And here is the next chapter! Warning, the beginning has some drama! And after the storm, there is the rainbow AKA Auslly! Whoop whoop!
Review Responses!
inkling13: Thank you! Here's another awesome one ;)
randomsmileyperson: Here's the you go! Sorry to say it starts off with Dal and his mom. Cringe.
Jamesmaslow4evz: Oh thanks. I swear I was so relieved when I read your review!
Guest: True dat!
Guest: Sorry to keep you waiting, but here's the next one.
Guest: I know right! I wish he was real :( but at least we have Ross!
Lalalala: I missed you, actually! I thought you'd stopped reading. I loved your long review. I love getting them! Thank you!
Frenchie12: Thank you for trusting me! It is greatly appreciated!
R5Forever: Oh, thank you for that! That really made me smile! I'm glad they cheer you up! Sometimes when I'm upset, I just tune in to FF. It's like my escape from the world, you know?
VelvetFox16: Aha! I knew I had got that from somewhere! I just couldn't think of it! I was seriously wondering 'where did I hear that?!' I loved Drake and Josh, too! They were so funny!
queenc1: I know right? She needs to blame herself, actually. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!
Papersnowaghost: Yep! I'm full of it! Thank you for reviewing!
Primjay10: Less drama in this one, but more Auslly!
Guest: Um since the holidays are almost over I'm not sure what my updating schedule will be. But I'll let you know when I figure it out now.
Ally's POV
Logan stepped forward, glaring at Dallas and I. "What are you talking about?" she hissed at me before turning to Dallas, "what the hell is she talking about?!"
Dallas lowered his gaze to the ground, "Listen, Logan. It's not what you think." Is he going to come clean? I turned to look at him. He stood with his shoulders sagging. He looked rueful. So dispirited.
"Ally has always had it in for me. I was just walking to the car, minding my own business and then she came and attacked me!" he said, now looking up. I seethed. The man had actual tears in his eyes.
"And I told her to just leave me," he continued, "I don't understand why she still has it in for me, clearly she hasn't forgotten about our past." And suddenly I'm grateful that Dallas can't think on his feet because that lie was pretty sad.
"YOU'RE LYING!" Austin screamed, tackling Dallas to the ground. Matt shouted, running behind Liam. It took them a few minutes, but Rory and Carlos ran over to the fighting boys and finally managed to pull them apart. Dallas' nose was bleeding – and it looked broken. Austin, however, had no actual damage done to him. I guess you can tell who's the better one a fighting.
Dallas, having come to this realisation as well, started to fight against Carlos' iron grip. Austin took a step forward, but I put a hand on his shoulder, sending him a warning glance. That was all it took, because I know that Rory wouldn't be able to hold Austin back even if he tried.
"What really happened?" Logan asked again, this time with her arms crossed. Dallas had just opened his mouth to speak when a security guard walked over to us. He looked at Austin's obvious rage, Dallas' regretful expression and my nervous expression. "Is there a problem here?" he asked in a gruff voice.
"Are you joking, mister?" Matt asked from behind Liam, "my brother's going to die!" At this rate, someone is going to die – and I pray that Matt's right.
Carlos shook his head. "No sir. We're on our way."
In the backseat of the Sloane's SUV, I finally let the tears fall. Austin wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close. Mrs. Sloane went with Dallas, she was driving, of course. Logan sat in the front seat. She was beyond angry – I can tell. Carlos was silent the whole ride home. When we arrived at their house, two seconds after Dallas and his mom arrived – the atmosphere was worse than sad. It was just awful. But still I let the silent tears fall. Rory took my other hand and squeezed it. I think it's supposed to be reassuring. Nice to know that at least he is still on my side.
Mrs. Sloane marched right over to me, and slapped me across the face. I gasped and took a step back.
"Mom, no!" Rory shouted, pushing her back. Austin protectively stood in front of me. But still, over his shoulder, I could see her glare was still fixed on me.
"Get in the house!" Carlos demanded. At once, Liam and Matt ran inside, whit Rory regretfully following him. But that didn't stop them from looking out the living room window.
"Dallas warned us about you," Logan's mom hissed, "He told me that you were no good, and he was right." Anger, instead of far, bubbled up inside me. I stepped out from behind Austin and stared her down.
"As long as we're being honest, Logan did tell us about what a bad person you are," I retorted.
"And now are you going to lie to me about my daughter, too? Francesca would never say anything like that."
"Oh really? Is that what she told you, or what you choose to believe? Because, frankly, I'm not surprised. You, Caroline, need a re-evaluation of yourself. After all, aren't you the same person who isn't even proud of what her only daughter has accomplished? Are you not the same woman who treats her own children so badly that they have to lie to her face half the time?"
"I am proud of Francesca!" she snapped, "and that is not your place to be telling me what goes on inside my own family."
"You're proud of Logan? Well you have a funny way of showing it. Why do she and Dallas lie to you all the time, then?"
Dallas, who I'd actually forgotten about, cut into the conversation, "I would never lie to my own mother."
"Oh really now? So how do you explain the one day he came home beaten up and suddenly I'm not good enough for him?" I demand. My eyes darted to Dallas, who had a guilty expression on his face. Carlos had also noticed.
"Dallas? What really happened that day?"
"I told you Dad," he said, "I caught her cheating on me with someone else and she sent some thugs after me to beat me up."
"WHAT?!" Austin, Logan and I exclaimed at the same time.
"That's it," Austin growled, "You're going to die." He took a step forward, but Logan stopped him.
"Oh come on, you don't believe him, do you?" he said to her. She cracked her knuckles, glaring at Dallas.
"Because I'm going to do it," she said, advancing over to Dallas.
"Don't you dare, young lady," Mrs. Sloane muttered. "Who are you going to choose? Your family or some girl who broke your brother's heart?"
"Shut up, mom," she spat, actually shoving past her mother.
"Logan," Dallas said, earnestly, "why are you doing this? "
"Because you're a pathetic coward, Dal. And I know that Ally would never do anything like that to anyone. Why should Ibelieve you, after the way I've seen you treat other girls before?" She held up a fist and grabbed the front of his shirt.
"One last chance. What really happened?" Dallas, seeing that the game was over, sighed and gave in.
"It was my fault. I may have hit Ally a few times..."
"Dallas!"
"Okay! Okay! I hit her, okay? And then when Austin found out, he came and beat me up. There's the whole truth."
"You're pathetic," Logan said, her voice cracking at the end. Then after a second, she sighed, looking down. She let go of Dallas, and he fell to the ground. Using her hair as a shield, she ran past us and into the house. Dallas looked up at us, his mom, his dad, and Austin and I. Carlos was beyond pained at this moment. His wife huffed and went into the house. From the window, I could feel Rory, Liam and Matt staring out at us.
Suddenly, I felt an unease weighing down on my shoulders. I thought that once his family knew what Dallas really was, I would feel at ease. But now, it's just too much, too many things happening all at once. So I turned on my heel and made a run for my room. Once I was there, I grabbed the suitcase from its corner behind the door and put it on the bed. Once opened, I began to throw all my belongings inside. Behind me, I felt Austin's arms wrap around my waist. But I still proceeded to stuff my pair of sandals inside. He gently turned me around so that I was facing him.
"What are you doing?" he asked softly, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear.
"I'm tired, Austin," I said. "This was supposed to be a vacation from all the drama, but it just followed me here. I want a proper vacation, with zero drama. Just for once." If you think about it, all my vacations do include some drama. If anything, it's not a vacation – it's just me living my normal life in a different location.
Austin hugged me, running his fingers through my hair. "It'll be alright, Als."
I bet you something worse will happen.
"I doubt it. I want to go home."
"Hey. What about Logan? We promised her we'd stay with her."
"And we also promised that it would be a smooth vacation."
"Okay, how about this? I'll give you the rest of the day to properly think this through, and then we'll decide tomorrow if you really want to go back home." I nodded, even though I knew that there was nothing he could do in the space of twelve hours that could ever change my mind.
"Ally," Austin whispered. I moaned and snuggled deeper into his chest.
"Not yet Austin. I don't want to go to school today." He chuckled.
"We're still in Canada." I groaned and covered my head with the comforter. I was still bent on going back to Miami. I'd already called my Dad and told him that I'd end up working in Sonic Boom after all. Trish even paid for the plane tickets.
"Wake up, Ally!" he whisper-shouted, ripping the covers from my body. I shivered at the loss of warmth, seeing as I only went to bed in a tank and my underwear. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. It was still dark. I looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was two AM. I groaned and fell back onto the pillows. Austin made me sit up, but I fell back down.
"Don't make me do this," he warned. I scoffed a sleepy smile on my face. Suddenly, he shook his head, which was wet and sprinkled water onto me. I gasped and hit his arm.
"When did you take a shower? And why?"
"I want us to go somewhere," he said.
"Where? It's 2Am, Austin!"
"We're going on a drama-free vacation," he winked, before getting up and looking through my packet suitcase. I grinned to myself.
"Stop staring," he said without looking at me. My jaw dropped. How does he know when I do that? He tossed me some clothes and I groggily got out of bed to shower, still wondering if this was a dream.
I left the bathroom, dressed and refreshed, only to find Austin wasn't in the room. I sighed. I wondered where we were going, because Austin had me in some sneakers, a T-shirt and some yoga pants. I left the room and went to the kitchen, hoping to grab a bite. Austin was there, humming to himself as he put things in a basket.
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"Just packing some stuff."
"Stuff?"
"Blankets. Food. You know the usual." He said with a smile. Before I could say anything else, I took my hand and lead me outside to the SUV.
"Are you sure we can use their car?" I asked uneasily.
"Wow. You ask a lot of questions in the morning," Austin said before starting the car.
"Is that a no?"
"See what I mean?"
"Austin! I can't believe you're just taking their car!" I exclaimed, glaring at him. Austin smiled at me.
"Its okay, Als. We'll be back before they're even up. They won't know it was even gone."
"Where are we going anyway?" I asked.
"We are going for a hike."
"A hike?! That's your idea of a vacation from a vacation?"
"Yes."
I groaned, pulling myself up from the soft forest floor. Once again, I tripped over something and fell flat on my face. Either from tree roots, or rocks, or my own two feet. Austin helped me up with a chuckle and brushed the dirt from my arm.
"Are we there yet?"
"Not yet," he said, "you asked me that two minutes ago."
"When will we be there?" I asked, feeling childish.
"When we get there," he answered. I sniffed the air.
"What's that smell?"
"It smells like oxygen," he said, walking through the greenery. I momentarily lost him before I heard him speak, a little farther off.
"Come on, Ally. The woods are great!" he was saying. I followed him until I found him again.
"I mean, look at all this, the fresh air. The trees. The quiet calmness. You can actually see some stars, too."
"Oh yeah," I droned sarcastically, "and the insect bites, the bears, the snakes, danger..."
"There's also food here, you know. If you know how to find it." Luckily we won't have to, I thought as I looked at the basket he carried.
"And let's not forget the overall cleanliness!" I exclaimed, dodging a pile of animal crap. Austin looked back at me and chuckled, "oh please. Alfie likes the place. Don't you, boy?" Alfie let out a bark, but did and said nothing else.
Alfie was having the time of his life – for a while. At first, he was running around, sniffing at the air. But then he calmed down and trotted faithfully beside me, ears perked, listening.
"Are we there yet?"
"Yes," Austin said, stopping at last.
"Finally," I breathed, walking forward. I pushed out from under the shadows of the trees, and stepped out onto a cliff of some sort. Some bushes surrounded us, but stopped at the edge. The place was kind of small, and cosy, even. It seemed private. The ground sort of jutted out slightly, and looked over the sleeping city of Toronto. Well, sort of. The city was waking up, you could tell. But from up here, it was like only a few lights were on. But they might as well be stars, since we're so up high and far, I thought.
Austin spread the blanket out onto the soft ground and motioned for me to join him. I sat down beside him and took in the breathtaking sight. Alfie lay down beside me, and I absentmindedly started to run my hand through his soft, silky fur.
The sun was starting to rise, and the sky turned started to get lighter. The sin peeked over the city, basking everything in its warm glow. The stars faded away and gradually everything began to wake up.
I sighed in bliss and allowed myself to relax. It felt so foreign to me right now, to have all my stresses just melt away.
"Do you like it?" Austin murmured.
"I love it," I said honestly, "It was worth the hike." Austin laughed and kissed my temple. Now I understand him. This really is like a proper vacation – just relaxing and feeling, well, happy. And to think when Austin took me here, to relieve me from all the drama, the entire way here I nagged him and complained. That when he first told me where we were going I laughed in his face. Hasn't it been like that most of the time? I tried to think of the last time when I took Austin out so that he would feel this good. He's so good to me, and I take him for granted. When nothing comes to mind, I make a promise that when we get back to Miami, I'll give him the best day he's ever had.
"What are you worrying about now?" he asked, "you're tense."
"Nothing," I said quickly.
"You're lying," he said, the easy tone in his voice now gone. I bit my lip and looked up at him. He looked worried. I felt guilt stab my chest and I leaned in to kiss him. Instead of kissing me back, he broke the kiss and pulled me onto his lap. I sighed and put my head on his chest.
"I'm sorry," I said, listening to his heart beat.
"For what?" he asked, drawing circles on my lower back.
"For irritating you all the time," I said.
He laughed, "Who told you that? When we fight, Ally, I don't get irritated. It's amusing, really. And honestly, I like it when you're mad."
"Why?"
"Because you look so hot. And I find it adorable when you boss me around."
"I don't boss you around!"
"Yes, you do. You're so bossy, but I love that about you." Feeling a little better, I started to smile.
"So you don't mind when I'm like that?"
"No. It's what makes you, you. And I wouldn't change anything about you. Well, maybe your stage fright. That has got to go."
"Well, while we're being honest about each other..."
He smiled down at me, "go on. Tell me how amazing you think I am."
"The only think I would change about you is the way you think."
"How do I think?"
"Irrationally."
"Wh-what?" he laughed, "I'm very rational, thank you."
"Yeah. Sure."
"And anyway, I thought you'd want to change my ego?"
"Nah, I'd miss it way too much," I said, poking him in the side.
We were silent again for a few seconds when my stomach growled. Austin laughed and started to unpack the food from the basket. He packed, to my shock, healthy food. Well, if you exclude the cookies. There was fruit, yogurt, some sandwiches and iced tea.
"Austin!" I breathed, looking at him as he ate an apple.
"What?"
"Nothing you packed has an expiration date on it!" I laughed. He rolled his eyes and continued to nosily eat his apple.
"Close your mouth when you chew," I said, taking a sip of water.
"Bossy," he said with his mouth full. I groaned and closed my eyes. We ate in silence, with Austin tossing Alfie some cookies.
"Austin those are bad for him," I said after a while.
"So what? Everybody likes chocolate chip."
"You're taking him to the vet if he gets sick."
"Yes ma'am."
"And don't call me ma'am!"
"Yes sir."
"Austin!"
"Love you too, babe."
An hour and a half later, at six thirty, we quietly snuck into the house. I giggled, and tried to keep my laughter inside. I'm not quite sure why I was laughing, but it felt good. Maybe because I was being sneaky? I always did burst into giggles whenever Trish and I played Hide and Seek when we were kids. Austin apparently caught my giggles because he was trying to restrain from laughing as well. Only Alfie was silent out of the three of us. When we made it to our room, Austin and I collapsed onto the bed in silent laughter. Man, I felt great.
"Thanks," I said after we managed to calm ourselves.
"For?"
"Taking me out," I said. He smiled and planted a kiss on my cheek.
"Anytime, Als. Anytime."
And there we have it! Seven whole pages of Auslly goodness! Whew, that was long. Normally my chapters are, like, six pages. Or five. Haha. And how about the beginning with Dallas? He's gone for good this time, I swear. Please review!
Sammie!