Title: Night and Day (3/?)
Genre: dramatic romcom, AU
Rating: currently T, M for later chapters
Couple: Austin/Ally
Summary: Austin Moon is the world's most famous rockstar and due to heartbreak completely out of control. So his agency brings in songwriter Ally Dawson, who is as brilliant as she is desperate. She needs a job - and what she gets is Austin Moon's crazy everyday life.

Chapter 3 - Boxershorts & Blue Towels

Austin Moon's house wasn't just big. It was enormous. Ally was sure that the electrical bills were on par with the annual budget of some Third World Countries.

It was bright and spacious with many windows, two pools, several terraces and porticoes and it had a wide garden. It was almost too big to live alone in it.

Austin didn't live alone, as Ally was quick to find out. The Chippendale guys moved the boxes inside and someone just had to squeeze in between them, brushing all of them in a way that made Ally blush.

"Oh, hello," a blonde woman purred. "I'm so sorry, oops, oh my." The Chippendale movers ignored her and cast her some polite smiles. They seemed to be used to this kind of occurrence.

The blond woman approached Ally and her son. She carried a small, pocket-sized dog in one hand and a glass of a dark green transparent fluid in her other. Leaning forward, she kissed the unassuming Ally on both cheeks.

"I'm Mimi Moon," she said. "Austin's mother. You must be Ally."

"Ah, yes," Ally said, pressing her son Denny against her. "I am. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Moon."

"Oh, call me Mimi," Mrs. Moon said. "Welcome to the castle." She laughed heartily, then bend down to address Denny. "And who is this little guy?"

"My son Denny," Ally said. "Say hello, Denny."

"Hello," Denny said and gently shook Mrs. Moon's hand.

Mrs. Moon laughed, clearly flattered. "Oh, so well mannered. Then I'll introduce to you someone too. This is Merlot." She indicated to the small dog and made him wave with his paw. "Say hello, Merlot."

Merlot didn't want to say hello. Merlot was mostly unnerved by being carried around all day.

"Is he named after the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching Programm, a program of the California State University in partnership with higher education institutions, professional societies, and industry?" Denny asked, very politely.

Ally almost face-palmed herself. She loved her son to death, but for strangers it took some time to get accustomed to him.

Mrs. Moon, however, didn't even blink. "No," she said. "We were thinking about naming him after that, but then went for the wine grape."

There was a moment between the three of them where Denny smiled happily, Ally just gaped and Mrs. Moon winked at the songwriter. Then Mrs. Moon said:

"C'mon in, I'll show you around." And she whooshed toward the house, her long feathery satin gown floating behind her like a cloud.

"I like her," Denny whispered at his mother.

"I find her creepy," Ally whispered back.

"Mom," Denny whispered. "You find everyone creepy."

The house was as bright and spacious on the inside was it was on the outside. In the lobby was a baby grande situated in front of a huge wall of glass, guitars where in every corner of the room and the walls were decorated with a mixture of modern art and frames that contained golden and platinum records.

A grand staircase on the right side lead to the second floor and Ally could hear faint music coming from up here.

"Austin's sulking," Mimi Moon explained. "Don't expect him to come down before six and don't expect him to be sober. Or showered at that."

"Ew!" Ally said. She remembered the small post-it on her contract confirmation with De La Rosa Entertainment. It had been from Trish herself.

"Make him write music by any means necessary." That's what the Latino girl had ordered her to do. She looked down at Denny who stared at the house with huge eyes.

Something upstairs broke and somebody cursed.

Mrs. Moon cast the second floor a worried glance, then ushered Ally on. "Come, come."

As it turned out, Ally wasn't going to live in the house, but in the pool house next to Austin Moon's mansion. It was nice and cozy and clean and Ally didn't have to fear to go on an expedition and pack several rations of food it she just tried to find her son.

There was a kitchen that had never been used, a pool that had constantly been cleaned and a room filled with a piano grand and a wonderful view into the garden. What else could she wish for?

"Do you like it?" Mrs. Moon asked.

"I love it," Ally said. It was difficult not to.

Mimi Moon smiled. "Well, then, welcome to the mansion. We hope you and Austin will work well together. How about dinner at our house tonight?"

"Do you live with Austin?" Ally asked. "Because I'm not sure if he would be happy if I intruded -"

"Oh, no, we are actually Austin's neighbours," Mrs. Moon said. "Just follow the yellow brick road in the garden and come to our kingdom." Her voice had taken on a booming quality at the last words. Then she winked again and was gone.

"Alright, she is creepy," Denny said, when Mrs. Moon had left the house.

"Told you." Ally looked around at the boxes. The kitchen equipment boxes were in the kitchen, her own were in her bed room and Denny's had been brought to his room. "We need to unpack."

The sound of breaking glass interrupted their conversation, then the sound of splashing water. Ally took a look out of the window to understand what had happened.

"Why don't you go and unpack your stuff? I'll be right back," she told her son.

"Okay," Denny answered, shot her a last glance, then skipped toward his room.

Ally carefully opened the door to the veranda. Only a stripe of grass, a few lawn chair and the pool in between separated her new home from the huge mansion that belonged to Austin. On the second floor of the mansion was a balcony with opened doors. Ally suspected Austin's bedroom to be up there. Attached to the balcony was a long flag pole and on it, patrioticly and proudly, waved a pair of boxer shorts with trucks printed on them.

Ally lowered her glance a bit - and even a bit more - to see a mob of blond hair stick out of the water. As a matter of fact, she only saw the hair, two huge, wide eyes and the nose. Everything else was underwater.

Ally sighed, crossed her arms over her chest and stepped to the pool's edge.

"Hello," she said.

Austin dove out of the water just enough so he could speak. "Hello."

"Are you drunk?" Ally asked.

It took Austin just a wee bit too long to answer and his voice sounded a tiny bit too pitiful. "No."

"And did you jump off the balcony?"

"No?" Austin said and off Ally's questioning look, he cleared his voice and answered with a steady, yet oddly croaking "No."

"And did you loose your boxer shorts in the process?" Ally continued to inquire.

"No …" He said hesitantly. Then he cleared his voice again. "I mean: No. That's the flag of moon country up there. It's always there, you know?" He paused, then continued in a whiney voice. "Could you maybe just go away?"

"You drank, you jumped off your balcony into the pool and lost your unmentionables?" Ally asked, her voice sharp.

Austin, in the water, chuckled. "Unmentionables?"

"That's the most irresponsible thing ever!" She threatened him with her index finger. "Look, I'm hired to write songs with you and I really don't care what you spend your time with, but I have a son and if something would have happened to you, he would have seen a dead or bleeding person on his first day here! And do you want to be responsible for a young child's nightmares? Will you pay his psychiatrist? Will you visit him in Gangster Camp, or worse, Boxing Camp, when he wears baggy jeans, gets himself a tattoo and tries to marry Paris Hilton?"

"Uhm, mom?"

Ally turned, her sharp voice immediately like honey. "Yes, Denny?"

He handed her a blue towel. "That's for him. In case he wants to come out there and save his dignity."

Ally sighed, used to being around Denny, but Austin's surprise was palpable. "Thanks, buddy."

"You are welcome, Mr. Moon," Denny said. He pointed back at the house. "I'll go back inside. I'm not allowed around drunk strangers. Good night."

"Good night," Austin said.

"'Night, Denny."

Ally made ushering motions with his hands and the boy disappeared in the house again. Austin had swam closer to edge and tried to grasp the towel, but Ally lifted her arm.

"Do you remember what I said earlier?" she asked.

"That I'm not supposed to kill myself when your son is around," Austin said, rolling his eyes.

"Good." She handed him the towel and turned around to wait for him to get out of the swimming pool. She heard the soft noises of fabric being unfolded and then the solid, wet presence of someone standing behind her way too close.

"You know that I would have come out of the pool, with or without my 'unmentionables', but your son was already hiding behind one of the balcony pillars and I didn't want him to see." She felt him chuckle behind her.

Ally managed to keep her sharp and business-like tone of voice. "You reek of alcohol and chlorine," she said, turning toward him. Unfazed by his proximity, she took him by the shoulders, turned him toward the mansion and pushed him forward. "You are going to shower. Now. And preferably shave. And then we talk about my job."

Austin let himself be pushed toward the entrance of the mansion. "You just got hit on by the world's greatest popstar. You could have at least blushed!" He turned and raised his eyebrows at her accusingly.

God, how big can this guy's ego be?

"If I blush, will you shower extra thoroughly and," she sniffed at him. "Use some deodorant?"

"I smell summery and breezily!" he argued, lifted his arm and pointed for her to smell.

"Ew, no thanks. And no, you don't," Ally said. She pinched her cheeks. "There. I blush. Now, you go and shower?"

"Will you come too?" he asked, switching back to flirting. He leaned forward, smiled dazzlingly at her and waggled his eyebrows.

She pushed him away with her index finger poking his chest. "Another person in the shower cabin would disrupt my shower routine, so thanks, but no thanks."

"What's your shower routine?" Austin asked, as he was pushed toward the giant living room of his house.

"First soap in your front side, then your backside, then soak a bit and while you do so, you can start putting lotion on your hair. Then shower off, but not the shampoo and soak in a second time. Then -"

"Alright, alright, I'll shower. Why are you pushing me toward the fireplace room? My bathroom is upstairs!"

"I don't know your house! Just go shower!" she said. "And brush your teeth!"

Austin threw a glance over her shoulder at her, then stumbled toward, what was presumably, the bathroom. He stopped, turned toward Ally and said: "What's your name again?"

"I have already told you. Dez and Trish have already told you."

"Tell me again."

"Ally. Ally Dawson," she said. "And your towel starts to slip."

"Yeah." Austin didn't seem to notice. He was deep in thought and most of his thoughts centered around her. "You want to know why all my other songwriters left?"

"No, not really."

"They couldn't keep up with me. With my character, my craziness, the fact that I eat marshmallows for breakfast."

I knew it, Ally thought.

"But you, you seem to be a challenge," Austin concluded. "You don't even blush, do you?" He let the towel slowly slip to the floor.

Ally kept her eyes firmly trained on his. "I'm not easily shaken."

"I believe you are, though. You are a goody two-shoes, I know your kind. You are easily flustered, because your pupils are dilating," Austin said.

Ally tried to be indignant about this. She was easily flustered and had this happened during her teenager years, she would have started to stutter and stand in a really awkward way, but now, she was a professional, for God's sake, so she would act professionally.

So she did the only reasonable thing she could think of. She rummaged in her pocket and said: "Oh, what's this?"

And then a flash blinded Austin. The flash from her cell phone's digital cam.

"TMZ will be so delighted," she said. She moved her hands to paint an imaginary billboard into the air. Her eyes surveyed it with a faraway look. "I can already see the headline: Austin Moon - now you can compare."

Austin picked up his towel in a hurry. "Are you out of your mind?"

"And if that doesn't work, I will sneak into your room at night, steal your plush animals and do unspeakable things to them," she said.

Austin's jaw hit the floor. "What?! You are crazy! I'll phone Trish and have you fired!"

"You were the one that stripped in front of me," Ally said. "And I have proof. Look," she quickly interrupted him before he could say something. "I'm easy to work with and I really need this job, not for me, but for Denny. And I can't get flustered, because frankly, I am blushing to my hair roots and would escape this room, screaming. But Denny needs this, so I can only beg of you to make this as easy and comfortable for the two of us as possible. And please don't strip in front of me. I barely know you!"

Austin stared at her. Then stared some more, the towel pressed to his groin. Then he said: "I'll go showering."

Ally just nodded, sat down on one of his enormous living room couches and waited.

"Yeah," Austin said, still befuddled, watching her sit there. "Showering. Now."

He disappeared upstairs, found the bathroom and entered it. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it. Taking a deep breath, he said:

"Ally Dawson. Ally Dawson." What had just happened?

He looked at himself in the mirror. He still looked good, if you liked the caveman kind of style. And he hadn't shaved the last three days. And she actually send him away like a little boy.

This was not acceptable. Who the hell was that girl Trish and Dez had hired? She was like his mom. No. She was worse then his mom. She had to go. Austin didn't want her to be here. He didn't want anyone to be here.

He took his razor out and cheked the blade. His hands shook slightly and the unavoidable happened. "Damn!" he hissed, as blood dripped into the sink.

"Are you alright?" he could hear Ally call out for him.

"Yeah," he managed. "Just peachy."

Just you wait, Ally Dawson.

Just you wait.

(3/?)

Oy, you. Thanks for reviewing everyone. However, I was a bit flabberghasted that I got 134 views for chapter two alone and just seven reviewers. Kudos to those who reviewed, but it would be really great if I get at least ten reviews for each chapter. I'm not one of these authors who gets greedy and wants more reviews with each chapter, but since this story is going to be really long, ten reviews per chapter would be really, really awesome. In a way, reviews are the only thing that informs us authors if you hate or like the story, so please drop a note.

queenc1: Hope that answers your question. :) Thanks for reviewing.
Anonymous Number #1: Denny's seven years old (as mentioned in chapter one) and we'll soon see who the dad is. Ally was kind of a young mom.
OhSnapItzCari: Here's your update! :) Thanks for reviewing.
Awesomesauce325: Thanks a lot.
Anonymous Number #2: Here you go.
bookworm3: Thanks a lot. The idea was how Austin would be if he had never met Ally, so he's a bit of ... an airhead in this one. Hope you continue liking it.
.7524879: Here you go. :)