Chapter 16

"Hey, Austin," she said, not sitting down but just standing there.

"So uh, what's up?" Real smooth, Austin. Real smooth.

She didn't answer. Instead she said something else. "Let's take a break."

And then his heart broke. Into a billion pieces. "What?!" he croaked out, not really able to breath.

"Let's take a break," came the simple reply.

"Why?" he set the book down to look at her closely. Her eyes were puffy and he knew she was trying to hide it. She had been crying. Why? Probably because of him. "Ally I don't want to break up with you," he countered slowly.

"Well I don't need your consent!" she fired back. "I just came here to tell you that it's over. Bye Austin."

She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm. "Enlighten me. Why are we breaking up?"

She turned to face him with a glare that could kill.

"What happened? Tell me." Something clicked inside of Austin. "Ohh! You saw me with that girl! And you're jealous! No worries, she's just my sister. But I love how cute you look being jealous and all."

"I don't give a sh*t to who she is!" she spat. "I done Austin! I can't take this relationship anymore!"

He looked at her. Ally wasn't one to swear. What the hell was happening? Was this even Ally? "Ally..." he pleaded, grabbing her hand. "Please... What's wrong?"

"I can't... I just... I can't."

"But she's my sister. You don't need to be jealous. There's nothing to worry about," Austin soothed, thinking of their mixed history.

"I don't care if she's your girlfriend! Or your mom! Or your cousin! I don't give a sh*t to who she is!"

"Don't you dare talk about my family like that! And what the hell is wrong with you?"

"I can't do this anymore Austin! I don't think I know you anymore." And she turned around to walk away, but Austin blew up.

"DON'T KNOW ME ANYMORE!" he yelled. Ally shrunk down, bracing herself against Austin's harsh words. "YOU DON'T GIVE A SH*T?! WELL I DON'T EITHER! AND DON'T YOU KNOW HOW HARD THIS IS FOR ME?"

"Wha-"

"I TAKE TIME AWAY FROM MY CAREER-"

"Technically you're hurt, b-"

"-TO LOOK FOR SOMEONE WHO I COULDN'T EVER BELIEVE I WOULD FIND AGAIN! THEN I FIND MYSE-"

"What do you mean? You found... you found her? Then what about me?!"

He remained silent. But sighed. "Yes, I found her. I didn't think I could, but I did."

"Where does that leave me?" Ally asked clearly heart-broken. "Never mind. We're over anyways, so..." She turned to leave once more to be stopped by Austin's voice.

"It leaves you in my heart."

She turned around to look at him. "Austin, I..."

"Yes, I found her. It's complicated but all I want, all I need is you."

She shook her head. This was going no where she wanted it. She wanted a quite break-up. A simple good-bye and in the best situations to be friends. Not yelling at each other's throats. "I can't."

"Please, Ally. What's wrong?" he asked again.

Ally nodded. "I just can't, Austin."

"You've said that for the last ten minutes," he said with a urging smile. "Can't you tell me?" he asked her hopefully.

She shook her head. "It's complicated, too. I... I..." She shook her head and walked away, but Austin caught a small phrase wondering if he was meant to hear it. It's over. What ever happens, I'll still... love you.

Now he was just utterly confused. She broke up with him. But she still had feelings for him... What the-?

He sighed and sank into his bed. He needed some time alone so to get away from Dez and his sister yelling at each other while playing video games he chose his bedroom. His sister had chosen the extra guest room and Dez crashed on the couch. It was a perfectly fine arrangement.

But Ally's words kept reoccurring in his brain. Why couldn't get them off his mind? Why couldn't he get Ally off of his mind? What did those words mean? Urgh! This confused him much more than it did ten seconds ago.

Knowing it would do him no good, he dropped the thought and walked out to the living room where loud sound effects combined with Dez and her shouts made his ear drums nearly break. So smirking, he pulled the plug on them.

"What the heck just happe-" Dez began before catching sight of Austin holding the plug.

"Plug the dang thing back in!" his sister exclaimed.

"No," he defiantly stated. "At least not until you help me," he added after his sister gave him a glare. If looks could kill, he'd been on the ground dead, two seconds flat.

Ally laid on her bed thinking about Austin. It had been a week since their break-up and she still doubted herself.

Did she do the right thing? Of course she did! But she still had feelings for him. No, no, no! That was her sub-conscious talking. Why'd she even break up with him in the first place? Because it'd just confuse her even more! She did have reasons to why she broke up with him, but it confused her. Or her feelings did.

She was like a lost puppy. Every all one color, dull, soulless. Nothing made sense.

She sighed and made herself get up. She shouldn't be around moping all day. She was now free to do whatever she pleased! Austin wasn't in her way anymore! She smiled at the thought, but frowned realizing that Austin wouldn't be around anymore.

It was actually late in the afternoon, so she decided to take maybe a small walk around the neighborhood. She roamed her closet for her wool coat since the wind was blistering theses days. December was just around the corner! Oh! The holidays! She needed to get ready!

So maybe she'd start on her holiday shopping. But as Ally, she decided to organize her thoughts on paper. She ran to her bookshelf looking for a loose leaf of paper. Finding none, she grabbed a composition book that looked like it had a few free pages.

In the process a small leaf of paper fluttered to the ground. It wasn't a small piece of paper. It was a picture. It was old and wrinkled after all these years. Ally put the notebook down to pick up the photo. It nearly crumbled to dust from old age in her hands. Her eyes widened to see what it held.

It was a close-up photo of her younger high school self laughing as a blonde dude next to her, that greatly resembled Austin, laughed with her. It was a memory captured on paper.

It was her old high school sweetheart. But it looked a lot like Austin. No...?!

Elliot sat back. Why was he such an idiotic person?

No one and I mean no one can separate Austin and Ally. They were Auslly. They were inseparable. And it was time he acknowledge it.

Maybe it was time to just admit it all? Game over? Start over with a new relationship with his sister and her love? Should he just accept them? Not tear them apart? He could tell Ally cared for Austin, a lot. But what about high school? It didn't seem like Ally recognized Austin to be the guy that broke her.

Or maybe he should just keep quiet? If they didn't recognize each other, then his part might stay a secret!

But then what if they know, but they agreed to keep it in the past?

It was all too much for him. He let out a strangled yell and threw the book across the room. It hit a vase of flowers, making it fall. A loud clatter met his ears with shards of glass flying everywhere. Just great! Another mess to clean!

A/N: So... hi! Gotta post before another school week! Don't worry I'm not going to go AWOL on you guys. It's not going to be frequent, but I love this story too much to abandon it. :)