Chapter Fifteen:
"Here comes forever girl."
When she kisses me back I'm struck with the realization that this is indeed not a dream. I'm kissing the love of my life… and it's about damn time.
We pull apart and I cup Ally's as into my hands, looking into her eyes, "Do you mean it?" I ask, searching her face.
"I do." She says, nodding lightly and not breaking eye contact.
"What the hell is this?" Dallas' voice comes from behind me.
Ally and I both turn around and see him standing on the sidewalk. His fists are clenched at his sides and he looks furious. Ally backs away from me and drops her shoulders, "So you break up with me a half hour ago and then go kiss Austin? So is this why you dumped me?" He asks.
"Dallas, it's not…" I say.
"Save it, 'best friend'." He says, using air quotations.
I laugh, "You can't throw that in my face now buddy, you ruined that yourself a while ago." I say.
He walks up to me and gets right in my face, "Why would you steal my girl? You wouldn't even know her if it wasn't for me."
"I didn't steal her away from you. You pushed her away yourself." I say, standing my ground.
"You don't know shit about me and Ally's relationship." He says.
"I know enough." I say.
"I can't believe either of you." He says, turning to Ally. I can tell she's fighting back tears, and I know she feels really bad about this.
"I'm sorry." Ally whispers.
"Save it, bitch." Dallas says.
"Don't you ever talk to her like that again." I say through my teeth.
"Oh what are you going to do about it, superstar?" He says, getting back in my face.
"You should leave." I say.
"Make me." He says.
"You know I won't fight you." I say. And it's true. I'm not one to start fights, or be involved in one. I don't believe in violence. It never helps anything.
I turn around to walk away but Dallas grabs my shoulder, turning me around and punching me right in the jaw. Ally squeals as I fall onto my back. Dallas towers over me and kicks me right in the ribs. Right when he's going to do more, Dez appears out of nowhere. He grabs Dallas and shoves him to the side, "What the hell are you doing?" Dez asks him.
"I'm going to be that crap out of him." Dallas says.
Dez looks to Ally who is now quietly sobbing, and then at me as I attempt to get up. I stumble and stay on one knee, holding my side. "What happened?" He asks.
"Austin stole Ally from me, and then he attacked me, I had to fight back." He says.
"Dallas, just leave." Dez says.
"Why should I?" He asks.
"No one wants you here." Dez says.
"What? He started it!" Dallas says.
"I know Austin, and he'd never start a fight. Just leave man." Dez says.
"You guys are all idiots." Dallas says. He looks down at me, "You better watch yourself." And I laugh at him as he walks away.
Dez walks over to me and sticks his arm out. I look up at him and he smiles only slightly. I grab his hand and let him help me up. Ally walks over and is at my good side, under my arm, helping me up. I put my arm around her shoulder and she cries into my side, "I'm so sorry." She says.
"It's not your fault." I tell her.
Dez stands awkwardly in front of us, his hands in his pocket. He stares at the ground and kicks around some dirt, "Look man, I'm really sorry; I shouldn't have done what I did to you." He says.
I nod, "Thanks for stopping Dallas." I say.
"I know how he can get when he's pissed. I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner." He says, eyeing my throbbing jaw.
"It's alright man." I say.
He walks over and we do our handshake we made up in 6th grade. He smiles big and pats me on the shoulder, "Really sorry." He says.
"I know." I tell him.
After Dez leaves, Ally walks me onto my porch and we sit down on my swing. I groan in pain slightly as I sit. She looks me up and down, "Should we bring you to the hospital?" She asks.
I shake my head, "Its fine, just bruises." I say.
She shakes her head and puts her face in her hands, "This is my entire fault. I was so stupid. I should have told him the real reason. I just told him that my feelings changed, which is true, but I didn't tell him about you. I guess I should have, but I was afraid this would happen, but it happened anyway, of course." She says.
"It's not your fault Ally. You had no control over this situation. I don't care what happened to me, as long as it was me and not you." I tell her.
She moves closer and hugs me tightly. She cries for a little longer, and I can understand why. I know this is really hard for her, harder for her then me. I can't believe what Dallas called her earlier. It makes me wonder how many bad things he's called her before. But I'm just glad he's out of her life now, I hope. I know he will be back, but this time I'll have to be ready to fight back. I'm not letting this happen again.
I decide to walk Ally home. I don't want her alone at night walking when Dallas could be around. The aches in my ribs are still there, and I know they are probably bruised, but that's better than broken. It's going to suck trying to hide the bruise on my jaw from my parents. It's probably going to be impossible to hide it actually.
I walk onto her porch with her and we stand in front of the door. She looks up at me and sighs at my bruise, "I'm sorry."
"You've said that, and you don't have to be." I tell her, grabbing her hand.
"Thanks for sticking up for me tonight." She says.
"Yes, anytime." I tell her.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" She asks.
"You know it." I tell her.
She smiles up at me and I lean down, kissing her softly. I pull away after a moment and smile down at her, "I love you." I whisper.
"I love you too." She says back.
The next morning…
I wake up and jump into the shower, taking my time so I wouldn't have to see my parents before work. I was thinking of asking Ally to use some of her makeup to cover up my face for a little while, just until the bruise is smaller and I can blame it on a freak accident. But right now, if I faced my parents, they would know it was a nice punch. It was a huge black and blue mark, in the usual right hook spot.
I throw on a tee shirt and pants; run my hands through my messy wet hair and head downstairs. As I'm walking down them, someone is suddenly pounding on my front door. That's odd, because normally everyone uses my doorbell. As I walk over to it, I realize it could possibly be Dallas. I open it slowly, and am relieved when I see Trish standing there. She's grinning until her eyes go right to my bruise and her jaw drops, "What happened to you!"
"Uh, Dallas punched me." I say casually.
"What!" She practically screams.
I motion for her to come in and I shut the door behind her. She takes a seat on my couch and I sit down on the chair. She stares at me and waits for me to start but I don't say anything. Her eyes bulge out of her head like a pug dog and she says, "Well are you going to tell me!"
"Oh right um so Ally showed up at my house last night." I say. Trish nods and motions for me to go on.
"Well I finally told her how I feel about her and come to find out she had just broke up with Dallas a little while before and feels the same way about me." I say.
Trish grins wide, "I told you so!" She yells.
"Yeah yeah I know. Anyways, so uh I kissed her and when we pulled away Dallas was kind of standing there." I say, feeling the ache in my ribs.
"Well that's not good." Trish says.
"No. So he starts freaking out, punches me in the face and gives me a good ole kick in the ribs while I'm done. Then Dez appears and stops him. If it wasn't for Dez, I'd probably be in the hospital." I say.
Her eyes widen, "Wow. And I missed all that drama." She says, shaking her head.
"Wow, I'm glad that's what you care about." I say, laughing.
"Sorry, but that's horrible." She says.
"I know. Dallas is such a jerk, it's unbelievable." I say.
"Well, you knew he'd react like that." She says.
"I know, but I didn't know he was there! And now Ally is beating herself up about it, saying it's her fault and all that." I say.
"Well, she probably should have told Dallas about you and her but I understand why she didn't." She says, shrugging, "So are you guys together now?" She asks.
I shake my head, "No, I don't know. Everything is complicated. We didn't really talk about it." I say.
"So are you and Dez cool now?" She asks.
"I think so. It's going to be a little weird for a bit, but he apologized and he really helped me. It'd be wrong to not forgive him." I say.
"Are you going to be seeing Ally today?" She asks.
"I believe so." I tell her.
She looks over my face, "How did you hide that from your parents?"
"I waited until they left to come down." I say.
"Well good luck hiding that." She says.
"Thanks, you're such a great friend Trish." I say sarcastically.
She grins, "I'm your best friend, don't like to me." She says laughing.
I roll my eyes, "Yeah yeah." I say.
[][][][]
"So, my Aunt Helen's oldest daughter is getting married in a couple weeks." Ally says. She sits down Indian style across from me on the floor.
"I didn't know your aunt had a daughter that old." I say.
"Yeah she wasn't at the picnic." She says.
We are in the practice room, just hanging out while her father works for her downstairs. It's weird to be hanging out in here and not making music.
"Oh well that explains it." I say.
"Yeah, but anyways, I was wondering if you'd like to be my date to the wedding." She says.
"I'd love to." I say, smiling.
She smiles back and nods, "Great! It's going to be so much fun. I love weddings." She says.
"I've actually never been to one." I admit.
"Well, the reception is definitely the best part." She says.
"Where is the wedding?" I ask.
"It's outside on the other side of the beach, and then the reception is at the park where we had the picnic." She says.
"That sounds nice." I say.
"Yes and I know everyone will be thrilled that your coming. They all love you. Aunt Helen hasn't stopped talking about you since." She says.
"You two are close huh?" I ask.
"Yes, very. She's like a mother to me." She says.
"Ally, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your mother?" I ask softly.
Her face goes blank and she sighs, "I haven't talked about it in years."
I slide over and sit next to her, facing her, "You don't have to really, I was just wondering. You don't have to talk about it until you're ready." I say.
"No, it's okay. I want to tell you." She says, "It's just kind of hard to talk about."
"I know." I say, running my fingers through her hair.
"I was six years old when it happened. She loved animals and traveled around the world to do research for these books she would write. And I guess she went on a trip to Australia, but her plane never landed. Just like that, it disappeared from the radar and it was never found, and neither was she." She says. She stuff hers face into my chest and starts to cry softly.
I stay silent for a moment, shocked at what she just said. I didn't expect something like that to have happened. I can't imagine the pain she and her father must have went through, "I'm so sorry Ally." I whisper into her hair. We stay like that for a long time, and I'm glad I could comfort her.
She eventually sits up, moving the hair from out of her face and wipes her tears off of her cheeks. She sniffles a couple times and smiles, "So, you have a guitar you want to buy, don't you?" She asks, smiling as sincere as she can.
I smile back, "I almost forgot."
Ally stands up and grabs my arm, bringing me down into the store. Her father is running the cash register and waves as she drags me to the guitars. The same one is on display where it always is and as beautiful as ever, "I made my father keep it for you." She says.
I turn and look down at her, "Really, but you didn't know if I'd even win." I say.
"I knew you would." She says, smiling.
I grin widely, "You're amazing." I say, taking the guitar off of the shelf and looking it over.
We walk it over to her dad and his face drops, "What happened to you?" he asks. Crap, I totally forgot about my face.
"I guess I'm a sleepwalker" I say laughing, "I feel down a few stairs last night." I say, shrugging. Well that was a terrible lie.
He raises an eyebrow, "Ouch."
"Austin is here for his guitar." Ally says, changing the subject and pointing to it.
"Ah yes, that's a beautiful instrument. You have good taste." He says.
"Thanks. I'm happy to give you the business too." I say.
"Yeah Ally told me about the contest, congrats!" He says.
I grin, "Thank you."
"Austin also agreed to come with me to the wedding." Ally says.
Her father grins, "Great! It's going to be a good time."
I look at Ally beside me, "I'm sure it is."
Author's Note:
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! And i'm sorry if i ever mentioned Ally's mother in other chapters, if so, i forgot. I tend to do that hahaha. Thanks for the reviews! Finally reached 200!