A/N
So here's the next chapter! Thank you for your reviews, tephriam, SPAZZOUTyo123, LoveShipper and LimoLuzie! If you followed, thank you also :) I'm already excited for the season premier next Sunday; the part in the promo where they go, "I just wanna see you" or something like that. YAY :D
Disclaimer: I don't own Austin and Ally or anything else you recognize.
I wake up and go through the usual getting up activities; shower, get dressed, brush teeth, do hair and minimal make-up. My heart feels numb and I have no tears left so I'm just running on auto-pilot. I don't know what I'm going to do today. Maybe I'll go to the library and get something new to read. I fiddle with my necklace, fingering the treble clef and the ring. I wonder what Austin's doing right now. I can't stay upset with him for long and I hope it's the same way for him.
Heading downstairs, I decide that I want pancakes for breakfast. I'm mixing up the batter when I hear the front door open. I figure it's Trish, she might have been at a party or something last night without me knowing. Suddenly, strong arms grab me around the waist. On instinct I jerk my elbow back, hard.
"Oof!" I twist around and Austin's standing there, rubbing his side where I hit him. I scowl, what's he doing here? I was just wondering what he was doing, but I didn't expect him to just show up! What's with his mood swings? He was all nice and stuff and then he completely ignored me yesterday and now he's come up and hugged me from behind! He pulls that move a lot…
I place my hands on my hips, "What're you doing, Austin?"
"Coming to see you?" he answers as if he doesn't know himself.
"After ignoring me yesterday? I texted you a bunch and you didn't answer, not even when I called!" I'm waving the mixing spoon around to accent my words and pancake mix is flying, but I don't care.
"I-I'm sorry, Ally. I messed up. After I told you I'd be there and then visit you yesterday… I know you don't want to hear an excuse, but yesterday it just hit me; that you'd rejected my proposal and it hurt even if you had legitimate reasons. I told my parents about us, so we're one step closer if you'll still have me?" he admits. I cross my arms over my chest.
"Oh?"
He nods, "Yeah, and they were ok with it. I love you, Als, please don't hate me." I punch him in the chest. I don't know why, I just do, and then I crumple into his arms.
"I couldn't hate you if I tried," I whisper. He rubs my back gently. My fists are curled up against his chest as he holds me. I dropped the spoon earlier. "Sorry about yelling at and punching you."
"It's fine, Als. I talked to your stepmom," Austin tells me. When I don't respond, he continues, "she told me that on his deathbed your dad said he was sorry for all those years and for abandoning you when your mom died and that he loved you." I sob a little. I thought this was done for now, but I realize that it'll take a while before life goes back to normal.
"Thank you, Austin." We stand like that until my stomach reminds me about the pancakes I was making. I step away and resume cooking.
"Whatcha makin'?"
I ignore Austin's question because I know that he'll get all excited and won't be able to focus no matter how much I love his childishness. "Why do you love me?" we both do the thing where we ask deep questions out of the blue.
"You're sweet, you know your limits, you love music as much as I do, you have your imperfections and aren't afraid to admit to them. You're beautiful. You cook awesome pancakes. You make my heart flutter and my stomach twist. This is why I love you, Als," he responds, the question not daunting him.
"I don't deserve you, you know." He catches my wrist and makes me face him.
"Yes, you do. Don't doubt yourself, Ally." I look into his eyes and get that perfect feeling, that feeling that still scares me. I nod and he lets go of my wrist. "So whatcha makin'?"
I'm glad he changed the subject and disappointed at the same time, "Pancakes."
"YES! I'll get the chocolate chips." He goes to the pantry and grabs them. I hum as I work, the lyrics flowing through my mind.
I felt a pain in my chest with your kiss on my cheek
And as I try to digest the words I couldn't believe
I'm left with nothing to say with my heart on my sleeve
Making it easy to hurt and even harder to breathe
So if you're gonna go and leave me in a lonely grave
I won't let it show until you've finally flown away
You gotta know that you tear me up when you say
You wanna take it all away, take it all away
You tear me up when you say
You wanna take it all away, take it all away
You were the one and it was enough
To be the one you were dreaming of
You were the one and we called it love
And now you take it all away, take it all away
Austin watches intently, ready for the pancakes to be done already. He poured the chocolate chips into the batter so now I'm making chocolate chip pancakes; it doesn't really matter to me though so it's fine. "Whatcha humin'?"
"Ah, nothin'."
"No, I'm really curious. I haven't heard it before, did you write it?"
"Yeah, it's called Take it All Away."
"Cool."
"Pancakes are done."
"Awesome!" I smile as he grabs five pancakes and pours syrup on them. We eat and clean up. I wipe the batter that flew everywhere off the previously clean floor and cupboards. "So how you feeling, Als?" Austin asks me as we sit down on the couch.
"I feel kinda detached from everything, but a little better," I say honestly. It did make me feel better when Austin told me what my dad had said even though it pained me, wishing I could have been there to hear it myself. Take it All Away came to my mind earlier because of the lyrics, "I felt a pain in my chest with your kiss on my cheek, and as I try to digest the words I couldn't believe, I'm left with nothing to say with my heart on my sleeve, making it easy to hurt and even harder to breathe." When I was little, maybe four or five, my dad would kiss me on my cheek every night when he and my mom tucked me into bed. At first I couldn't believe that he was actually gone, but it's slowly sinking in.
"Hmm, it's good you're feeling better." I don't comment for a bit and we sit there in silence, staring at the turned off the TV. I'm lost in my thoughts and I suppose he is as well.
"Hey, Austin?" I break the silence.
"Mm?"
"I wanna go somewhere today; I spent all day here yesterday, sad and cleaning. Let's get out and do something," I tell him.
"Ok. Where do you wanna go?"
I shrug, "Surprise me." Austin grins, grabs my arm and drags me outside. I get into his truck while he runs inside for something. I space out and am brought back when Austin gets in and his door slams.
"Where are we going?" I ask immediately as he pulls out of his driveway.
He laughs, "I can't tell you, it's a surprise!"
"Pretty pleeeease?"
"Nope, you asked for me to surprise you!" I laugh too; it feels marvelous to laugh again. These last few days have just been depressing.
"Fine." I wait a few minutes before asking again, "Where are we going?"
"I'm not telling you," he replies and sticks his tongue at me. I stick my tongue aback at him and we laugh. "Don't worry, we're almost there." I sit back and cross my arms, pouting childishly. Austin parks and we get out; we're on a beach that is completely bare. The water crashing against the soft looking sand is inviting though. I run ahead of Austin and bury my toes in the warm sand and let the briny breeze blow through my brown hair.
"Where are we?" I ask when he catches up.
"The beach."
"Well, duh, Captain Obvious. I meant which beach."
"Oh, I don't know. It's private property or something, but the owner only comes here like three times a year and even if we did get yelled at I have celeb status, remember?"
"Yeah, ok. It's too bad I don't have my swimming stuff."
"Whoops, I forgot about that…" he says looking down.
"It's ok, Austin. So what'd you grab when you went inside?"
"Surfboards incase you wanted to learn."
"Awesome! Let's do that!"
He shrugs and goes back to the truck. A few minutes later, he returns hauling two surfboards. Austin sticks them in the sand so they're standing before asking me, "So are you just gonna surf in your clothes?"
"Yeah, what about you?"
"When I went inside, I also put on my swim trunks on under my jeans," he tells me and I nod. We get ready and paddle into the water. I sit on my board, straddling it, scanning for any good waves. I spot one and start moving towards it, Austin calls to me, "Wait, Als, you have to position yourself right. If you do that, this time just try to ride the wave while laying on the board, ok?"
I smile and wink, "Ok, Austin." I already know how to surf, but it'll be fun to surprise him. I get close to the wave, position myself and wait for it to catch me. Once I'm on the wave, I stand up with my arms out for balance and ride it like a pro.
"Whoa, nice, Als!" Austin compliments me from his board.
"Thanks! You think you could do better?" I challenge him.
"Of course!" And so begins our surfing competition. We're both pretty equal so we just count the number of wipe-outs to determine who's better. Austin wipes out first; when he surfaces he spews salty water on me.
"Hey! That's one wipe-out for you!" He smirks and tips my board over. I scowl, "Oh, so that's how you want to play?" The next time, I wipe out, Austin's laughing at me when I push his board and he falls into the water next to me. We continue to surf, wipe-out and mess with each other until I get tired and after he wipes out again, run to the shore before he can even the score. In the end, I win with one less wipe-out.
We climb up on some rocks and watch the sun set. It's kinda like that time on his roof. There's no wind, but the warm air is gradually drying us off. I start to feel a little ache in my heart from the last couple of days; I look into Austin's eyes though and his smile makes me feel better. I fiddle with the ring on my necklace which I put on as soon as I got out of the water. I feel like Austin will help me through the hard times, tonight I'm going to tell him my real answer. I reach out and take his hand. As the sun slips into the sea, its golden light turns the sky pink, orange and red and leaves a path of gold on the ocean. All too soon, it's gone and the stars are twinkling above us. Austin climbs down first and then helps me down. I'm all dried out now and Austin pulls his shirt and jeans back on.
"Should I take you home now?" he asks me as we get into his truck.
"Not just yet, can we go to the library?" I request.
"Sure, but isn't it a bit late?" Austin inquires.
"Yeah; I want to show you something though." Austin nods and drives to the library. We sit in silence; him focused on driving and me looking out the window thinking of how to word what I'm going to say. I think I'll answer with similar words with which Austin used to ask. We park and I show him around the back of the library to the gardens. We walk to the center where there's a grove of trees. White Christmas lights sparkle in the branches and there's an old fashioned lamp post like in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in the middle.
We take a seat on a bench that has a placard informing anyone who cares to read it that the bench is dedicated to Robert W. Sagjiro. I unclasp my necklace, slide the ring off and hand it to Austin. He looks uneasy and I can tell from his eyes that he's trying to figure out what it means. I take his hand that now holds the ring in both of mine. "Austin," I pause and take a breath, "I love you. I want you to be my first kiss. I want be held by you. I want you to be mine. I want to be yours forever. I want to write songs with you and have new experiences with you." His eyes widen as I continue, "The amount of time we've known each other doesn't matter anymore. I know I couldn't live without you and if I turned this down now I feel like I may never get this opportunity again. We'll make our schedules work with your performing and my schooling. You told your parents and they're ok with it. My dad-my dad is gone and there's nothing we can do about it. I'll try to forget what hurt me in the past, but will never forget what it taught me. I know I don't need to be scared because I have you and you'll help me through anything, even our own fights. That is, if you'll accept my new answer."
A/N
It's come back around! Sorry about torturing you guys with a twist, but one of my friends wanted something sad to happen and I needed something more than fluff :'( If you ever have a question or anything, feel free to PM me. Even if you just want to talk Austin and Ally. Anyway, please review, favorite and/or follow if you haven't already! Thanks!
~Maggie