[Third Person's POV]
Austin was nervous. The Austin Moon was nervous! He didn't want to be nor did he know why - Okay, so he knew exactly why. He was anxious about working with Ally again. Things would be different. They're not friends anymore, they've become more like strangers than anything else. Dez hadn't made it any better for him, constantly chiming in to remember that Ally was incredibly famous now - Austin was even sure that Ally had gotten more famous than him. But he couldn't find it in him to be angry or jealous about that, he couldn't help but feel happy for her. She worked hard to be where she is today and he respected that, no matter how much he was upset with her.
Austin found himself on YouTube, researching videos of Ally. He watched silly videos of her just hanging with her friends, videos of her performing, videos of her just simply playing the acoustic guitar and singing one of her unreleased songs, videos of her playing the piano, videos of her receiving awards, etc. He convinced himself that he was trying to know what to expect when he sits down to write with her again, but the small voice at the back of his mind was shouting at him that he just missed being a part of her life. He argued with the voice, claiming that he just wanted to be prepared for everything that could go down, but there was a piece of him that was upset about missing everything. After all, he worked hard to help her reach her dreams and she finally did it and he wasn't there to see; he missed it.
Mimi Moon, Austin's mother, suddenly burst through his door. "Austin, it's-" she stopped when she saw him quickly pausing the video of what looked to be Ally singing a gentle song to a small crowd of kids, her body sitting on a stool with a bright smile on her face as she cradled an acoustic guitar in her arms. Mimi cocked an eye brow at her son, tilting her head slightly with a small smile on her lips, "What are you doing?"
"No-Nothing," he stammered, feeling distraught from being caught in the acts of researching his ex-best friend. Mimi knew him better and didn't believe him.
"Do you miss her?" she asked gently, already knowing the answer. Austin sent her a sour look and shook his head, his eyes reading into denial.
"Why would I miss Ally? She wasn't even important," he spat out bitterly. Mimi begged to differ but decided it was best to leave the topic alone.
"Great lie," she commented before quickly saying, "It's time for you to go to bed. I don't want you to be tired for your first session with Ally."
"I'm nineteen," Austin defended himself, "I don't need my mother telling me when to go to bed," he grumbled, still reeling over his embarrassment as he stared at the frozen picture of Ally on his computer screen.
"Then you might as well be old enough to get out of my house," Mimi replied swiftly. Shots fired!, a voice said at the back of Austin's mind. Austin wiped the smug look off his face and closed his laptop.
"Yes, Mom," he obeyed. Mimi grinned victoriously and said her goodnight as she shut the door. Austin shook his head, grumbling under his breath as he turned out his light and prepared himself for his writing session with Ally. He was so dreading this.
[PAGE BREAK]
Ally gasped as she sat up, glancing towards the look. "Quarter to ten?" she questioned aloud to no one in particular. Ally's eyes grew wide as she realized she had fifteen minutes to get to Sonic Boom. Oh, how bittersweet is this day.
Ally leaped out of bed, only to stub her toe against her guitar and listened to a musical echo emitted from the instrument. She cringed and held her toe. She turned around speedily only to hit her hip on the bed frame and flip herself over it and onto her back with a thud.
The bedroom door opened loudly, "What's going on?" Trish shrieked before her gaze fell to Ally's groaning figure. "Ally, you're on the floor. Why are you on the floor?" she quizzed, raising a skeptical brow. Ally groaned in response. "You better hurry up, you've got fifteen minutes."
"Why didn't you wake me?" Ally grunted as she picked herself up off the floor, pressing her palm against a growing bruise.
"I figured you were nineteen years old and could wake yourself up," Trish admitted. Ally glared at her. "You better hurry!" With that, she left the room. Ally groaned. She turned around and found herself slipping on music sheets and she fell to the floor once again with a yelp.
[PAGE BREAK]
Austin was playing random notes on the piano as he waited for Ally's arrival. He glanced at the clock and he was just about to criticize her for being late when she suddenly walked through the door.
"Sorry!" she apologized, not even noticing the dark look on his face. "I woke up late, I don't usually do that kind of thing, I'm always on time. I hope it didn't bother you. I swear, it won't happen again. I won't be one of those people, because I work with a lot of those people and they suck, because you need-"
"Ally," Austin barked and she quit babbling and looked him in the eyes. "It's fine," he said, biting back a chuckle. She nodded once and sat in a chair across from him, keeping her distance. Austin's eyes fell down to the space on the piano bench that he'd subconsciously made room for, imagining she'd sit there. That's when he reminded himself of their feud.
"So," she let out, gulping down a nervous lump in her throat. "How are we going to do this?" she questioned. She was slightly frustrated. Generally, she can immediately put herself into a working zone and not focus on everything else but work, but Austin was here and for some reason it was different. She couldn't push away reality and focus on the work that needed to be done, she felt reality slapping her across the face with a strong palm. That was when a voice echoed in her mind, When had writing music become work? Ally pushed the voice away when quickly reminding her inner voice that writing was work when it was with Austin.
Austin felt nearly intimidated. Ally was now a huge musician and still an insanely talented songwriter, he was nervous to mention anything stupid. Before he could fully slip into a state of insecurity, he said, "What should the album be about?"
Ignoring the lump in her throat that reality had created, Ally immediately emerged herself into thought. "I'm not sure," Ally admitted, "I don't normally think of a subject to write about. I usually write my songs and find the meaning behind a bunch of songs together and then realize the subject. From there, I sort out which songs should go on the album."
Austin wasn't going to allow himself to be intrigued with the way she mesmerizingly worked. He bit out, "Yeah, well this isn't just your album. We're not going to do everything the way you want it to be done."
Anger pulsing through Ally's veins, she glowered at him, "You asked for a topic and I gave you an answer. If you're so great at this, why don't you tell me a topic?" Ally stopped herself from spitting out an insult at him. She knew that it would just lead to disaster and it was better to stray away from anger.
"I think we should write about life's complications," Austin suddenly blurted. Ally's mouth opened to turn him down when she finally let his words sink in. She wanted to deny it, but she couldn't, it was a great idea. She closed her mouth and stared at him for a second. Austin stared back at her with nonchalance, but deep inside he could feel his stomach twisting as he anticipated what she would say.
Quietly, she replied, "Okay." Austin's eyes grew semi larger, surprised that she liked the simple idea. "That's perfect actually," she said, her mind blubbing up with ideas as she jotted down notes in her songbook. "We could write about disappointments, love, jealousy, excitement, confusion, oh, maybe even some miscommunications." Austin stared at her when she mentioned it, for some reason he felt like that would be hard to write about, but she didn't and so he decided to just go with the flow and let her take the lead. She always knew more about writing than he did.
"Alright, so now what?" he quizzed, watching her as she wrote inside her very private book.
Ally slowly looked up at him. For the first time, she actually didn't know. Ally kept her confidence built up so he wouldn't know exactly what she was thinking. "Um, I guess we could start working on a melody."
Austin nodded, turning around to face the piano keys. He moved over for her to sit down. Ally was hesitant before she took the seat next to him, she was starting to feel awkward but chose to mildly ignore the feeling. She messed with piano keys. Austin joined in. The melody was awful; Ally was going for lower notes, a more slow and intense mood, meanwhile Austin was tapping higher notes, digesting a rapid, upbeat mood.
Ally peeled her hands away from the piano. "This isn't working," she blurted, "the melody doesn't even piece together!"
"Well, that's not my fault! You're the one who keeps going for the lower notes. The songs need to be upbeat and enjoyable. Not sounding like somebody just found a dead puppy," Austin replied, a sour node in his voice.
"It's life's complications that you want, Austin," Ally barked at him, "Life isn't upbeat and go-lucky all the time. Life is serious, crazy, and bad things tend to happen. I'm pretty sure if someone were to be feeling lost they wouldn't want to dance to a beat. They want to wallow."
"Wallow?" he gave her a sour look, "No, that's what you do. People want something that lifts their spirits."
"People want something to relate to." Ally argued. The two began to bicker the tune of the melody and for a moment, it felt like they were right back to where they started that day when they were fifteen. After a long argument, Ally spoke up, her voice lifting slightly so he would finally stop talking and listen, "You said you wanted this album to be about life's complications. Obviously we have different versions of what that means."
"This isn't just your album, Ally!" Austin finally exclaimed, "It's mine, too! We have to work together, not by what you think is accurate, I have to believe it's accurate, too!"
"Fine, you know what? You pick the stupid melody!" Ally caved, she got up from the bench and collected her songbook, "I'll write the words and then we'll put it together!" Ally meant for decision to be slightly stubborn just to make him angry, but instead they both quietened and realized that her response was quite logical.
"Okay," Austin said, contently. Although Ally's response made sense, she was still angry. She's the one who writes her music, so what does he know? Austin kept playing around with keys and Ally was fidgeting; she did not like the tune.
"Austin, maybe-"
"-I've got the tune," he interjected, leaving no place for Ally to argue with him. Ally grunted angrily and muttered something under her breath before she got up from the chair she was sitting in.
"Fine, work on that stupid tune, I'm leaving." She finalized.
"Leaving?" he looked at her. Ally rolled her eyes, pushing back a strand of hair that fell out of her ponytail.
"I'll be back later," she grumbled, grabbing her bag and leaving the practice room. Ally clenched her fists while Austin purposely played the piano semi louder just to bother her.
[PAGE BREAK]
"Trish, it's like we don't even understand each other anymore," Ally ranted, her cell phone pressed to her ears with her best friend comforting her on the other line.
"Well, obviously," Trish said, bluntly. "You guys haven't spoken in a year and a half. Of course things changed."
"You don't understand," Ally argued, "Austin and I always struggled to understand each other, but music was the one thing where we just understood everything and now we don't even have that."
"Relax, Ally," Trish soothed, "I'm sure you two will find a way to get your music to work together. Look, I've got to go. I'm sorry. But I'm sure you'll figure it out, you always do." Ally listened to her best friend hang up the phone, causing her to sigh and hang up as well.
Ally stared down at her blank page. She groaned, smacking her forehead onto her paper. She lifted her head, scrubbing her fingers through her hair, clearly frustrated. Ally was thinking hard when she suddenly gasped as a couple words went through her mind, and then more, and more, and more. Soon enough, she found herself scribbling down a bunch of lyrics, completing a song.
I find myself at your door,
Just like all those times before,
I'm not sure how I got there,
All roads—they lead me here.
I imagine you are home,
In your room, all alone,
And you open your eyes into mine,
And everything feels better,
And right before your eyes,
I'm breaking, no past
No reasons why,
Just you and me.
This is the last time I'm asking you this,
Put my name at the top of your list,
This is the last time I'm asking you why,
You break my heart in the blink of an eye, eye, eye.
You find yourself at my door,
Just like all those times before,
You wear your best apology,
But I was there to watch you leave,
And all the times I let you in,
Just for you to go again,
Disappear when you come back,
Everything is better.
and right before your eyes,
I'm aching, no past
Nowhere to hide,
Just you and me...
This is the last time I'm asking you this,
Put my name at the top of your list,
This is the last time I'm asking you why,
You break my heart in the blink of an eye, eye, eye...
This is the last time you tell me I've got it wrong,
This is the last time I say it's been you all along,
This is the last time I let you in my door,
This is the last time, I won't hurt you anymore.
Oh, oh, oh,
This is the last time I'm asking you this,
Put my name at the top of your list,
This is the last time I'm asking you why,
You break my heart in the blink of an eye.
[x4] This is the last time I'm asking you,
Last time I'm asking you,
Last time I'm asking you this...
All tossed her pencil down and read over her lyrics. She felt satisfied with her work and found herself leaping out of her chair and bolting. She needed to put music to it!
[PAGE BREAK]
Austin was groaning. He shouldn't of let Ally leave. He had nothing for the tune. He thought he had something, but well, it was Austin, so the something turned out to be nothing. He was lying on his back on the floor, staring at the ceiling in the Practice Room when suddenly the door flew open and a frantic Ally stumbled in the room and stood over the piano.
Austin got up swiftly. "Ally?" he called, but she made no response as she threw her songbook on top of the piano and her fingers immediately found the correct keys, as if she'd already known the melody.
Her voice matched the piano pitch beautifully. "You find yourself at my door, just like all those times before, I'm not sure how I got here, all roads - they lead me here," she sang out, softly. Austin stared in enchantment. He always wondered how she did that, how she could just find words and then automatically know a tune. No wonder she was famous, Austin thought, she's the real thing. The real talent.
He listened intently as she went on, memorizing the piano notes as he watched her fingers glide across the keys. He waited for her to finish and watched as she bit down on her bottom lip and excitedly whispered, "Got it."
"Is that one of the songs for the album?" he wondered out loud. Ally turned back at him, startled. She'd forgot he was here. She cleared her throat, nodding and turning back to the piano.
"Yup," she said, forcing herself out of awe. It had been a while since she wrote something that deep. "I was thinking it could be a duet," she paused, "between me and you."
Austin stared at her back before nodding. "Yeah. Ok." Austin slowly stood beside her and put his fingers on a couple keys, playing along in a different tone that enhanced the melody that Ally was playing. Ally nodded her head, enjoying the sound. Austin looked at her songbook and they both began to sing the song, every now and then stopping to make adjustments before resuming. The Practice Room was peaceful, no arguments, no rude words or insults, no shouting, just the sound of piano keys and two beautiful voices tying together in a perfect rhythm.
/ / /
Comment?