I'm trying to figure out how to connect this story to my others. It's pretty easy to do Petsitting & Perils and Caring & Conversations. But I think Unexpected is the only other one I can pull off…
Let's just assume most of the romance of Unexpected happened during the Auslly arc of Girlfriends & Girl Friends through Partners & Parachutes. Then Couples & Careers actually happened. So after that it just goes back to ordinary Austin & Ally.
Then this.
Hated, Hated 2, and Matchmaker Megan all share a universe, but they aren't in this universe.
What do you think?
Now I know what you expect. You expect me to say that I moped around for the three months that Ally was gone.
And I did.
For five days.
But, to get me out of my funk, Dez set me up on a blind date. And yeah, I went. The girl was Cayce, and she was great, but she wasn't Ally. But we went on a second date, then a third, then a fourth, and before I knew it she was my Ally. She didn't replace Ally. …Okay, so she helped me write some songs. But it wasn't like I was completely over Ally… In fact, Cayce and I broke up two weeks later.
But I wasn't just gonna mope for the rest of the time. Ally was special, but I knew that she wasn't going to be moping the entire time. She would probably become really close to Jake, and Ronnie would have them date. So why should I tear myself up about it?
So I met this really cute girl, Jenna, and the two of us really hit it off. Actually we were on a date when Ally texted me that she was almost home.
And I know what you're thinking. No, Jenna didn't get really jealous and dump me (and you shouldn't assume!). In fact, she couldn't wait to meet Ally, and came with me to the place where the bus was gonna arrive (alongside Trish and Dez, of course).
After what felt like forever, Ally's bus pulled up. Ally almost immediately jumped out of the door and ran up and hugged all of us (yes, she hugged me first. Get over it.).
"It's so great to see you guys again!" she cried excitedly. She suddenly froze when she got to Jenna, who's hand I happened to be holding, and gave me a confused glance.
"Ally, this is Jenna… my… girlfriend," I said nervously. I half expected her to very quietly greet Jenna and confront me later. But, shockingly enough, she just gave a huge grin.
"Hi! Nice to meet you, I'm Ally!" Ally said happily.
"It's so awesome to finally meet you," Jenna gushed. "Austin's talked about you a lot," she added. I saw Ally blush a little, and Trish shot me a glance.
Of course that's when Jake got off the bus. Ally immediately ran over to him and hugged him. I guess they got along pretty well.
"So you must be Jake," I said and held out my hand to shake. Jake just stared at me. Embarrassed, I pulled it back.
"Jake, this is Austin," Ally said anxiously. Jake looked at her, then back at me.
"I'm Jake," he said simply. The tension between Jake and I was building. Fast. Ally was pretty obviously trying not to chew on her hair.
"So uh, are you…?" Dez asked, fortunately breaking the awkward silence, as he looked between Ally and Jake. Ally looked at me, and I gave her a reassuring smile that I hope read "It's fine, we can talk later".
"Um… yes…" Ally said awkwardly. Jake continued to stare me down- this wasn't very easy, though, 'cause he was only Ally's height. I tried to ignore the ice-cold gaze pounding on the back of my head.
"Congratulations," I said cheerfully to Ally. "You're really lucky," I added to Jake.
"Yuuup," Jake replied simply. Scratching behind my ear, I stepped back over to Jenna.
"Jake, I'm gonna catch up with these guys, okay?" Ally said, still pretty anxious about the obvious tension. Jake nodded, but I could tell he continued to stare at me as we walked off, Ally and Trish talking like crazy.
The five of us (me, Ally, Trish, Dez, and Jenna) hung out all day at the mall, talking about Ally's performances, me and Jenna's relationship, Trish's new jobs, and Jake. Eventually Jenna had to go, since her parents expected her back after our one or two hour long date. Trish and Dez hung out with us until pretty late before heading home for bed. Ally and I continued to hang out together and eventually made our way to the practice room.
"And then Owen swooped down and stole Jake's entire bowl of popcorn," Ally laughed. Somehow she had convinced Ronnie Ramone to bring her bird on tour, and Owen and Jake pretty quickly developed a rivalry. I chuckled a little at her story before becoming serious. Obviously Ally knew what I was thinking because she stopped laughing too.
"So Jake's really friendly," I commented sarcastically. Ally blushed a little.
"He's not usually like that," she apologized quickly. "I think he just got jealous. You know, because of…"
"Right…" I agreed. A beat of silence passed. "Jenna didn't get jealous," I pointed out. Ally crossed her arms.
"Austin, you know this is Ronnie's idea and not mine," she defended herself, but I could tell she was more annoyed than insulted.
"Well you said if you didn't like him you wouldn't have to," I said, crossing my arms. Ally's face dropped. I could tell I said something wrong and quickly apologized (even though I didn't know what I had said wrong): "Ally I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"Austin you know I still like you," Ally yelled, holding back tears. I, of course, was still trying to figure out what I said wrong. "But I thought we agreed we wouldn't date. And besides, you have a girlfriend."
"Because I didn't realize your boyfriend was going to be a total jerk," I yelled back. I don't even know why I was so mad, or why Ally was so mad. But I knew everything was changing… and not for the better.
Wow, I'm really good at foreshadowing-slash-cliffhangers… Okay, I'll try not to next time (though in all honesty it helps with typing the next chapter :P)