Chapter Twelve:
"But you're the one that I can't have."
When I arrive at Sonic Boom for our morning practice, I can tell after being there for five minutes that something is off about Ally. She's hasn't been saying much, and the distance between us on the piano bench is farther than usual. She sighs loudly as she messes up some chords, and then rests on her elbows, sighing once more.
"Don't worry Ally, we will finish this." I say, patting her on the shoulder.
"It's not that." She says, straightening up.
"Well what is it?" I ask, playing dumb; I know what it's really about.
"Nothing…" She says, standing up and walking to the window, looking out it.
I stand up and join her at the window, but instead of looking out it, I keep my eyes on her, "Yes you do." I say quietly.
She turns and looks up at me, her eyes searching all around my face. I don't know what she's searching for, but I don't do anything besides look into hers, "its Dallas." She says finally.
I nod and turn away from her, looking out the window. There are people everywhere; walking around the board walk or eating ice cream outside of the shop. They are either with their friends, their lovers, their family. It's like watching a scene from a movie or a television show.
"He showed up at my house last night." She says, though I didn't ask for any explanation.
"Oh." I say, keeping my focus on the people below.
"He begged me to take him back. Like literally, begged me. He told me he's realized that he was acting like an idiot and he regrets it." She says.
I turn to her then, but now she's the one avoiding eye contact, "And what did you say?" I ask her.
"Well, at first I didn't believe it. But then he just kept saying all of this stuff…" She says.
"And you took him back?" I ask her.
She shakes her head, "No. But we're meeting at Mel's later to talk more." She says.
"Oh." I say again.
She turns to me then and looks up at me, but I look past her, "I wanted to know what you thought about it." She says.
I raise an eyebrow and finally make eye contact with her, "Why would you want to know that?"
"Well, I can talk to you about everything and I just thought you could help me with this." She says.
"I don't think I'm the one you want help with about relationships, or Dallas for that matter." I say, my voice rising slightly. I take a deep breath and sigh.
"I know that you and Dallas haven't been getting a long, but maybe you can settle that?" She says.
"Why would you even say that? You know what he did and how he's been treating me. He's only doing this because…" I start, but I stop myself.
"What?" She asks.
"Nothing, just forget it." I tell her.
"No, please tell me." She says, putting her hand on my arm. I move my arm away quickly, and she looks hurt by my actions.
"Look, if you want to forgive him and take him back, be my guest." I tell her, walking over to the piano bench to grab my backpack.
"Austin, I never said I was going to." She says.
"Well, if you weren't considering it than you wouldn't have a reason to have lunch with him." I tell her.
"Well I think I can at least talk with him, I owe him that." She says.
"Why do you owe him anything after the way he's treated you?" I ask.
"Austin, he's my first love, I just can't let him go this easy." She says. Those words felt like a thousand swords stabbing me in the chest. Trish was right about Ally, and I knew she was but there was a part of me that wasn't.
I nod my head at her and look down, slinging my backpack over my shoulder, "I have to go." I say, turning around and walking away. But she grabs my arm, stopping me. I turn back towards her but look down at my feet, afraid that she'll be able to tell exactly how I feel about her by seeing my face, "Austin, I'm sorry, I…" She stutters, but she doesn't say anything more. I nod as she lets go of my hand and I walk out of Sonic Boom.
As soon as I get outside I start to run and run, until I end up at Trish's house. I walk up onto her porch, and drop my backpack on the welcome mat beside me as I bang on the door. She opens it as I'm knocking again and I almost punch her in the face. She jumps back and yells a loud, "What the hell Austin!"
"I'm sorry." I say, still out of breath from running.
She looks me up and down and raises an eyebrow, "What's going on with you?"
"I was just at Sonic Boom with Ally, and sure enough Dallas begged her to take him back last night and she's having lunch with him today." I say.
She shakes her head, "Damn him. Well that doesn't mean that she's going to take him back."
"I don't know. She was acting weird and then she asked me what I thought about the situation and then I started to freak out on the inside and I said that if she wants to take him back be my guest and I started to leave and then she grabbed me and said she was sorry and then acted like she was going to say something else but didn't and then I left." I say all in one sentence. I try to catch my breath as Trish takes in everything I just said.
"That isn't good… But! She asked you what you thought about it and you had the opportunity to tell her." She says.
"Tell her what!" I say wide eyed, "No Ally, you can't take Dallas back because I'm in love with you!" I shout.
"Yes, that would have been fine to say." Trish says.
I roll my eyes, "I'm sorry Trish but it's really not that easy." I say.
"I know Austin, but now you could be losing Ally." She says.
I shake my head, "I never had her."
"You had a chance." She says.
"You don't know that." I tell her and shake my head, "I should just go home." I say.
"Austin I don't think you should be alone right now. Let's just go do something." She says.
"Like what?" I ask her.
She shrugs, "I don't know." She says blankly.
"That's helpful." I tease.
She rolls her eyes, "Let's just go hang out at the beach." She says.
"Fine, let's go." I tell her.
We walk to the beach and walk through the many crowds of people hanging out and doing whatever they please. I don't think I've ever been to this area of the beach when it wasn't really crowded. We find a spot in the sand and sit down, watching the wave's crash in front of us. I mind as well have went home, because this isn't getting my mind off of anything.
"Trish this isn't helping me." I tell her.
"I know, I'm sorry, I just couldn't think of anything for us to do." She says.
"I was thinking that we push Dallas down a well." I say.
She laughs loudly, "Good one, good one."
"I thought so." I say, grinning.
"How about we go get some food?" She asks.
"They will be there…" I say.
"Crap, I'm sorry. I have bad memory." She says, shaking her head at herself.
"It's fine." I say.
Suddenly her face brightens, "Let's make a sand castle!" She says, standing up. I look at her like she's crazy and shake my head.
"Well fine, you can watch me make a sand castle then!" She says.
And that's what we do. I watch her for a good hour making and tearing down a stupid sand castle that was always either too crooked or too small or didn't look right or wasn't castle-ey enough (her words). It was more than frustrating to watch, but I kept quiet and waited for her to eventually get tired of it herself. Finally, she sighs loudly, kicks it over and sits down next to me. I smirk at her until she notices and then I burst out laughing.
"What is so funny?" She asks.
"That hour of your life you just wasted." I say, laughing still.
"Gee, thanks!" She says.
"No problem." I tell her.
She checks the time on her phone, "It should be safe to be around the boardwalk by now." She says.
"You don't know that." I say.
"Well it's a public place and we shouldn't have to avoid it." She says, standing up.
"Well fine." I say, whining.
We walk across the busy boardwalk, trying to avoid bumping into other people. One girl was texting and almost ran right in front of me. It's a good thing I'm a ninja and moved out of the way fast enough. But then I suddenly regret it. What if it was fate for us to bump into each other and she happens to be my true love? What am I kidding? That can't happen because my true love is probably getting back, or is back with her true love.
We walk by Mel's and look in, and when Ally and Dallas are nowhere in sight, we decide to go in to eat. To make this day worse, the only table available is the one that Ally and I shared breakfast on the other morning. Why does the world hate me?
I sigh as I sit down and look over the menu. I can feel Trish's eyes on me and I look at her, "What?" I ask.
"You look miserable." She says.
"I'm sorry." I say. I put on my fakest smile ever, causing her to glare at me.
"You're real funny Austin." She says.
Looking through the menu, I realize I'm not even that hungry. But I order some onion rings anyway. I cringe when Trish orders chocolate milk. Man, this is going to be harder than I thought I think to myself. Everything reminds me of Ally, and it hurts.
Half way through our food, Trish's phone rings. She answers it and starts talking lowly, eyeing me. I eat my last onion ring and stare at her. When she hangs up, she sighs, "That was Dez." She says.
"Okay…" I say.
"He said that I should come over for a movie night, with him, Dallas… and Ally." She says.
I just look at her, completely still and lifeless. She notices my change of mood and shakes her head, "It doesn't mean it's what you think." She says.
"You know it does, Trish." I tell her, standing up, "I'm going home." I say.
[][][]
I grabbed a bunch of junk food and brought them down onto my basement. I sit down on my leather couch and stare blankly at the flat screen that is playing some movie I haven't even been paying attention to. By the time two bags of chips are gone, my phone beeps. I look at it and it's a text from Trish, asking if I'm okay. I ignore it and throw my phone across the rug, sighing loudly and pulling at my hair.
I hear the door bell ring through the house and I stay seated. I know that my mother or father will get it. I grab the remote and flip through the movie channels. Suddenly, I hear the basement door open and people talking, but I only hear one pair of footsteps walking down them. The stairs are behind me, but I don't bother looking back. I figure it's just my mother, but then she comes into view; she as in Ally.
Author's Note:
Thanks for all of the reviews! I'm gonna reply to a few on here that i really likeed (:
Jodie'xo:
Does Austin have OCD in this? He cleans a lot Lol
Me; Lol, no i don't think he does... His parents just really like to use him as their slave.
maddiegirl56:
This story makes me feel... FEELINGS!
Me: Haha well then i think i am succeeding with this story(:
randomsmileyperson:
I really don't want Ally to forgive Dallas! Update!
Me: Who does? Definitely not me!