The novelty of fighting fan mobs and paparazzi had worn off by the time they'd reached Denver, Colorado.

There were cameras shoved into his face at every angle and it was, of course, a requirement of Ally's job to assist Austin Moon on his daily struggle to walk the streets.

Trish was there to slap fawning girls away when Ally was busy scolding reporters. The Austin Moon team was practically huddled together trying to get him from Place A to Place B. Ally's hand grazed Austin's a couple times. There were more than enough moments of temptation to clutch it, but she never did.

The only time Austin ever really spoke up was to scold anyone who tried to push Ally away from him. He seemed to have a good grasp on shoving them away himself, he really didn't need Ally's help. (Not like she was of any, with her five-foot-two frame).

There were several sighs of relief when Trish had swung open a glass door and shoved the Austin Team inside.

Cassidy glanced over her shoulder, the camera flashes outside still hurting her eyes. "Did we really wrestle those leeches for some coffee?"

"I have a coupon." Trish replied, waving it in the air.

Bruce and Neil, a couple of very big men that were lucky enough to part take on the coffee run, stood by the doors of the coffee shop, warding away any reporter who tried to sneak in.

The flashes seemed to subside a couple moments later and when Cassidy glanced out the windows again, she saw the reporters huddled by another window which, conveniently, had a nice view of Austin sitting in front of Ally at one of the tables. It looked like he was trying hard not to crawl under his chair. Ally tried to be helpful by fiddling with the blinds. Bless her.

Trish was eyeing up the brownies when Cassidy looked at her. "Have you guys talked?"

"Who, me and Austin? Yeah, of course. Now, tell me, should I get a brownie or a cookie?" Trish replied, distractedly.

Cassidy sighed and gave her a look. "You know what I mean, Trish."

Finally, Trish looked at her. "I honestly don't care, Cassidy."

"He's your best friend." Cassidy deadpanned, eyes wide as she imagined a fallout between the duo's friendship.

There was a pregnant pause. "No." Trish looked down at the coupon she was holding. "He's my client. My musician."

Cassidy's mouth gapped open slightly, but before she had the moment to frantically rationalize Trish's decisions, Trish had walked to the counter and began ordering the beverages.

Peeking through the blinds, Ally eyed the reporters who were eagerly waiting for Austin to appear outside once again. "What do they want from you?" she questioned.

Austin laughed at her innocence. He had his hands folded behind his head. "Other than to take over my life? Who knows."

She grimaced, letting go of the blind. "How do you not go crazy?"

"I'm half-way there." Austin responded, a wild twinkle in his eyes that granted Ally the knowledge that said maybe he wasn't kidding.

He watched her eyes glance towards the counter. She slowly looked at him and she was only able to take a deep breath before Austin shook his head, "Don't ask. You know the answer."

She sighed gently, "Austin, she's your best friend. She loves you."

"How unfortunate that the feeling isn't mutual." Austin said, snidely.

Ally gifted him with an unconvinced look, her eyes flat. "Yes, it is. You love her and you always will."

Feeling something in him tick, Austin snapped, "Why don't you focus on your own life for once, instead of always prying at mine? God. You're almost as bad as those life-suckers out there."

Ally ignored the comment. "Don't you at least miss her?"

"Not even a bit." Austin replied, his tone smug. The look on his face contorted into one of annoyance as he saw her eyes roll beneath her lids. He closed his eyes and ran his palms over his face. "You know what? You really piss me off."

Ally raised a quizzical eye brow. "I piss you off?" she laughed for a moment, "That's hilarious coming from you."

"Look," Ally started again, "You both are at fault. Trish did some lousy things that upset you, but then in turn, you did some lousy things that upset her, too. You two can go around and around, but at some point, you're going to have to just accept the fact that people make mistakes."

Austin huffed, "Tell that to her."

"I'm telling it to you." Ally said, her voice had dropped the irritated inflammation to it and, instead, became hollowly serious. Something crawled on Austin's spine.

He shook his head and focused on the closed blind, running his finger on it to distract himself from what was happening right now.

The subject was dropped when Cassidy and Trish returned with drinks.

x

It wasn't a huge surprise that Austin had disappeared out of sight. Cassidy and Ally running around the building to find him was nearly a routine.

Ally's palms are sweating as she clenches them tight. She's seething and swears that if he shows up five minutes before the show intoxicated, she just might string him up on the ceiling.

Cassidy and Ally criss-cross the entire building, both muttering profanities under their breaths, but it didn't matter how many times Cassidy silently threatened him or the number of times Ally prayed, he had disappeared from the building completely.

Cassidy tried his cell phone and to their sarcastic luck, he'd left it in his dressing room, where he was not.

Trish looked between the two hopeless girls with frantic eyes. They hardly looked annoyed anymore, just weary. Austin running out before a show wasn't even alarming anymore for them, but Trish somehow always managed to stay uptight.

She howled at the two, "I don't care how many times you've looked. Find him and get him on stage. He's due in thirty!"

Angrily, Cassidy took a step forward and narrowed her eyes at Trish. "I am not being paid to play Hide N Seek with a selfish, tardy-"

"I'll loop the building again!" Ally interjected, palm placed on Cassidy's shoulder. Trish and Cassidy both nodded.

Ally looped the building more than once. In fact, she'd looped it three more times with quick legs. Ally was pulling out her phone to let down Trish again, when she'd glanced out a window. There were two figures standing in the parking lot.

Austin. Her mind growled.

When she'd opened the door, her blood was boiling so hot and angry that when the cool air hit her cheeks, she hardly felt it. Her legs swung one after the other with big strides. Her fists were still clenched by her sides and she was thinking of a scenario in her mind where she decked Austin in the back of the head for simply being so ignorant, selfish and tardy. But before the imagined-scenario could play over for the fourth time, her feet brought her to an abrupt halt.

The sound of yelling quietened the pulsing blood in her ear drums. The air seemed to have stilled around her and she was no longer seeing red. Just Austin's tensed back and the face of a man who looked like Austin's mirror.

She hardly recognized Austin's voice when he used it. It was loud and feral, caught somewhere between a hiss and a growl.

Ally must've made a noise, because suddenly both of the intimidating men's eyes had caught her presence. Austin's eyes twinkled surprised quickly before they hardened.

"Ally, get the hell out of here." Austin snarled. She gulped, suddenly regretting the walk towards him.

"Didn't know I raised you to be so impolite." The man across from Austin cut in.

A dark looked shaded Austin's features as he turned towards the man so fast it made Ally jump. "You sure raised me alright." Austin's tone was mocking and angry.

Ally's eyes grew slightly. She looked at Austin and then to the man, whom was no doubt his father, and realization smacked her hard across the face. Ally took a step towards Austin, but he halted her movements with cold eyes. They were filled with daggers. It made Ally swallow hard.

"Go inside." The words came out slow, but nonetheless, lethal.

Her feet wouldn't move.

"Ally," Austin said, after a couple wary seconds, "I said go inside."

Her eyes wandered towards Austin's father. When he'd caught the young girl looking at him, the corners of his mouth curled up and his eyes were kind. Had Ally not known the experience of a drunk, she would've begged to differ with Austin over the things he'd said about his father.

But she knew better.

She knew this was his sober father. Not the one she talked to on the phone three weeks ago.

She quietly cleared her throat and looked back at Austin, "Trish needs you backstage. You're on in...I think it's fifteen now."

"Go inside." Austin repeated.

Ally slowly nodded her head and hesitantly turned around. She began walking away, but not without looking back. He was watching her, eyes like a hawk's. Her feet felt oddly heavy.

Though Austin had requested Ally to go inside, she didn't. She stood outside by the door, eyes steadily watching Austin with his father, no doubt fighting with him. After a couple minutes, Austin had finally turned away from his father and began heading for the doors.

He'd brushed past her so fast she felt his wind. "Austin," she called, following him immediately. She glanced over her shoulder to see his father still standing there, alone. She turned her head to look at Austin and gasped when she was pushed against the wall.

"When I tell you to go inside, you go inside." he growled, scolding her like a toddler.

She blinked.

She wasn't sure how to respond. His words were serious. His eyes cold.

"I just thought..." her words hung loosely in the air, not finding a purpose.

"What, that I needed you?" he spat. He shook his head. "Don't think you were rescuing me out there, because you weren't."

She looked down at her feet.

"That you might've wanted me to stay." she mumbled, correcting him. She didn't meet his eyes. She didn't want to. She hardly recognized them right now.

"And why would I want that?" he questioned.

Ally shook her head, her shoulders lifting into a small shrug. "You weren't okay."

"I was doing just fine." Austin replied, snidely.

"You're only fine when you think somebody is looking." Ally remarked, gently. She peered at him from beneath her long lashes. He was looking at a space on the wall, but when he felt her eyes, he focused on her.

She looked different. Golden eye shadow cuddled around her gentle eyes. The soft look was enough to make his knees stutter, but his feet were strong and held their ground. He didn't bury his face into her neck, no matter how much he wanted to, and she didn't hug him, no matter how bad she wanted to.

"I was fine." he repeated, pushing himself away from the wall and heading down the narrow hallway.

Ally didn't follow. She stood there against the back wall, her eyes staring down at her feet.

. . .

Trish was frantic, checking her phone every couple of seconds. Show time was already nine minutes away and she knew Austin couldn't afford letting down another crowd.

She felt wind brush past her and as she looked away from her phone, she saw a tuff of blonde hair. Her eyes widened and she gasped. "Austin!" she shrieked, immediately following after him.

His feet were marching rather than drifting aimlessly like they normally did. She refused to look into it. He glanced down at her, but never muttered a reply as he made it to make up. Immediately, two women surrounded him and began powdering his face and touching up his hair.

"Austin, where have you been? I called you and-"

"-Trish," he hissed lowly, "Go do your job."

Her lips parted slightly in surprise. She blinked. She'd gotten into many arguments with him over the years, including their most recent one, but never had he spoken to her in that tone before. It was rather startling.

"Um." Trish dumbly let out, swallowing thickly.

She saw a movement by the door and glanced over to see Ally standing there.

Trish slowly looked back at Austin. His eyes were staring into the mirror, but not looking at his reflection or at her, they were focused on Ally, who was looking anywhere but at him. Austin's eyes were vacant watching her, free of any emotion.

The chair Austin was seated on screeched loudly throughout the room as he pushed himself out of it. He grabbed his leather jacket that was slung over the arm. He tugged it on, fixing it in the mirror. This time Ally didn't go to fix the collar of his shirt.

His eyes found Trish's in the mirror, her brow arched at him. The corner of his lip tugged up smugly. She gave him a pointed look and he didn't break eye contact with her. He might've still been angry at her, but Trish was still his manager, still his best friend, and there was no doubt she knew something was wrong.

And something totally was.

But the wrong wasn't with his father. It was with Ally. The look in her eyes, on her face. The look he wished he could've brushed away with his finger tips, but he's never really been good at painting. The kind of look he wished he didn't have to see on her pretty face.

"You should get to vocals. You have six minutes." One of the women chimed, patting his shoulder.

He broke his eye contact with Trish and nodded his head. He ran a hand through his hair once more as he headed out of makeup. His shoulder brushed Ally's and he halted, blood running cold when he felt something latch onto his finger tips.

It was her little, angel hand holding his. It felt desperate. He unintentionally squeezed it just as his eyes grasped hers. They were big and comforting and glassy. He could've melted. But he hoped if he did, he would have melted into her, because suddenly that's the only place he felt like going and staying: to and with her.

His eyes weren't black anymore. She recognized him again. She let go of his hand and he hated the way his fingers ran cold, protesting against the way her hand slipped from his. He stared at her, eyes searching for something but she didn't quite know what, but he must've found it because he turned his head to face forward and left for the stage.

Ally pretended not to notice the stares on her as he left.

There was a brief silence before Trish took a deep breath. "Alright, We're good." Trish forced a smile at everyone in makeup. She looked at Ally who was staring down at her hand. "We better get backstage." Trish said, gently, tapping Ally's elbow as she walked past.

She was waiting for the scolding, waiting on the you better stay away from him, he is going to ruin you but Trish kept silent.

Ally liked it better that way.