Chapter Ten:
"We're better together."
The bright sunlight shining in through the windows of the practice room wake me up. I let my eyes focus and search around the room for the clock. It's only six thirty. I sigh and stay lying down. I turn my head and look at Ally. She's on her side, facing me, fast asleep. Her lips are curved up into a partial smile. I wonder what she's dreaming about, if she's even dreaming.
After a little while, I end up drifting back to sleep. What seems like only minutes later, I am woken by the piano being lightly played. I open my eyes and notice it's now eight thirty. I look over at the piano, Ally's back is to me, her hair all messy from sleeping, and she's playing a song I've never heard. It must be one she wrote. She's humming quietly to herself too, sweet and slow.
"That sounds nice." I say, sitting up.
She jumps slightly and turns around. She tries fixing up her hair but it didn't quite work, but she smiles, "Thanks, it's just something I've been working on."
"Your hair looks cute all messy." I say to her.
She blushes, "Thanks. I'd say yours does too, but it's always looks like that." She says, laughing.
I stick my tongue out at her and run my hands through my hair, making it even messier. She laughs at me and comes over, sitting on her sleeping bag, "Did you sleep okay?" She asks.
I nod, "Yes, did you?"
"Yes, I did." She says, "But I'm starving."
"So am I." I say, patting my stomach.
"Well, we could go to Mel's for some breakfast." She says.
"That sounds wonderful, I'll pay." I tell her.
"Aw, thanks." She says.
She takes a hair tie off her wrist and puts her hair in a messy bun, causing her to look even more beautiful than usual. I sigh silently to myself as we both get up and head out the door. We walk over to Mel's and we're the only ones in there. We take a table near the window and wait for our waiter. When she finally gets here, I order an orange juice, and Ally orders chocolate milk.
"I've been dying for some chocolate milk." She says.
"Why haven't you had it?" I question.
"Dallas hates chocolate and like, never wants it in his sight." She says.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." I say.
When our drinks arrive, we both drink them down like we haven't drunk anything in days. That's what it felt like anyway, and the orange juice really hit the spot, "Yum!" Ally says.
I laugh, "Well, you can have as much chocolate milk as you want when you're around me, and anything chocolate really. It's the best." I say.
She grins wide, "That's awesome."
"So what are you going to get?" I ask as we look over the menus we have read several times.
"I'm thinking some hash browns and eggs. Let me guess, you're getting the pancakes?" She says.
"Why of course, but there not as good as your pancakes." I tell her.
"Of course they aren't." She says, laughing.
"Someone is full of themselves." I tease.
"Thank you!" She says, laughing.
When our food arrives, we eat slowly, taking out time. I was right, these pancakes were nothing compared to hers, but I ate them anyway, starving. I was still in awe that I just got to spend the whole night with her, and we're still together, sharing breakfast. What could get better than this?
"So tonight there is this big family get together on my father's side. It's at this park at the beach, about twenty miles away. Dallas was supposed to go with me… But obviously that's out. I'd really love it if you'd come with me, if you want that is." She says, taking her last bite of hash browns.
Even though I'm technically second choice, I can't stop my face from lighting up at the invitation, "I'd love to go." I tell her.
"Awesome! Trish is coming too." She says.
"It should be a good time, then." I say.
"Bring your bathing suit." She says.
"I shall!" I say happily.
When I get home, I inform my parents of my plans tonight. It's my mother's day off, but my father is at work, so she is sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee and reading one of her soap opera magazines, "You're going to a family thing, with Ally, as in Dallas' Ally?" She asks.
"Well… They aren't together anymore." I tell her.
"Oh really, that's unfortunate." She says, not taking her eyes off her magazine.
I shrug, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge, "Dallas hasn't been treating her right lately." I say.
"What has he been doing?" She asks.
"Arguing with her and being just rude to her." I say, taking a seat across from her.
"That's not good. But just be careful about this. He is your best friend." She says, setting her magazine down.
"Yeah, about that…" I say.
"Are you guys fighting over her?" She asks.
"What?" I ask, "No, it's not like that. Ally and I are just friends. But Dallas did something to me at that beach party that I don't think I want to forgive him about." I say.
"What did he do?" She asks.
Crap, I shared too much. I take a long sip of my water and shrug, "I don't want to talk about it." I say.
"Well, as long as everything is okay. It's a shame though. I know how close you and Dallas are." She says.
"So it's okay if I go with Ally? Her father is driving us." I say, changing the subject.
"Yes, I don't mind." She says, "Ally is a nice girl." She says.
"Yes, she is." I tell her.
She picks up her magazine again and starts reading. I realize that that is the end of our conversation, and I don't mind. I didn't feel like sharing the events that happened at the beach between Dallas and I. So I stand up and walk upstairs to my room. I set my bottle down on my desk and notice my notebook still lying there, with my unfinished song. I think about sitting down and finishing it, but I rather get ready for tonight.
I grab some clothes and take a quick shower, realizing that I was still in my clothes from last night that my mother luckily didn't notice. If it was my father, he definitely would have, and I did not feel like having to lie again.
I throw on some clothes and put some gel in my hair to make it even wilder. I go into my closet and search for my swimming shorts. They aren't hanging up, so I slowly go through the large pile of clothes that is just sitting on the bottom of my closet. I'm really glad my mother never comes into my room. Sure, she glances at it when the door is open, and it looks perfect. But that's because I throw everything into my closet; it's rather convenient.
When I finally find them, I shove them into my backpack. I also throw in my towel, and that's about it. I feel kind of weird bringing a backpack, but I don't feel like carrying it all day, plus I'm not a girl so I can't just bring some giant cute tote bag to match my outfit. Like Ally does, she always matches everything, which makes her even more perfect.
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Ally texted me to let me know that they were on their way; they are picking Trish up first. I grab my stuff and go downstairs, waiting for them to arrive. My parents were gone, grocery shopping or something, so I left them a note to remind them of what I'm doing.
I don't have to wait long before I hear a vehicle pulling in. I'm kind of surprised when I walk out and realize that Ally's father's car has a giant Sonic Boom logo on the side. I don't remember seeing it there before. It couldn't have been, because I would have definitely noticed.
There is another man seated in the front seat who I've never seen before. I walk over and open the back seat. Trish is at the side and Ally is in the middle. I get in and Ally smiles, "Hello." She says.
"Hi." I say, smiling back.
"Hello Austin." Trish says, grinning her 'I know you love Ally' grin.
I glare at her quickly and say hi. Ally's father turns and looks at me, "Hey buddy! Nice to see you! This is my brother Joe. Joe, this is Ally's friend Austin."
Joe smiles and extends his hand in the back seat for me to shake. I cautiously shake it and smile, "Nice to meet you Joe." I say.
I wanted to say something else, like I've heard a lot about her or something, but I never have. I really don't know anyone in Ally's family besides her father. I know her mother died when she was younger, but we never talk about that, either. But I can tell that Joe is Lester's brother, they look so much alike, except Joe is wearing thick black round glasses.
The whole ride there, Trish and Ally mainly talk, about girl stuff like makeup and some boy singer that they are in love with. I spend most of the ride looking out the window, rolling my eyes at their conversations, or I listen in on Lester and Joe's conversation, which is no better than the girl talk. They are talking about their family, and it isn't good stuff.
When we're finally here, I realize that there are a lot of cars. I don't know if it's all the Dawson family, or it's just open to the public today, which it probably is. Though they could have rented the place out for the day, it was a family party after all.
We park next to a van and pile out. Ally comes out my door instead of Trish's, and grabs my arm to stop me. Trish, her father and uncle continue to walk away, leaving us. She looks up at me with concern on her face, "Austin." She says.
"What's the matter?" I ask.
"Well, I just have to warn you, my family can be crazy… And, they are expecting Dallas to be here with me. I only told my father and uncle about the breakup." She says.
"Okay." I say cautiously.
"Yes, so just ignore them if they start asking strange questions." She says.
"Okay, don't worry about it. I'm not." I say, smiling.
She hugs me, wrapping her arms around my neck, standing on her tipsy toes. I could barely hug her back before she pulled away quickly. Trish has stopped, and she's watching us, smiling, "Come on guys." She yells.
Ally and I smile at each other, before joining Trish. "What was that about?" Trish asks.
"I was warning him about my family." Ally says.
"Oh they aren't that bad." She says.
"Well of course you'd say that, they aren't your family." Ally says, laughing.
We walk towards a giant tent, full of people under it; adults talking and drinking, little kids running around playing with different toys, and some teenagers already in the water. You would think we were late or something. We could be for all I know.
"God there is so many of them." Trish says.
"Yeah, well they are my aunts and uncles, plus their spouses and all their kids." Ally says.
"I didn't know you had such a big family." I say.
"Nobody does." She says.
"Hello darling!" A very skinny and very tall woman says, approaching us.
"Hello Aunt Helen." Ally says.
Helen grabs her and hugs her tightly. I almost thought Ally would start turning blue from lack of oxygen, but she finally let go, "You have gotten so big!" Helen says happily and then turns to us, "You too Trish!" She says, hugging her next.
"Hello Helen!" Trish says happily, hugging her. I guess Trish does know some of these people.
And then she turns to me, "You must be Dallas! Why you are so handsome!" She says, shaking my hand.
"Actually Aunt Helen, this is my friend Austin." Ally says. It's weird that Dallas has never met any of Ally's family. I guess their relationship wasn't as serious as I thought.
"It's nice to meet you." I say, grinning.
"Oh, well it's nice to meet you Austin! I meant what I said about being handsome though." She says, winking.
"Aunt Helen…" Ally groans.
"Thanks." I say, laughing.
"So, is Dallas out of the picture then?" Helen asks.
Ally just nods and Helen smiles and whispers something in her ear, causing Ally to smile and blush. We follow her over to the tent, where I meet tons of people. Ally introduces me first, so no one asks if I'm Dallas again. I met her Uncle John, Uncle Tom, Uncle Steve, then all of their wives, and some of their kids. The rest of their kids were swimming so that would have to be later. I didn't realize that her father had so many siblings.
They all seemed to really like me. Ally seemed really happy about that, too. When the food is ready, Helen, her husband, Trish, me and Ally all sit down at one table. I sit between Trish and Ally, her aunt and uncle across from us.
We start eating out grilled burgers and hot dogs when Helen starts the conversation, "So Austin, how long have you and Ally known each other?"
"About a year and a half I'd say." I tell her, taking a sip of my lemonade.
"Are you guys close?" She asks, smiling.
I turn to Ally, who has frozen with her fork close to her mouth. She looks at me and I smile at her, "I'd like to think so."
She takes her bite and nods in agreement, causing Helen to smile, "That's nice." She says.
"What are your interests Austin?" Mike, Helen's husband asks.
I shrug, "Well, I really love music, singing and playing the guitar." I admit. I'm suddenly afraid that I shouldn't have said that, but Ally is in their family, and she's into that, unless she hasn't told them either.
"That's fantastic! Just like my little Ally bug here!" Helen says.
Ally rolls her eyes, but blushes slightly, "Oh Aunt Helen." She says.
"Well it's true. You are extremely talented. Did you know that Austin?" She asks.
"Yes, yes I did. It's amazing." I admit.
"Oh, you know about it? That's awesome!" Helen says.
I feel like Ally and her aunt are close. It's like she knew that Dallas didn't know about Ally's passion, and was surprised that Ally shared that with me. It actually made me feel really good about it. Ally seems to really open up to me, and trust me, more than she did with Dallas.
"So you like to sing huh? Are you any good?" Mike asks.
"He's great! I'm helping him write a song for this contest at the beach at the end of the summer." Ally says.
Trish raises an eyebrow as she eats her pasta salad, looking from me to Ally. Ally looks at her and then me and her face drops. She totally forgot that no one was supposed to know that, but I guess it doesn't matter now that she and Dallas are over.
"That's awesome!" Helen says.
"Yes, it is…" Trish says.
"I'm sorry Trish. We will talk about it later." Ally says.
"Yes, yes we will." She says in an angry tone, but she winks at her after.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Helen asks suddenly during dessert.
Ally stops moving completely and shoots Helen a death glare. She sees it and raises her hands up in defense, "I was just wondering!" She says.
I laugh and pat Ally on the arm, "its okay. No, I don't." I say.
"That's surprising." She says.
"Oh look at the time, we should go swimming." Ally says, grabbing my arm, and then Trish's, pulling us away from the table as quick as possible.
We walk back to the car to get our bags. Trish grabs them all from the back seat as Ally leans against the car, her arms folded. She looks at me blankly and I smirk, "What are you smirking at?" She asks.
"Well, you." I say simply.
"Why?" She asks.
"Well because of the way you are reacting to your Aunt." She says.
"She's too much sometimes." She says.
"I think she's great." I tell her as Trish hands me my backpack.
"Of course you do, because she loves you." She says, taking her bag from Trish too.
"Well who wouldn't." I say, smiling.
Ally shoves me, but I barely move. Instead, I laugh at her while she gives me a pouting face. Trish sighs, "Okay guys, can we go change now." She says.
"Yes, Austin the guy's bathrooms are over there." She says, pointing.
I nod and walk over to them as they go over to the girl's ones. I open up the door and it's completely empty, and looks like no one ever comes in here. Like one of those bathrooms in horrors movies at random gas stations. I was almost expecting some axe murderer to be in the stall when I walked in. But it was just an old toilet.
I strip out of my clothes and slip on my swimming shorts. They are blue and white striped, and extremely comfortable. I throw my clothes back into my backpack after I take out my towel. I walk out of the bathroom and over to the girls building. I lean against the side of the building and wait. I knew that I would change a lot quicker than them. I mean, I only have to slip on shorts, and they have all those complicated ties.
Ally walks out first, she's in a tiny yellow bikini, one of the most revealing ones I've seen her wear, and it's my favorite color. The way you turn me on like a light switch I think to myself; stupid song, stupid me. I look away as she walks up to me. She leans against the wall next to me, smirking, "Is there a problem?" She asks.
"What? Why would there be?" I ask her.
"Well, once I came out here, you kept looking at the ground so I thought maybe there was a snake or something." She says, half laughing.
"Oh uh, yeah I have nothing to say." I tell her.
Trish walks out after, in a zebra bathing suit and a cheetah towel to match. She is really into animal print. I've never been in her room, but I have this feeling that her walls are zebra or something. When she gets a car, it will probably be cheetah print.
"Are we ready?" Ally asks.
"Ready." Trish says.
We walk over to the spot where all of Ally's cousins were swimming. I noticed Ally doesn't really associate much with her cousins. A lot of them are either a lot younger, or a lot older. They wave at us, but stay in their own groups.
Trish and Ally walk in and let the water hit their feet. They both squeal slightly and I shake my head at them; Ally notices and glares at me. "It's cold!" She says.
"You are wimps!" I yell as I jump in, doing a cannon ball.
The water was a bit cold, but when I come up for air, I'm already used to it. I kick my legs and stay afloat, leaning backwards and floating like that. They watch me with angry expressions, causing me to laugh loudly, "It's so nice in here." I say, shaking my hair out like a wet dog.
"Ugh." Ally groans, and then jumps in.
She makes a huge splash next to me, and then comes up for air quickly, squealing some more, "You liar! It is SO cold!" She yells.
All I can do is laugh at her. I'm surprised she actually jumped in. She really does keep surprising me. And then she starts splashing me wildly, freaking out, "You jerk!" She yells.
"Hey!" I yell, splashing her back.
"Well when you kids are done, I'll be over there with some of your cousins." Trish says.
"You aren't coming in?" Ally asks.
"Nah, it's too cold for me." She says. But when she winks at me, I feel like it was her plan all along, to get us alone; dang that girl.
After Ally finally calms down and gets used to the water, we swim around for a bit, talking about different things. When we are about to wrinkle up from being in too long, we get out, stepping onto the sand. Ally looks around and stomps her foot, "Shoot!" She says.
"What?" I ask her.
"I forgot a towel." She says.
"Here," I say, grabbing mine, "Take mine, I don't need one." I say.
She smiles, "Thanks Austin."
She wraps it around her petite body and walks over to one of the empty picnic tables and sits down. I walk over and take a seat next to her. It feels just like when we are at the piano. She looks up at me and smiles, "Thanks for coming here with me; you don't know how much it means to me."
"No problem at all." I tell her.
"I've really enjoyed spending time with you these past two days." She says, putting her hand on mine on the table.
I look down at it, and she doesn't pull away. I look back at her and smile, "So have I."
"Guys, it's time to go!" Lester says suddenly. Ally pulls away awkwardly and rubs her neck.
"Well I guess it's time to go." She says, standing up.
"I guess so." I say, disappointed. I can still feel her fingers on mine, that electric touch lingering. We touched hands and we pulled them back. I think to myself.