Chapter 14: How She Didn't Deserve It.
Ally's bottom lip quivered, and tears poured from her eyes. The cellphone fell from her hands, and broke into pieces on the concrete. The weight of everything that had happened today slammed down onto her, and she collapsed to the ground in a heap. She cried out, and the cold rain rocked her body with shivers.
Austin wasn't coming. Not after this morning, never after this morning. No one was coming.
"Ally," She looked over, and saw Elliot standing there.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screamed, and scurried to her feet.
"Ally-"
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" She screeched, and she furiously wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I-"
"Stay the hell away from me!" She hissed, and she spun around on her heel, and stormed down the sidewalk.
"Ally," Elliot grabbed her wrist and spun her around to face him. He caught her as she collapsed onto the ground. She began crying hysterically.
"MY MOM'S DEAD!"
6 Hours Earlier.
Ally was sat behind her desk, and Trish was sat on the edge looking through a file. Ally rubbed the back of her neck, and she began to type away on the keyboard. They had a lot to do as a very important person was coming to make a deal with Austin, and it could bring in a lot of money.
Ally's head was running wild, and pulsing furiously. Austin had cleaned her up, and they had both fallen asleep on the couch in each others arms. Ally was terrified, and she couldn't take it anymore. Maybe I should call the police.
Ally looked at Trish, and she flashed her a smile. "I need you to do me a favor."
"Sure, what?" Trish asked.
"Next week is Austin's birthday, and his mom is throwing him a surprise birthday party. I have to keep Dez and Dallas away from him all day, but I have something I need to do for a few hours, and I need you to make sure they both stay away from him."
"Yeah, I can do that. As long as I can come to the party, I love an excuse to party," She smirked, and Ally laughed.
"Thank you."
The phone buzzed, and Ally excused herself, then walked into Austin's office. He was sat behind his desk, buried in files. He looked up as she walked in and smiled.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, and she flashed him a smile of gratitude.
"I'm fine. Do you want a coffee?"
"Yes please," He replied.
"Okay, I'll be right back," She walked out of his office, and out into the workroom. Elliot looked over from his desk, and followed her into the kitchen.
"So, I was thinking, you, me, and Trish should go out for a drink tonight?" Elliot suggested, and Ally began to make Austin his coffee.
"I'm not sure," Ally replied.
"C'mon, I'm sure he can let you off your leash for a night," He smirked, and nudged her shoulder.
"He doesn't have me on a leash, and I decide where I can go. Anyway, Austin and I have plans tonight, he has a surprise for me, and then we are going to have a Burger King and watch a movie," Ally smiled at the thought, and Elliot scoffed.
"Have you even had sex with him? Because, I'm sure once he has he'll be onto the next girl," Ally stared at him with wide eyes.
"Elliot!" She snapped. "How could you say something like that!"
"What, it's true," He shrugged his shoulders. "I've worked with him for years."
"But, you don't know him like I do," Ally retorted.
"I beg to differ."
"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" She questioned, and her eyes narrowed in his direction. Ally watched as he seemed to contemplate something in his mind, then a smile broke out on his face. "What?"
Elliot moved quickly, and in an instant his lips were on hers. Ally squealed, and her hands flew to his chest, and she tried to push him away, then with one hard shove she did, but his lips only separated with hers. She went to open her mouth to yell at him, but her mouth fell shut when she saw Kira standing in the doorway. A smile smacked on her face, and her phone in her hands.
Kira took off running, and Ally pushed Elliot out of the way, and chased after her. They both flew through the doors to the waiting room, and into Austin's office.
"Kira!" Ally shouted, and she spun around to face her, a laugh flying from her lips.
"What the hell is going on!" Austin snapped, and he stood in front of his desk.
"I've got something to show you," Kira extended her arm with her phone in her hand.
"Austin, listen to me..." Her words failed to come out of her mouth, and she watched Austin's face fall into a blank expression. Her heart dropped to the floor.
"I just thought you might like to see it," She slipped her phone into her bag, then grinned. "I'm going to leave now," Kira left, and Ally watched her go.
She turned to look at Austin, who was staring at her with dead eyes, whilst tears burned hers. She took a step forward, but he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Austin-"
"You can go back to your own apartment now," His voice was flat, dead as a door nail. "It was meant to be a surprise, but I had it fixed up for you...at least I won't have to look at your fuckin' face anymore. You're fired!"
"Austin, wait-"
"GET OUT!" His voice boomed, and she jumped backwards.
"Aren't you going to let me explain-"
"I SAID, GET OUT!" Her bottom lip quivered, and she looked at him with her teary eyes. "Are you deaf, bitch!?"
Ally choked back her sob, and she walked out of his office. She grabbed her bag from her desk, then walked out into the workroom, and everyone was looking at her. She saw Elliot standing by his desk, and she stalked over to him.
"So, he knows about-" Ally cut him off with a punch to the face. He stumbled backwards onto the desk opposite. The skin had split on her knuckles, and she shook the pain off, then took off running out of the building.
...
Ally placed the flowers down on her dad's grave, and she sat down. It was dark, pitch black. It was cold, so cold. She stared at the writing on her dad's grave, and her bottom lip started quivering again.
No, I've cried too much today!
"Hi dad," Ally brushed her fingertips against his name. "I...you always knew what to do when things went wrong...But, I don't know what to do now? D-Do I go back to my old life of self pity and loneliness...or do I move on? I could go and live with mom in England, join her new family? I-I don't know what to do now? I have no job...I lost it...why wouldn't he just let me explain it to him," She whimpered, and she buried her hands into her lap, trying to fight her tears away.
Ally knew she shouldn't be here, not after last night, whoever it was that was stalking her could still be around.
I'd probably strike up a conversation with them...
She felt so lonely. She didn't want to disturb her mom, and she couldn't call Trish, because she'd believe Elliot over her in a heartbeat since they've known each other for so long. It wasn't fair, nothing was fair.
Ally pulled out her songbook from her bag, and she looked at the scribbled out verses that she had tried to write for Austin's birthday. I guess that isn't happening anymore. Ally thought it was ironic that sad situations could inspire her to write songs, because she began to think of one in her head. She began to scribble lines down, and hummed a tune to go along with it.
Pouring her heart out onto the pages, seemed to ease the pain in her chest, but it didn't lift the weight off her shoulders. She carried on writing until thunder rolled up ahead. Her gaze flew to the night sky, and she put her songbook in her bag.
"Bye dad," She walked away, and began to walk quickly out of the graveyard. She was alert, just in case anyone tried to come out of nowhere and grab her. The sky released the rain from the clouds, and she pulled her hood up.
She walked down the sidewalk, and got closer to her apartment building. Then her phone began to ring in her bag. She rummaged through it and pulled it out.
"Hello?"
"Allyson?" Henry said down the phone, and she could sense the roughness in his voice. It sounded like he was crying.
"Henry, what's wrong?" She asked, and he sighed. "What is it?"
"It's your mom."
"W-What about my mom?" She stopped walking, and her grip tightened on her phone. "Henry, w-what about m-my mom? Is she okay? Has she run off again?"
"She was driving home from work, when a car came out of nowhere and hit her...I'm sorry Ally...she's gone."
Ally's bottom lip quivered, and tears poured from her eyes. The cellphone fell from her hands, and broke into pieces on the concrete. The weight of everything that had happened today slammed down onto her, and she collapsed to the ground in a heap. She cried out, and the cold rain rocked her body with shivers.
Austin wasn't coming. Not after this morning, never after this morning. No one was coming.
"Ally," She looked over, and saw Elliot standing there.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screamed, and scurried to her feet.
"Ally-"
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" She screeched, and she furiously wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I-"
"Stay the hell away from me!" She hissed, and she spun around on her heel, and stormed down the sidewalk.
"Ally," Elliot grabbed her wrist and spun her around to face him. He caught her as she collapsed onto the ground. She began crying hysterically.
"MY MOM'S DEAD!"
Elliot let go of her, but stayed crouched down in front of her. He pulled his cellphone out of his coat pocket, and scrolled down his contact list, then held it to his ear.
"Who is this?" A voice snapped down the phone, and Elliot sighed.
"It's Elliot-"
"Fuck off-"
"Don't hang up! I need you to come and get her," He got to his feet, and walked away from her.
"You've got some balls calling me! What are you with her right now, getting fuckin' cosy together!" He yelled, and Elliot looked back at her sobbing body on the concrete.
"You should blame me for what happened. I kissed her, and she pushed me away. That bitch Kira just turned up at the wrong time. I was just trying to whined Ally up, it was a joke!"
"Is that all you wanted?" Austin's voice was flat, and Elliot rubbed the back of his neck.
"I just found her sobbing on the sidewalk...her mom's dead. We're about two minutes away from her apartment-" The line went dead, and Elliot put his cellphone back in his coat pocket. They were both drenched to the bone, and he didn't know whether Austin was going to come or not.
"Would you just go away," She whimpered. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Elliot began to retreat, and he disappeared into the darkness. Ally buried her face into her hands, and her shoulders shuddered with sobs. She sat there on the cold ground for what felt like hours, but it was only around fifteen minutes. She was freezing cold, and her skin was ghostly pale. Her tears were now gone, but her eyes were red raw, and her gaze was fixed on her smashed cellphone.
She heard a car door slam shut, but she ignore it, she just carried on staring at her cellphone. The expensive black shoes stepped up next to her, then she was lifted off the ground and into a pair of strong arms. She looked up at him through glassy eyes, and let her head fall against his shoulder. Then her eyes fell shut.
...
She felt warm, very warm. Her eyes fluttered open, and she stared at the familiar ceiling. She was in Austin's room. Ally sat up, and the heavy weight fell from her chest, and she looked at the millions of blankets that had been wrapped around her. She touched her skin, but it was still freezing cold, but on the inside she was warm. Her body was rocked with a fit of coughs, and she brought her hand to her mouth.
The bedroom door opened, and Austin walked in carrying a steamy mug of hot chocolate. She watched him closely, as he walked over, and placed it down on the nightstand, then sat down on the edge of the bed.
"How-" She paused at the sound of her raspy voice.
"Elliot called me...he told me what happened, both at work, and with your mom. Ally, I'm so sorry."
"I never even got to say goodbye," She whimpered, and Austin moved to where she was, and bundled her up into his arms.
"God, Ally you're freezing cold," She began coughing again, and he quickly got under the pile of blankets with her, and held her close to him to keep her warm.
"Why did they both have to die the same way...both in car accidents...I don't know what I've done to deserve this...I-I d-don't have anyone l-left."
"You have me."
"No, I don't!" She snapped, and she pushed herself away from him, and sat up. "You believed your ex-girlfriend over me...you wouldn't even let me explain!"
"Ally," He grabbed her shoulders, and she stared at him with wild eyes. "Listen to me!"
"You called me a bitch...I want my mom," She cried, and her head hung low.
"Ally," He grabbed her chin, and brought her head up, so she was looking at him. "I'm sorry, about this morning, and about your mom. You don't deserve this, out of everyone I know, you are the last person that deserves this. You are good, and pure. You have one of the kindest hearts ever, and sometimes I don't get why you even put up with me...but it hurts me to see you like this. I just wish I could make the pain go away...I wish I could get you to stop hurting, because you don't deserve it..."
Ally wrapped her arms around his neck, and buried her face into the crook. He wrapped his strong arms around her body, and pulled her into his lap. He could feel her tears on the skin of his neck, but they only made him hold her tighter.
He hated that he couldn't do anything. The last time he had felt like this, was when his sister had died, and he couldn't make his mom feel any better. He hated seeing Ally like this, after getting a glimpse into what her life was like, she was the last person that deserved to have all of this happen too. She deserved to have the perfect family. She deserved to live a good life. She deserved to not be in debt to anyone. She deserved to be happy.
And Austin was going to give that to her, unconditionally.
AN: Sorry about the wait. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you to all of you who reviewed the last chapter, I hope you review this one too. I found out my exam results and I got my A in English Literature, which means I'm off to college to do the course, which I really want to do. Anyway, please forgive me for the pain I'm putting Ally through, Austin is going to help her go through a lot of healing in the next chapter, then Austin's birthday is going to be a day to remember...I'm really excited for that chapter :)
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