A/N: Hello again! How is everyone? Enjoying your holidays if you're on them? Everyone should be haha, what do you all want for Christmas?

Disclaimer: don't own A&A but own other characters not associated with it.

Ally POV

"Hey, it's Austin. Leave a message."

I hung up and turned to Trish and Dylan, who were sitting on the deck in the backyard, watching me. "That's the third time I've tried calling him, and I keep getting his voicemail. Let's face it; he's ignoring me."

"Maybe he's out of service range?" Dylan offered.

I looked at him. "In Tampa? Besides, it's Tuesday; I doubt he's gone anywhere outside of the city."

"Why didn't you talk to just him at school?" Trish put in.

"I didn't see him all day; he wasn't in English or Gym." I shoved my phone into my jacket pocket. "And those are the only classes I have with him."

"Maybe he's sick?" Dylan tried again.

"Sick or not, I'm sure he'd answer his phone at some point." I plopped down beside him. "This sucks."

Dylan slung his arm around my shoulders and gave a squeeze. His now bright blue hair created a slight shade from the sun. "It could be worse. He could have picked up his phone and told you off."

"Not helping, Dyl," I sighed. "This is all my fault."

"No, it's not," Trish said. She stood up. "He completely dropped a bomb on you, so what did he expect? At least you're trying to talk to him."

"It'd be nice if he would answer his damn phone," I exclaimed, the last part to my cell.

"She's resorted to talking to a product of technology," Dylan observed, speaking to Trish. "What do we do with her?"

"Throw her phone in the pool?"

"Guys," I said, waving my hand at them. "Right here."

Dylan stood up beside Trish. "We just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know," I said. "Thanks, guys."

Trish smiled. "I've got to drive Dyl home. You sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, go," I said, waving them off. "Don't worry about me."

"Let us know if anything happens," they said before heading out the gate to the front where Trish's car was parked. I heard them drive off a moment later.

After sitting there for a moment longer in thought, I got up and hurried into the house. "Mom!"

She came hurrying down the stairs a few seconds later. "What's wrong, honey?"

"Nothing's wrong. Can I borrow the car?" Mine was in the shop getting a flat tire fixed.

She let out a breath and put a hand over her heart. "Oh, Signore (Lord), you scared me, miele (honey)."

"Sucsate (Sorry)," I . "But can I? It's important."

"Mike took it to take Bryce to basketball practice," she replied.

I threw my arms up. "Where's his vehicle?"

"George has it," Mom said. She came closer to me. "Is everything alright, Ally?"

"Yes, everything is- wait, you said basketball practice?"

She nodded. "First game of the season is on Thursday."

I cursed. "I'm going. I'll be back in time for dinner."

"Why do you need to go to his practice? Honey, what's going on?" my mom called after me as I ran to the front porch.

"I need to talk to Austin!" is all I said before running out the door, not waiting for her reply.

The school was a five minute drive from our house, without stops in traffic, so it took me about fifteen minutes to sprint down there as fast as my legs could take me.

"Excuse me, sorry, oops, shit, my bad!" I called out to people as I ran through and into them. When I finally got to the school, I keeled over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

The guys were just finishing up practice from the looks of it when I arrived at the gym. They were all huddled around the coach as he gave them a talk.

"Ally?" I heard from beside me, and I looked up to see Sam sitting on the bleachers.

"Oh, hey," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Tyson plays on the team," she said, pointing to a tall black haired guy. Tyson Miller was her new boyfriend; they had gone to Homecoming together.

"God, does every guy play on the basketball team?" I wondered aloud, puffing out breaths.

She glanced at me. "Why are you so red in the face? And you seem to be struggling to breathe."

"I just ran the entire way here from my house," I replied. "I'm carless right now."

"Ah," she said. "Well, I can give you a ride home if you want."

I waved my hand. "No, I'm fine. Thanks, though."

"Um, to add to my other question earlier…for what reason did you run here, exactly? It's just a practice."

"Austin," I huffed before coughing. I could taste blood in my throat from running in the cool air for so long. "Ew, bloody throat. Gross."

Sam eyed me. "Mind filling me in?"

I sighed and told her everything. "So basically he hates me now and I'm trying to make things right because I don't want him to hate me. Wow, I never thought I'd say that."

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you. He's probably mad, but he doesn't hate you." She grinned. "And I totally knew he was into you. You can see it all over his face every time he talks to you."

"Am I the only one who didn't notice this at all?" I exclaimed.

"Basically, yeah."

I sighed. "Well, I'm very aware now."

The coach blew his whistle and the team dispersed, gathering their things from the bench and hitting the showers. I lightly waved my hands in the air to try and get Austin's attention.

He casually glanced around and his eyes moved over me before they shot back as he did a double take. I saw his lips part slightly in shock.

"Good luck, girl," Sam said, jumping down from her spot on the bleachers to land in front of me. "Text me later."

"Ally? I thought Dad was picking me up," Bryce said, coming over.

"He is," I assured him. "I'm not here for you, no offence; I have to talk to Austin."

"A text wasn't good enough?"

"He's ignoring my phone calls and texts."

"Oooo, what did you doooo?"

"Bryce, leave," I shooed him away. "And you and Mike can go ahead without me!" I added after him as he headed down the hall towards the doors. He stuck his hand up in response.

I waited for Austin outside of the gym doors while he presumably showered. The school was empty by the time he walked out. I stood in front of him, causing him to come up short.

"Hey," I said.

He sighed. "What do you want?"

"What do you think? You weren't answering my calls or texts for the past couple of days, and you weren't in school. How else was I supposed to talk to you?"

"I was helping my grandparents move into an old folks' home," he replied.

"Yeah, today. That doesn't make up for the rest of time you've been ignoring me," I replied. "I've been trying to reach you."

He held his arms out. "Well, you've reached me." He started walking again, and I followed him.

"Look, I'm sorry I was so angry with you that night. I was upset and in shock, and I mean really, what did you expect after dropping something like that on me? It was sudden and I was surprised, so I freaked out and I'm sorry!"

"It's fine, Ally. I shouldn't have said what I did," He said over his shoulder.

"Well, guess what, Austin, that doesn't exactly matter anymore because it's out." I glared at his back. "And would you just stop walking for a minute and listen to me?" I shouted. "I'm not done talking to you."

He stopped and turned around, dropping his bag. "What do you want me to say, Ally? Hmm? You've made it pretty clear that you don't want anything more than friendship from me; it wasn't easy for me to say what I did."

"And you think it was easy for me to come down here and pour my heart out to you? Fricken Claudia made me rethink everything. Claudia!"

"You still didn't have to run out on me."

"I was scared!" I exploded. "Okay? I'm still scared!"

"Scared of what?" Austin yelled back. "Ally, just tell me why you're so freaked out about being with someone and help me understand!"

"Because my dad cheated on my mom with my grade seven math teacher, and I'm the one who introduced them!"

Austin was quiet after that, and I let out a watery, bark of a laugh. "There, it's out. You wanted to know why, well, that's it. I introduced them at a picnic in the park that my mom couldn't attend because of work. She was my favourite teacher and I saw her there, so I thought, 'Hey, why not let my dad meet her? She's totally awesome!' So at my insistence, I introduced them, and before I knew it, they were hitting it off and boom! I caught them sucking face in her classroom a few weeks later. My mother was so heartbroken, she hardly talked or ate for months until she met Mike.

"After that, I never looked at relationships the same way again, and I never desired to have somebody because in the end, everyone leaves. Watching my mother go through that was enough for me to not want to experience the same thing."

"So..."

"Yes, I've never had boyfriend, or anything like that," I said, wiping my eyes. "Another reason why I'm scared. Are you satisfied I told you everything?"

"I'm happy you told me," he said. "And I'm sorry you had to go through that, okay? I am. But it was not your fault."

"Oh, of course it was. I'm the one who introduced them and if I never did, then the divorce wouldn't have happened."

"Ally, it could have been anybody. They were bound to meet eventually if she was your teacher, and I don't mean any disrespect, but even if it wasn't your teacher, it would have been another lady."

I looked up at him with watery eyes and expected to feel total rage at that last comment but I didn't, because deep down, I knew he was right. I nodded. "I know."

He came up to me and wiped the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. "Now where's that pretty smile I love so much?"

I smiled at him, and he grinned back. "There it is. Much better."

"So," I started. "Um…could we maybe continue where we left off that night?"

"Which was where?"

I looked up at him before lightly placing my hand on his cheek and leaning up to kiss him. And let me tell you, it felt perfect.

His hand went straight to my waist and pulled me in closer. When we separated, he rested his forehead on mine. "I've been wanting to do that for so long."

I let out a small laugh. "Just small steps for now, okay? I'm new at this."

He kissed my forehead. "Whatever you want is okay with me."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! :)

Joelle xx

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