For the longest time, Austin simply didn't know what to call Ally. You know, other than Ally. He could call her Allyson, but all that does is it gives me a fierce glare and a couple of punches from said person.

Everyone called her Ally. That was already a nickname. He would've settled on calling her Als, but that unfortunately caught on. Approximately 4 months ago, he heard Dallas call her that from across the plaza in front of the mall.

"Hey Als." Dallas said to her casually, flicking her the head nod. Ally responded with a giggle. A god damn giggle. Austin cast him a dark look. It took him weeks to come up with that. And Dallas, with the stupid name from a Texas city (Austin happens to be an amazing city in Texas as well as a name for a good looking guy), came and tarnished the moniker he came up with.

He could come up with nicknames for anybody with no problems.

Dez is Fang (For Freckled Kangaroo), after the whole Kangaroo incident. Trish is peanut. You know. Because she's tiny and tan. Like a peanut.

Mr. Dawson is the Music Man. Nelson is known as Toso. (Because T.O.S.O. stood for The Odd Short One.)

Dallas is known as Tuggy because one day in the 9th grade, he was accused of a rumor for "tugging" under the desk (Serves him right for ignoring Ally for Victoria Dandsen).

Ellie Whitman is Fire ("As in she's hot", Dez always adds in).

But no matter how hard he tried, Austin just couldn't come up with anything for Ally. He tried A-Dawg, which earned him an eye roll. Brown eyes was simply too cheesy. And Als was tainted.

It was safe to say that Austin was frustrated.

He currently was residing in Sonic Boom, lying on the bench tucked in the corner of the store. He watched as customers weaved in and out of the store, looking for instruments and music lessons. Glancing over at Ally, who was giving a music lesson to Toso, something inside of him just sort of snapped. Like rubber bands were vibrating inside of him and something was pulling on his heartstrings, looking over at the vibrant brunette with her nose scrunched up.

Strings.

At that moment, Ally looked over to Austin and beamed at him.

Snap. Snap. There was that tug again. Something pulling on what seemed like strings in him. He smiled back and gave her a small wave, to which she mimicked his actions.

"Having fun?" She mouthed. He shook his head. She titled her head as if to ask why. He pointed to the seat next to him and mouthed, "I'm bored."

We all know he wasn't as bored as he seemed. He just wanted her over there with him.

She finished up her lesson with Toso and walked over to where Austin was sitting, plopping down in the unoccupied seat next to him.

"Hey Aus." She said, leaning back in her chair. He sat up and crossed his legs.

"Hi Strings."

She blinked up at him. Once. Then twice. Nose scrunched again. And confusion etched on her face.

"What?" She asked.

"What? As in, what's up? Because the sky is what's up, in the literal sense. Unless you're asking what's up in my life, then I would say nothing. What's up with you?" He replied casually, now folding his hands and resting them over his legs.

"No, I mean, what do you mean by Strings?" She asked again. He pretended he didn't hear her, looking outside the window meaningfully.

"What is the meaning of life. What do you think?"

"Austin." She warned. He looked back at her. He hoped she didn't constantly furrow her eyebrows and scrunch her nose that like. She would get wrinkles.

Not saying that she didn't look absolutely adorable at the moment.

Austin didn't reply. Mostly because he didn't have a reply. How does he explain to her why he called her Strings? Because something inside of him was like pulling heartstrings? He could only imagine how that conversation would go as.

She continued to look at him, her patience wearing thin. As Austin still didn't say anything, she huffed and walked away.

He looked at her retreating body and sighed.

Later in the day he met up with Ally again. Or more like he followed her. But not in the totally creepy stalkerish way.

She was making her way to the swing-sets set up near the sand dunes at the edge of the beach.

"Boo." He exclaimed, sneaking his way up behind her. She yelped and jumped, spinning around and kicking the persons legs. That person being Austin.

"Oh, ow. Really ow." Austin howled, holding his leg in pain and jumping up and down. Ally, now realizing who it was, immediately stopped backing away and soon, bubbles of laughter were threatening to leave her lips.

"I'm so...sorry Austin...I didn't know you were behind me!" She said, strings of giggles breaking in between her sentences. After they both calmed down, they swung peacefully on the swings.

"So Strings, how are the lessons?" He asked conversationally. Ally opened her mouth, looking like she was going to protest, but then closed it and said, "Its going really well. To-, I mean Nelson is coming along with his piano lessons. This time, he knew not to bring his own piano. I call that progress."

Of course she was half-joking. Austin noticed her slip up and smiled widely.

"It's okay if you call him Toso. He embraces it very much so." Austin said back. She laughed silently and shook her head.

They swung in silence, occasionally stealing glances at one another. Suddenly, Ally got up.

"Strings..." She began slowly. "Piano...me.." She continued, pointing at herself. Austin paused for a moment, before realizing what she was talking about.

"The piano is a string instrument. Oh I get it Austin. It's because I play piano." She pieced together, looking very proud of herself. He observed her and noticed the joyous expression on her face. He couldn't break that look on her face.

"Yup. You got me." He said throwing his hands up in surrender. He'll save the explanation to her for another time.

I got the whole nickname inspiration from the other story of mine and the idea sort of popped in my head.

I sure do hope you enjoy. (:

-Lucy