A/N: I know, I know, I suck for taking forever. But the chapter is up now. Again, I'm sorry for making you guys wait so long. But I'm still in school for another month and most of you are probably on your summer holidays already, so cut me some slack, please.

Disclaimer: don't own A&A.

Google Translate is being used, so for those of you that are Italian, I'm sorry if I didn't get the translation completely correct. The English is in bolded writing in brackets.

Ally POV

"Ally, pull yourself together," I mumbled as I paced back in forth in my room, my phone in hand. It was Thursday night and I still hadn't called Austin back. I figured I better do it before I completely forgot. I took a deep breath. "Okay, just do it."

I grabbed the piece of paper Dez gave me with Austin's cell number on it and dialled. "Holy crap, I just did it," I said, putting the phone to my ear.

I sat on my bed as I waited. After a few rings, Austin picked up. "Hello?"

I couldn't say anything for a second, and I didn't know why I was so tongue tied, so Austin had to say again, "Uh, Hello?"

"Austin? It's, um, it's Ally," I said.

"Ally? Oh, hey. How did you get my number?" He stopped. "And I just realized how rude that sounded."

"No, it's fine. Dez gave it to me," I told him.

"Okay…but why?"

Was he not aware about anything Dez told me? Did Dez just want me to hang out with him? Dez, that little…he tricked me! Oh well, too late now. "I'm just calling to tell you that I guess I can hang out this weekend."

"Really?" Austin's voice perked up. "Alright, cool!"

"I'm still going to my dad's, but we can do something Saturday if you want. Since there's no school on Monday, I'll just head to my dad's on Sunday and spend a couple days there." I hesitated. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Well, we can go see a movie or something if you want. Or you can come over and we can chill here, or we can go get coffee," Austin said. "Whatever works with me."

"I guess we can get coffee and see a movie after," I said.

"Sounds good," he said.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school. Oh, and Austin? It's not a date."

"Yes, yes, I know it's not a date. I'll see you tomorrow," he said. We hung up.

"Ally!" I heard my mom call from downstairs.

I sighed and went to open my bedroom door. "What?" I yelled down the hall towards the stairs.

"We're all about to head out to see a movie," she replied. "Did you want to join us?"

"No thanks, mom, I'm not feeling very good," I told her. "Maybe another time."

She appeared at the top of the stairs. "sei malato? (Are you sick?)" She always spoke in Italian when she was mad or concerned, and usually when it was just me around.

"Ho solo un forte mal di testa così ho intenzione di rilassarsi stasera (I just have a bad headache so I'm going to relax tonight)," I replied.

She nodded. "Bene, sentirsi meglio, miele. Ci torneremo a dieci (Okay, feel better, honey. We will be back at ten)."

"Have fun," I told her in English, slipping back into my room. I felt bad lying to my mom, but if I told her I wasn't going out with them just because I didn't want to, she would have made me. So thanks, but no thanks.

When I heard them leave, I ran out of my room and out to my car that Mike had bought for me. Claudia had one too, and I had tried to protest about Mike buying me one, but he insisted. You would think it would be about scoring brownie points to try and get me to like him, but that actually wasn't the case at all. And besides, I didn't hate Mike; he was a nice guy and he was clearly into my mom. So now I had a car.

I drove to Crystal's and saw that Sam was working with Crystal.

"Hi, Ally," Crystal said. "How are you?"

"I"m good, how are you?" I smiled. Crystal was a great boss; she was kind to everyone and really understanding.

"I'm good as well," she smiled back. "Sam, why don't you take your break?"

"Thanks, Crystal," Sam said, coming out from behind the counter with a drink. I ordered a cappuchino and we went over to a booth in the corner.

"How's work?" I asked her.

She groaned. "It's been dead since after school."

"That sucks," I said. "It must be going by slow."

"You have no idea," she sighed, taking a sip of her drink. She looked exhausted; her hair was falling out of its ponytail and she had bags under her eyes. "But anyway, what's going on with you and Austin?"

I choked on my drink. "What?" I spluttered. "What do you mean?"

"You two have been spending more time together lately," she said with a sly smile. "I've noticed at school."

"Trust me, there's nothing, and I mean nothing going on with me and Austin," I told her.

She shrugged. "I'm just saying. Ever since Homecoming, it hasn't been the same with you two. And he was definitely enjoying himself when he was dancing with you."

"I would never do that to you, Sam," I said. "You don't date your friends' ex-boyfriends."

"Oh, jeez, I don't give two craps about that, Ally. Austin and I are friends. I would totally be okay with the two of you dating," she said. "We dated for a bit but that's history now."

"Don't worry; I won't be dating Austin anytime soon. We don't fit," I said.

"Whatever you say," she sing-songed. I hit her on the arm lightly, and she started laughing. "So, what are you doing this weekend?"

"I'm at my dad's place," I replied. "And..." I sighed. "And I'm hanging out with Austin." I said the last part quietly so she didn't hear me.

"What's that?"

"I said I'm hanging out..."

"Ally, speak up."

"I'm hanging out with Austin!" I exclaimed.

She shrieked. "Ah ha! I knew it, I knew there was something going on. Admit Ally, you like him!"

"Sam, I do not like him! Dez was freaking out that I had to hang out with him this weekend for some bizarre reason, so I just said yes; he was pestering me about it!"

Sam narrowed her eyes at me for a few seconds as she sipped her drink. She finally sighed. "Fine. I'm going to believe you. But! You have to promise me that if anything changes, you'll tell me."

"Alright, alright, I will," I groaned. "Jeez."

She grinned. "I better get back to work. I'll see you tomorrow at school."

After I left the cafe, I went back to the house. I didn't even get my foot out of my car before my cell phone starting blaring "Going to Hell" by The Pretty Reckless. No, it's not a bad choice of song. It's good shit.

For the lines that I take, I'm going to-

I hit the answer button and flipped my hair out of the way of my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Austin."

"Oh, hey," I said, closing my car door. "I wasn't expecting you to call me."

"Sorry, are you busy?"

"No, no!" I told him. "No, I'm just getting out of my car."

"Oooh, were you at a big party?" he asked in a snarky tone.

"No, I was at Crystal's," I replied hotly. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," he said, annoyed. "Nevermind."

"Well, what are you calling for?"

"I wanted to know if you would-"

"Austin, shut up," I said sharply, turning around.

"That was rude," he said. "What the hell-"

"Austin, seriously, be quiet. I thought I heard something." I glanced around, looking down the dark driveway.

"It was probably the wind," he said.

"No, it wasn't the damn wind," I snapped. "Not one string of my hair is moving." I heard a twig break in the bush and yelped.

"Ally? Are you okay?"

I put the phone back to my ear. "I've gotta go, Austin, sorry."

"Ally, I'm-"

I didn't give him a chance to finish because I hung up and threw my phone back in my purse, hurrying into the house and shutting the door. I locked the dead bolt and the lock. "That's awesome," I muttered.

"George?" I called into the house before I remembered that George didn't work nights, so he was most likely at home. Great, there was probably a serial killer outside my door and I was home alone. It was great knowing everybody! I'll see you on the other side.

I turned on a few lights in the house because who doesn't turn on lights when they're home alone at night. No one, that's who. I went upstairs to change into sweat pants and a tank top for bed, and I put my hair into a ponytail before I came back down. I was halfway down the stairs when I heard a thunk outside, and I nearly screamed.

I was actually freaking out. On instinct, I grabbed the iron poker thing for the fireplace as a weapon. I figured it would be pretty useful if I needed to use it.

"Relax, Ally, you're just imagining things," I told myself repeatedly. "Relax, relax, relax."

There was a banging outside again, and this time, I screeched.

"Ally, open the door. It's me."

I ran over to the door and unlocked it, opening it to find Austin standing there, rubbing his shin.

"Damn it, you scared me!" I shrieked at him before yanking him inside and closing the door again, relocking it. "Why are you rubbing your shin?"

"Because I just smoked it against that giant flower pot your mom has outside," I said. "It's kind of pitch black out there; I couldn't see shit."

"What are you doing here?" I said.

"You sounded freaked out on the phone, so I came over to keep you company."

"I am not freaked out!"

"Oh, really?" He said. He raised his eyebrow. "Then why are you holding an fire iron?"

So that's what those things are called. I glanced down at it. "I'm...prepared."

"Right, right," Austin smirked, taking his coat off. "Prepared to kill someone because you're freaked out."

I shook my head. "Uh, I didn't say you could stay."

He bent down towards me so he was only inches from my face. "I can see it in your eyes." He pulled away and strode over to the living room. "Damn, this house is huge."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I grumbled, following him. "Don't look at me; I didn't buy it."

"I didn't say you did." He eyed me. "What's with you?"

"Nothing," I sighed, pushing a lock of loose hair behind my ear. "I'm fine."

"Well, we should watch a movie to keep ourselves busy. Where are your DVD's?" Austin asked, getting up from the couch.

"Uh, over on that shelf," I pointed. He nodded and went over to start flipping through them.

I heard a bang outside again, and I jumped and whipped around. "oh mio dio, cosa diavolo era?" (Oh my god, what the hell was that?)

"You speak another language?" Austin asked.

I realized that I had spoken in Italian and I felt myself go red. "Yes. I'm half Italian. Looks that's not the point. Did you not hear that?"

"Oh, I heard it," he said. "I was just surprised by your sudden change in mother tongue."

I glared at him. "It just came out, alright?"

"Stay here, I'm going to see what it was."

"Don't do that! What if it's a burglar or something?"

"Ally, breathe. I'll be fine." Before I could say anything else, he grabbed my shoulders and set me down on the couch before he left the room.

I heard him yell from the front porch. "It's just a stray cat!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god. But don't bring-"

Austin appeared with a little white kitten in his arms.

"It in here," I finished, sighing. I stood up and went over to him. "What are you going to do with it in here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Do you have something for it to drink? Like milk?"

"Yeah, but I don't have a cat dish," I said, going over to the fridge. He followed me.

"Use a small bowl." The kitten was shaking in his arms. "Who abandons an animal?"

I sighed. "Here, I'll take it. I'll find something to wrap it in; it looks cold."

"Or it's just terrified of us," he said, but he handed me the kitten anyway. It was so small in my hands.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Austin asked.

I glanced underneath it. "Girl. It's definitely a girl." I found a towel in one of the drawers and carefully wrapped the kitten. "Here, take her for a second. There's a baby bottle in this drawer I can put milk in."

"Why do you have a baby bottle?"

"I don't know," I exclaimed.

A few minutes later, Austin and I were sitting in the living room again, where I was feeding the kitten in my arms with the bottle. "It looks like you're feeding a baby," Austin commented.

'What, you've never seen a kitten fed with a bottle before?"

"Nope," he said. "Can't say I have." He paused. "So you're Italian, huh?"

"My mom is Italian, yeah," I said. "Sorry about the outburst. I don't usually speak Italian unless it's just my mom talking to me. It's kind of awkward."

"No, no, it's cool," he said.

I glanced at him. "...thanks."

"Sure," he grinned.

Austin and I were starting to become pretty good friends, from what I could tell. I never would have told myself we would ever be friends when I first met him. I guess it was nice to have another guy friend. Besides, he seemed to be getting nicer. Even though we fought quite a bit. Oh well, that's what boys and girls do, right?

A/N: I'm working on the next chapter for Parenting 101 so bear with me, I'll try and get it up by the end of this week. Thanks guys, love you all :)

Joelle xx

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