"How? How are we married!? This doesn't make any sense."
"Look I woke up with a ring on my finger and a marriage certificate to you in my pocket. I'm just as confused."
"I had a ring too… but I didn't think it belonged to me.." She sighed.
"Can we meet to talk about this somewhere? We really need to sort this out."
"Of course."
"Right, so uhh… You know where David's cafe is?"
"Yeah, it's about 20 minutes away."
"Meet you there at six?"
"Okay."
Austin was nervous. He was terrified. He knew he was stupid, but he never knew he was stupid enough to get himself into a mess like this. He had looked at the pictures over and over, and honestly, he had never seen himself so happy. It confused him even more. He walked into the restaurant and his eyes instantly fell on her. She looked just like the pictures, but of course she would. He took a deep breath and headed to the table she was sitting at. "Ally?" He asked and she looked up at him.
"Austin." She replied.
"Hey." He smiled and took a seat. "Thanks for agreeing to meet me."
"It's fine."
"So uh.. I have this." He said setting the piece of paper in front of her. "That is your signature right?" She looked down at the paper and nodded.
"I don't remember any of this." She admitted.
"Yeah.. neither do I." He sighed. "It's not so bad though… at least we found each other."
"I can't believe we got drunk enough to do this." She sighed.
"It's not so bad." He shrugged. "You could have lived miles away, this just makes getting a divorce easier."
"We actually have to go through all that?"
"Yeah." he sighed. "Look, I'm happy enough to pay for everything… I've got a lot of money."
"No. This is both of our faults, we may as well split the costs. We won't have to pay much, couple of hundred."
"Awesome." He said, feeling a little guilty after it. "Uh.. so since we're here should we order something?" He suggested.
"I need to get back." She lied.
"Please." he asked. "I don't want us to hate each other.."
"Okay." She sighed and looked at the menu.
"Thank you." He smiled and she smiled back. She looked better than those stupid pictures. Which reminded him. "Oh." He reached into his pocket. "I have these as well." He put the folder on the table in front of her.
"What's that?" She asked.
"Pictures from the… wedding." He said as she opened them up and looked at them.
"We look totally out of it." She laughed.
"We do." He agreed.
Dinner went well. He knew he was supposed to head back to his dads but any escape from them was great. "Austin?" He eye's widened when he heard the familiar voice of Gavin. "No fuckin' way." He chuckled making his way over.
"Oh god." Austin sighed. "Just let me do the talking." He said and Ally nodded.
"What are you doing here?" Gavin asked.
"Uh.. What are you doing here? Thought you would be having dinner with my dad?"
"He told us to go out, since you didn't show up."
"Us?" Austin asked.
"Piper." he smiled and looked at Ally. "Dude! That's the chick from the bar." Gavin laughed and Ally rolled her eyes. "So is this a date?" Gavin winked.
"No!" Austin said. "Look, can you just go away."
"Don't you wanna say hello to Piper first?" Gavin asked. "Piper."
"Not really." Austin said under his breath.
"There she is." Gavin smiled putting his arm around Piper.
"Hello Austin." She smiled.
"Hi." He said avoiding contact.
"Is this your date?" Piper asked looking at Ally.
"No! For the last time! She's just some girl I hooked up with when I was drunk!" Austin gulped when he realized that quite literally everyone was staring at him.
"Dude.." Gavin said. Austin looked up at Ally who looked a little hurt by his comment.
"Sorry." He said feeling guilty as hell.
"If I was you, I'd run for the hills." Gavin said to Ally. "See you later." Gavin took Pipers hand and they walked off to a table at the other side of the restaurant.
"I'm really sorry." Austin said again.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. You were right, I am just some girl you hooked up with when you were drunk, and you're just some boy that I hooked up with when I was drunk."
"It's a little more than hooking up." He said.
"I have to go." Ally said standing up. "I will call my lawyer and get everything going. You should expect a call from him sometime this week." She grabbed her bag.
"So what that's it? We're just never going to see each other again?" He asked.
"Why would we have to? In six weeks we will be divorced." She shrugged.
"Won't we have to see each other at the signings?"
"Nope. It's been nice meeting you." She smiled and left.
"Great." Austin sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
As if Ally's life could get any worse. She went to the only place she could think of.
"Ally?" Trish looked at her friend who's eyes were quickly filling with tears. "Ally what's happened?" Trish asked. "Come in."
"So.. you are married?" Trish asked and Ally nodded. "To a total stranger… Ally I knew you thought he was hot but getting married." Trish laughed.
"This is serious." Ally sighed wiping her tears. "I'm struggling for money as it. He offered to pay for the expenses but I couldn't just let him do it. I'm going to lose the house." Ally sighed. "And now I owe my dad so much money because we stayed in a stupid hotel room for one night…"
"Why don't you just ask you parents for help..?" Trish suggested.
"They will be so disappointed."
"Well you know I am here to help you with whatever you need."
"Trish, I was the girl who was going to make something of herself.. and now look what happened."
"You never knew it was going to happen." Trish shrugged.
"It was still my choice though." Ally looked down.
"I know, I know.. did you tell Austin about Charlie?"
"I didn't think I had to.." Ally shrugged. "I better call Paul anyway.. He's dropping Charlie off tonight. Then I better call my lawyer." Ally sighed.
"It will be alright." Trish smiled. "You will probably never have to see that Austin guy again."
"So what's the big deal?" Dez asked handing Austin a beer.
"I don't know, I just feel so fucking guilty about everything. It's my fault."
"Look, no one forced any of you to do it. You were both just.. drunk."
"This.. this whole thing just sucks." Austin shook his head. "I need to talk to her.."
"Why?" Dez raised an eyebrow.
"Cause I don't want her to hate me." Austin shrugged.
"She really pretty." Dez said glancing down at the pictures Austin had laid out on the table.
"She is." Austin smiled to himself.
"You got a little crush there?" Dez winked.
"No." Austin scoffed. "I'm just saying she's good looking."
"You don't remember anything from that night?" Dez asked.
"I remember meeting her.. and I remember offering her a drink.. and another.. then I woke up."
"Nothing at all?"
"I mean I guess I remember some parts… like.. I'm pretty I got hungry.. so we went burgers."
"Romantic." Dez laughed.
"Shut up." Austin couldn't hold in his laughter. "It is pretty classy, right?"
"So classy." Dez joked.
Austin reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. He rolled it around in his fingers, watching as the light reflected off it. It wasn't the best looking ring he'd ever seen, but it was a $50 wedding. He knew he shouldn't have expected much more. He took a deep breath and slid the ring on his finger, admiring how it just seemed to perfectly fit. "You going to keep it on?" Dez asked.
"I might as well until the divorce is through."
"Fair enough." Dez smiled. "So, are you staying here to hide from Gavin?"
"If you don't mind."
"Anytime."
"Enjoy your weekend?" Paul asked.
"Not really." Ally sighed.
"Good for you." Paul smiled.
"When did you turn into such an ass?" Ally asked.
"Whatever." Paul scoffed and knelt down to the little boy. "You have a good week buddy. I'll see you soon." He hugged the little boy who then trotted off grabbing Ally's hand.
"Say by to daddy." Ally said.
"bye bye daddy." The little boy smiled.
"I'll see you both soon." Paul smiled and got back in his car.
Charlie was Ally's son. Well, adopted son. After college her and Paul, who was her boyfriend at the time, moved into an apartment and became friendly with the neighbours. It wasn't to their knowledge that their new found friends trusted them enough to give them joint custody of their song if anything where ever to happen to them. Sadly, something did happen. A car crash. And so, a 9 month old Charlie fell into Paul and Ally's arms. They were young at the time and going through problems. They split a few months later and decided that they both wanted to see Charlie. Paul has a busy job and was always traveling, so Ally had Charlie almost all the time. It was tough, but Ally loved Charlie with all her heart. It's was difficult for Ally to keep a job, so she settled on being a writer working from home. The local paper hired her, and though she loved her job it never paid enough. With Paul gone the house was more expensive, and Charlie was more expensive. Ally had to work something out, and fast.
