Austin sat in front of a microphone. He tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table as he tried hard to concentrate on what a reporter was asking him, but his thoughts were racing and jumbled together, fading out and wandering towards his new assistant.
He gritted his teeth together. Austin was good at not letting anybody's personal opinions get to him but he couldn't exactly put his finger on why Ally's mattered to him so much. He tried to rule it out: Okay, she's an attractive young woman, of course her opinion mattered - No, that's not it. He could've easily taken advantage of her, but with her bitter thoughts of him, it's harder and more frustrating to get her to swoon - Gosh, darn it! That's not it either!
Won't you swoon for Mr. Austin Moon?
Apparently she won't.
"Yeah." Austin says, bluntly into the microphone, answering a stupid question that the reporter seemed to drag out but really could've kept it into a few simple words: You like your job? He was tired of all the heartfelt, intriguing words they always snuck into each question. He wanted to bark at them to ask in a way that he actually understood.
Cassidy, his publicist, sits in the front row and gives him the eyeball. He bit his tongue to keep himself from laughing. What a funny, twisted thing - his publicist, whose job was to make him look good at all costs, had a deep hatred inside for him. It's amazing that she keeps herself from choking when she hears his name, he knows she wants to. It was a personality conflict between the two, but nothing neither of them couldn't handle. It's interesting that he's finding his own assistant dislikes him more than his publicist.
And again with his scrawny, little assistant.
He glances over to where she's leaned up against the wall, typing viciously into an organizer. Austin quickly averts his gaze away before anybody can take a snapshot of his sneer.
"How's the album coming along? Any news on your third album?" asked a reporter, hurriedly.
"It's been a process. I'm still working on some songs with my writer. I can, however, tell you that it's going to be one hell of an album." Austin flashed a forced grin. They all scribble it into their notepads. Austin tries not to roll his eyes. He once enjoyed Press Conferences, loving everyone's interest in his music, but that was back when he was a naive fourteen to sixteen year old. Lately, it's been nothing but a hassle.
Cassidy shakes her head and tries not to face-palm herself. Could he be anymore vague?! Trish, who was standing to the right of Ally, cringes at Austin and requests Ally to grab her a coffee with a shuddering voice. If Austin continued to be any more apathetic during these conferences, nobody was going to care anymore, and if nobody cared about him anymore, he'd lose his job, and if he loses his job, Trish loses her job and if Trish loses her job - Oh, boy, she's going to hyperventilate.
Ally travels out the door and runs towards the kitchen. She tries to sneak things into her organizer as she makes the coffee. Just as she's turning to grab a Styrofoam coffee cup, her arms hits the container of coffee beans, causing it to lurch from the counter and spread all over the floor, little beans rolling in every direction. Ally let out a frustrated grunt.
"Well, don't hurt yourself in here."
Ally looked and saw Austin leaning against the door frame. A fire ignited in her gaze. "What?" she hissed. Austin lifted his arms in defense, a smirk on his face. "Aren't you supposed to be answering questions?"
"It's intermission." Austin said, wryly. He glanced over and saw a broom set against the wall. He grabbed it and tossed it towards her.
Thankfully, Ally had good reflexes and caught the broom before it could hit the floor. She sneered at him. "I appreciate the check-up on me. You can go now."
"Well, let's not get too carried away. I wanted a water, but now that you have the coffee beans everywhere, I'll take a coffee." Austin said, a smirk lined up nicely on his lips.
"You can get your water and leave." Ally growled.
"What's the fun in that?" Austin guffawed. Ally sighed. She got onto her feet and began sweeping the mess that was scattered all over the floor. She was so frustrated she could hear her heart inside her ears. Austin gabbed a dust pan and kneeled down in front of her, placing it in front of the broom to scoop up.
Ally stopped and looked at him. Austin gave another crooked smirk. "Isn't this a shock?" Ally muttered.
"I know how to help." Austin said.
"You're not helping." Ally said, kneeling down in front of him to take the pan. Austin looked at her as she grabbed it. "Either you want something or you want to insult me or you're going to tell me how to do my job." Ally said. She laughed without humor. "Which one did I get right?"
He shrugged. "Actually, I was genuinely going to help you, but now that you bring it up..." he trailed off and looked her in the eyes, even his brown orbs smirking at her, "the last one." Ally sighed, waiting for it. "But I'm not going to tell you how to do your job," he said gently, leaning closer to say even softer, "I'm just going to make sure you know that there's coffee mix in the cupboards." He flashed a mocking grin at her and got up off the floor.
Austin dusted his hands off, sliding his palms together. He walked off with a waltz, grinning to himself as he left the kitchen. Ally sat there on her knees as she took in what he'd just said. Coffee mix. In the cupboards. Why hadn't she thought to even look for something simpler?
Ally sighed. She got the mess cleaned up, brushing away the beans from the dust pan into the garbage. She took a deep breath, this time using the coffee mix, to make the coffees. She was sure Austin wasn't kidding when he said he wanted a coffee instead. After all, he was Austin Moon, the boy who seemed to enjoy making her miserable.
Ally checked her organizer before putting it into her pocket. She grabbed the two hot coffees and headed towards the conference. Trish had already grabbed the beverage before Ally could even hand it to her. Ally blinked twice, laughing slightly and then leaning against the wall, awaiting the conference to be over.
It wasn't long after that it was over and Austin snatched the coffee from her hands. He took a sip and glanced at her. He smirked. "Coffee mix."
As if he could really tell the difference! Ally thought sourly.
"We need to have a talk when we get back." Cassidy said, glaring at Austin as she marched away.
Austin rolled his eyes to himself, "What's she going to bitch about now? My last name?" he said, sarcastically to Trish. Trish sighed and shook her head.
"She means well, Austin." Trish said. Austin shook his head.
"I don't really care." he said, dryly. "Let's get out of here. I have to be at the studio early tomorrow. Ally, let's go." He turned sharply and followed after Cassidy. Ally stood there, taken aback that he actually wanted her to follow. Trish nudged Ally, silently ordering Ally to start following them.
x
Austin sat at the table, slouched in his seat as he prayed Cassidy's rant would be over soon. "Are you trying to ruin your career?" she questioned him.
"You'd like to see that, wouldn't you?" Austin said, mockingly.
"Austin Moon, I am serious!" Cassidy said, slamming her palms on the table. "Your attitude is the one thing that will take all of this," she gestured around the room wildly with her arms, "away from you!" she pointed a finger at him. Austin rolled his eyes. "Austin, are you even listening to me?!"
"No, not really." he replied honestly, giving her a crooked smirk. Cassidy sighed, throwing herself down in her seat in exasperation. She pinched the bridge of her nose and then folded her hands in front of her as she eyed him.
"Austin, you need to fix your attitude. You are holding on by your teeth right now." she warned him. "There's nothing I can say about you anymore. You are losing your fans and you're attitude isn't helping. Let's face it, you got famous too soon, too fast!"
"Let's face it!" Cassidy cried, continuing on, "You were a stupid overnight sensation! A dumb video on YouTube! You obviously weren't ready for any of this and you're proving it now. At one point, I really thought you were meant for this. I really, truly thought that you were that one in a million dreamer who made it! But you're not." she growled.
"You try to sit through those conferences and listen to everything they say! They don't even know what they're asking half the time!" Austin exclaimed, defending himself.
Trish was on one end of the table and Ally was on the other. The two watched Austin and his publicist bicker back and forth. Trish sighed. "Stop, stop, stop!" Trish chimed in. Austin looked over at Trish, ignoring Cassidy who was still glaring at him as she panted heavily.
"Look," Trish said, she turned to Austin, "Cassidy is right. You need to fix your attitude. You're not helping yourself and you'll be the reason that everyone, including yourself, loses their job. I know you have a lot of money, but you're management - not quite so much. We need this, you might not, but we do." Trish said, "You've been my best friend since you were twelve. I saw potential in you and I still see it, but you need to start pulling your load. We can't be saving your ass everytime. You go down, we go down with you, and not voluntarily."
Austin smirked at Trish, making her groan. "I appreciate the help, but I never asked for it."
Cassidy's face became red with anger, "Oh, you-"
"Stop!" Trish yelled, "Cassidy, sit! Austin, wipe the smirk off your face!" Trish took a deep breath, calming herself down before continuing, "Austin, maybe you don't want their help," Trish pointed between both Cassidy and Ally, "But I want you to think long and hard about everything I've done for you. In fact, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me."
Austin sighed, "Trish-"
"I was the one who was friends with your record dealer's daughter. I was the one who introduced you to Jimmy. I was the one who recommended you to this damn label. I showed them your video. I showed them what a big hit you'd become. Again, you might not need their help, but you sure as hell need mine." Trish stated.
"Do you understand, Austin?" Cassidy growled at him, finishing for Trish. "Hell, where would you be if it wasn't for Trish, not here! Where would you even be without me, still not here! Maybe Ally doesn't seem so important to you right now considering you are so obsessed with yourself, but you're going to need her, too."
"That was deep, Cass." Austin said, mockingly. Trish sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. It wasn't possible to get through to him.
"That's so sad." Cassidy finally said, "It's so sad that you're surrounded by so many people who want to see you live your dream, it's sad that you're surrounded by fans who devote their lives to you, and you can't even stay still long enough to say thank you. That's sad."
Austin never replied, but once again rolled his eyes.
"Austin," Trish sighed, "Your songwriter quit."
Well, that was really all it took for him to sit up straight and focus in on the conversation for real this time. "I'm sorry...He...what?!" Austin growled.
"He quit." Cassidy said flatly, "But that is what happens when you treat people with disrespect. Who knows, maybe I'll have the guts to go next." Cassidy shrugged.
"Cassidy." Trish silenced her. She looked at Austin. "Your songwriter quit this morning. We're literally all you got right now until we can fix this mess." Trish sighed for the one hundredth time that night. "You're probably going to want to release one song from your upcoming album so your fans don't go into a state of depression, or worse, forget about you."
"They won't forget about me." Austin stated confidently.
"Yeah?" Cassidy said, "Interesting. Because you do it to them so easily."
With that, Cassidy left the room. Trish looked at Austin, seeing the lost expression on his face. "Talk to Jimmy about releasing a song and that will give us enough time to find somebody for you. Everything will be fine."
"Is that why we had this conversation?" Austin asked, "Is that why you two are so mad?" Trish slowly nodded. "What are we going to tell Jimmy?" Austin wondered out loud.
"He knows. The entire management knew." Trish said, gently.
Austin looked at her incredulously, "So, everyone knew but me?" Austin questioned, a muscle in his jaw ticked. Trish slowly nodded. "Why didn't you say anything, Trish? Before I blabbed on about this stupid album that's probably not even going to come out now!"
"I was hoping that we would get him back, but he sure he didn't want to do this anymore. Don't worry, Austin, I'll get somebody new." Trish said. She got up and left the room.
Ally looked at Austin. She could tell, through his hard exterior, Austin did really love his career without a doubt. He, perhaps, had just done what she always assumed; lost himself in his pride. Karma really is an awful thing to find yourself trapped with.
"What are you still doing here?" Austin growled at Ally.
"Right." she mumbled, getting up from her chair. "Trish will figure it out. I'm sure of it."
"Don't pretend to care, Ally Dawson." Austin said with a grieved tone. "I've lost too much and I don't need that."
She looked at him. "I wasn't."
Austin looked at her, slightly startled, slightly annoyed. "Go home, Ally."
Ally nodded her head. One side of her wanted to leave with a dry remark, the other side of her kind of wanted to kiss his forehead.