Ally drums her fingers against the steering wheel while biting on the nails of the other hand, scratching away at the already chipped pink nail polish with her front teeth. She hums along with the radio as she glances in her rear view mirror at the empty road behind. She indicates and pulls in to the next lane, even though there's no one to indicate to. She settles both hands on the steering wheel again, closing her eyes momentarily to enjoy the feel of the wind as it combs through her newly cut, freshly dyed (ombre highlights) hair.
When she opens her eyes again she sees the sign she's been so desperate to see for weeks - Juilliard. She grins and takes a sharp left, following a series of smaller signs leading to the campus car park.
Dez Fisher, Austin's room mate and self proclaimed guitar hero, is waiting by an empty parking space, so Ally uses her initiative and pulls in there. She tips her head in greeting as Ally gets out of the car.
"Allyson," Ally rolls his eyes. She may not be in high school anymore but it's clear that some things will never change.
"Hey Dez," she sighs. Dez pulls out a packet of smokes out of his pocket and lights one up, only to have Ally steal it from him after his second or third drag.
"Smokin's bad for you," Ally announces while throwing it down, smirking as Dez scowls and mutters to himself. He throws an arm across Ally's shoulders and pulls her in to a sort of half bear hug. "How ya been kid?" he asks as he leads Ally away from the car and on to the grass.
They're more or less up to date on each other's lives by the time they reach the dorm room door, and even if Dez hadn't shown her the way she's sure she could have found it herself by the doodles on the door. There's several little amusing marker sketches, most of Dez nagging at Austin as he draws. There's also next week's date scratched on there with a thick black love heart around it.
"Austin really has no idea I'm coming?" Ally asks, running a finger over the digits and across the dried marker.
Dez shakes his head. "Nope, not a clue." He takes out a key and opens the door, pushing Ally inside maybe harder than intended, maybe. "I trust you can find which one is Austin's bed." Ally waves him off and flops down on the bed with the star sketches next to the headboard. "Austin's due out of class in five minutes, tell him to text me when the two of you have finished with your deeds."
"Kay," Ally laughs, placing her hands behind her head as she lies back on Austin's pillow. "Love you," she calls as Dez begins to close the door.
"Yeah yeah," comes the reply as the door finally closes, locking Ally inside.
She grins to herself for a while, glancing around the small and half messy room. Everything on Dez's side seems to be pretty organised, from the tidy desk to the freshly made bed. Austin's side is a completely different story, from the stacks of song books to the coffee spill stains on the bed sheets. Ally turns on to her side and studies the pictures on the closest wall.
There's a whole collage of images, several of those being Austin and his younger brother Derek. There's a few from graduation and the one which used to be on Austin's desk back home, the one of the two of them last summer. As her eyes scan along the wall she comes to realize that's the only picture of Ally there. She frowns, confused, and something tugs at her lower stomach which doesn't feel pleasant at all. Ally should be on that wall, everyone else is, so why isn't she? Is this a sign, a very bad sign?
Ally flops on to her back once more and begins to panic. She runs through a hundred different scenarios in her head, all possible explanations as to why there is a serious lack of Ally love in his room. She knows there are more pictures of the two of them; she's got a million himself at home, so why aren't any of them on his wall god damnit?
She closes her eyes and groans frustrated at herself, moving her head up and down on the lumpy pillow trying to find a comfortable spot. "The heck is up with this pillow?" she mutters to herself, turning over and batting it with her hand until she feels something beneath it. She cocks her head to the side and raises an eyebrow in question at the mysterious shape beneath the light blue pillow case. Finally sticking her hand beneath it, she pulls out the object in question.
It's a photo album. Ally scoots back until she's sat cross legged, resting the album on her legs. She opens it, pulling back the cover slowly until the first picture is revealed. It's the two of them, kissing. Ally sighs in relief before turning to the next photo and it's another one of them, the photo much like the first; the ones all couples take of private kisses and soft hugs. She flips through a few more and then the rest. Every single picture is the two of them, an album full of quick pecks and long kisses, hugs and goofy smiles, shy looks and playful pouts. Ally doesn't know when she started grinning but she's only just become aware as her cheeks start to ache.
There's the sound of a key in the door and Ally instantly looks up. After only a split second pause she shoves the album back under the pillow and arranges herself lazily on the bed in an funny pose. Austin enters with his eyes glued to some file, shuffling in to the room and closing the door. He drops his bag on the floor, muttering to himself. He glances up momentarily, "Hey Ally," and then looks back to the file. Ally smirks, waiting for it to finally hit him.
Almost immediately after looking back to the file Austin stops and looks back to his bed, eyes wide and bewildered. "Ally?" Well that's what he means to say, but what actually comes out is a strangled slightly high pitched noise.
"Hi," Ally smiles.
"You, um," Austin begins to stutter, "you're actually here right? This isn't like some, um, hallucination shit or something?"
Ally rolls her eyes but never stops smiling. "You're such a weirdo." And then Austin's smiling too, grinning in fact. He drops the file to the floor and at the same time Ally scrambles to her knees, just making it as Austin bounds in to her arms. They hug, tight and breathtaking until they gasp for air. "Missed you," Ally mumbles against Austin's neck, taking in the smell of Febreze and Axe.
"You have no idea," Austin whispers back, savouring the last few moments of the hug until he slowly loosens the grip he has and draws back just a little. He's still grinning. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming till next week."
Ally shrugs, ruffling her fingers through Austin's hair. "Me and Dez decided to surprise you."
"Dez? What the - oh, well that explains a few things," he says, eyes wondering off in thought before focusing back on Ally again. "Sneaky kid."
"Yup," Ally beams, tightening her fingers around the fluffy hair at the base of Austin's skull. "Now shut up and kiss me." And who is Austin to refuse? He slips his hands on to the small of Ally's back and pulls her closer, knocking their lips together in an eyes open peck, watching Ally as she sighs and smiles. Then they close their eyes and kiss, really kiss, and it's wonderful. Ally's never felt to glad to have lips pressed against hers and her heart hammers excitedly against her ribcage in agreement. There's a few raw spots on her bottom lip from where she's been biting away the skin on the drive up here and it stings a little as Austin swipes his tongue across, velvet and warm. The pinching sensation dulls, either that or she just forgets about it, as one of Austin's hands tilts her face upwards so he can deepen the kiss in one swift movement. And it's slow and tender and sloppy and quite frankly one of the nicest kisses Ally's had from Austin in a while.
As Ally starts to push her hips in to Austin's, rocking against the denim of his jeans, Austin ends the kiss abruptly, staring at Ally with eyes that are now laden in lust and want. Because this isn't his imagination – this is real and Ally is right here.
Austin pushes Ally back so she lands flat out on the mattress and raises her eyebrows and smirks, diving on top of her as Ally lets out a shriek of laughter. Austin soon shuts her up with his mouth though.
Austin laughs breathlessly. Ally's legs slowly slide down from around Austin's waist and she coils her arms around his shoulders, hugging his warm body to hers. Austin smiles against the skin he was biting moments ago and kisses it, trailing his lips across Ally's neck to her mouth.
"We're so kissing like that again, like in 8 minutes," Ally mumbles in to Austin's mouth and Austin laughs.
"Can't I sleep first?"
Ally scowls. "Old man," and Austin softly head butts her shoulder.
"I've had classes all day, I'll have you know," and he slides out and off of Ally, curling in to her side and pressing his face in to the crook of Ally's neck, taking in the scent of her.
"Okay," Ally finally agrees, because it does feel kind of nice to have Austin's soft fluttered breath against her neck again. Austin grins and kisses Ally's shoulder in thanks and now that Ally thinks about it, she's actually a little tired herself. She closes her eyes and they ache in satisfaction.
"Hey, did you do something different with your hair?"
Ally opens her eyes just to roll them and then closes them once more.
A/N: Woah, random update. I guess it's a good time to say i'm back... I was on hiatus. I'll TRY to update all of the other stories because you guys requested. It's good to be back. I hope you're still reading!