Alright, so this is going to be a pretty long author's note.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FOLLOWING AND REVIEWING AND FAVORITING IT'S AMAZING I LOVE YOU ALL!
O. M. G. (Megan Simms... idk.) have you guys seen the spoiler clips for Couples & Careers and Spas & Spices. I died. I just, just died. I'm actually writing this from the beyond.
Okay, that was actually pretty short, but anyway ENJOY, and REVIEW. :D
"Ally, hey, come here," he said, his voice cracking a little and he felt the tears welling up behind his eyes. He pulled her into a hug and let her start to silently cry. He felt awful, no, worse than awful... he felt every single synonym you could look up and then multiplied by about infinity. Yeah, that should accomplish how he felt making Ally cry like this.
"When do you have to leave?" Ally asked, surprised by the lack of sadness and unsureness in her voice, because she felt it.
"A couple of days," Austin replied, squeezing her back against him.
"Can we go inside?" Ally asked, stepping back and wiping her sleeve under her eyes despite them being almost dry.
"Absolutely," Austin replied, opening the door and leading Ally in. After closing the door and joining her on the couch where she had settled down, she said;
"So, why are the transferring you? I thought you were just moved to the city a couple of months ago?" Ally said, her voice cool.
"Well," Austin began, trying to decide how to word this with his mixed emotions, "my record label got me a movie deal to record and write a song. I was just going to write it over Skype and such with the other songwriter who is in L.A., but then Jimmy Starr himself called me just a few hours ago and told me that they saw some of my acting from a while ago and want me to audition for the lead along with the song. Jimmy said that they've been having a hard time finding the right guy to play the lead but they saw me and said that I was perfect... or something. Ally, I... I just don't know what to do." He finished his story and leaned his head back on the couch. Ally just watched and fought to keep herself from croaking when she spoke before talking.
"You have to go," she finally said.
"What?" Austin's head shot up and found her eyes, staring deep into them. "Why would you want me to go? I mean, if I heard right just out there you said- and I- Ally, you know I feel the same way right? That's why, y'know. Because I can't leave New York." Austin knew that what he was saying just sounded jumbled and confused. He looked to Ally and tried to decipher her eyes and her face, to see if she knew what he was saying.
"Wow..." Ally started, but eventually cutting herself off there.
"I don't want to go anywhere, Ally. I don't want to leave because... because I'm in love with you, too." Austin just gazed into her eyes, trying to translate what kind of emotions they were displaying in response.
"I know. I know, now. But, Austin, I don't really know you. But-" damn it, her voice cracked, "this is... this... this is your career and I can't take that away from you. It makes no sense." She smiled at him most sincerely, then looked down at her hands. Austin put his fingers under her chin and raised it to look into his eyes.
"I was going to go, I was. Before you showed up and said all that, but trust me, when you were saying that, when I look into your eyes, I know for sure that I only belong here. I only belong with you." He brought her lips to his for a small, sweet kiss. That only lasted a moment. Ally felt all the pressure and sadness and happiness of that day bubble up to her lips and push them harder against Austin's. He happily obliged to the pick up in pace and this went on for a while, their tongues dancing with each other's.
xxx
Austin and Ally spent every moment of the next four days together. Ally didn't have any work at the moment and Austin brought her to the studio the few times her went. The rest of the time they spent in the park, in the café, and just walking the streets. And kissing, there was kissing. On the evening of the fourth day, Austin and Ally walked up the stairs towards Austin's apartment. They went inside and sat on the couch, still laughing about a man they had seen on the subway.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, one sec," Ally said, walking toward the hall leaving Austin to tend to a box of cookies they had bought on their way back from the park and intended to share that evening while watching a movie.
Ally walked out of the bathroom and heard Austin singing the new song he had been recording that morning. Ally laughed and started walking back down the hall, but before she got to the end she ducked into Austin's room and slowly shut the door. She intended to look around and see what embarrassing kinds of things he had in his room since that was his favorite "game" to play when they were at her apartment. He had found some things she didn't want to explain and ended up with throwing one pillow at him so many times that he said he was sure that there was a dent the shape of his head in it. She looked around the room and, after not finding anything in the general areas - closet and under the bed, she moved on to his desk. She shuffled through a couple of papers, one she noticed was about flight information to L.A. Ally disregarded this as she was having a great time and Austin had decided that he was going to stay in New York and not audition for the movie. Ally felt guilty, she knew that making him stay was wrong, but what's the hurt when he wants to stay, too, right? She shuffled around for a couple more seconds before giving up and making her way back to the door because Austin was probably already scrolling through NetFlix with half of the box of cookies already gone. However, something on his nightstand caught her eye. She moved toward it cautiously, and picked up the slip of paper. Her heart sank. It was a plane ticket to L.A., scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. A tear crept down her face before she realized what was happening and wiped it away. Returning to the living room she sat down on the couch and snuggled up in Austin's arms.
"What movie do you wanna watch?" Austin asked, nudging her into him.
"Um.. what's that one?" Ally said, pointing to the image that she knew was so familiar. She wasn't expecting Austin to say "yes" to a romance, but she kind of wanted to try, just because this was the movie of the book that had made her realize that she loved Austin. Plus it was a pretty good movie.
"The Notebook?" Austin asked, smiling and trying to sound cocky, "It's a romance chick-flick isn't it?" Ally smiled and nodded. "Okay," Austin said and clicked "order".
"Really?" Ally asked, looking at Austin.
"Uh huh," Austin looked back at her, "it's kind of embarrassing, but in all honesty, I like romance movies. But don't tell anyone, okay? The only one that knows is my best friend Dez."
"Okay, got it." Ally laughed, snuggling closer into his chest and watching the movie begin and the old man getting ready to read on the screen. Austin kissed her forehead and leaned his head on hers.
xxx
After the movie, Austin stood up and brought the empty cookie box to the trash.
"Austin," Ally started, "I've been thinking. About that night on the beach, y'know, when we..."
"Yeah." Austin chuckled a little but felt his cheeks turn a light red.
"Well, we've 'known' each other for a while now and we've never really talked about what happened?"
"There's not much to talk about, is there?" Austin inquired, sitting down in the chair across from the couch.
"I don't know, I mean, don't you ever think about it? How or why we even let it happen? We were 18! We had just met and we were on a freaking beach!" Ally was becoming passionate about her speech and she wasn't completely sure why.
"We were in the moment." Austin said, looking Ally up and down and then settling on just looking at her face and her eyes. Something about her eyes captivated him and he wasn't sure why because it was so cheesy.
"In the mome-," Ally stopped, realizing a question that was much more interesting and important to her at the moment, "Were you a..." she looked down and tried to finish the sentence. When she glanced at Austin he was slowly nodding and looking at her.
"I'm assuming it's mutual?"
"Um...," Ally continued scrutinizing her palms but nodded as well. Austin got up and moved to the couch, putting a hand on hers and the other on her leg. He kissed her neck, then her jaw, then her cheek, and finally her lips. Reliving that night did something to him, it made Austin want her just the same and he didn't know why but I really didn't feel like questioning it.
For now, let's just say that history has a way of repeating itself...
xxx
It was five o'clock the next morning. Ally woke up in Austin's bed and after a moment of waking up, realized what had happened last night. The heat and the passion and everything came flooding back to her, but along with all that came the overwhelming sense of dread and regret. Looking over at the nightstand, she saw the ticket still sticking out from under a book and began to register just why she felt that way. Ally felt her eyes grow tired and start to sting, looking over at Austin sleeping peacefully, she raised his arm from across her and got out from under the covers. Retrieving her clothes from the night before from around the room (except for her shirt which she figured was in the living room). Ally took a notepad off of Austin's desk and started to write as quickly as possible so that she wouldn't wake up Austin. After about five minutes she looked at her scrawled handwriting but heartfelt letter and read it to herself;
Austin,
I know I said I love you, and I really need you to know that that couldn't be more true. I love you more than I've loved anyone or anything in my entire life. You don't know how many times that I've thought about that night and about you, and how much I've enjoyed spending all this time together lately. However, I saw the ticket, and I just know that I would hate myself forever if I knew that I was holding you back from something so amazing as a movie deal. I just can't bear to hold that burden on my shoulders. Please, don't try to talk to me or call. Please don't come over. It will just make my decision that much harder. Please go, and I promise I'll go see the movie the day it comes to theaters at midnight, because it's true, I love you. Thank you for everything that you've taught me about myself and I know I'm getting sappy but it's true. Go to L.A. and follow your dreams while I stay here and find my own path. Honestly, last night was the perfect way to say goodbye. Perhaps we'll meet again on some street corner in some other city one day.
Love,
Ally
With that, Ally folded the note twice, wrote Austin's name on it as perfectly as possible with a heart, then pulled her lipstick from her purse, put some on, then kissed his name. Laying the note on the pillow where her head had rested, she made her way out of his bedroom, grabbed her shirt and jacket, and headed back to her apartment.
She cried for the remainder of that morning. After he hadn't called and it was already five, she finally believed he had boarded the plane to L.A. Trish made her some hot chocolate and the two of them spent the next few days together in their pajamas watching movies. Trish kept reassuring her that she had made the right choice and that he'll call her soon, or that she'll see him soon.
Little did she know that it would be 3 more years until she met the boy from the beach again.
Okay, so, I will follow the first person that comments the Friends reference in this chapter because Friends is my favorite show EVER, and I just felt that it needed to be incorporated :). Anyway, I'd love to hear all of your favorite quotes from this chapter *wink*wink* so I know what you guys like! I love constructive criticism too! Also, because I'm going to put the little Spencer quote at the end of just about every chapter now... OOO DRAMA! :D