It's only been a few days but my dad has let me leave the house. But he still hasn't given me my life back, also known as my songbook. I walk outside my house and to the diner.
"Ally! I heard you got grounded," I hear someone behind me say. I take my hand off of the diner's door knob and turn around. I see Dez chewing some gum.
"Oh, hi, Dez. Yeah, I got grounded but my dad let me leave the house. He hasn't given me any of my stuff back, though," I tell him. He looks down into my eyes.
"So you believe now?" he asks.
"Believe in what?" I ask.
"The ghosts," he tells me. I nod. His face turns from serious to goofy in two seconds. He takes his book bag off of his back.
"I have ghost repellent if you want it," he tells me pulling out an aerosol can.
"Uh, no thanks. I don't think that will help," I tell him. He puts the can back in his bag and pulls out a different one.
"I also have witch repellent," he tells me. Ashley walks up to us but Austin is a few feet behind her. Dez screams and sprays her with the witch repellent. I put my hand over my mouth to stifle the laughter. Austin picks me up and spins me around.
"Austin, what are you doing?" I ask when he sets me down.
"I haven't seen you this close up in a few days," he tells me. I jerk my head in Ashley's direction. He gives me a dirty look before Austin turns around to look at her.
"Um… uh…" he stutters. He looks around. "So what are you two doing here? You two on a date?" he jokes. Dez and I look at each other. I don't want to hurt his feelings.
"Dude, are you kidding? Ally is not my type!" Dez exclaims.
"Oh, I'm not your type?" I ask.
"I'm sorry, Ally. I just love you as a best friend!" he yells falling to his knees, hugging mine and crying his eyes out. Austin starts laughing.
"I'm sorry, Dez. Austin, this isn't funny," I tell him putting my hand on Dez's head.
"He's acting," Austin says. Dez jumps up.
"And scene!" he exclaims. I roll my eyes.
"Well, we're gonna go. We're not too fond of sluts," Ashley says to Dez and I. Austin didn't seem to hear.
"Well then what are you doing here?" Dez asks her. I give him a high five. She just rolls her eyes at us. She grabs Austin's hand and leads him away. He waves at me with his free one.
"Dez, do you think I could talk to you?" I ask. "About Austin?"
"Sure," he says. We walk inside the diner and sit down. The waitress walks up to us sooner than I expected her to.
"Um, I just want a coke," I tell her.
"Uh, same," Dez says. She walks away and I turn to Dez. "So what do you wanna know?" he asks.
"Um, I just want to know why he's dating that whore," I tell him.
"Well, he asked her out and she wasn't really that much of a whore then. But she just kept getting worse and worse. Then on their one-month anniversary, Austin found out that she was cheating with two dudes from some other town. I honestly think that she's still dating them," he tells me.
"So she was dating three freaking guys at one time?" I ask. He nods. "That's awful. Austin deserves a lot better."
"That's why I was hoping he was dating you when I met you," he tells me.
"I just don't understand him sometimes," I murmur. The waitress comes back with our drinks and I take a sip. I begin choking on it almost immediately. It's the poison again.
"Ally, are you alright?" he asks. He gets out of the booth and pats me on the back to try to make me cough up whatever I'm choking on. A small ice cube launches out of my throat.
"Thanks," I tell him. I thought it was poison at first. But shouldn't the ice have melted?
"Are you alright?" he asks again. He sits back down opposite me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I tell him. I need to find out exactly what happened in that house because I'm pretty sure I didn't tell anyone that their wife was going to poison them. I think I need to take a trip to the library.
"Hey, Ally, do you want to help me with something?" Dez asks.
"Of course," I tell him.
"I've been trying on my own but it hasn't worked. But Austin likes you so it might. We need to join forces and break them up!" Dez yells standing up. He puts one hand on his hip and his other fist in the air like a superhero.
"Dez, please sit down," I say quietly.
"Fine." He sits back down and takes a sip of his drink. I couldn't do that. I'd end up swallowing my gum.
"So how are we going to do that?" I ask. He looks around and something catches his eye behind me. I turn around and see Dallas outside the diner.
Dez's POV:
I stand up and walk outside without saying another word to Ally. I'm surprised she doesn't follow me.
"Hello. I am Dez, also known as…" I pause for dramatic effect. "The Love Whisperer," I whisper to him.
"I'm Dallas. And… The Love Whisperer?" he asks.
"You said it wrong. It's The Love Whisperer," I whisper. "And yeah, everyone calls me that."
"I've never heard anyone call you that," he tells me.
"Well, they do and I've found your soul mate," I tell him.
"My soul mate? We don't even know each other," he tells me.
"Yes, but I see everything," I tell him.
"Okay then who's my soul mate?" he asks.
"Do you see that girl in there?" I ask pointing to Ally.
"Yeah, she's the new girl, isn't she? Been around for maybe a week?" he asks. I nod.
"Yep, she's your soul mate. I've talked to her and she admitted that she liked you. So…?" I ask nudging him.
"What do you want me to do about it?" he asks.
"Date her, of course!" I exclaim.
"Um… I kind of have a girlfriend," he tells me.
"Well, it's been a pleasure doing business with you, sir. Here's my card," I say giving him the card out of my pocket. He looks at it.
"This is a card for a free smoothie," he tells me.
"Yeah, I don't have a card," I tell him taking the card back. "But on the bright side, I get a free smoothie." I walk back inside and sit back down. I put my elbows on the table and my face in my hands.
"Well, he has a girlfriend," I tell Ally.
Ally's POV:
"What exactly was your motive?" I ask.
"I was going to get Austin jealous. He'd try to steal you away and Ashley would get mad and break up with him," he tells me.
"Smart move," I tell him. I take another sip of my drink: No poison… or ice cube. We sit in silence trying to find another way to break Austin and Ashley up…
'Austin and Ashley' doesn't sound right. Austin and Ally? 'Austin and Ally' sounds much better. Ashley can… Ashley can go jump off a cliff and hit several sharp rocks on the way down. And land on her neck. Then drown in a lake that magically appeared at the bottom of the cliff. Then get eaten by an alligator in said lake.
Speak of the devil.
Austin and her walk through the door of the diner thrown all over each other. I do the first thing that pops into my head: I lean across the table and kiss Dez.
He must understand what I'm doing because he kisses back. I intertwine my fingers with his and tangle my fingers through his hair to make it seem real. I was hoping my first kiss would be with someone I actually liked but he'll have to do. As long as the second person I kiss is Austin.
"Ally?" Austin asks. I break away from Dez and look up at him. He looks as dumbfounded as can be.
"Oh. Hi, Austin. I didn't see you there," I tell him smiling.
"You-you and D-Dez?" he asks. I nod. "I-I thought you liked… Dallas," he blurts out. He knows that if Ashley knew that he knew I liked him, shit would go down.
"Eh, he has a girlfriend so I moved on from him," I tell him.
"Oh, I-I see," he says.
"Yeah. And Dez and I were kind of in the middle of something before you rudely interrupted us," I tell him. Dez nods in agreement. I lean across the table and kiss him again.
"I-I guess, um, I'll just leave you two to it then," Austin says.
"Okay," I murmur against Dez's lips. Ashley lingers for a second after Austin leaves.
"I know what you two are doing… but you're leaving Austin alone so… have fun with your little plan," she tells us.
"Alright, whatever," I murmur. As soon as I hear the door close, I break away from Dez.
"Gross!" I exclaim wiping my lips. I feel something weird in my mouth.
"Hey, where's my gum?" he asks me. I take it out of my mouth. Even more gross. I put it on the rim of his glass.
"Yeah, have fun with that," I tell him. "So you understand what's going on, right?" He nods. "Good," I say standing up. I walk out of the diner and to the library. Now all I have to do is find a book on the town's history. I walk inside and I'm struck with awe.
This place seems much bigger on the inside than on the outside. I look for a book, a newspaper clipping, something but I can't find a thing. A bell goes off in my head.
The obituaries!
But where do they keep them? I go over to the librarian. There's an elderly woman that looks like she's worked here her whole life standing there.
"Hello, deary. Welcome to the town 'li-berry'. What brings you here today?" she asks me. I cringe as she says that. I hate when people say it like that.
"Um, I'm here at the… library because I'm looking for the obituaries," I tell her questioningly. "Do you have obituaries here?"
"Yes, they're over there in that section of the 'li-berry'," she tells me pointing to her left. "Would you like me to show them to you?"
"No, thank you," I say quickly. I walk in the direction she pointed to. There's a large stack. This will take a while. I grab the stack and take it to a table. A few minutes later, I feel a presence beside me. I look up and see Austin.
"Yes?" I ask.
"I want to know exactly what is going on," he tells me.
"I'm not allowed to date the people I want to?" I ask.
"You can date anyone you want… as long as it isn't my best friend," he tells me.
"But I really like Dez," I tell him. My fingers itch for my hair but I have to refrain from it.
"Oh yeah?" he asks. "What's your favorite thing about him?" Oh crap.
"I love… the fact that he's insane," I blurt out. A smirk crosses Austin's lips. "What?" I ask.
"I get it. It all makes sense now. You're trying to make me jealous," he says.
Okay, Ally, you can play this off.
"If you're jealous, then that's just a plus," I tell him. That wiped the smirk right off his face… But I've begun chewing my hair.
"You're lying, aren't you?" he asks. I scoff.
"What makes you think that?" I ask through my hair. He tugs the strand of hair out of my mouth. I decide to change the subject.
"Hey, do you know the name of the people who lived in my house? You know, the people who died?" I ask.
"Yeah, the Fitzgerald's," he tells me. "Um, Carolyn and Edward, I think."
"Thanks, that'll make this search a whole lot easier," I tell him. I begin flipping through the obituaries again.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
"I'm trying to find out exactly how they died and who killed them," I say. "This is like a bad game of clue except I already know the murder weapon."
I see flashes of 'Carolyn's' and 'Edward's' but they aren't at my address. I groan and throw all the obituaries on the table. Oh no, I've made a mess. I begin to pick up the papers. Once they're all in my hands, I glance down at the one on top.
Carolyn and Edward Fitzgerald. 1483 Main Street.
What a stroke of luck.
Carolyn and Edward were found dead in their home when neighbor, Tom, came over to borrow milk.
"I went over to their house to borrow some milk, as I do every morning. They didn't answer the door so I used the spare key they gave me in case they were asleep in the morning. I walked into the kitchen and I found them dead at the dining room table," Tom tells us.
Further studies showed that there were traces of poison found in their bloodstream. The butler and the maid said they knew nothing about (Continued on next page)
Next page, next page! Where is the next page?! I frantically look through the obituaries again.
"Ally, what are you looking for?" Austin asks.
"The next page isn't here," I whisper. "The murder weapon has been confirmed but I don't know anything else." I let out a sigh and rest my head in my hands. Austin gathers up the obituaries and puts them back on the shelf. He sits back down beside me. I notice that something is missing from this picture. There's no nagging voice in my ear.
"Where's Ashley?" I ask.
"I'll tell you where she is if you admit that you're only dating Dez to make me jealous," he tells me.
"I don't need to know then because I'm not dating him for that reason," I lie to him. I can't help but shove my hair in my mouth. Lyrics float into my mind. "When you're playing with your hair like you just don't care, easy to tell… you're bluffin'," I sing under my breath.
"What?" Austin asks.
"Nothing," I tell him.
"So I have a question for you," Austin says. He has a question for me? Usually, I'm the one asking two billion questions.
"Go ahead and ask," I tell him.
"What is your problem with Ashley?" he asks. This catches me off guard. He really doesn't know the answer to this?
"She's a whore," I say.
"I already knew that you thought that. What else is there?" he asks. I hesitate.
"The fact that she has you," I whisper.
A/N: I spelled library that way to emphasize the way she was saying it. RossLynchLUVR, hehe I LOVE One Direction too but… I'm more of an R5er than a Directioner :/ Anyway, review, my loyal minions! I'm going to start calling you my loyal minions. Is it alright if I call you my loyal minions? If it's not, I won't call you one. I'll say '… my loyal minions and *your name*.' Does that make any sense? Anyway, really, review.
Love, Kenzie