A/N: I am in shock. I posted the first chapter of this right before I went to bed a couple nights ago and when I woke up there were 6 favorites, 9 follows, 7 reviews, and 324 views! Thanks to everyone who is reading this, you totally make my day. I dedicate this chapter to you guys! (So you're like, "Quit spazzing out over some reviews Mia!")

Okay. So in the chapter before this I had Austin ask Kira out again so Ally wouldn't be suspicious. Forget that. Pretend he asked her out because he likes her. This will make more sense. And also pretend Lester and Penny are split up. I'd like to keep it as close to the actual show as possible.

I just saw the promo for Partners & Parachutes (I can't believe we have to wait 10 more days!) and since all the reviews I got say I should continue, here it is: the C&G version of A&A P&P! (I thought it was kinda funny.)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Not the characters, not the plot, not A&A. So let's all be friends here and not sue.

A sad melody drifted through the open windows of the Sonic Boom practice room as Ally took out all her harsh feelings on the piano. It had been nearly a week since she and Austin had kissed, a week of not talking, a week of practice room doors locked by one to keep the other out. And Ally was still hurting inside.

A scrap of purple notebook paper slipped under the door. She and Trish had developed this system as a substitute for knocking so Ally would know it wasn't Austin at the door.

She nudged it open a crack and let Trish inside, quickly locking it again as she slipped in.

"Hey Ally," Trish said quietly. "How are you doing?"

Ally shrugged and kicked at a ball of paper she had been throwing at the trash can earlier.

Trish sighed exasperatedly. "Can't you two make up already? It's been a week, Ally, a week! And it's not just you and Austin this is affecting, it's me and Dez, too. You're tearing apart Team Austin!"

"I don't think there is a Team Austin anymore, Trish," Ally replied sadly. "If I don't write Austin's songs, he has nothing to sing, if he can't sing Dez can't make a video, if there's no video it will be harder for you to book his gigs. It's a loop."

Ally took out her songbook and started to doodle, but even that was hopeless. Every simple smiley face became a devil or had a frown. She put it back down and buried her face in her hands.

"This is exactly what I was afraid of," she moaned. "We've ruined it. Our partnership, our friendship, everything."

"Come on, that's not true," Trish soothed. Ally cast her a skeptic glance. "Okay, fine, it's totally true. But look on the bright side!"

"Which one? Cause there's so many to choose from," Ally replied sarcastically.

"Okay, fine, there is no bright side either, but think about it this way–"

"Trish, maybe you should stop trying to cheer me up," Ally cut her off. "It's not working."

"Okay, here's an idea: Let's go shopping! Shopping always makes you feel better," Trish said.

Ally rolled her eyes. "No Trish, shopping makes you feel better, not me."

"Can we go anyway?"

"Fine. Maybe it'll take my mind off Austin for a while."

"I just don't know, Dez," Austin said as they strolled through the food court. "I mean, I've got a couple options: I can totally forget about liking Ally for now and we can go back to being just friends. Or–"

"You could break up with Kira, tell Ally you love her, and live happily ever after," Dez interrupted, still proudly sporting a purple Team Ally shirt. "It's a pretty easy decision, buddy."

"No it's not! Dez, you don't know what I'm going through right now. I have no partner, no songwriter, and as of now, no career. I need Ally!" He sighed. "I really can't do it without her."

"Okay, so where does the hard decision part come in?" Dez said as he grabbed a free food sample from a tray.

Austin wrung his hands. "Let's just forget about the whole Ally thing for now and have some fun, okay?"

"Let's do it!"

"Trish, how many stores do you want to go to?" Ally complained as they came out of yet another shop. She was carrying eight shopping bags and none of them were hers.

"Okay, fine," Trish said. "That was the last one. Let's get something to eat." She hurried over to the nearest food stall, Ally trailing behind, and looked at the menu.

Ally set down the bags. "You take them, they're yours," she huffed at Trish, painting slightly. "I'll order."

"Okay, but watch out," Trish replied. "The guy behind the counter is hot, and I am talking smoking here."

"Relax, I'll be fine," Ally rolled her eyes and turned around, took one look at the guy, and quickly turned back to Trish. "Oh my gosh, he is hot!"

But not as hot as Austin, a romantic little voice in the back of her head giggled.

Snap out of it Ally! the louder voice of reality hissed.

She put down the bags and walked over to the food stall and told the hot guy what she wanted like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"Best ice cream ever!" Dez decided as his vanilla gelato dribbled down his chin and on to his Team Ally shirt. He grinned a goofy Dez grin and looked around the food court. "Hey look, there's Trish and Ally!" he said excitedly, pointing.

"Who's that guy Ally's talking to?" Austin said, narrowing his eyes at the cashier she was ordering from as he slowly gave his strawberry ice cream a lick.

"The cashier. Duh." Dez rolled his eyes. "And they call me stupid."

"How do we know that for sure?" Austin asked him.

"Well, because Trish calls me that and my mom's always telling me to grow up–"

"Not that! How do you know he's just a cashier?" Austin squinted. "He looks like he's flirting with her."

"Seriously Austin, you're overreacting. Or maybe you need glasses, cause I just see a guy taking an order from a girl," Dez said. "Chill, buddy."

"I am not overreacting!" Austin denied. He gave his ice cream another lick. "I don't even care who Ally flirts with." Despite his nonchalant attitude, he still watched the two closely until Ally left the stall carrying two trays of food.

Or do you care? his heart whispered.

Shut up, his mind shushed.

As he watched Ally, something stirred inside him. Something that didn't with Kira. Something that made him realize why he was on the fence.

His mind was telling him that it was wrong to date his best friend and music partner. Kira, Kira, Kira, it hissed.

But his heart said something different. He was so focused on not hurting anyone that he had no time to listen to it until now: Ally, Ally, Ally! it yelled, louder than his brain and louder than his doubts. And his heart knew just what to do.

He had made his decision.

Ally paced through the practice room, back and forth, back and forth, pondering her situation. "What should I do, Trish?" she wondered out loud.

"Ally, maybe you and Austin should just take a break from each other for a while," Trish said, barely looking up from the CheetahBeat she was reading.

"You mean stop being friends?" Ally said, a horrified look spreading on her face.

"No. Just stop thinking so much about each other." She flipped the page in her magazine. "Besides, now that you've conquered your stage fright, you want to focus more on your career and less on Austin's, right?"

Ally shrugged. "That's true. It's not like my life revolves around Austin."

Trish raised her eyebrows.

Ally hurriedly continued. "What I mean is that it'll be nice to talk about just Ally, not Austin and Ally."

"Hey, look who's coming to Miami," Trish said, changing the subject without warning. "Megan Simms!"

"You mean that annoying ten-year-old reporter from CheetahBeat?" Ally said, bending down to examine the magazine. "Trish, if she's coming to Miami, she's–"

"–going to want to talk to you and Austin," Trish finished.

The two girls stared at each other in worry for a minute, turning away when their was a soft knock on the door. Trish opened it a crack.

"Trish?" Penny Dawson asked. "Is Ally with you? There's someone here to see her."

"Is that someone by any chance–"

Trish blinked as a sudden flash of light erupted in her face. There, in a blur of sequins and neon, stood Megan Simms, camera in hand.

"Trish!" she grinned. "It is so great to see you! You look totes adorbes!"

"Thanks, Megan. Listen, Ally's a little busy right now, so if you could come back later–" Trish began.

"Ally?" This seemed to be the only word Megan had heard. She pushed past Trish and into the practice room. "Ally!"

The reporter ran over and squished Ally in a bone-crushing hug. "It is awesome to see you again!" she gushed. "Can I do an interview with you guys?"

"Well, Megan, I'm not sure that's–"

"Great! I want to talk about Austin and Ally!" She whipped out a hot pink notepad. "Okay. Your duet was totes amaze and you and Austin looked so cute together! What can you say about it?"

Her purple pen hovered above the notepad as she waited for Ally's reply.

"You know what, Megan?" Ally said cautiously, "Right now really isn't the best time for this interview. We'll talk tomorrow, okay? Bye!" She jumped up and ran out the room.

"You can always interview me, you know," Trish suggested, hoping for her own shot at fame.

Megan looked her up and down. "Nah, I'm good," she said. "Come on, let's go hang!"

"That's not what I meant–" Trish began, but the reporter had already grabbed her hand and was dragging her out the door.

"Hey Austin," Kira said as she joined him in the food court. "What did you want to talk about this time?"

Austin bit his lip. He was as nervous as he could get. "Listen, Kira…" he began carefully, "you're a great girl and I love hanging out with you, but…I think we should be free to see other people."

There. He said it. Easy.

"Is this about Ally?" Kira asked.

Oh. Not easy.

"Well…me and Ally are…I guess you could say that, but–" he began.

"It's cool, Austin. Personally I think you and Ally make a great couple." She smiled. "I won't get in your way."

"Friends?"

"Friends."

He gave her a hug. "Thanks for understanding, Kira. I'm sorry I've been so difficult."

"No worries. Good luck with Ally!" She hugged him again and headed off.

Austin sighed in relief. That went much smoother than he thought! The next step: making it up to Ally. But how to do that?

He grinned to himself and left to talk to Dez about it.

Megan Simms wandered through the mall, her little ears pricked for juicy conversations. She had left her Latina friend at a shoe sale, but she actually preferred exploring on her own; more time to think and listen in peace.

As she stepped into the food court, she saw something that sparked her reporter instincts: her new celebrity friend Austin Moon, hugging a pretty girl that most certainly wasn't Ally.

She whipped out her camera. "Austin!" she called, but he didn't hear her. "Can you say 'exclusive'?" she muttered to herself. Oh well. A good shot or two of her new happy couple would do as well.

Her camera snapped picture after picture. Pulling out her notepad and pen, she began her article with a catchy headline: "Austin's New Girlfriend!"

Well. People did love a celebrity romance, didn't they?

A week later, Ally was leaning on the counter of Sonic Boom, scribbling away at her songbook. Her father was at a harmonica convention and her mother was doing an interview about her new book, and shoppers were minimal this time of day. She had the store to herself; but not for long.

A blast of cold air slammed into the shop as the door swung open. She looked up from her book, only to wish that she could look back down again.

"Hi Austin," she mumbled. She acted like she didn't care about him kissing her while asking someone else out, like she didn't care about his girlfriend, like she wasn't angry with him and hurting inside at all. Like the smile she had plastered on her face was completely real.

"Hey." He twiddled his thumbs and they stood in silence for a moment. He sighed. "Look, Ally, I really need to talk to you," he said finally.

"Oh, do you now?" she said sweetly, trying to mask the hurt she was feeling.

"Ally, I'm sorry, okay? I know I messed up. I just want everything to be the way it was again," he said sincerely.

"Me too." Ally smiled, for real this time. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him. "I've missed you."

"I missed you too." He hugged her back. "And you know what else? Kira's completely out of the picture."

Although she tried to hide it, Ally's smile grew even bigger. "You broke up with her? Why?"

"Because…because there's something I need to ask you—I mean, would you maybe–" His words were cut off by a very loud, very annoyed Trish stomping into the store with the latest edition of CheetahBeat.

"Seriously?" she fumed, holding up the magazine. "Austin's New Girlfriend?"

"What?" Austin squeaked. Ally covered her gaping mouth with her hand. On the cover was a picture of Austin and Kira, tight in an embrace.

"What—how—but we were breaking up and—how did they get this?" he spluttered. He turned to Ally. "It's not what you think it is Ally, we had just broken up and we were agreeing to be friends. Megan must have taken a picture of us!"

"But how did she get a chance to take it? Wasn't she with you?" Ally asked Trish, who was squirming and looking in the other direction.

"Well, I might've…left her on her own for a little bit to…look at some…books at…the library," she lied lamely.

"You were at that shoe sale, weren't you?"

"Yeah. You got me."

Austin groaned. "Great. Now everyone's going to think Kira and me are together."

"Are you sure this is what you say it is?" Ally said skeptically, examining the CheetahBeat cover. "It doesn't look like you're broken up to me."

"Ally, please believe me!" Austin pleaded. "You can ask Kira, she'll tell you that it's truth. He made big puppy dog eyes at her and she couldn't say no to those.

"Well–" she began, but she was cut off by Dez, running into the store holding his own CheetahBeat. "Austin!" he said worriedly, "You and Kira are on the cover of CheetahBeat!"

"I know, we saw," Austin said.

Trish whipped out her myTab and looked up the article on the CheetahBeat website. "Look at the comments some people are leaving!" she said. "'BOO! Austin and Ally should be together!' 'What happened to Ally?' 'Kira's ruining Auslly!'"

"What's Auslly?" Austin asked.

"It's your couple name. Get it? Austin and Ally?" Dez explained.

"We know because we made it up," Trish added smugly.

The door was pushed open by a tall, black man who happened to be the head of Austin's record label and his ex-girlfriend's father: Jimmy Starr.

"Jimmy!" they chorused.

"There's my favorite group of teens!" he said.

"Aww! We're your favorites?" Dez grinned.

"Anyway," Jimmy continued, "I just wanted to thank you, Austin, for being such a great boyfriend to my Kira and supporting her through all these rumors."

"What…rumors?" Austin asked nervously.

"You know, the ones about you and Kira breaking up," Jimmy replied breezily. "Haven't you heard those?"

Ally's eyes widened and her heart plummeted to the floor. "Mr. Starr, I'm not sure you understand–"

"It's fine, Ally," he said. He clapped Austin on the back. "Well, I'll see you kids later. Good luck with Kira!" He grinned and left the store.

As soon as he was out of sight, Austin turned around and looked at his friends with an What am I going to do? expression on his face. "How did we get in this mess?" he moaned. At the sight Ally's heartbroken face, he rushed over to her. "Ally, I'm so sorry, I know you must hate me right now."

"It's fine," she said quietly. "I don't hate you." She picked up her book and walked off the the practice room.

"That was weird," Dez said. "Is she okay?"

Austin's face said enough.

"Austin!" Dez shouted. "Earth to Austin, can you hear me?"

"What?" Austin blinked.

"That's like the fifth time you've spaced out on me today," Dez said as he Austin headed into the locker area of Marino High.

"I'm sorry," Austin replied. "I just can't stop thinking about Ally." He pulled open his locker and stuffed some books inside.

"Why don't you just ask her out already?" Dez asked.

"It's not that easy," he said.

"Sure it is. She's right over there with Trish. Now go!" Dez gave him a little push in Ally's direction.

Austin nervously stumbled over to her. "Hey, Ally," he said, a smile plastered on his face. "So, listen…I was wondering if…you maybe want to go…um…" he stuttered, spotted a pencil on the bench next to them, and held it up. "If you want to go sharpen this pencil for me," he finished, quickly putting it on her hand.

She looked at him strangely, then laughed. "Austin, you're almost seventeen. You can sharpen your own pencil." She handed it back to him.

"Right…I'll go do that," he replied. He quickly shuffled back over to Dez.

"I chickened," he informed him, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, I saw," Dez replied. They say down. "I just don't get it, Austin. You're always able to tell any girl how you feel about her. Why is Ally any different?"

"Because Ally is my music partner and best friend," Austin replied. "What if she says no? She'll know I like her and it'll be all awkward between us."

"I hate break it you, but you're not exactly subtle about liking her."

"What? That's not–"

"And in case you haven't noticed, it's already really awkward between you. So in the long run, what have you got to lose?"

"I know," Austin sighed. "I just feel bad about breaking her heart. I want to make it up to her first." He stood up. "I'll get her gift!"

"Like what?" Dez said, standing up too.

"Flowers."

"You already got her those."

"A necklace."

"You got her that too." Dez sighed in exasperation. "You've got to think bigger, Austin. Get her something she's never been given before."

"I'll get her a piano she can play at her first concert!" he exclaimed.

"Even bigger!" Dez pushed.

A smile slowly spread across Austin's face as an idea wormed into his head. "I know what I'll do," he said quietly.

"He was going to ask you out, Ally, I know it!" Trish said excitedly as Ally started to close up Sonic Boom. "Did you see how nervous he was? He just freaked!"

"I really don't think that's what he was planning to do," Ally replied. "I mean, Austin doesn't really get nervous around girls. If he wanted to ask me out, he would've done it by now." Despite her honest words, her heart was really hoping that everything she had just said wasn't true.

"Come on Ally, think about it!" Trish insisted. "He started liking you, then he broke up with Kira, and now he asked if you would go sharpen his pencil. It all fits!"

"The pencil thing doesn't really," Ally pointed out.

"Speaking of Austin," Trish said, looking over at the door Ally was about to lock, "look who's coming."

Austin was running around the corner. He pushed open the door, slightly out of breath, and said, "Ally…could you guys come to the food court for a sec? I've got a surprise for you."

"For…me?" Ally repeated. She shrugged to herself. How bad can it be? "Well, I do like surprises." She followed Austin out the door, a grinning Trish trailing behind.

"Okay," Austin said as he and Ally neared the food court. "Now close your eyes." Ally did as she was told.

He put his hands on her shoulders, feeling a little swoop as he touched her, and carefully steered her over to his surprise: he had decorated a small table with a cake and some candles. Dez and Trish stood close by, both shaking with excitement.

"What's he going to do?" Trish whispered to Dez.

"He made me order a parachute so he can let the piano he bought Ally fall from the sky," Dez replied.

"Shush!" she hissed. "Ally's going to hear!"

"Okay," Austin said to Ally. "Now open your eyes!"

"You got me a…cake? With my face on it?" Ally said, blinking.

"Not just a cake." Austin took both of her hands in his. "Ally, I feel really bad about the whole…me and you thing, and I want to make it up to you." He took a deep breath, listening for the buzz of the helicopter that would drop off his piano. "I can't wait to be in the front row of your first concert when you're playing this!"

As the helicopter finally flew overhead, he pointed up to it. The piano slowly started to fall.

"What is that?" Ally asked staring upwards.

"Dez, the parachute's not open!" Austin whispered frantically. Dez and Trish's eyes both widened as they realized the mistake. They started to back away from the falling figure. Ally, still clueless, squinted at the piano.

"Austin, is that a–" she began.

"MOVE!" Austin yelled. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away just as the piano hit the ground. Ally screamed.

With an earsplitting clank, the piano smashed into a hundred pieces. Splinters of wood flew in all directions, polished black and white keys scattering all over the ground, a piano leg skidding a few yards away. Dust rose from the rubble as the four slowly approached it.

"Austin, you got me a piano?" Ally breathed. "I mean, you tried to get me piano?"

"Surprise," he replied meekly.

"That is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me," Ally said. She threw her arms around his neck and let him hold her tight.

"Ally," he said softly as they pulled apart, arms still around each other, "I need to ask you something. Will you…" He took a deep breath. "Will you go out with me?"

"Me…go out with…you?" she repeated.

He nodded.

"Yes," she exclaimed, "yes yes yes!"

When she put her lips to his, he wasn't afraid to kiss her back. He pulled her close, keeping her in his arms as they parted.

Dez, Trish, and the small crowd that had gathered at the crash of the piano all started to clap. Austin saw Kira, clapping nearly as loud as Dez and Trish. She winked.

Suddenly, Jimmy Starr materialized out of nowhere. "Austin," he said, "Kira told me what happened and I want you to know I fully support Auslly."

"Does everyone know about Auslly except us?" Ally laughed.

"Apparently they do," Trish said.

There was not a single frown that night.

"I'm so happy for Austin and Ally," Penny told Lester as they strolled through the food court. "They remind me of us when we were younger."

"Yeah," Lester replied. "Tall, lively, and full of love."

"Ally's not tall," Penny said.

"I know. I was talking about Austin."

They laughed, and for a moment it really was as if they were together again.

So!

Should I do the next episode and call it a day? Or do you want me to stop right now because you hate me and my writing? Let me know, because that's what that little review button down there is for!

~Mia

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