Chapter Thirteen:
""
I just stare at her as she stands in front of me, looking me over. I must look really pathetic; chips and junk food surrounding me, my wrinkled white tee shirt and out of this world crazy hair. I straighten up and brush off the crumbs surrounding my shirt and pants, "What are you doing here?" I ask.
"You wouldn't answer my texts and then Trish said you wouldn't answer her either so I came looking for you. Your father said you were down here." She says.
"Oh." I say.
She sits down at the other end of the couch and looks me over again, "Why are you like this?" She asks.
I shrug, "Lazy day." I say.
"Right…" She says, raising an eyebrow.
I put my attention back to the TV, acting like I was really interested in it, even though I just barely turned it on. She sighs and leans back on the arm of the chair, "Look, I talked with Dallas and we aren't back together, in case you're wondering." She says.
"I wasn't." I say rudely.
"Oh." She says lowly.
I turn to her and she's playing with her hands, "Why not?" I ask, softer than before.
"I told him that I had to think about it." She says.
Well way to kill off my better mood already, jeez, "Oh." I say. Man, we both say oh a lot.
"But really, why do you seem bummed?" She asks.
"I'm not, really. I just felt like being lazy and eating junk food since I don't have any friends to hang out with anymore." I say.
"Is Dez still on Dallas' side?" She asks.
I nod, "And I guess you are too." I say.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asks, letting her hand sit neatly on her lap.
"I know that you all are hanging out tonight." I say, shrugging.
"Well it's just as friends." She says.
"Sure." I say.
"Why do you care anyway?" She asks.
Because I love you! "Because we're friends and I care about you. I don't want to see you more hurt than you already are." I say.
"What makes you think I will get hurt more?" She asks.
"Well, because it's Dallas. No matter how much he says it, he never changes. He hasn't changed in the years I've known him and I don't see him changing now." I say.
"But you don't know that for sure." She says.
"Is it worth the risk?" I ask.
"Sometimes you have to take risks, even if it could ruin things. You never know until you try." She says.
I just shake my head, "Well you wanted my opinion." I say.
She nods and stands up, "I know. I guess I just thought you'd tell me what I wanted to hear."
I stand up in front of her and look down at her, "And what's that?" I ask.
"Nothing; never mind." She says, turning around. This time I grab her wrist gently and pull her back to me. She's slightly surprised but she looks up into my eyes, "Just be careful." I practically whisper at her. She keeps eye contact with me for a few long moments. Our bodies are so close and I ache to kiss her, but instead she nods and I let her go as she turns around and walks away, up my basement stairs. I run my hands through my hair and sit back down, realizing I just let the girl I'm in love with walk away.
The next morning…
I walk downstairs after sleeping in, still in my white tee shirt and boxers. I didn't go to Sonic Boom to meet up with Ally. I know it's going to upset her, piss her off even, but I just couldn't go there without saying something I would regret. She could be back with Dallas right now, and I really just don't want to know.
I grab the note from my mother on the table. It's her day off but she went out shopping for the rest of the afternoon. I realize that I don't have any chores, which means I'm going to be having another boring day. I really miss having some guy time with Dez, but I guess I should get used to it.
When I'm about to grab a glass of water, the doorbell rings. I sign and walk over to the door. I open it and reveal Ally standing there, her arms crossed and she's tapping her foot. It's her signature stance for; I'm pissed. She looks me up and won and scolds me, "Where were you this morning, boxer boy?"
I look down sleepily at my cloud boxers and shrug, looking back at her, "I wasn't feeling it today." I tell her.
"You weren't feeling it huh? Well you could have at least called. I was worried sick, and here you are, just hanging out in your pajamas without a care in the world." She says, waving her arms around frantically.
"Not a care in the world? I wish." I say rudely.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asks.
"It means I have some problems of my own you know." I say.
"Like what!" I ask.
"Nothing okay, why are you acting like this?" I ask.
"Well because I just heard that the stupid contest that I'm helping you write the stupid song for has been moved up, to next weekend!" She shouts.
"Why? It's nowhere near the end of summer." I say.
"Yeah, well they decided they didn't want to wait until then and that they would get more people if it was next week or something like that." She says, shrugging.
"So we're screwed." I say, leaning in the doorway.
She nods, "Pretty much. And we lost a day because of you!" She says.
I raise my hands up in defense, "I'll go get dressed and we can go now."
"I can't." She says, staring at the ground.
"Well why not?" I ask.
"Me and Dallas are going for ice cream…" she says lowly.
"Oh, that's nice." I say, fake smiling.
She shrugs, "So tomorrow?" She asks.
"Sure." I say.
Stupid Dallas and his stupid face with his stupid ice cream and his stupid guilt trip and his stupid everything.
The next morning…
"This is hopeless." I groan, banging my head off of the piano keys.
She grabs my hair and pulls at it, "Stop! You're going to hurt my piano!" She says.
I rub my head in the spot she pulled and make a grumpy face, "Your piano? What about my head!" I say.
She rolls her eyes, "You're never going to win that money with half a song." She says.
"No, it will be fine. I'll start a new trend. I mean, nobody listens to a full song these days anyway!" I say.
She looks at me and bursts into laughter, "You are so right… But we still need a full song." She says.
"Ugh!" I yell.
"Okay let's not lose focus." She says, rubbing her temples.
"This ain't no, twilight movie…" I sing.
"That's pathetic." She says.
"Well you are pathetic!" I say.
"Well that's mean." She says, standing up. She looks down at me and crosses her arms.
"Will you stop that?" I say.
"Stop what?" She asks.
"This!" I say. I stand up in front of her and mirror what she's doing. She looks me over and then looks at herself and starts laughing.
"Oops." She says.
"You do it all the time when you're mad!" I say.
"I do not!" She says, crossing them again and stomping her foot. I shake my head at her and grab her elbows, locking them to her sides. I keep my grip on them, "okay, get mad at me and try not to cross them."
"That's easy!" She says.
"You are the worst song writer in the history of the world." I tell her. Her face turns red and I feel her arms moving in my grip.
"You are trying to move them!" I shout.
"I am not!" She says.
She turns around and gets out of my grip and starts to run away. I run after her and catch her by her waist, spinning her around, laughing.
"What's going on here?"
We both stop in our tracks and look in the doorway where Dallas is leaning in the doorway, watching us. Ally moves away from me and straightens up, "What are you doing here?" She asks.
"I was just coming by to see you." He says, giving me a death glare.
"That's sweet." She says, trying to smile.
"What are you guys doing?" he asks, walking into the room.
"Nothing, Austin just came in to say hi and was just leaving." She says. I look at her with slight shock that she's just going to throw me out like that, but I shouldn't be surprised.
"Yes, right." I say. I brush past Dallas without saying a word.
I stop and turn around in the doorway and Dallas walks up to Ally and hug's her. She sees me from over his shoulder and looks away quickly. I shake my head and shut the door behind me. As I walk down the steps of Sonic Boom, my song appears back in my brain, but you're the one that I can't have. Yes Austin, she's the one you can't have, that's for sure.
I walk over to Mel's and take a seat at the bar. I order myself a large strawberry milkshake, extra think. The waitress bats her eyelashes at me and pops her gum but I don't pay any attention to her. I haven't noticed any other girls since I realized my feelings for Ally.
When I'm almost done with my shake, Ally walks in. She scans the room and when she finds me she walks over. She takes a seat next to me, but doesn't make eye contact, "How's your shake?" She asks.
"How's Dallas?" I ask.
"He's angry." She says.
"Is he? Well about what?" I ask.
She turns and searches my face, "About us hanging out this morning." She says.
"Well he's changed a lot." I say sarcastically.
She sighs, "Look Austin, I don't think we should do it anymore…" She says.
"Do what?" I ask.
"Meet up in the mornings." She says, picking at her fingernails.
"What why?" I ask.
She shrugs, "I shouldn't sneak around like that." She says.
"We're just writing a song." I say.
She sighs again, "I know, but we're hanging out and I guess he has the right to be a little angry about it."
"So you're just going to abandon me like this?" I ask, shoving my glass out of the way.
"Austin I'm not abandoning you, it's just" She starts.
"Ally you promised you would help me with this, and now you're just bailing on me like this, for Dallas, whose bailed on you way more than I ever have." I say angrily, standing up.
Her face drops as she looks up at me, "I just… I didn't mean…" She starts.
"You know what Ally, save it." I say.
I turn and walk away from her, and right out of the restaurant. The ache in my chest is powerful as I jog back to my house. I can't believe this is happening, I really can't. I can't believe I thought I actually meant something to Ally, but I can see that I never did. I guess I was just a distraction from Dallas for a little while.
When I walk in my front door, my parents are seated on the couch, sipping wine. I shut the door behind me and they both look up at me, "Hello Austin." My mother says.
"Hi." I say blankly.
"Are you alright, you look sort of pale." My father says.
"I'm just dandy." I say, throwing off my shoes, letting them fly and hit the bin we keep them in.
I wave at them and then run up my stairs, shutting my door lightly behind me. I walk over to my bed and fall dramatically on it, sighing loudly. I take my pillow and lay it over my face. If it suddenly came alive and started suffocating me I wouldn't mind at all right now. Life sucks, girls suck, ex best friends suck.
After a while of feeling back for myself, I get up, strip into just my boxers and pick up my old beaten up guitar. I sit back down on my bed and set it on my lap, "No nice new electric guitar for me." I say out loud.
I strum a few chords and start playing around with it. I start humming the words of the song I wrote and it fits nice, "I'm in love with someone else's girl, you rock my world." I sing out loud.
"Is that a new song?" Someone's voice comes from the doorway.
I practically jump out of my skin to the sound and look over to see Trish leaning in the doorway. I freeze and stare at her, "What the hell Trish! I'm hardly dressed." I say.
"I've seen you in your bathing suit, what's the difference?" She says, coming in and sitting down on my desk.
"Who let you in here?" I ask.
"Your dad did." She says. Wow, he really needs to stop doing that.
"So what was that, what you just sang?" She asks.
I shrug, "I don't know."
"You are a liar. You wrote a song about Ally, didn't you?" She asks, grinning.
"It doesn't matter." I say, playing a random melody.
"It does though." She says.
"Ally told me this morning that our song deal was off, she's not helping me anymore." I say.
Her eyes widen, "You're joking."
"I wish I was. Dallas caught us hanging out there this morning and he got her to put a stop to it." I say, shrugging.
"What about the contest?" She asks.
"I'm not doing it." I tell her.
"Play me your song." She says.
I shake my head, "No way."
"Please!" She says.
"It's terrible." I tell her.
"Play it!" She says.
I sigh loudly but I give in. I start playing the few chords that sounded good and I sing her the song. She smiles the entire time and even bobs her head to the music. When I'm done, she claps dramatically, "That was awesome and kind of sad all at the same time." She says.
"Uh, thanks I think." I say.
"So you are going to play that at the beach contest right?" She asks.
"Are you joking? I could never!" I say.
"Well why not?" She asks.
"Well if Ally goes, she will figure out it's about her, and it's just bad and I can't…" I blab.
"You need to sing it." She says.
"It will ruin things. I'm pretty sure she is back with Dallas." I say.
"Then the song is accurate." She says.
"Ally will hate me." I say.
"Or maybe it will open her eyes!" Trish says, "And she will realize that you are the one she should be with."
"I really doubt it Trish." I say.
"Whatever, just think about it okay? I have to go." She says, standing up.
"See you Trish." I say to her back.
Author's Note:
As I have said before, don't hate me! (: Also, I can't believe how many reviews I have gotten the past couple of days! Almost at a 150(: Thank you all so much, I love you!
amillipede said:
This is such a great story! I love it! Can't wait to read more! :) Why is Dez choosing Dallas over Austin?
Me: Thanks! And about Dez… Well that is the question isn't it!
WR5Forever Said:
Okay so I'm dying.
Me: No! Don't Die! You need to stay alive so you can find out what happens! :O
maddiegirl56 said:
Oh my holy goodness WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?! DO YOU LIKE MAKING MY LIFE SO WONDERFUL YET MISERABLE?! *screams in happiness and frustrations and then dies*
Me: Not more dying! I am so sorry… I think? I'm glad you… like it? Hahahaha