That day passed in a second and soon it was Tuesday. I got ready for school. Trish promised to give me a ride so I was waiting for her. I was wearing a sleeveless black flower patterned dress. I don't wear skirts or dresses anymore but today I just felt like wearing one. I had plain black wedges on and I was wearing a black leather jacket over the dress*. I wore my hair in a side braid. I was sitting on a chair in the kitchen chewing on an apple with my bag lying by the leg of the chair.

I heard a honk of the car and I knew it was Trish. I threw half eaten apple in the trash, slid my bag on my arm, and went through the door. I locked the door and saw Trish with glasses sitting in the car waiting for me. Then she looked at me and smiled. I walked over to the passenger side and set in the car. Trish, still smiling, said:

"Well, hello!"

"Hey Trish, you're on time, that's unusual" I said.

"If you don't like that I'm on time I won't do that again, I promise," she said kind of sarcastically.

"Ok I'm not the most punctual person in the world but what can I do? You don't need to tell me every time. I know that very well myself."

"Not the most punctual? Trish? That's weird, because I haven't seen you be on time anywhere. You are always late"

And our argument went on and on. All of our conversations end up with argument because we have different opinions on almost everything. But despite our little fights we always end up making up.

We got to school and went to our separate ways. We have no classes together except lunch. That's when we tell each other what happened, interesting, during the day but considering that's she is the gossiper she says things and I listen.

Nothing important happened during school. It was my usual boring school day. After that I took a walk to Sonic Boom. I opened the door flipped closed sign to open and went behind the counter. I put my name tag on and waited for customers to enter the store.

Nothing really interesting happened while I was working my shift at the store. Except my father called and told me that he was going to stay a week more and he told me that he would call if anything changed. He also asked me how school was and how was work. We had a small talk and then I went back to work.

I was weird him calling me, especially since it's not an everyday and usual thing. He tried to avoid talking to me as much as he could. So that was pretty out of the ordinary for him.

After about 2 hours I decided to close up. I know that is not a full working time in a day for a store, but I have school and homework to do… and I can lock up early.

I had no time left and I needed to hurry because I would be late. So I went straight to Austin's house.

As I was getting closer and closer to his house I was getting more and more nervous. My hands were sweating and shaking. And I was having second thoughts about this all.

While I was walking down the sidewalk, it was so familiar but yet so unknown: the street leading to his house. I was looking around the street seeing children with parents and some new houses. I also saw some lonely houses with no owners, out of shape, which were full of life two years ago. I guess I wasn't the only changed for the past time.

I wasn't really paying attention to the road anymore. I put my headphones on, turned the music on and suddenly the world around me got a little bit happier. Walking to Austin's house became less boring and tiring.

I didn't even understand how my feet came to Austin's porch. I turned the music off and straightened my dress. I took a deep breath and got ready to knock on the door. For a minute or so my hand was moving back and forth. I doubted whether to knock or just to walk away. Then I just turned around slid down and sat on the floor. I closed my eyes and once more replayed everything in my head. I didn't even understand that I was crying until salty and warm liquid touched my lips.

Austin's POV

This morning I woke up and got ready for school as I chose my clothes. I was wearing dark blue jeans, a plain white shirt, and my black converse. I grabbed my bag and went down to the kitchen. I was waiting for my mother to be in the kitchen, doing some work or cooking something, but she wasn't there. Instead there was a note. I picked it up. It said that she had some stuff to do for the whole day and that she wouldn't be at home. Then she said that I was free from school today because there was nobody at the store left to work and I had to work today. She also said that if I didn't cover for her she would lose money. In short she asked me to work her shift for the day at our mattress store. I dropped my bag in my room and went down again to eat something, after I made pancakes of course. I had some time because the store opened at 10 o'clock. I grabbed my guitar and started strumming let her go, a song by Passenger**. I wasn't singing I was just playing the melody. I played a couple of songs and then I turned the TV on.

I watched some TV then I grabbed the car keys and headed to the store.

The day was going really slow in the store I got couple orders and sold some mattresses too but still the day was really slow. At 1 o'clock I closed the store for a half an hour for my lunch break. I went to the food court and ate some hamburger and fries.

After that it was about 4 pm when I looked up from the counter when the bell on top of the door rang signaling that I had a new customer, I saw my mother who came in the store, smiling.

"Hey sweetie how's work?"

"Boring as always." I answered.

She came behind the counter and kissed me on the cheek then told me, "You can go home now. I can take care of the store."

"Oh really! Thanks mom" I said and practically jumped out of the store in the car.

I was home in no time. When I got home I decided to take a shower, mostly because I was nervous and I thought that the shower was a good way to relax.

When I took a shower I was too lazy to get my hair dried so I just dried it a little bit with a towel. Then I put on my clothes and went down. I wasn't really hungry and besides there was practically no food at home so I just went down to watch something. After about 15 minutes of randomly switching channels I got bored and switched the TV off. Then I grabbed my guitar and started randomly strumming it.

After some time I looked at the clock it was already after 5 o'clock and I wondered where Ally was. She was supposed to be here at 5 and she was never late. I just decided to wait for a bit more and slid down to the floor and laid my back to the door leading outside. I closed my eyes and started playing acoustic version of watching the ships roll in by the Kooks**. When I finished playing the house got quiet and I suddenly heard somebody crying, more quietly sobbing. The sound was coming from the other side of the door so I decided to open it to see who it was.

I slowly opened the door and there was Ally who was sitting down on the floor. But when I opened the door she suddenly jerked up and turned around. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were pink and her face was all wet. She tried to wipe her face with her sleeve, sniffing. But after some time standing up, she began looking at me and started crying again. This broke my heart because I was standing right in front of her but still she wasn't moving. After some more time she just ran into my arms. Aside from that, it wasn't the best moment because she was crying but I still was really happy, because she was in my arms. She felt just right and despite that we were so close there was no awkwardness between us.

I slowly led her to the living room and we slowly sat on the sofa. I was stroking her hair and sometimes I was drawing soothing circles on her back. It was killing me not knowing why was she crying, but I just waited for her to tell me herself. I just didn't want to be rude. It took a long time for her to calm down but slowly her sobs stopped and her breathing became steady. Finally I heard a faint whisper, almost unheard. She said, "I'm sorry." Just those words and they didn't mean that she was sorry that she practically broke down in front of me. She was sorry for what happened to us and how we destroyed what we had.

"I'm sorry too," I said to her hair. We were entangled in each other, personal space long forgotten.

It was really quiet, none of us daring to speak. But suddenly I heard a groan which came from Ally and I silently chuckled. And I asked, "Are you hungry?" smiling.

"Ahhh are you kidding me? I'm starving. I haven't eaten normally for the whole day"

I smiled again because from her words it felt like nothing has changed. We were those happy kids from two years ago, just hanging out with each other.

"Me too, do you want me to order a pizza?"

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," she said.

"Well, let me just call them and I'll be back" I untangled myself from her and went to order.

"Hawaiian pizza and coke are on the way" I said coming back.

She seemed in a better mood, she said, "You remember that's my favorite?"

"Of course I do. It's hard to forget you," I said and sat next to her.

Ally's POV

I really didn't know why I was crying. At first it was just tears. Nothing more, but when I heard guitar playing I instantly knew that it was Austin and then the sound got louder and louder and I could feel that there was somebody on the other side of the door. I closed my eyes and just listened to the music. Suddenly the music stopped playing and the door opened. I immediately stood up and turned around. It was Austin. I just started crying all over again. For a second I was standing by myself but then I ran to him and started crying on his shoulder. I don't even remember how we got to the couch but now I am sitting on the couch with Austin next to me.

I had my eyes closed and I knew that I came here to talk to him but this way it was easier; just not saying anything. I also knew that this wouldn't get me anywhere and I had to talk sometime but I just wanted to avoid the main subject as long as possible. I was going to ask him something when his phone rang.

He looked at the phone and then just answered it.

"Hey mom… what's up?"

"Oh… ok, well. When will you be back?"

"Do you have to leave now?"

"All right… no mom. I'll be Ok. I'm not a baby. I can take care of myself… Bye mom… Love you too."

He hung up and it got silent again. After some time I asked him: "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah."

I tried again to make a conversation.

"It's getting late so where are your parents?"

At this he flinched a little bit and tensed up. I looked at his face and I saw sadness, worry and anger. Those were a little bit unusual set of emotions. I have never seen them on Austin, and it wasn't like him at all.

He hesitated to answer but still after some time started talking.

"Well it was my mom. She just called me as you can see and told me that she's on her way to California to settle some things for our shop. She's going to the airport now. And my dad, well he doesn't live with us anymore."

He said that and stopped talking. I know that he wasn't happy with this situation at all.

I was shocked by this, I really was.

"I'm sorry Austin, I didn't know." I'm sure my voice gave up my shock.

He wasn't looking at me but he continued talking.

"He left a year ago. Don't be sorry. It had nothing to do with me. It was fully their decision and they said that living separately was the best way for them. But I still see that my mom's not the same any more. It hurts, not because he left, but because he left my mom for another woman. I see that she still loved him but if he stayed it would be much more painful for her. He lives in Utah; occasionally travels to Europe. He now works at some company that I have no idea of. I wasn't interested to find out. I haven't seen him since he left; that isn't a problem for me. That's more problem for mom because she thinks I got distant from him, which is true, and she doesn't like that.

I'm not that little kid anymore and I don't need a father to take care of me. I know it's hard for us both without him. With him here our business was bigger and we earned more money but now I have school and I don't have time to help mom with work and we are short on money most of the time. She has to travel a lot to get good deals. Because of that all she's not that happy and cheerful anymore and I miss that side of her a lot."
His voice was broken and he seemed to be in pain. He was also kind of angry too. I didn't pressure him to tell me anything more. I could never imagine that Austin was under such pressure because I never saw him sad or unhappy. Every time I saw him he had a huge smile on his face and was laughing with his friends. I admit he's really good at hiding his emotions.

I was lost in my thoughts and I didn't really acknowledge the silence between us.

After some time he asked, "So how have you been?"

I think he asked me seeing that I wasn't going to say a word. I knew that now I had to tell him, so I stopped for some time took a deep breath and started talking.

"I know I came here to talk so I'm going to be open and that's what I'm going to do - talk."

I was shivering and my hands were shaking. Austin must have seen this because he said, "Hey, calm down, take your time. You don't have to be tensed or nervous, it's just me. Relax."

"Okay I'll try" I said and continued with my 'story'

"So yeah we haven't talked for about 2 years and that's the time my life turned upside down. Just a week or so before our fight my mom passed away.

No matter how hard I try to forget that night, the memory keeps replaying in my mind like it happened just seconds ago."

After that I took a deep breath and tears started pouring down my face. I closed my eyes and started telling what happened that night.
It was a usual day, nothing special. I was working at the Sonic Boom. I was pretty excited my mom was coming back from Africa. Her flight was going to arrive at 4 am at night. When the shift was over I went home. I was happy, playing in my mind the moment I will meet her again after four years; how would I hug her and what I would tell her.

I had dinner with my father then he asked me if I wanted to watch a movie with him. Knowing he would put something like old musicals I refused. And to be honest I'm already sick of them I have watched the too many times. So I went to bed. It was getting dark and was quiet in the streets when I fell asleep, almost immediately. But somewhere near 5 o'clock my father burst into the room and cried with a shaky voice, "Honey we need to go now "

I was worried but I still asked "Has mom come yet?"

"Get dressed I'll explain to you everything on the way."

I was at a loss at that moment mostly because I was still sleepy, but I obeyed him.

When he started the engine and we got on the road I asked him, "Dad where are we going?"

He was silent for a minute or two but then spoke, "It's about mom…" and tears started falling down his cheeks. From fear that something horrible happened to her I started crying too.

"Wait, what about mom is she all right?"

The words barely came out of my mouth.

"No she's not all right. The plain that she was flying with… crashed. A lot of people didn't survive but she did she's in hospital and we are going there now."

After that there was dead silence in the car. When we stopped in front of the hospital, there were ambulances all over. When we entered the hall it was crowded, nurses running, blood and injured people, someone crying; I have never seen a worse scene in my life. Then I saw that nurses were rolling my mother down the hall. I ran over to them crying. She was unconscious I started shaking her and my dad ripped me off her. When they started rolling her down again I fell on the ground crying and screaming. After that I don't remember anything but I woke up in the chair. I smiled but when I looked around I saw those deadly white hospital walls and my smile slowly turned into a frown.

My father came to me and told me that my mother was asking for me. I jumped up he tapped me on my back and guided to the room where I saw a woman lying on the hospital bed she looked nothing like my mother's face. She once looked full of life now was pale and full of deep scratches and bruises. She had a cast on her left leg and left hand. She opened her eyes and mouthed to me "come."
I quickly grabbed a chair and sat near her. Then my mother put her hand up signaling for me to grab her by the hand. Then I heard her weak voice, she started speaking "hello my Ally- cat"

Tears found their way to my cheeks again I started crying. "Don't cry It's not worth it" she wiped tears from my face she touched my chest and said,

"Don't cry my baby remember no matter what happens I will always be in your heart. I will always be in the sky watching you from above."

She swallowed hardly and then continued "From now on you need to grow up. I know it won't be easy but do it for me, take care of your dad. But don't give up on things you love; always finish what you started. Smile when looking back in the memories, remember good and happy thoughts and just smile."

She smiled herself, that made me smile through my tears too.

"Stay strong, try to live your dreams. You are very talented and I believe that one day you will be famous and you would be able to share your passion for the music with everyone."

She closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. It seemed like talking was the hardest thing to do at that moment for her, but she opened her eyes and continued, "don't forget, everybody is different in their own ways, but after all we still are very similar. Never take things in life for granted." She squeezed my hand. "Always believe in love, because everybody needs a person whom they can trust no matter what. Sure life isn't a fairy tale and everything has its ending, but we live too short to worry about bad days. It is happiness and warmth of the person next to us that gives us hope and power to believe that next day will be better."

She let go of my hand for a second but then squeezed it back. "And for the last never give up on life because as long as you are alive anything is possible. Remember my Ally–cat that I love you and your father with all my heart…" with those last words she closed her eyes and let go of my hand. I knew that it was the end.

I saw her chest move one last time. Her heartbeat was slow and steady but then it disappeared and the machine near me started beeping signaling that her heart stopped. I saw my dad come to the bed and kiss my mom on the forehead. Then he let the tears flow he came to me and hugged me.
By the time I stopped telling him what happened I was hyperventilating and I stopped occasionally to settle my breathing. He was hugging me tighter than before.

Austin's POV

What I heard was terrifying. I never knew what Ally went through. I could have never even imagined such a thing. I was shocked and I couldn't stop the tears. Now I knew why Ally stopped playing and now I feel just stupid, because instead of making her feel better I broke her even more. I want to punch and beat myself up until breathing would become impossible. I feel like a worthless person. I know I don't deserve her forgiveness. I don't even deserve her to be near me, but yet she's here, with me.

I had my eyes closed; I was terrified and afraid to look in her eyes. After some time she continued talking, "I couldn't make myself to go to her funeral.

It was just really hard at that time. I knew that if I went I would break down in front of all people. At first it was really hard. I would dream of the plane crash every night. It was like a nightmare, the same dream every night. Then it got a little easier, the nightmares stopped, but there was that empty feeling in my heart which only my mom could fill. And after that fight my heart was plain empty. There were no emotions on my face. I walked like a zombie every day. There was no happiness for me. After time passed it got a little bit easier but every time I remembered her, I cried. I expect her to wake me up every morning, I expect her to sooth me every time I'm upset. I just miss her really much.

I tried to explain why I had to leave music, it wasn't easy for me too, but it reminded of my mom too much. So I decided to just leave it to feel a little bit better. I tried to make you understand what I went through but you didn't give me a chance. You got mad at me and slammed the door shut in my face. I refused to go out of the practice room for a whole day. I was staring at the place you stood right before you stormed away. I wanted to run after you and stop you but I couldn't. It seemed like my feet were glued to the floor. I couldn't move."

She spoke with anger and regret. She was spitting every word out but she was still crying.

She stopped and I took this opportunity to speak: "I wanted to tell you this for a long time, but I couldn't get myself to come and talk to you. I'm really sorry. I regret everything I did that day. There is no day I don't regret doing that. I can't believe how stupid I was. I acted like such a heartless person.

I guess I was just blinded by fame; I was so blinded that I couldn't even understand that everything I got, everything I achieved was with your help because you were there every step of the way. Without you there would be no internet sensation… I can't even forgive myself for doing that and now

I'm angry at myself even more. Please Ally, please try to forgive me. I will try to make it up to you. I believe that we can work this out…" I was exploding from inside, but my voice was close to whisper. I tried to control myself.

The room was tense. Even breathing became hard for me.

After some time of silence I heard the doorbell ring, that lightened the mood in the room a little bit. It was probably pizza delivery. I got up and decided to get it. Without any words I got out of the living room.

I paid for the pizza and closed the door. I went into the living room again and put it on the coffee table then I went to the kitchen to get cups and plates for both of us. We ate in silence.

We weren't sitting next to each other now. We were sitting facing each other. I didn't like that, but I couldn't do anything about that. After we finished eating I took the dishes and the pizza carton in the kitchen. I was alone so nobody would wash dishes for me so I decided to do them quickly. After I came back Ally was sitting on the sofa comfortably with her shoes off, watching a movie, I guess I wasn't as quick as I thought. I sat next to her. I wasn't really paying attention to the movie, I was just thinking. She didn't answer my question. I can see by her expression that she was somewhere else, thinking. She was calm and relaxed. I have no idea what she is thinking about, but I hope we can try to work things out. I miss her; I really do...

I didn't even realize that I fell asleep. When I opened my eyes the movie was still running. I looked down and saw Ally; she was sleeping, her head was on my shoulder. Her cheeks were little bit pink and she looked so peaceful. At that moment she was happy; I could see that she had a pleasant dream but I needed to wake her up. I'm sure she wanted to go home. I touched her on the shoulder and whispered in her ear quietly "Ally… Ally wake up"

She moved a little but she was still sleeping. I did that again but my voice was a little louder. After a minute or so she woke up. She looked at me a little surprised. I said, "we were watching a movie and you fell asleep."

Her face softened. "Oh yeah… movie… what time is it?"

"It's almost midnight"

I was surprised myself. "Oh… it's so late I should probably go."

"Let me drive you it's really late and I don't want you to walk in the dark alone" "thanks…"

After that I took her home. The ride was really quiet, no music and no sound, not even in the street. The ride was pretty short considering that she lived near my house. I stopped at the driveway. She got out of the car, I followed her. The house was dark, there was nobody inside. We went to her porch she stopped right in front of the door and turned around. She faced me and said "bye Austin… it was good talking to you I feel a little bit better"
I smiled at this, "bye Ally, good night… see you tomorrow?"

"Yes… of course"

We hugged and then she opened the door and disappeared behind it. I stood there for a couple of minutes and then left. When I came home I took a shower and then went to bed. I was happy, but only one thought was bothering me. What was she going to say? Was she going to forgive me?

Well, this chapter is the biggest I have ever written and I am really excited to read what you guys think about it, review and please tell me which part was your favorite.

*I don't really know how to describe what she's wearing so use your imagination :)

**I don't own this song, of course. Austin wasn't singing, he was just playing, so I decided to just use the songs with good melody.

**Same on this one, I love both songs really much, and I love how the music sounds and I thought they would go perfectly with the situation.

Yeah and it will be far away, but I need a song that both Austin and Ally will sing, so if you have any suggestions leave them in the reviews.

What else I wanted to say yeah I don't own the show are anything you might recognize.

I'm sorry for any kind of mistakes, English is not my first language and I really try to spot all of them, but it's sometimes impossible, sorry again.

Special thanks to jamesmaslow4evz, SuckerForRomance0156 for reviewing.

And in case any of you are wondering, this is a romance story and Austin and Ally will end up together, but it just can't happen now, they aren't even friends, so be patient and review, review, review, I really want to find out what you guys think :3

I think there are a lot of things you found out and I was really excited to post the chapter, so again I would really appreciate if you left a review down below.

Until next time...

Salome