Howdyyy
There's not much to say except for the fact that I'm not physically nor mentally ready for the finale tonight (tomorrow for me as I'll be watching it online). I wish you all the luck with not dying tonight. To warm you up, here's a short chapter with some Auslly fluff. Enjoy
After several hours, the sun had gone down and the six hadn't made any plans to leave the lake just yet. Instead, they had gathered around a burning campfire they had found on the other side of the lake. With only the fire illuminating their faces, they were sat on a few logs, sipping on bottles of wine, sharing stories only alcohol would make them share. Now, they were discussing their most random places they had tapped that.
''She wrote a short message on the bill, telling me to meet her at the broom closet in the back,'' Ian spills his story about him and a random waitress that had been flirting with him the whole night. ''My parents actually thought I had become sick on the toilet, but little did they know that I was very busy with something else.''
''You've got some kind of waitress fetish, or something,'' Lib chuckles in which he shrugs smugly.
''That's all you got?'' Ally snorts as she gestures between her and Austin, who had pulled her closer with an arm around her shoulders and was now shooting her a warning look. He had never been the one who wanted to spill all their personal secrets, especially this, but the influenced Ally was not planning on keeping this to herself in order to 'win'. ''When I met Austin's parents in Thanksgiving break, he showed me his childhood treehouse. I hope young Austin was not watching, because we did some things that would've definitely traumatized him.''
''Oh my god!'' Hannah squeals as the rest joins her with laughter and cheers. Meanwhile, Austin had already accepted his fate and undergoes his friends' wolf whistles with a blush. Ally giggles as she snuggles ever closer to her boyfriend. On opposite of them, Hannah sits with Dan as she roasts a marshmallow on a twig. ''I can't believe you did that. Ally, you slut,'' she says jokingly before sticking the melted marshmallow in her mouth.
The grin on Ally's face is quickly swept away when hearing the simple triggering word. It's missed by the rest, but Austin notices her sudden frozen form and sad eyes. He knows Hannah's unintended offensive accusation had caused Ally's anxious feeling. Hannah had no way of knowing about Ally's high school experience, where she had been known as the slut after she made out with a popular girl's crush.
''Look who's talking, Han. Everyone saw you two sneaking into the changing room an hour ago,'' he tries to divert all attention on the couple and it works. He uses the time that the rest is distracted to subtly comfort Ally. ''Hey, she didn't mean it like that, Alls.''
''I know,'' she murmurs, anxiously playing with the label of the bottle of wine she was holding.
''Look at me. Take deep breaths,'' rubbing her shoulder and kissing her cheek, he tries to soothe her, but nothing seems to help. He sees her lip trembling as she can't make herself forget the awful experience and refuses to look him in the eyes. ''You're not in that situation anymore, you're here now.''
Sighing deeply, he tries to think of other ways to help her overcome the strong emotions she's feeling right now. After he sees Ally taking another big gulp from the bottle of white wine, he decides to take action. Taking another look at the rest, he sees they're in the middle of a new conversation that he and Ally are luckily not a part of. He brings his mouth close to her ear and keeps his voice low.
''If you want words to put your mind at rest tonight, come and shout about it,'' Austin whispers the lyrics in her ear while he keeps holding her close. He feels her stiffen before she looks up at him with wide eyes. Sleeping in the same room has made him find out some things, like her feel-good song. She often didn't bother to put on headphones, which is why he unconsciously started to remember the words. ''We can talk for a hundred miles and drive, where you're less surrounded.''
''Cause I can see that the handle you hold inside, has a cloud around it,'' he suddenly hears Hannah joining him in a higher pitch. With a small smile, she had noticed the situation and together, they sing along. He raises his eyebrows in surprise, never knowing Hannah had such a great voice and she shrugs shyly. Ally finally starts smiling at Hannah before she looks at Austin again. ''How can a heart like yours be that high and dry, when it burns the brightest?''
''I'm so sorry I can't stop myself from staring at you, when you're tired and blue, my dear,'' Austin keeps his eyes on Ally as he raises his voice and notices the twinkle in her eyes. Hannah pats her thigh on the rhythm as she closes her eyes to get lost in the little duet. It wasn't a surprise that Hannah knew the song, too. They had shared a room for a full year, after all. There was no doubt that Lib could sing along as well. Only admiration could be found in Dan's eyes as he grabbed Hannah's hand, smiling at her sweetly. ''It's just any reason I get to be closer to you, I wanna shout about it.''
''Oh, I wanna shout about it,'' Lib looks at the two couples on the logs with a loving smile before feeling Ian's arm around her shoulder. Shocked, she looks at him and sees him send her a friendly wink. The gesture was totally platonic and, still, she didn't know if she wanted it to be more than that. The smile disappears from her face as soon as they break eye contact and she feels that she is unable to enjoy the moment fully, while Ian obliviously stays in the position until the song is over. ''No, I wanna shout the loudest.''
Austin had laid off the alcohol after six PM, because he was in control of bringing everyone home safely. And, looking at them, he knew that it was the right decision. Lightweight Ally might've been in the worst state as she had trouble getting out of the car on her own. Austin quickly turns off the engine and gets out of the car to support her before she makes a wrong move and lets herself fall on the concrete. Walking on campus, Ian suddenly feels his stomach grumbling.
''I'm so hungry,'' he complains as they pass all the campus eateries. The rest groans in union as they notice the hole in their stomach as well.
''We haven't really had supper, have we?'' Dan mentions, licking his lips as he imagines all the delicious sandwiches and other food that were probably hidden behind the closed doors of their favourite café. ''Except for marshmallows.''
''How about,'' Ally grins mischievously as she disconnects herself from the group to make her way to the locked entrance. ''we see if the Blue Room has some of those amazing pancakes left?''
Hannah's eyes widen as she realizes the forbidden plan. ''That's so illegal,'' she whispers.
''Drunk Ally is definitely my favourite Ally,'' Lib joins her friend with a high five before studying the reactions of the others.
''I'm down,'' Ian shrugs and looks at Austin expectantly, who has an unsure look in his eyes.
''I'm responsible for you now, aren't I?'' he asks her the obvious question.
''And It'll be hard to keep an eye on me if you're not coming with me,'' Ally giggles before grabbing his hand.
''Fine, I could eat a pancake or two.''
''Dan, are you sober enough to fix us a small meal?'' Ian asks his friend. When he was new on campus, Dan got a job at the Blue Room to make some small cash and meet new people. What the staff didn't know, is that Dan still hadn't returned the key to get into the kitchen.
''No problem,'' he answers as he pulls Hannah with him. ''C'mon, it'll be fine. I'll make you your favourite.''
After stuffing themselves until they were on the verge of nausea, the six called it a day at two in the morning. Ally had even found the alcohol storage without Austin's knowing and didn't give herself a chance to sober up. She needed Austin's firm grip on her waist in order to walk a somewhat straight line towards their dorm room. He noticed the others making faster progress in the corridor than he was with the drunk girl and decided to let them go ahead. That way he could focus on getting his girlfriend home safely. It wasn't a secret Ally couldn't handle alcohol very well, correction, she didn't know her limit and her limit was quite low.
''Can I have a kiss?'' she practically lets Austin drag her forward as she looks up and puckers her lips.
''No,'' he tells her quickly in which she pouts sadly. ''You're not thinking straight and I know what you're capable of when you're drunk.''
''Just one teeny-tiny kiss,'' she begs him and stops moving her legs altogether, preventing them from taking another step.
''Fine,'' he finally gives up and rolls his eyes as he pecks her lips shortly, the only way he hopes to get her to start walking again.
''You taste like syrup,'' she licks her lips before biting down on her bottom lip. ''That's so hot.''
''Alright, I'm gonna get you to your bed,'' he clears his throat determinedly. Ally had refused to keep moving, so Austin scoops her up to carry her bridal style to their room, which is luckily already in sight.
''Are you joining me then?'' wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispers in his ear giggly before planting small kisses on his jaw.
''This is exactly what I meant,'' he chuckles as he grabs the key out of the pocket of Ally's jeans. ''We're sleeping in our own beds tonight.''
''But I want to make love to you,'' she whines as she starts unbuttoning his shirt slowly.
''Make love, huh?'' focussing on opening the door, he laughs mockingly at the formulation she had never used before.
''Yeah,'' she tells him with big eyes. ''Because I love you.''
Freezing for a moment, he shoots her a short glance before entering the room. ''Right.''
''It's the truth,'' she continues before humming the melody of 'Love On Top'.
''You don't mean that, Alls,'' he lowers her on her bed before uneasily running a hand through his hair and helps her remove her shoes.
''I do, too!'' she replies childishly as she sits back up on her bed. When he doesn't answer her, her lip starts quivering. ''Don't you love me?''
''I don't,'' he sighs as he chooses the easy way out. As she's seriously under influence, this probably wouldn't be the best time to profess his love for her for the first time.
''You don't,'' she whispers after a few seconds of silence. Actual tears appear in the corners of her eyes as she looks at him. ''Why don't you love me?''
''Ally,'' he begs her, wanting her to go to sleep as soon as possible and let the subject go, knowing that she won't even remember it the next day anyway. Her stare won't leave him alone and he sighs defenceless. ''No, I do.''
''Say it then,'' she tells him. ''I'm not going to sleep until I hear you say it.''
Rubbing his neck nervously, he sees there is absolutely no way out of this. Opening the covers, he lays Ally under them before tucking her in. He sighs once more as she still looks at him expectantly. ''I love you, Ally.''
''I love you, too, Austin,'' a bright smile appears when Austin plants a final kiss on her nose.
''Alright, that's enough love for tonight,'' he comments shyly as he hits the lights and gets in bed himself.
''You're so sweet to me,'' he hears Ally giggle in the dark and chuckles. A minute later, he hears her voice lacking the alcoholic undertone it had had the whole night, wondering if she really was that drunk these past couple of minutes. ''Thank you for singing to me tonight.''
Again sorry for the shortness, but I'm super super busy these days and trying to update every week!
Also, I know like only 1,5 people actually read these author notes, but I'm kinda falling into a writers block. I have an idea on how I want to end this story, but I could definitely use some more inspiration. So, IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING, I MEAN ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO SEE HAPPENING, PLS TELL ME. There must be something you'd always dreamed of reading and just the thought brings butterflies to your stomach. I swear, if you tell me what you want to read, the chance is big I will use it in this story or an upcoming. Don't be shy.
JelsaFanToTheMax chapter 1
OMG! So you don't know HOW excited I was to see that you had posted a new story. (It's insane how excited I was) But then I see it's a sequel to Work Out. (I'm pretty much squealing out loud) And then Dan Howell (I recognized him the moment you described him in the story, lol! I was just like...is that..DAN?!) and Austin and Ally in the same story...yup I'm dying here...and I haven't even read the whole story. I can't WAIT to read the rest! BYE! - OMG HEY I REMEMBER YOU! How are you? I'm so glad to see your name again after such a long time! I can't believe you know Dan Howell, these things just amaze me. I had no idea there were so many people who shared those interests, I love finding them. I hope you've caught up by now, don't be shy to tell me what you think! Thank you for reading, lovely
sicklscaler chapter 10
Looking forward to part 2. Good luck in school and keep writing bc it is good. Congrats on the contest wins! - Thank you so much! I'll need that luck, senior year is something else