want to. Apparently I had misread whatever signals she'd thrown out, but the past was the past and now I had to make the most of what time I have now.

I realized that she hadn't exactly answered my question from earlier so I tried again.

"How did you find out that O- he was cheating on you?" She glared at me just slightly when she heard my start to say his name.

"Find out? Did you know?" She glared at me again. Apparently she could still read me just like she used to. I nodded and she looked angry, but it faded quickly as her got foggy.

"He's been acting really weird for a while, but tonight he left his phone in the practice room - he usually takes it wherever he goes - when he went to grab a snack from the vending machines and some girl texted him about meeting up tomorrow. It took all of three tries to guess his password and apparently they'd been doing it for months."

"I'm so sorry, Als." I rubbed her shoulder again as she continued.

"He didn't even deny it when he got back. He acted like I was the one to blame because I went through his phone. Apparently he doesn't know how to make it so texts don't actually appear on the lock screen because, well, he's an idiot." She separated herself from me and pulled one of her legs up onto the bed. She faced me before she went on, her eyes were already red.

"There was a lot of yelling and I'm pretty sure I pushed him down half of the stairs," she looked at my shocked face and smiled. "He got up. Not that I'm too happy about that. Then I just told him to get out, locked the store, grabbed my car keys and came here. He didn't even try to stop me." It suddenly occurred to me that we were still half-naked, but it didn't seem like the moment to point it out. I motioned for her to come join me again and she did, but instead of leaning against me, she swung her leg over me and put her face close to my ear.

"Austin, it's two in the morning and I'm really tired and kind of emotional and I'm not sure if this is the right decision but I really want to make the mistake if it is one. So," she pulled away from my ear and looked me in the eye. Her hand took one of mine that was pressed against the small of her back and guided it up to the back of her bra. "Can we make up for lost time?"

A little cliffhanger for you guys. It gets more dramatic in the next chapter but I have it pretty much all planned out. I'll hopefully see you guys in less than a month but enjoy and review and give me some inspiration!