I feel like it's been a long time since I updated, but it's not. Thanks to all your great help and ideas, I've succeeded in getting a little bit of inspiration again. So, thank you to everyone who reviewed suggestions. Don't worry, a chapter in your honour is coming up.
This is quite a sad one, so prepare yourselves. I'm not responsible for any tears, if this hits you hard. Well, actually I am. Don't throw tomatoes at me pls
The next morning, the two slept till dawn. It was the first time Austin woke before Ally and he had to admit, he quite liked it. After taking a shower, washing the smell of fire and pancake batter off of him, he returned to the room to see Ally slowly waking up. He could only imagine the enormous hangover causing a headache and perhaps nausea she was experiencing right now.
''Here, make sure you drink enough,'' sitting on the edge of the mattress, he places a water bottle on her nightstand before pressing a kiss on her forehead. He gives her a few seconds to open her eyes and take a few sips as he sees her feeling a bit better immediately.
''Thank you,'' Ally smiles thankfully before rubbing her temple. ''That was a crazy night, wasn't it?''
''Yeah, about that,'' Austin didn't want to bring it up while Ally had only just woken up, but he was afraid this was the only chance he would get. ''Do you remember any-''
''I should apologize,'' she interrupts him quickly, placing a hand on his arm and covering her forehead in shame. ''I know how unmanageable I can be when I drink too much. I don't know what I did last night, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.''
''It wasn't too bad, don't worry,'' Austin assures her, not sure if he should bring up what she basically forced him to admit if she didn't even remember it.
''Good,'' leaving out a relieved breath, she picks up the water bottle once more, but leaves it hanging at her lips before her confession. ''I remember you sang to me, though.''
''It was the only thing I could think of to make you feel better.''
''I don't think I thanked you yet, so thank you,'' the fact that she didn't remember she thanked him right before she went to sleep last night, more or less confirms that she did not consciously experienced the talk they had before that. And, with that, he knew everything he needed to know. After glancing at her once more to accept the thanks she didn't knew she repeated, he gets up from the bed. ''So what are you up to today?''
''I guess I'll start with Editorial Analysis. Professor Edwards is a great teacher, but I still don't understand most of it,'' Austin admits while gathering everything he needs on the desk.
"Well, if it helps, I can go to him," he quickly turns around when he hears Ally's proposal. "Ask if he could give you an extra class or something. Or I can spend some time studying the subject, I might me able to h-''
"No, please don't,'' he begs her hastily.
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind, it's no trouble," Ally stretches and gets out of bed, oblivious to Austin's serious refusal.
''Ally, I don't want to seem like this idiot who needs special treatment,'' her mouth falls open to his sudden outburst as he shoots her a warning look. "Just promise you won't go to him."
"Okay, I won't," she holds her hands up in surrender.
The rest of the week, the two had agreed to rise as early as possible to get the most out of their day. Ally would get up at nine, open the curtains, get them both breakfast from the small bakery on campus and hum a song that would wake Austin in the best way possible. It was quite a good system.
It was Friday night, the last weekend before the exam week would begin, and the group had decided they needed just a short night out to get their minds off the books they'd been drowning in. Just having a few drinks at a local bar was the plan, but Austin had decided to take a rain check.
''Sure you don't want to come?" Ally asks him one final time, just as she's about to leave. ''We'll only stay for, like, an hour.''
"I want to go, but I can't,'' he grumpily answers.
"I'm sure Lib and Ian can give you some helpful tips, though, if you want," she continues before looking doubtfully. ''Then again, we're going to a bar so maybe alcohol will influence your memory a tiny bit," she giggles.
''Just go, alright?" Austin doesn't look up from his books while telling her to leave. "I'll be fine."
"Are you s-" a feeling of guilt washes over when she realizes she has to leave him like this.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Okay," she sighs while opening the door. "Good luck studying," she tells him with an encouraging smile he never catches.
When she finally closes the door, something tells her to wait a while. And that 'something' was right, because, only a minute later, she could hear a heavy object falling down, followed by an angry cry. It only took her half a second to open the door again to see Austin picking up a heavy book and throwing it against the wall.
"Austin!" she tries to stop him, but he ignores her presence as he shoves the desk chair he had thrown over out of his way. Tears unconsciously fall down on his cheeks while he grabs more books and throws them off the desk.
"It's bullshit, it's all bullshit! Why should I even try?" he yells at himself while almost ripping the pages out of the books before Ally manages to free them from his grip. Grabbing his hands, she places them on her cheeks, forcing him to acknowledge her.
''I'm right here, do you see me? It's going to be okay," she keeps covering his hands with her own, to make sure he doesn't try to run away. He keeps his head down, hiding his tears, but makes no effort to remove his hands. Trusting him, Ally moves her own hands off his to wipe away his tears before leaning her forehead against his. "Tell me what's going on in your head.''
"I don't think I belong here," Austin finally speaks after she led him to sit down on his bed.
"Of course you belong here."
"Why? I'm not someone who can go out every week and still get straight A's," Ally tries not to hear the accusing tone of his voice as she guesses he talks about her. "I'm not someone who understands everything the first time he reads it. I'm not someone who befriends professors easily. Why the hell do you think I belong here?"
"Because Brown wants you here. You have proven yourself, Brown doesn't just take anyone. Obviously, you have potential. The professors want you here, the students want you here," she grabs one hand and uses the other to move his head to make eye contact. "And I want you here. Isn't that enough?"
"I just don't think I can do it," he shakes his head.
"You've already made it so far. And I believe in you, everyone does."
"I know," there's a short moment of silence as Ally hesitates to tell him something that might anger him.
''I asked professor Edwards if he had some spare time to tutor you."
"You did what?" he grits his teeth furiously.
"He said he'd love to see you," she tries to ignore his unhappy response.
"Ally, you promised not to go to him," Austin raises his voice, not hiding the annoyance.
"But I worry about you! Don't you understand?" she exclaims. Seeing the way he was handling the stress was killing her inside and she would do anything to make him happy again. "All I want is to help you through these finals."
"I don't want any help, okay?" letting go of Ally's hand, he stands up. "I need to do this on my own."
"Why? Why do you feel that way?" she follows Austin through the room as she watches him pick up his coat. He stops his pace and turns around to see her looking up at him irritated.
"Just give me some space," he tells her before slamming the door closed behind him.
The next day, the group, minus Austin, met for lunch. While the five talked and laughed, the upcoming exams hung over them like a dark cloud.
''How is Austin doing?" Dan asks Ally finally, making all eyes point at her curiously.
"Still studying. It's all he does, he barely leaves the room. I always see him hung over those books, but I don't have the idea he's really learning," they had made up when Austin had returned a while later, sort of. She decided it was best to leave him alone for a while. She had moved to the library to give Austin all the space he needed, but when she would return after a few hours, she would find him in the same position she had left him. She was wondering if the material actually got through.
"I didn't even know he was struggling this much. I would've loved to help him," Lib admits.
"I've tried that too, but he doesn't want anything to do with others offering help. It's like he thinks he has to do it alone."
"Poor guy," Hannah pouts as she sighs out of pity. "I think the stress is really taking its toll on him."
"Maybe it's because he's never had to work this hard before," Ally thinks out loud.
"Or you're distracting him," Ian jokes while winking at Ally, making her freeze as she takes the idea too seriously.
"What?" she stutters as the guilt overtakes her.
"I'm only kidding, Allison," Ian nudges her before leaving the subject alone.
"I know," she mutters as she pushes her half-eaten sandwich away from her and excuses herself.
"Hey babe, how are you?" he doesn't react and keeps his eyes on the study material. Ally doesn't give up, though, and keeps talking. "Can I get you anything? Snacks or something to drink?" a soft grunt tells her that he's fine, as always. She restrains an annoyed roll of her eyes and walks over to him to put her arms around his neck from behind, leaning her chin on his shoulder. "Lib and Ian told me they would love to help you study sometime."
"Can you stop treating me like I'm a fucking wounded animal?" Austin moves his shoulders, causing her arms to fall down, and shoots her an angry glance. "I'm old enough to take care of myself."
"Enough!" Ally throws her book bag on the ground and a loud thump is heard through the room. "All you've been doing lately is drowning in self pity. Cut the act already, we just want to help you!"
"I don't want your help!" he repeats himself and gets up from the chair to finally look her in the eyes.
"Why not?" vainly, she tries to get the answer to the one question she's been wondering about for days. "What do you want?"
"Not this!" he vaguely gestures between them, only fuelling Ally's fear that she is the problem. "Just leave me alone for a while."
"If that's what you want," with a trembling lip, she watches him turn his back to her again and nods to herself.
"Please," Austin speaks before he hears her walk out the door. Without thinking, he goes back to staring at his books, until he falls asleep on top of them. When he eventually wakes the next morning with pain in his back from the crouched position in which he spent the night, he notices something is off. The light was still off, the curtains closed, the smell of freshly baked croissant was missing, just like the sound of Ally's soft voice singing a melody. One thing confirmed his assumption; the absence of all of Ally's clothes and things.
Very sorry about this, mates
I'm gonna try to keep this story going, meaning updating every Sunday. Let's hope I'll have enough time and want to write. Let's say I started watching Sherlock and that is not really helping the time I have to use for school and writing fanfics. IT'S SO GREAT THO
I FORGOT OMFG, THE FINALE, WASN'T IT GREAT? SO GREAT. THEY TOLD THE WHOLE STORY OF HOW THEY MET, EVERY EPISODE, TO THEIR KIDS? WOW.
A quick shout out to reader Fishelle for reviewing for a bunch of my older chapters as she caught up! Thank you for making me laugh with your cute reviews, 'I feel like a sappy trashcan' is my new fav statement. Also, I love that you ship Lib and Ian. There's something going on there, isn't there?
Your reviews were on point for last chapter, sorry for answering so many but they were all so freakin cute
Fishelle chapter 11
this was cute SLY ALLY also i'm uncreative so i can't help you with your writer's block but i CAN tell you that random headcanoning and writing up character profiles sometimes helps with that :D - Thank you! That's good advice, usually I have one tiny idea in my head that I can only make work when I have something to attach it to, you know? Luckily, a lot of people gave me ideas, so it should be fine
Guest chapter 11
AHHH THIS CHAPTER WAS SOO GOOD - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
ROTBTDreader chapter 11
Ew writers block, the struggles UM but I just saw the last episode of Austin and Ally :((((( I cried, I'm literally going envelope my world into the world of fanfiction now until I'm over the Austin and ally phase. But that's my struggles, but for yours I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit of jealousy or something going on in between? I dunno do what ever just write away my problems 3 - Tell me about it, jeez. I almost cried, I literally gasped when I saw the kids omfg. Well, that's good news for me :) Don't worry, I won't stop writing anytime soon, so there's that. That, my friend, is brilliant. You see, even the small ideas like jealousy don't cross my mind until someone reminds me. As you saw, there is something going on between them, but jealousy is def gonna be there. We've already had a jealous Austin (Mike), but what about a jealous Ally? What an interesting concept.
Guest chapter 11
THAT WAS SO CUTE. I can't really think of anything that I would like to see happen but I will definitely let you know if I think of something. The finale was so good. It was literally everything I wanted. Did you see it? - THAAAANK YOU! No problem, ideas are welcome any time. SO GOOD. I'm still not quite over it. The fact that I have to delete the show from my episode reminder app is literally physically hurting me. ouch.
sicklscaler chapter 11
Maybe I can give you some ideas later after I think about it. Good chapter. Maybe in the morning Austin and Ally should talk about the night before and the I Love You. They could all finish college in future chapters and Ally and Austin get engaged and live happily ever after! - Well, you saw one of those things. I'm actually not sure if I end it with this year or a leap into the future. Would you dig that?
Dreamlover72 chapter 11
It would be nice to see Austin and ally back in the gym together - You are an angel. This was a great idea that fits perfectly in the concept I had in my head. Thank you
Guest chapter 11
Even though you're probably never going to read this you are such an amazing writer. Like literally words can't express how excited I get to be able to read your stories!Keep up the good work! - You must be new here :) I always read every single review and read it again on other days, because you guys make me so happy. Besides, I respond to the ones that make me the happiest or are the most interesting. And your review made me incredibly happy. Thank you for taking the time to tell me this, you are a great person and your compliments make my day