Chapter Four: Tabloid Rumors

"Okay, let's get to work."

Everyone was gathered at Lighthouse Book Café, where wedding plans were in the works. They had pushed a few tables to join into a larger setting to fit all of them. It was mostly empty except for them and a few stranglers before they headed off to work.

"First of all," Cassidy started, "where will the wedding be?"

Austin and Ally looked at each other and nodded. "Um, me and Ally talked about it and we'd like the wedding to be here. Miami is just too painful to go back to, and Colorado wasn't much of a home. Plus, this place is ideal for some wicked scenery."

"Okay." Trish nodded. "Makes it 100% easier for all of us. Thank you."

They all looked at Trish in contemplation if she was being sarcastic or sincere. It traced to be a little bit of both.

"Moving on," Dallas interrupted. Dez, Brady, Colby and Elliot nodded in assent. It had taken quite a lot of pleading and a little bit of bribery to get the guys here, but Austin had wanted a full group meeting and so it be. And now, they were acting all silly, copying each other's actions. Oi vey.

"Sure. Let's start with the guest list because that's a huge factor in everything that follows," Ally reasonably stated. "Wait! Should we hired a wedding planner? We should, right?"

"Let's just get things in order, then we'll call the official wedding planner," Austin replied. "So guest list... First of all, I want a small wedding. Not extravagant. Do you agree Ally?"

She nodded. "Totally, I don't want to burden myself or my... father... of wedding expenses. Plus it'll be a much more... it'll be... yeah." Ally trailed off, quieting by the second.

Everyone had noticed the waver in her voice and her quiet stature.

"Okay, so then an estimate of guests would be...?" Trish asked, directing her question more towards Austin seeing as Ally has sorta spacing out, staring out the window.

"A hundred to two hundred. That should cover our friends and family, my teammates, and maybe if you guys want to include some other guests if you'd like."

Everyone nodded. Dallas turned his attention to the TV that was hung above the counter and grabbed the remote, turning it on to a tabloid channel. They had been wrapping up a story about R5's rising fame and world tour and some rumors that probably weren't from credible sources accompanied with some photocopied pictures. He was about to flip the channel to find out the status of the NBA championships, when Austin's picture popped up.

"Guys! Guys, shut up!" he said, pointing to the TV as he turned up the volume. Conversation stopped and all heads turned towards the TV.

"Caitlyn Newman with the story," the tabloids reporter said. They did some sorta of toss to the other reporter and zoomed into another picture of Austin in hockey gear, playing on the ice.

"Sorry all you ladies out there," she had said. "But hockey hunk, Austin Moon is engaged!"

All of their mouths dropped, as they stared at the TV.

"How'd they find out? Who leaked the story?" Austin furiously hissed. Elliot shrugged and Trish shushed him.

"Sources tell me that a couple weeks ago, Austin Moon has proposed to his girlfriend, who we still need to confirm the identity of." There were a few stray pictures of Austin in Vermont, but none of them had Ally in it. There was another picture, that surely was Ally and Austin, but her face wasn't visible from the angle. Thank goodness the paparazzi hadn't done their job right.

"Anyway," Caitlyn continued, "it seemed weird that Austin hadn't been playing in any recent games for his team. He wasn't even sitting on the sidelines. Team management had refused to comment. So where was Austin Moon all this time?"

Caitlyn had appeared back on screen to narrate. "Then on Twitter and Instagram, we found pictures of Austin's sister and best friend posing for a picture that had been posted on Cassidy Moon's profile." Cue picture."It was hastaged Vermont, family time, camera shy. Then retweeted by film director, Dez Perrado, Austin's best friend, who commented 'where's Austin? there's not family without Austin.'

"It was a burning suspicion, so with some paparazzi, we found Austin in Vermont, strolling around like he'd been there a while and was familiar with the landscape. But why Vermont?"

"Austin's twitter and all other social media profiles have been inactive for several months now, so it only leads to more suspicion of what he must be doing out in the country."

"Just get to the story," Austin muttered. This time it was Cassidy who shushed him. He rolled his eyes, but turned his eyes back to the TV monitor.

Caitlyn then was replaced with another post. "Then there was this Facebook post from a Karina Moon, reportedly Austin's aunt, that had tagged Austin, congratulating him on his engagement. Shocker, we know! But who's the lady that captured this sporty heartthrob's heart?"

"So," Caitlyn said, starting to wrap up the story, "How do you feel now that hunky Austin Moon is engaged? His fiancé's identity is still unknown, but sooner or later, she'll come forward. Tell us your comments at our website or twitter. I'm Caitlyn Newman." One last smile and then it was tossed back to the main anchor.

Dallas muted the TV, and everyone turned to Austin, who was slightly seething.

"So... um..." Cassidy started. "Sorry Austin if we kinda leaked where you were. Sorry."

"Me too man. Didn't know it'd lead to this."

"No." Austin shook his head. "It wasn't your fault. It's just the tabloids doing their work. We'll leave it at that, but I'll go on Twitter later today and confirm everything. Ally, do you mind if I reveal your identity?"

"I don't mind, Austin."

"Are you sure?" he asked in confirmation.

"Yeah. They're going to find out anyway. But I'm going to have to get used to being in the spotlight being your fiancé and soon wife. But yeah. Better confirm it, if you don't want paparazzi camping out in the whole town."

"Okay. Let's move on to other plans," Elliot interrupted. "So is there any place in this town that can accommodate all that people? This is a small town, anyway."

"Ah, that's the thing Elliot. You guys have only seen the outskirts of this town, the less crowded, more rural areas, where we are now. Wait until we go into Manchester. It's more crowded but not like a huge city like New York or Boston. But it's still got that rural vibe," Ally said. They seemed to have forgotten that she'd live there for the past ten years or so.

"So, then maybe later today Austin, Ally, Trish, and I can go into Manchester and see if there's any wedding planners there and scope out a place to hold a wedding. Wait," Cassidy paused. "Do you guys want a church wedding or like in a park, something more unorthodox? There's no beaches around here so that wouldn't work."

"Cass," Dallas broke in. "It's Vermont. In February. For a wedding. Outside? Are you crazy?"

"Just a bit," she admitted. They shared a laugh, with Dez didn't look too strongly upon. "If it snows on them, it'll make it a wedding to remember."

"My sister will freeze to death, so forget about a beach or any wedding outside," Elliot said, taking his drink and took a sip.

Ally nodded. "Yeah, sorry Cass, but save it for your wedding in Hawaii or something. Then you could have a wedding on a beach."

"Great idea!" Cassidy exclaimed. "If I had a boyfriend that I know is the one." She frowned at the end of her sentence. Dez and Dallas steely looked at each other than at Cassidy and back again.

"Wait. Hang on," Austin said. "I've got a call. Excuse me for a moment." He stood up and walked a small distance before answering his phone. They heard a few yeses and saw several nods. "Okay," he added once he came back, "Hayden, my teammate, says that the story we just saw had been airing for the past few days. The team is a little bit in a crisis, he didn't give me the full details, but he's flying over here right now and he should be in Rutland in seven hours and I'll go drive up there and meet him."

"Wait," Trish held her hand up, "why is your teammate coming over here anyway? Isn't it the middle of hockey season?"

"His exact words were: 'No time to explain; team crisis; read my Christmas text; be there in seven hours; plane taking off now to Rutland, VT; bye.' So yeah, Trish. You tell me."

Ally thought over the words this Hayden character had said. "What's with this Christmas text? What did he say?"

Austin winched. Oh... crap. He hadn't filtered what he'd said. "Oh... yeah. About that... you see is... the thing is..."

"Is something wrong?" Ally asked with an eyebrow raised.

Austin shook his head and made a move to grab his coffee. He took several gulps of the steaming drink, which probably burnt this tongue, and shook his head again. "Nope, nothing's wrong," he mumbled. He let a beat pass before saying, "But, I kinda... Hayden he, uh-"

"Why didn't you tell me?!" The door of the café burst open, letting cold air swoop in, chilling all of them. The warning bell, clanged loudly as the door swung shut. And in came a fragile looking elder woman who walked as if she was 18 and still had the energy to party hard. Elliot and Ally groaned, while the rest stared at her with curiosity and slight amusement. She marched on over to their table and Ally stood up to meet her.

"Hi A-" Ally began, but instead was cut off by the lady hugging her.

Once she let go, the elder lady firmly held Ally's shoulders and looked at her in the eyes. A smile broke the woman's face. "Oh... Ally. Why didn't you tell me?"

"What did I not tell you?" Ally raised an eyebrow.

"Your engagement! I knew when I saw the story running on TV. Austin Moon, I knew it! I cannot believe it! Oh.. I have to tell your cousins, your aunts and uncles. They'll be so glad of the news! And I won the bet! Not that I need any more money, since this woman's filthy rich." Cue her doing a little jig.

Ally smiled and shook her head. "Sorry, Auntie Nancy, I was going to come by later today or tomorrow to tell you the news." Then she turned to the table and gave her great aunt a proper introduction. "Guys, this is my Great Aunt, Nancy. It's a wonder how she's still alive and made it here in the cold."

"Hush, Ally. Now... where's that grand-baby that'll soon be part of the family?" She glanced around looking for the face of the man she saw on TV, the one named Austin Moon. Mop of blond hair and an easy smile. "Austin!" Nancy lumbered over to his seat and picked him up in a hug.

"Hi!" His voice was hiked up a few pitches, due to the nerve-crushing hug. Nancy set him back down and turned to Elliot.

"There's my other baby!" Elliot stood up and gave his great-aunt a hug, before she turned back to Ally. "Now, why doesn't Ally ever visit me? It gets quite lonely over at my place. Sure, it was a brief Christmas visit, but I hardly get to spend time with you."

"Aw, don't worry, Aunt Nancy," Ally said. "I'll make sure to visit more often. But quick question: why'd you come out here through the cold? It wasn't just to congratulate me, wasn't it?" Ally knew her, having lived with her for several years.

Her aunt sheepishly smiled. "I'm here to help plan the wedding dearies. The older brother should've married first-" pointed look at Elliot who looked at his seat "-but no matter."

"That's great, but really. You don't have to."

Her great aunt waved away the comment. "Oh. Then what am I going to do with my money? I need to find a way to spend it truthfully and righteously. And I'll bet your dad's too cheap to spend much money. So dream on, and we'll plan this wedding!"

"Well, it looks like we've got our wedding planner," Trish wise-cracked.

"You got that right, girlie," Ally's aunt retorted. "I'm going to have all of you working until your backs break because this wedding will be the talk of the century!"

Ally and Austin smiled. "Looks like Trish has met her match."

A/N: It's short, it's shitty, I'm sorry. I haven't been updating lately because 1) partly in due of laziness and 2) lack of inspiration and will. Life is at a valley at the moment and this is going to end up as a rant of my life. Oh well. One of my best friends is moving more than 3,600 miles away and I haven't taken the news well. She was supposed to move next year, but surprise! :| Anyway, I'm sorry, but I'll bounce back and I'll be writing sooner or later.
Oh yeah, I'll be going on a trip so I'll be gone for a week or two, but you wouldn't notice my absence anyway.

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