Hey y'all!
Welcome to the final (regular) chapter of Just A Game. All questions will be answered in this one. You seemed to really love the twist of last chapter, I'm known for my cliff-hangers, after all, aren't I? Yea, okay, maybe not. But I liked including at least one. Enjoy this particular long chapter. (I could've split it, but where's the fun in that? You guys deserve it)
Oh, before I forget, some exciting news for readers of the Work Things Out series; I've written the rough draft for the first chapter of the triquel. This means there's actually something more than just ideas in my mind. I don't know if this will actually be my next project (either this one or the cruise crime thriller), but something is happening, I can assure you. Just giving you a heads up.
Ally knew she had made a mistake once she opened her twitter mentions. All her fans had tweeted her in the past few days, were photos of her and Austin. Her and Austin shoving frozen yoghurt in each other's faces. Her and Austin walking side by side, fingers accidently intertwining every once in a while. Her and Austin denying all statements of a platonic relationship by being captured as they're pressed up against each other.
"Fucking prick," Ally scoffs, stuffing her phone in her bag in an angry movement. The kitchen was a mess; the orange juice still painted the tiles, a few pieces of cutlery had been swept off the table and some books had fallen off a shelf when she had let herself break out of her calm trance for just a second. She only has a few seconds to gather her thoughts when she hears Austin's footsteps. She's holding the house phone in her sweaty palms.
Both his smile and his hands holding the paninis up proudly, fall when he spots her stone cold eyes. That's when his eyes fall on the disastrous kitchen as well. "What happened in here?"
"What was the plan, Austin?" The corner of her mouth twitches once a flash of fear spreads across his face, the knowledge that she said the correct thing always giving her a thrill. This wasn't a confrontation with her boyfriend anymore. This was a courtroom case. "Was I the plan?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." He had wiped the recognition of her accusation off as soon as he noticed and was now bringing the food to the kitchen, stepping over the puddle with wilful ignorance. Something about his seemingly uncaring attitude makes something in her head snap.
"Bullshit!" She breaks out of her act and throws the house phone on the ground to add power to her statement. Austin turns around in shock at the sound. "What did your manager tell you to do? Tell me!" She yells.
Austin keeps his eyes on the ground for a while. Ally doesn't show mercy, though, and, soon enough, he starts talking. "Since the show is mostly based on the input of the viewers, Thomas decided I should try to find a girl and create this love story."
A laugh escapes Ally's lips. "A fabricated love story." With her hands in her hair, she tries to stop an approaching headache as this situation threatens to drive her insane. Everything he had said to her, done to her on the island starts to make sense. "It's crystal clear now."
"Ally, I never agreed to it!" Austin hurries to her, the distance tending to only make the fight worse. "I didn't want anything to do with it, alright?"
"That's funny since it's exactly what you managed to drag me into." She walks right past him without even lifting her eyes.
"Are you not hearing me? You were never even supposed to hear about this." He squeezes his eyes shut as the sentence falls from his mouth and quickly keeps talking before Ally can react. "I told Thomas I wasn't going along with it. Do you believe him over me?"
Ally releases a frustrated sigh. "How do you expect me to trust you after this, Austin?"
"Look," he starts, running a hand through his hair," I had the intention to stay on my own during the game. I really had. But then you," gesturing to her vaguely, he tries to make it better, but fails horribly, "happened."
"I," she mocks his gesture without shame, "happened? Do I need to remind you that you were the one to approach me?"
"I know this doesn't sound right, but Thomas did manage to convince me that having an alley would help me. I could see you had potential while others couldn't," he starts to explain, finally starting to make sense. Ally notices she starts to listen more attentively now. As he sits down on the edge of the couch, thinking back to their time on the island, she can only stare. "After a while, I started to fall for you and that wasn't part of the plan." Ally had almost started to believe him, but the last part wakes her up.
"You're saying I messed up your plan," she repeats in disbelief. "An inconvenience? Is that all I was to you? Part of a stupid plan, just a pawn in your game?" She raises her voice again just as Austin shakes his head wordlessly. "Well, I'm done playing."
Austin seems to be begging right now, taking her hand in between his. "I wasn't honest with you and I'm sorry about that, but I love you. I do."
Ally looks at him for a moment, remembering every moment she shared with him these last two months. The moment they met, when they made their pact, their bonding over the tests, the moment at the campfire, their night at the cabin, the finale, and everything in between. She looks him in the eyes one more time before she makes her decision.
"Fuck off, Austin," she sighs, grabbing her handbag. She doesn't look back before shutting the door. "I don't care whether in the end, your priority was the title or me, but, either way, you lost both and you owe it all to yourself."
The fact that Ally had spent an extra hour on her make-up and hair didn't mean anything. She surely wasn't trying to convince anyone she was fine without Austin, better even. Why would she? She had never, in her whole life, had felt any urge to dress up for a guy. Why would she? And she was definitely not trying to look smoking hot in order to remind him wat he had lost. Why would she?
But, frankly, she was doing all those things. And it felt good, just this one time. A month earlier, she had shot herself in the foot before making herself pretty with a purpose to get anyone's attention, but now; she had never felt better. She felt like a freaking princess, no, better even; a queen. A queen on her way to the coronation, about to be slaying anyone who would get in her way.
She shouldn't be feeling so ruthless, she realizes, so she fixes her attitude. There was nothing wrong with a fierce queen, as long as it doesn't make her look like the evil stepmother.
As she steps in the building, she notices she's late, or the others are simply early. While making her way to the bar to get a drink, she's being stopped by a number of other candidates. The small talk mainly consists of congratulating her on her spot in the finale - not even the other candidates had been notified of her win - and asking how she had been, while Ally was desperately trying to remember the names of the people. She tries her best in order not to come off rude, but most of them had been part of the other team and she had only seen them during the short tests.
After finally getting her hands on a glass of white wine, she's about to make her way to the seat that she had yet to find, she bumps into to figures she knew all too well.
"Congratulations on the win," Rachel shows a smile Ally hadn't seen in forever, a genuine, lovely one. Ally is at a loss for words, eying Rachel and Drew, who had approached her, too.
"Thanks, I guess," she says eventually, not knowing how to respond to this slightly awkward situation.
Rachel and Drew exchange a careful glance. "Look," Drew starts, "I know you must hate our guts. We weren't exactly the fairest players." He actually looks nervous and regretful as he touches the back of his neck.
"We were jerks," Rachel adds.
"We were just hoping you could forgive us. I mean, you have no reason to, but you should know that we regret everything we've done to you on that island."
After taking a second to study them, their apologies sounding actually genuine, she smiles. "Of course." The relief is clear as they hug her tightly. "It was just a game, right?"
"Thank you so much, Ally. You look amazing, by the way." Drew smiles before saying goodbye. "We'll see you later." Rachel is about to walk with him, but stops herself and turns around to face Ally again.
"Oh, congratulations on your relationship with Austin, by the way. I'm glad it worked out in the end, forget what I said at the island selection and the finale," she tells her. "You two look really happy together."
"Thanks," Ally replies. For a second she considers just letting it go, but a certain power of the friendship they were starting to regain changes her mind. She sighs before wiping the fake happy smile from her face. "Though, I guess it wasn't meant to last."
"Are you serious?" Rachel looks honestly shocked. "What happened?"
Ally diverts her eyes, trying to find a way to summarise everything that went wrong in a single sentence. "Things on the island turned out to be different on land." She shrugs. "I don't think he really meant anything he ever said to me."
"I highly doubt that," Rachel snickers, making Ally's eyes snap back to her. "No offence, Ally, but your usually perfect intuition is all wrong. That guy was crazy about you! He still is, probably."
Ally hadn't talked about Austin like this in a while, and it affected her more than she thought it would. It's like the subject has two sides, anger and sadness, and she is right in the middle of the two. She had no idea where this conversation would lead her.
"He told me something last night." She takes a deep breath to keep herself exactly on the line, the sweet, sweet no-man's-land of emotional detachment. "Let's just say your actions weren't half as malicious compared to his, no offence."
Rachel looks to her right, something she had done often during their conversation, before shooting Ally a warm smile. "I'm sorry, Ally, but I don't think you're right. Partly because I've seen him fall for you over and over again on that island." She takes a sip of her water. "And partly because he hasn't been able to keep his eyes off of you since you came in." Rachel walks off, after winking at Ally, in the direction she had been staring at. As Ally watches her in confusion before catching another pair of eyes.
Austin had been sat in his assigned spot since he had entered the building and his eyes hadn't left Ally the whole time. Times seems to stand still once Ally meets his gaze. When she's finally able to tear her eyes away, she notices she hadn't taken a breath the whole time. After consciously plucking at the fabric of her suddenly rather tight looking dress, she decides to find her seat as well, not even remotely looking in Austin's direction.
It turned out her assigned seat was right next to Austin's. It wasn't the biggest surprise of the day, figuring they would have been attending the final episode recording together until six hours before it started. With a single look, Ally had made it clear to Rachel that she would do anything to trade spots with her, resulting in Rachel sitting between them. Luckily, Rachel hadn't minded at all and neither Austin or the producers had commented on it.
One big table was placed in the middle of the hall, the show host sitting at the head. The candidates that were discussed, usually in groups of four, got to sit with him as the rest took place on chairs on the side. It was just as boring for the other candidates as you'd expect it is. A few dozen devoted fans who had either won tickets or had stood in line for days were also present, sitting right behind the candidates.
This last episode was all about looking back at the game and talking to the candidates, sharing thoughts and never seen before scenes. They'd start with the candidate who got outvoted first and make their way up, successfully building tension towards the climax that was the end of the finale. Meanwhile, Ally listened to the stories, sipped her wine and found herself drifting off once in a while. But, whatever she did, she couldn't fool herself to ignore Austin's eyes who studied her every now and then.
And, just like that, a commercial break got introduced and the four finalists got guided to their seats around the round table for the final, most important talk of the episode. They all get a makeup touch-up and, before Ally knows it, the producers are counting down again and she's facing Austin on the other side of the table.
"The people who have just joined me are the final four of this year's expedition. Now, I think everyone can agree that this season had some of our most interesting candidates yet," the hosts speaks, looking around. "Friendships, pacts, trust, deceit, love; this season seemed to have it all." Ally has to fight the urge to roll her eyes at this painfully obvious message directed at her and Austin before she reminds herself that they were still together, as far as everyone knew.
"We learned some things," he continues. "Pacts are great, until they get in each other's ways. It is possible to learn how to dive like a pro in one afternoon. And there is always more to the story than you think." After this speech, the host turns to Ally and she feels all cameras pointing her direction. "Ally, from all candidates, I think you might've been the crowd's favourite. What do you think sparked that?"
She shakes all the nerves and puts on a bright smile. "Honestly, I'm not even sure. I think my inability to perform any basic tasks was way more relatable than any hotshots fishing with their bare hands," she chuckles, loving how she is able to talk freely again after having to mind her words in the game constantly.
The host laughs along with the audience. "You're saying that, but your memory was quite impressive, a skill you got to show off at the merge test, which you also won. How did that feel?"
"Pretty amazing, I must say." Ally nods proudly.
"That win brought you in a difficult position, though, as you had to choose between your two allies." As she keeps her eyes on the host, she avoids those of the two mentioned. "How did you eventually make that decision?"
"I reckon I managed to compare the options I had and figured out which would bring me the farthest," she answers, not granting the cameras any shift of emotion in her eyes.
"Oh, I bet some other factors played their part, don't you agree?" He raises his eyebrows suggestively, but when Ally keeps staring at him without a change of expression, he quickly moves on. "Anyway," he looks at Rachel, "Rachel, that was the moment Ally broke your pact. Needless to say, you weren't happy about it."
Rachel nods calmly. "You could put it like that. I was pissed, but now I see how horrible I acted," she admits, shooting another apologetic glance at Ally, who smiles back. "The game makes you do stupid things.
"Are there any hard feelings?" He keeps asking like this was what the whole world was dying to know.
"No, we talked it out," Ally cuts in. "Our drive to win should've never made us forget our friendship."
After this, the conversation focussed on Drew for a quick moment, talking about the pacts he had made. Honestly, Ally hadn't paid attention to whatever Drew had been up to, so to hear that he had been working together with a large number of candidates surprises her. But then again, it had showed that he would convince anyone to work with him to stay in the competition.
"Now, we move onto the last finalist. Austin," the host speaks, "you were a promising candidate from the very beginning. What nobody expected, was that you felt comfortable enough to share everything you went through on the island with us. We're very grateful for that, because it has given us a great image of what it was like to be stuck there. Let's take a look at your most memorable moments."
It hadn't been a secret that Austin was the one who used the diary hut most. The diary hut was the place where you could talk to the camera without the danger of anyone overhearing. The hut was just a covered bench somewhere on the side of the island, isolated from the camp, from the others, and from the game. It gave you an opportunity to let out the thoughts that were threatened to drive you insane, like writing it down in a diary, hence the name. If you were looking for Austin, fair chance that he was in the hut.
The big television screen hanging behind the host lit up, showing Austin sitting in the hut. By the look of his still healthy looking body, it was a recording from one of the first few days in the game. Soon enough, 'Day one' appears in the bottom corner.
"First day on the island," Austin starts, an energetic smile shown on his face. "I don't really have a strategy, except maybe find someone I can trust enough to form alliances with." He smirks. "Not that I need it."
"Now that we're divided, it's much easier to see who has the same mindset as I do, that might help." Scratching his slight stubble, he stares off in the distance. "The test was interesting. A few caught my attention. Like that Ally girl," nodding to himself, he looks at the camera again. "Smart, quick; she has real potential. She's quite something."
Ally is fairly certain the cameras are recording her reaction on the diary entry and she tries her best not to show the tickle in her stomach that it had caused. The next entry pops up, day 13, apparently. It was safe to say that they only showed the diary entries that they found interesting enough, or, in this case, that had something to do with his alliance with Ally. It was never seen before material to Ally. The viewers had seen them all, though, in the episodes that had aired.
"It's been quite a few days since the start of my brand new alliance and I have to admit, I'm liking it so far." Austin snickers softly. "Who knew the tiny stiff had some humour as well. She keeps surprising me in new ways," he stays silent for a few seconds, the humoured spark in his eyes making place for a sad glimmer. "Reminds me of my little one." It was quite clear to anyone who had been following the show that he was talking about his daughter, Ariella. The two weeks apart from her were already starting to take its toll.
The screen fades again before showing Austin, looking just slightly worse than before. His hair is a mess, he's a bit paler, and ribs were starting to show. The look in his eyes is wild, overwhelmed, like he was still trying to wrap his head around something that had just happened.
"That was really something. If it hadn't been for Ally," he shakes his head in disbelief. "I'd be gone. I still can't believe she chose me over Rachel." Shrugging, he messes up his hair even more. "I mean, I hoped, but I'd never imagined she'd actually..." He's lost for words for a moment. "Care about me enough."
There's a fade sound of beaming fans in the back of the room, too soft to get picked up by the audio equipment, but clear enough for Ally and the other candidates to hear. She can't really blame them, but still feels like all the eyes in the room are pointed her way and there's a certain expectation of her to react in some sort of way. But she doesn't.
"I'm officially sick," Austin starts with a weak voice. Day 18. "I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but, Ariella, if you're watching this; I miss you baby." He sniffles softly before wiping away an escaped tear. "You told me you believed in me and I'm doing my best for you. But a part of me wants to go home to see you again. I hope you can understand," he begs, pulling his legs up to lean his head on his knees. "But I'll stay strong. For you."
The beaming is louder now and Ally can't help but sneak a glance at Austin, who is staring at his hands on the table. He shows that he's frantically trying to blink away the tears that well up with the memories of that time. She quickly diverts her eyes again, unable to watch him in pain. Another clip starts.
"Tonight," Austin laughs shyly. "God, tonight was..." He's unable to finish his sentence, a huge smile plastered on his face. The sad expression from the other day had faded away and he was glowing. Ally knows which night he was talking about. Day 20, the day of the feast, or the day they watched Ariella's message before getting tipsy together and getting closer than ever before to admitting their attraction towards each other. "I know this isn't the best time to catch feelings, but, man, I don't think I can shake this off." His bubbly smile is interrupted by a sneeze. "Fuck, I'm mess. Emotionally and physically.
The soft smile had crept on Ally's lips before she had been able to stop it and not only she had noticed. The audience had seen it, the host had seen it, the cameras had seen it, but worst of all; Austin had seen it. She had shown her vulnerability, something she had sworn not to do tonight. But something about his genuine emotions had called up some butterflies of her own. It wasn't much, the clip, but it had shown something Rachel had tried to make clear earlier; Austin had really fallen for her that night. She doesn't have much more time to evaluate the video any further, as the next already starts.
There's nothing left of the sensitive, giggly Austin. This one is furious. "This morning, one of the other candidates decided to fill me in. I can't believe I've been lied to for so long. And to think I actually felt..." He purses his lips, looking away. "Now that I know the truth, I know who I can trust." With piercing eyes, he stares at the camera again, his jaw tightened. "And who I cannot." The screen fades to black and the host turns around to face Austin again.
"What we see here is pure hatred. I should mention that this particular clip had a big impact on the fans," he speaks. "Can you describe what went though your mind when Drew told you about Ally's history involving you?"
It hadn't occurred to Ally that, with Austin, the viewers had also found out about Ally's secret. Many people had judged her, probably, and she couldn't blame them. Shame washes over her as she sinks back into her seat involuntarily. Funnily enough, Austin seems to feel the same way as the host asks him that question.
"I cannot," he replies, keeping his head high. All of a sudden, he seems to be avoiding looking at Ally at all costs. "We both made some stupid mistakes, said some stupid things, kept some secrets. But I think it's important to know when you need to apologize." This was directed at Ally, she knew for sure, yet he did not look her way once, while she couldn't peel her eyes off of him. "And when someone has hidden something from the other that is obviously hurtful, they need to do everything they can to make the other person know they're loved."
Finally, Austin looks her in the eyes. "And let them know you've been a mess without her." There's a moment of silence that painfully echoes through the hall before the host coughs to break it.
"Wow, dating 101 by Austin Moon, everyone," he laughs obliviously. "Now, without further ado, the moment everyone has been waiting for. The finale of Expedition Robinson 2016."
As the clip of the finale starts to play, Ally is still looking at Austin, jaw dropped. When Rachel clears her throat softly, she wakes up and meets Rachel's cheeky grin before she nods to the screen. Ally follows her hint and turns her attention to the video. From the corner of her eye, she sees a proud grin appear on Austin's face as she lights the fire and, soon enough, the video ends, along with the game.
"Congratulations to Ally Dawson, Robinson of 2016!" The host yells and confetti starts to fall down. People cheer all around her and before she knows, she's being hugged and congratulated by the other candidates. It's a bit overwhelming to Ally, who smiles thankfully and receives the nice words politely. Only minutes later, she has time to look around and notices Austin's seat is empty. Standing on her toes, she scans the room for his recognizable dirty blonde hair.
"Congrats, Ally." She spins around as fast as she an to be met with his chest in the black suit they had picked out together.
"Thanks, prick," she smiles jokingly. "Impressive speech just then."
"Yeah, speaking of; I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that." Austin runs a hand through his hair nervously. "No filter when I'm desperate, I reckon."
"If that's all it takes to speak the truth, I'd advice you to delete that filter for once and for all," Ally snickers playfully.
"You're right." He grins relieved, stepping closer to her.
"You said just the right things, though. I missed you, too." She adds, turning more serious. "And I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have reacted that quickly."
"Our relationship might've been based on an alliance, but it's so much more to me. I hope you know that."
Ally nods quickly before biting her lip. "You said you loved me."
"I did," he responds proudly.
"No lies?" Ally asks.
"No lies. No more."
"Is that a promise, prick?" She looks at him with a joking doubtful expression.
"One I'm keen on keeping, princess," Austin brushes a lock behind her ear lovingly.
"Same here." By putting her hands on his chest, she lifts herself up to capture his lips softly. Her fingers follow the buttons on his shirt to the collar, eventually ending up behind his neck while Austin traces her jaw with a feathery touch. Their smiles break the kiss, but they don't care, because they know there will be more to follow.
"I love you, too, by the way." Ally turns playfully serious. "Just in case that didn't make it clear.
"Oh, yeah, thanks for that clarification." he plays along before leaning down to hug her tightly. Looking over Ally's shoulder, he sees a girl with red curls and his hazel eyes looking their way excitedly. After gesturing for her to come over, she happily skips their way, small curls bouncing lively.
I hope it was clear who the girl was in the end and what was happening. If it wasn't, I'll have to awkwardly explain it later.
jcarter692 chapter 9
You're welcome, thanks for reading my review! Yes, it hurt for a while & I had to back away from the friendship too. Just focusing on myself helped me to move on. Time can actually heal wounds and we're really good friends now. I hope taking time away does the same for you. :)
I loved this chapter, it was so epic watching how far Austin & Ally have come! They make such an amazing team, I forgot they were supposed to be competing against each other. I love that she wanted to wait for him & wanted to finish together. I really love that he encouraged her to finish without him. Awesome writing! - Aw, that sounds amazing! You're incredibly strong for choosing for yourself to be happy like that. Thank you! I was really trying to make clear that Ally had never realized she eventually would have to play for herself. Hope you enjoyed these last two as well!
letmetakeyourpicturebaby chapter 10
YES BADASS ALLY IS ABOUT TO GET IN HERE
i loveeee this omg I actually CANNOT wait! but I'm not going to be that person who only says "update!" all the time so I should probably give you like some real feedback?
I love everything you've done with this story, how there's that perfect balance of romance and adventure and it all just works together so well! Also you describe things in so much detail that I can actually almost feel the emotions they feel? (that sounds kinda weird) but yeah! loving it! - Ahahaha, don't worry, there aren't many reviewers who do that. Thanks! This really the first story where I have had to do serious research on a subject and placed the characters in a scene that is so different from the regular world. I loved it, though, it was a surprisingly awesome experience. I'm hoping to do that more in the future. Oh my god, thank you so much. That's really one of the things I find most important. I'm glad you're enjoying it xx
ViaNearth11 chapter 10
IN LLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEE with this fanfic! - Thank you! I don't think I've ever seen you before in the reviews, nice to see you!
EverAfterForLife chapter 10
HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!
WTF THOMAS THE DREAM CRUSHER!
All in all, this was an amazing chapter!
I cant wait for next week and I'm extremely excited for the epilogue!
Thank you so my for this and thank yh for always updating on time!
How can this story only have 50 reviews? - IKR :( He's truly a dick. Thanks! Aw, you're thanking me, I should be thanking you for reviewing, that's really special. God, I don't want to sound ungrateful, I do appreciate each and every review and I'm blessed to even have the ability to publish my stories that get attention, but I get what you're saying. Especially comparing it to my other recent stories (ROALT has 600+ idek how that happened) it's quite a difference. I reckon it's because the show has ended and a majority of the fandom has moved on, fanfics are not read as much as they used to (I've stopped reading Auslly myself). It could also be that this type of story doesn't appeal to a lot of readers, which is okay because I loved writing it and you reviewers also seemed to dig it. The number of reviews has never had an impact on the quality or length of my stories and I hope it never will :) Everything I publish, I'm proud of nowadays, regardless of how much attention it gets and that won't change. Thanks again for reading and reviewing!