Chapter 20

"I.. okay. Can I help?"

Brady nodded. "Of course." The bell sounded again. "That's probably her." He wiped his tears away and looked at Ally then to the girl who just arrived. "Ally, meet my cousin Pa-"

A growl could be heard. "Don't you dare say it! How many times do I have to tell you?! It's..."

Ally knew that voice. She followed Brady's gaze. "Trish?!"

Ally couldn't believe her eyes. Trish, Trish! Patricia, or Trish as she prefers, de la Rosa was standing there right before her very eyes. Trish de la Rosa her childhood best friend?! She must be dreaming.

But she wasn't. Trish was there. Actually right in front of her in flesh and bone. Physically her.

Ally's mouth dropped and her eyes stayed glued to her best friend. She'd changed. Ten years and done her some good. Trish was a bit taller, but not that much and she had slimmed down a bit. But Ally could tell Trish still had that fiery personality of hers. Plus that bossy tone, but Trish the loyal true-to-the-end girl was still there. Trish walked up to her table, as Ally numbly sat down with her approach.

"Close your mouth girl, you'll catch some flies," Trish commented.

Ally's mouth dropped, again. Did Trish not recognize her? Has her best friend forgotten her already? "Um, um.. hi," Ally sputtered.

"Yeah, nice to meet you. So Brady, when's the date of the cremation?" Trish asked as she sat next to Dallas and turned to Brady.

All Ally could do was refrain from staring. Forgotten. That word kept flashing in her thoughts. So instead, she stared cast-down at her hands folded in her lap.

"Well um..." Brady couldn't really form words right now. He could really feel the tense air, but he had no idea why.

"I-I think I'll go. Thanks for everything Dallas, nice to see you Brady, and I'm sorry for your loss," Ally stuttered before she shakily grabbed her things.

"Oh, Ally," Trish sighed. "That was a prank. Guess you're still you."

Ally sat back down and stared at her best friend. "P-prank? Trish! I can't believe you! After all these years of not seeing you, you pull a prank on me?! Unbelievable!"

Trish laughed. "Yep, there's Ally all right."

"I don't know if I can forgive you, Trish."

"Oh, alright! I'm sorry. And trust me. It took every single ounce of me to not run in screaming my ass off, and hug you to death!" she exclaimed.

There we go! Ally got the real Trish now. "I was kidding. So, got you back!"

"Ohhh... So Ally Dawson, a prankster now, eh?" Trish cheekily asked with a flourish of her eyebrows.

Ally laughed. She missed her best friend to death! And every time she was in Miami she too had to will herself with every willpower she had in her body to now come down to Trish's house and greet her. It had been a painful ten years without her best friend.

"I've missed you Trish," Ally states.

"Awe! I've missed you too! But how come you didn't come and visit me in Miami? I've been wa-"

But Trish got cut off by her cousin, which might not be the smartest thing to do. "Um, excuse me, but you were here for a different reason Pa- uh, I mean Trish."

Trish nodded. "Thank you for remembering my name. And yes, let's get back to that, but I'll catch up with you later Ally. So where should we meet later? After all the preparation ideas have been sorted?"

"Actually, I knew May so I wanted to help."

"Ally. You don't need to. I know you want to help, but I think that-" Trish started but got cut off.

Ally knew her best friend. And at times like these, Trish wasn't really herself. "Trish. I know you. Underneath this tough, you-can't-faze-me exterior, you're fragile underneath. You're actually hurting. You can't fool me. I'm your best friend."

"Ally I-"

"Trish, please. Let me help. We'll get through this together," Ally pleaded. "You need someone right now." She got up from her seat and crouched next to her best friend who now was shedding tears. She patted Trish and the back and offered words of comfort.

"I-I miss her, Ally," Trish sobbed. "T-the last time... the last time I saw her was when I was 15. 11 years ago. I-I had pushed her away t-then. I d-didn't know she had pancreatic cancer."

"I'm sorry Trish. She was a caring lady when I first met her ten years ago. She really helped me out when I was in a fix especially... yeah. And she'll be proud of who you are today. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, I'm just being stupid," Trish said, picking herself up and wiping the tears.

"We all have those moments," Ally replied as she walked back to her seat.

"So... arrangements?" Trish asked.

"I think that's my cue to leave," Dallas said as the bell rang to signal yet another customer. "I'll let you three get to work. I'll talk to you later, Als."

Ally smiled. "Yeah, thanks for everything again, Dallas. Thank you."

"No problem. Well, I'll go now." Ally watched his retreating figure as she mentally thanked him once more or all of what he's done for her.

"So," Brady began. "First of all, bed arrangements. There's a motel a few blocks down from here and I-"

"Uh, no." Trish interrupted with her hand up. "No hell way, will I sleep in a dingy motel. I've heard there are roaches! But heck to the no."

"Well then where are you staying?" Brady argued, which is useless against Trish because she will always, ALWAYS find a way. "Not with me."

"Then... I'll... stay at Ally's!" Trish exclaimed.

"What?" Ally was off in la-la land but this caught her attention. She snapped her head toward the two of them. "What about me?"

"I'm staying with you!" Trish declared. "Isn't that great! Let's get settled right away!"

There were many things to that. Good and bad. Trish is my best friend and there are perks to that. I'll finally have some company, so I won't be that lonely. But then again, she was Trish. We are different people and we live differently. I prefer things a certain way and for her in her own way. We could talk and stay up together like old times when we had sleepovers, but this is ten-years-later 'us.' Things have changed. We're not who we were.

"Um... I'm not sure Trish... I.. uh..." she stutters. "Ugh, fine."

"Well that settles it!" Trish proclaims. "I'm moving in with ya!"

"That's great, now on to-" Brady begins to be cut off by Trish, again.

"I'll move in right now! I can't believe it! I'll see you later, Brady. Maybe we can plan everything then!" Trish chirped and was gone, probably to her many suitcases waiting outside.

"But..."

"I'm sorry Brady," Ally says. "But I have to go, you know. She'll come around. She just needs something to distract her mind. She doesn't really want to admit it until it hits her in the face. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He looks at Ally with a grateful look. "Thanks anyway. For helping us and being there for Trish."

"ALLY!" Trish barked from out front.

Ally smiled one last sad, reassuring smile, and patted Brady on the back for comfort. "That's my cue." They chuckle lightly. "Well, I'll see you around. And don't worry. I'm always here to help."

She waved goodbye to Dallas and met Trish out front. They climbed into Ally's car which was now piled with Trish's numerous amount of luggage and Ally carefully set off for her apartment. It was November with icy roads, so its always best to be cautious.

Thirty minutes later, they were in Ally's apartment.

"Whoa!" Trish gasped. "Nice place!"

Ally shut the door behind her. "Yeah, my aunt got it for me. But either you crash on the couch or I have an air-mattress waiting for you."

"Isn't this a two bedroom apartment?" Trish asked eyeing the door to Ally's bedroom, the bathroom, and the extra room.

"Yeah it is. But I turned the extra one into my office/study/library," Ally explained. "Sorry. I really don't expect guests."

"So you're thinking of living alone for the rest of your life?" Trish asked. "But I'll crash the couch."

Ally nodded with her decision. "Well what else can I do? My love life is failing."

"Ally, Ally, Ally. Just forget what happened in high school. It was ten years ago, god! Learn from your mistakes!"

"Yeah.. about that. You remember Austin, right? The guy who broke me in high school?" Ally asked. Trish nodded. "Well, I met him again a month or two again."

Trish squealed. "Really?! What happened since then? Spill, girl."

"Well, we met at the Lighthouse Book Café. He still had his usual cocky ego. But I didn't know that was 'Austin' from my past. So I decided to give it a chance. He was so sweet, so caring, but I always had felt that something was off. Then he punches Elliot out of the blue, and when I found that out, I couldn't take it. I broke up with him. He shouldn't have done that to Elliot," Ally confessed.

"What if Elliot deserved it?" Trish cautiously asked, remembering the bet.

"What do you mean?"

Apparently Ally didn't know. Poor girl. "Never mind."

"So yeah. That's it. Its been days since the break-up and I'm getting better."

"So who is that Dallas guy? Your boyfriend?" Trish inquired. "You guys look cute together!"

"No he's not my boyfriend. I just out of a relationship, remember?" But Ally's never thought of Dallas in that way. He had always been there for her. As a friend. As an older-brother figure. But that put him in a new light for her.

"Well, you're bound to start dating some time, so he's a contender for your heart."

"Trish," Ally warned. "I know, but.. I..." She sighed. It was hard. Her mind was just too cluttered of thoughts. "I'll get dinner started." Apparently they've been at it for hours, so now it was evening. Plus that was her way of avoiding the topic.

Dallas stared at her. Her beautiful, strong features. She'd always appealed to him in this way. She was beautiful inside and out. He had knew her for years. Well, technically, they'd been friends since a few months ago, but he'd noticed her for years. Now they were on friend terms.

At least that was something, right?

Ally Dawson. Gosh, even her name was beautiful and rolled off the tongue in that way.

Sure, the town and his past high school years had labeled him as a player. But in truth, he was far from it. Sure he had several to more than a various few amount of girlfriends, but that wasn't his fault! Okay, maybe it was partly his fault, but in a break-up, its not just one person's fault, right? Its both of their faults. And it was just not meant to be. He was also looking for his 'one'. They just weren't it.

But Ally Dawson was different. When she enrolled to senior year, the same year as him, he'd felt something different from her. From the moment he laid eyes on her, he wanted to be near hear, to get to know her. Be next to Ally Dawson, emotionally, mentally, and physically. But he couldn't muster any courage. Plus, hardly any guys dared to ask her out because there were rumors.

Rumors that she had fled her previous place because she was a sl*t and wanted to started over. Rumors had it that she had gotten pregnant, gotten an abortion and moved to Vermont. Rumors had it that she had given someone STD and fled in terror.

But he didn't believe all that trash. Ally Dawson wasn't that type of person. He knew it.

As the years passed by, he got to learn more about her, from a distance. When she left for Yale, he never though she'd return. But she did. Ally became a regular as the famous Lighthouse Book Café, where he worked as a bartender. He slowly got to know more about her.

She was a tad shy, and a bit insecure. She had her walls built really high, and dared anymore to attempted to break them down. But past all that, she was herself. Plus those totally bogus rumors about her in high school were actually bogus! She didn't or wouldn't change anything about herself just because of "societal norms." She liked being herself. Being unique. And she was.

It'd been two weeks since Ally and Austin had broken up. She came daily now, sometimes with Brady or her best friend Trish. Ally was happy. She was soon getting over her break-up. But you could see how it was affecting her, emotionally. Whenever his name was mentioned, she'd tear up. But other than that, she seemed completely fine.

As for Austin, he sometimes sees him around town; or through the cafe's glass windows/walls you can see Austin lurking in the shadows. And that was mostly when Ally was in there. Looks like the other half still needed help getting over the break-up. But Austin would get over it, he hoped.

Patience. That was all that he needed. Before he could secure Ally Dawson as his own.

The bell rang signaling the arrival of another customer. It was November; who goes out in the snow just to some café? Well at least it'd be great for business, since winter months were the least profitable months.

"Hello, welcome to the Lighthouse Book Café. How may I help you?" he said as if he was an auto-mated robot. "Oh, hey Ally."

She smiled, her hair laced with snow flakes. She was beautiful. "Hey Dallas. Um, can I have a mug of warm Ovaltine? The winter season is sure on its way."

"Sure. It's on the house, so you don't need to," he added once she pulled out her purse. "Take a seat." Once she started to her over to her usual seat, he quickly started to prepare her drink. 'Fast as you can get it', his boss always said. Within two minutes he was approaching her with her mug of Ovaltine and he made a little extra for him. The shop was empty so he decided to join her.

"Thanks." Once her drink had been set down in front of her, she quickly took a sip. "Mmhh. A warm drink. Thanks."

"No prob." Dallas took a quick glance outside to see a flurry of snow start to fall and through all of that he could make out a shape in the snow. Only one person would be outside at a time like this. More or less than Austin Moon.

"I love the winter time," Ally sighed as she followed his gaze out the window to watch the snow. "It's so peaceful and so quiet. The whole world is blanketed in white."

"Yeah. So... what are your plans for the holiday season?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I really don't know. Oh, yeah. May Leandro's funeral is in the next too weeks. Brady and Trish wanted to rush it so it'd be before the stress of the holidays."

"Okay. I'll be there to pay my respects." It was a comfortable silence between the two of them as merry subdued Christmas music played in the background. Suddenly Elvis Presley's Blue Christmas started spilling into the speakers.

"I love this song," Ally breaths, trying to be quiet as possible to hear the song.

He nods and grabs the remote sitting on the counter. "Me too." He turns the volume up a bit so it'd be no problem to hear the music. It was the perfect song. Shyly he asks, "Would you maybe uh, wanna d-dance with m-me?"

She smiles and gets up from her seat. "I'd love to."

A/N: Okay, I decided to cut the chapter there. You'll see where this leads in the next chapter. But you'll probably see it coming.

Shout-out to AusllyRauraForever for being the 100th follower! love the name! :D

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