Author's Note

Here is the second chapter for today, so if you haven't read chapter 7, then go read it. Because I have been procrasinating, I am getting caught up! So I have some serious writing to do. Enjoy the second chapter of today!

Chapter 8

Ally's POV

I stare at my reflection in the mirror. Hopefully this isn't too dressy. Man, I really hate Austin right now! How can he just spring this on me so suddenly? First he follows me everywhere, then I spill my heart out to him, then he leaves for 3 days, just so he can ask me to be his fake girlfriend. I guess drama is a unfortunate part that comes with his package. And the whole one night stand was supposed to end the drama, not load a lot more on me.

He said to wear casual clothes, but not too casual. Like that helps. Apparently it's going to be a home-made dinner. Out of all the apartment buildings in New York, why does his friend live in mine? I mean come on. And out of all of the guys I could have had a one night stand with, why did it have to be an international rock star?

Anyway what do I have to do? He gave me instructions.

"So how am I going to meet them?" I ask, really hating Austin for dragging me into this.

"Over a home-made dinner, so dress casually, but not to casual, if you know what I mean,"

"No, I do not know what you mean," I declare rolling my eyes.

"Just wear a dress, that isn't too dressy," He explains.

"A dress that isn't too dressy. That helps a lot," I say sarcastically.

"You figure it out," He says in a frustrated voice. "Anyway, you have to act like my girlfriend,"

"Oh joy," I say in mock enthusiasm.

"Very funny," He says rolling his eyes. "So you got to do some flirting and stuff,"

"I'll try without throwing up,"

"You didn't seem to have a problem with it two nights ago," He snaps back. My whole face flushes, and I suddenly realise how close our faces are. We must have walked closer together because we were now inches apart.

Suddenly the ding of the elevator makes us jump a mile apart. We both walk out of the elevator silently.

"So, if you give me your apartment number, then I will pick you up at 6:50, seen how you live so close together," He says awkwardly.

"Um, yeah. My apartment is 74. It's on the sixth floor. See you at 6:50,"

"Bye," He waves and walks the opposite direction of me.

Why must he insist on playing with my head? And does he like teasing me so much? Urg! He is so frustrating. I look over at my clock. It is half past 6, so he will be here in about 20 minutes. I settle on a brown dress with a belt, and put on some boots.

I go to do my make up. After I am done, I look in the mirror and admire my work. I went for a smoky eye look, and red lipstick. I never wear a load of make up; I never see the need to. Setting down my make up, I walk out onto the kitchen.

5 minutes left. What is Austin to me? I mean, where do we stand? He is a complete asshole one second, then he is really sweet the next. He is really comfortable to be around, and I can be myself around him. I have no pressure to be perfect, like I did when I was with Dallas. He can get in my head, and he is like a challenge. His smile can make my day. Damn him for his cute smile, his chocolate brown eyes, his perfect 6-pack-

"Where are you going all dolled up like that?" Trish asks giving me an accusing eye from the sofa.

"Out..." I say, not wanting to give too much away.

"Out where?"

"For dinner..."

"Is it a date with that cute guy?" She asks suddenly really interested.

"It's not a date," I sigh, taking a seat next to her.

"Really," She doesn't sound convinced.

"It's complicated,"

"What isn't complicated is that you like him,"

"I don't like him," She cocks an eyebrow. "He's complicated," I sigh. Before we could continue our conversation, we are interrupted by the piercing sound of the door bell.

"Sorry, I'm a bit early," He apologised, looking me up and down. He just stares for a moment.

"Am I over dress?" I asked, suddenly self-conscious.

"Oh, no. You look great. Perfect even," I blush at his words. I mentally curse myself for blushing at what he says; and him for flirting with me.

"You don't have to start flirting yet, you know," I say sheepishly. I could feel Trish's teasing gaze boring into the back of my skull.

"I know," He says simply. "Shall we go?" He asks ending the conversation.

"Yep," I say grabbing my purse and keys of the side table, walking past him, and then locking the door.

We walk over to the elevator and press the button. We just stare at the elevator door, avoiding each others gazes in a comfortable silence, until the ding signals that we can go in. When we enter, he presses the '5' button. So his friend lives on the floor beneath mine. I guess that's why I was already in the elevator when I saw him earlier.

"So the plan is to answer a few questions, eat, and then leave. Got that," He explains. I nod in response.

"So what are your friends like?" I ask, a bit curious about his friends who want to meet me after seeing one picture. They seem odd.

"Well Dez is pretty crazy, but he has matured a lot now since we were in high school, so he probably won't talk that much," I nod taking in the new information about his friend called Dez.

"And the other is called Jessica. She is probably going to throw a bucket full of questions at you. She is going to act sweet, but really, she is a psycho bitch." I laugh a bit at his description. He is over-exaggerating a bit.

"I'm sure she's not that bad,"

"Oh, but she is," He replies. I roll my eyes not really wanting to have an argument over it.

"Whatever you say,"

When the elevator came to a halt, I followed Austin over to his friend's apartment. He knocked on the door, and we patiently waited for them to open it. After a moment, the door opened to reveal a tall ginger, and a short girl with light brown hair.

"Hey Austin," The girl said sweetly pulling him in for a hug. Then she spotted me.

"And you must be Ally," She says pulling me in for a hug. "Austin has talked non-stop about you," She says making my cheeks redden a bit.

"And you must be Jessica, Austin's told me a lot about you," I say politely.

"Please call me Jess," I nod a little and smile. There is no way she is a psycho bitch like Austin said.

"And you must be Dez," I say to the tall ginger man in the room.

"Yep, that's me," he smiles.

"So dinner's ready, so you guys can come right in," Jess said pulling me and Austin towards the table, where four places had been set out for us. Then she rushes into the kitchen, while me, Dez, and Austin sit down in our places.

Not long later Jess comes out with a dish of pasta. To be honest, I haven't had a home-cooked meal in years. The last time was the meal I had before going off to collage. Ever since I've been too lazy to actually cook, and if I let Trish cook, the whole apartment would probably burn down. So a home cooked meal is refreshing.

"Help yourselves," She says, taking her own seat next to Dez.

I fill my plate with a little bit of the saucy pasta, not wanting to take too much and look greedy. I feel kind of intimidated. I haven't had a dinner like this in a while. It's like I've been living in a black hole for a year or something.

"This is really good," I complement after taking my first bite. "I haven't had a home cooked meal in years," I admit.

"Well that can't be healthy. Nothing warms the heart like a home-cooked meal," Jess replies. I mumble a yeah, then take another bite of food.

After a while of us enjoying our food in silence, Jess finally asks some questions. I was kind of hoping that she would forget.

"So how did you two meet?" She asks, looking expectantly at me and Austin. I give a panicked look at Austin.

"At a coffee shop," I blurt out.

"Really," She asks, leaning in closer, as if she was interrogating us.

"Yeah, she was drinking coffee at table," Austin continued.

"Reading a book," I interject.

"And then she dropped it; she's a bit of a klutz," He says going a long with the story.

"When I went to pick it up, I made him spill coffee all over his shirt. He had a big diva fit over it," I said giving a fake smile, and patting Austin's back. I could feel Austin's glare bore into the side of my head.

"I wasn't that bad," He says with a sickly sweet voice; that has venom at the core.

"What ever keeps your boat afloat Austie-pie," I say giving him a stupid pet name. If I have to be his fake girlfriend, I might as well have some fun.

"Well after she apologised like 10 times, she ran to get a wet cloth, and made me lift up my shirt to see if I had any burns. You freaked out when you couldn't find one. I was afraid that you would turn into the incredible hulk! Aren't you just the sweetest Ally-gator?" He said 'bopping' my nose. Ally-gator? Is that the best he could come up with? That is what my favourite music teacher called me.

"You did that without hesitation though didn't you?" I laughed. I can totally imagine Austin doing that.

"Yeah, they had you in a trance for like 5 minutes," He laughed back. "I almost said 'my eyes are up here'," I couldn't help but laugh at his mock girl voice.

"I cleaned up your burns nonetheless," I argued back. Wow, this fake meeting is flowing out of us like a river.

"After she insisted that she buys me a new coffee, and I agreed. After she pestered me about it for like a minute saying that it would 'weigh down her soul' if she didn't. It was probably one of the cutest things I've seen."

"Well, I couldn't live with myself knowing that I didn't put it right,"

"So any way, she brought the coffee, and we got to talking. Turned out that we had a lot in common. At the end we exchanged numbers, and went our different ways. And the rest, is history," He concluded. I wish our meeting was like that.

"Wow," Jess said in a dreamy voice, as if she wished she met someone like that. Then she snapped out of it.

"So Ally, what do you do as a job?" She asked changing the subject.

"I'm a writer at a magazine," I answer.

"And guess what? She didn't even know who I was!" Austin exclaimed. I blush a little feeling a bit silly.

"Don't act like it is the craziest thing in the world. Not everybody knows who you are," Jess scolded.

"But I'm in her magazine like at least once a month," He explains, making me sink into my seat a bit further. Austin notices.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ally-cat. I didn't mean to make fun of you," He apologises, his eye softening.

"It's alright," I mumble. He opens his arms for a hug. I give him a look that says 'no way in hell'. And he replies with a pout, and a slight tilt of his head, signalling that Jess and Dez were watching. Reluctantly, I lean into his arms and let him hold me in a warm embrace.

"I'm going to kill you," I mumble into his chest. I can just feel him smirk.

"Then I won't regret this," He mumbles. I look up at him confused. Then all of a sudden, his lips are on mine. I can feel him smirk a bit. That bastard! Soon I find myself melting into the kiss. Then he pulls away, not sure if I was angry, or missing it a bit.

"What are you doing!?" I exclaim furiously.

"Kissing my girlfriend, and making up," He replies with a smirk.

"I know, but not in front of your friends," I say sheepishly saving our cover.

"You two are adorable!" Jess exclaims, making me remember that they were still there. I blush a bit more.

If he thinks that he can make me all flustered tonight, he's got another thing coming. Bring it on Austin.

So see you guys in 4 days :)