The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Chapter 3

"Once bitten and twice shyed
I keep my distance but you still catch my eye..."

x

November 29th - Afternoon

x

One shower and a trip to her closet later, Ally was refreshed and renewed. Somehow, someway, Trish had gotten Ally to agree to a meeting with Austin and Dez that afternoon. Her Latina best friend had always been persuasive and intimidating, making anyone in Trish's path extremely vulnerable. And Ally, being the nice person she is, couldn't let her friend down when the famous puppy dog eyes and pout came out.

And so Ally found herself sitting in a café across from Bryant Park, Trish ordering the two of them hot chocolates, and awaiting the arrival of her partner of merely a few hours, if you could say that. A glance at her silver* watch told the brunette that time was quickly making its way towards 12:30, the set time for the meeting.

"So… Austin's grown to be even hotter, huh?" Trish said, placing a hot chocolate in front of Ally and sitting across from her. She raised an eyebrow at the songwriter, waiting to see how she would react to the statement. The songwriter just shrugged.

"I don't know," Ally began in response. "I wasn't paying much attention." The Latina could only roll her eyes. It was so much like Ally to force herself to worry about anything and everything but the male population. Ever since her nasty break up with James (the boy had proposed to Ally and then a week later broke up with her, asking for the ring back as well) two years prior, Ally put all her main focus on work.

Growing up in Miami, she helped around constantly at her father's music store, Sonic Boom. When she left for NYMU, Ally approached her father about possibly expanding the Sonic Boom franchise and opening a location in New York City. After reluctantly agreeing, her father visited regularly to help "ensure the store is in order" though they both knew that Ally knew more than ever what she was doing, it was just Lester Dawson's excuse to see his daughter.

The break-up with James put Ally in a bad place, ultimately affecting Sonic Boom's NYC location as well. Sales started to drop after Ally refused to come in, keeping the store closed for days at a time for three weeks. The employees began getting fed up and started to quit. Only when Trish had knocked some sense into her (and when she had seen James and his new girlfriend, her engagement ring on the foreign woman's finger) did she thrust herself back into the work atmosphere. But she never left it.

Ally glanced at her watch again, seeing that the time was now 12:31 and some seconds. She gave up waiting on anyone years ago, thanks to James. So with a sigh, she began to stand up.

Trish, immediately noticing this, grabbed the other girl's wrist and pulled her back down to her seat. "Ally, what are you doing?!"

"He's late." It was the only response Trish would get out of her. As Ally began to get up again, annoyed that the time was not 12:32 and the blond still hadn't shown, two young men ran into the store, rushing to the table that the two girls were seated at.

"I'm… sorry…" Austin said between panted breaths as he placed his hands on his knees, bent over and with his hand looking down at the ground, trying to even out his breathing. Dez had sent a wave to the two girls before heading towards the counter.

"You're late." Austin looked up at the girl in a flash, his mouth gaping incredulously at Ally while Trish sent the girl a glare, lightly kicking her friend in the shin under the table.

"You're joking me, right? It's barely two minutes after!" The rock star stood up straight and stared at the girl before him in disbelief. Ally stared back, annoyance clear on her face.

"You're still late," is all she said. Ally reached for her purse, moving to stand once move when she was pushed back into the booth, nearly missing hitting her face against the glass windowpane. In anger she turned towards the cause only to find Austin nearly fallen over beside her. Whatever caused her to fly towards the side first did the same to him.

"DEZ!" Austin yelled in shock and surprise. He straightened himself out, reaching beside him to Ally in an attempt to help her. The girl just shook her hands and head at him, refusing his help, and sat up straight by her own means. With a roll of his eyes, Austin faced forward to look at his best friend who sat across the table from him.

Beside Dez, Trish sat with a confused, angry expression on her face, annoyed by the red headed boy who knocked his friend into her own in his attempt to rush towards their table.

The filmmaker pointed towards his best friend, a grin wide on his face. "I've got a great idea for your performance!"

"We haven't even started writing the song yet…" Austin began, raising an eyebrow to the taller boy.

Austin's comment didn't deter Dez one bit. "So I was thinking – here you are, in front of the Christmas tree, and BAM! A tiny sea-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Trish interrupted, turning her body towards Dez and waving her hands in front of herself, in a motion that told Dez to stop.

"Yes?"

"If you don't even know what the song is about, how can you already start planning the performance, it just doesn't-"

"-Trisha-"

"Guys," Ally said, trying to break up the discussion that getting even more heated by the second.

"-It's Trish!-"

"- it's actually quite simple-"

"Yo guys!" Austin nearly yelled this time. He looked towards Ally, shrugging slightly. Ally only sighed in return, resting her chin in her hand as she placed her elbow on the table. The argument between their two best friends continued on in the background ("How does that make sense? Oh yeah, it doesn't!" "Well, Patrick has always agreed that it makes sense!" "Who is Patrick, you whackadoodle?!") as Ally hopelessly stared out the window, the glass only slightly fogged from the cold weather outside.

This was not at all how she expected to spend her day. She had the store closed for the day and with that, she was supposed to be given no worries. But of course, the blondie beside her just had to "rock her world", just not in the way she ever expected it.

Not that she ever expected or wanted him to rock her world, nope, never.

Right…

"Hey, Ally…" a voice whispered in her ear, the sentence hesitant and unsure. Ally turned her head slightly to look at Austin, her breath quickly catching at how close their faces were.

"Yeah?" she managed to squeak out. The songstress could feel her cheeks heating up and knew that Austin could probably tell too. But he gave no notion of noticing the change in her cheek color and their close proximity didn't seem to bother him one bit, as if his invasion of personal space was a normal thing to him.

Oh gosh, how she hoped it was.

Wait, no, she means how she hoped it wasn't.

Maybe she wasn't as over her tiny high school crush on him as she thought. She had kept tabs on the Screamin' Monkeys even when her schedule had gotten busier and busier. Though, she never really had a chance to check in on how the members aged, only rarely seeing a TV appearance or concert footage. And my, have the years following puberty really done Austin well. There was no denying the blond boy was attractive. He had well defined muscles that seemed to be noticeable despite the shirt and jacket he wore. He also still had a boyish charm and innocence about him, something that made him so welcoming to everyone he met.

"Why don't we start working on that song?" he had suggested, his voice still low and his face still mere inches from hers. Ally quickly glanced back at her best friend and newfound enemy before looking back into Austin's chocolate orbs. She gave a short nod, afraid of how her voice might sound considering the thoughts she was having. The quicker they finished the song, the quicker she could get away from Austin Moon and these dangerous thoughts about him.

Sliding swiftly out of the seat, Austin held out his hand for Ally to take but still, she refused to let him help her. She grabbed her black knit hat, gloves, and scarf, putting all of them on her body before putting on her long, dark blue coat. Austin quickly zipped up his aqua coat, covering the white long sleeved shirt beneath it.

"See ya, Dez! Bye Trish!" Austin called over his shoulder in a rush as he grabbed Ally's hand and pulled her out of the café. The blond boy pulled the two of them across the street to Bryant Park where an ice rink now covered the luscious green grass that occupied the land in the spring, summer, and fall. "Let's go to your place, it's closer. Do you have a piano there?" he asked, breaking their awkward silence.

Ally hesitated before nodding. The apartment she and Trish shared was only a few blocks from Bryant Park and the five minute walk had returned to its awkward, uncomfortable silence. They reached her building and once in the elevator, got to her corner apartment pretty quickly.

"So where is this piano?" Austin asked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation and excitement as he walked into her apartment.

"Um, it's – uh – it's in a private room." Trish had become successful in the fashion world early on in life, interning at a few companies during their summers in high school. And thanks to the combined success of Sonic Boom, Ally and Trish were able to get the apartment of their dreams with plenty of rooms and a fabulous view of the city. One of the two guest rooms had turned into Ally's private practice room, so private that not even Trish was allowed in there.

With a quick close of her eyes and a deep breath, Ally looked at Austin and gestured for him to follow her. Her footsteps felt heavy as she made her way down the hallway and was it just her or were the walls closing in? She took another shaky breath as she stood in front of the door before grabbing the knob and turning it.

x

"No! Don't put your jacket there!" Ally exclaimed as she rushed off of the piano bench towards where Austin stood.

"Uh… what's wrong with here?" he asked, confused. The room was getting stuffy and he shed his jacket, intending to put it over the couch against the wall. Ally glared at him before snatching the jacket from his hands and placing it on the coat hook on the back of the door. "Sorry," he muttered, wide eyed and with a raised eyebrow.

Ally let out a frustrated sigh and Austin decided to give her a second before rejoining her. He took this free time to examine the practice room she was so protective over.

It was a good sized room with the potential to have been a great bedroom. The walls were a light blue color, the trimmings a bright white. There was the aforementioned white leather couch and there were two armchairs on the wall opposite, an oak end table between them. The black grand piano was near the center of the room, a few guitars littering the back wall.

"Alright, let's do this," Austin muttered to himself, rubbing his hands together again and bounding over to the piano bench where Ally sat once more. He plopped himself beside her, the cushion of the bench giving off a welcoming feel. "What ideas do you have?"

One raised eyebrow and a shake of the head was all he got at first. "I can't do all the work! What do you have in mind?" Austin just shrugged and went to lean forward on the piano. Ally's arm immediately flung out, preventing him from doing such an action. "No! No leaning on the piano. It's only for playing!" she scolded.

"I'm hungry, do you have food?"

"Austin, we just sat down to write. Plus, there's no eating in here!"

"But Alllllllly!" he whined, putting emphasis on her name. Ally just stared back.

"Can't you focus for a minute?" Austin scoffed. Of course he could focus whenever he wanted! ... Just not when he's hungry…

"If I could eat then I could," he mumbled in frustration and crossed his arms. This… this girl was just being frustrating! First he couldn't put his coat on the couch, next he can't eat before writing or in the practice room. Next you'll know she'll say-

"Austin, you have got to be kidding me!" Austin's attention snapped back to her while the songwriter threw her hands up in exasperation. "There's no way we're accomplishing this song," she uttered miserably, letting her hands cup her face.

"Oh come on, don't be such a quitter Ally!" Ally's head popped out of her hands and glared at him. How dare he say that?

Oh yeah, she was definitely over that crush she had on Austin Moon.

* - I don't really like doing these author notes in the middle of the story but cough cough the colors on Ally are important. Just think about it… :)

Okay, so things are off to a bit of a rocky start with Austin & Ally's songwriting. This isn't how I expected the chapter to turn out but I kind of forced it out of me. I hope it's still good!

Thank you everyone who added me or this story to their favorites or alerts, it means a lot. And a big thank you to everyone who reviewed – I love hearing what you have to say! :)

Please review, especially if you have constructive criticism for me – I love those kinds of reviews! It really helps improve the story and the writer. Thank you again.

Thank you:

Queenc1

Girliegirl13

UniqueNewYork25

Awesomesauce325: Oh gosh, definitely not smooth sailing any time soon. But yes, so do I! It's all so wonderful!

LoveShipper: I agree too – it is way too early for all of that! I'm glad you found the door scene funny, I was worried! It will only get more and more interesting as the actual writing begins. ;P

ExtremeSaucicty: Aw, yay! I'm glad you were excited to see my update! :) I've been trying to do my best with setting everything up. I've never really done much of an AU before and I've been so worried. I'm trying to make their personalities similar yet different and it's tough. I didn't think of the library thing until I was actually writing it up because I was thinking of Dallas working at the library. Immediately I just imagined Ally going to the library for peace and quiet with her songbook then finding an interesting library book, getting lost in that, and then forgetting her songbook. Haha. I feel like the conversation in this chapter was a bit choppy and it wasn't how I intended it to be in my mind which is disappointing but I hope it's still somewhat enjoyable. I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT THE CLICHÉ. I didn't want to make it too overused or annoying but I was hoping. It was a big relief to see that you laughed at it. YAY! He's a very desperate man at this point because the clock is ticking and his career as a solo artist is kind of depending on this performance but I feel like it hasn't fully hit him yet that it's that big (which it might in the next chapter or so). I hope you enjoyed this chapter though! I love reading your reviews, they help a ton! :)

.Doubt. .Out. / Carlie: Oh my, I really hope your name isn't cut off again! But I like "Carlie", it's very nice! :) YES! I FELT THAT WAY WHEN SOME PEOPLE (INCLUDING YOU) HAVE REVIEWED ME. It makes me so happy! Haha look at you, making everyone blush! Your stories are great, I love them! I love Christmas too! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you! :)

Citger: Yes, them working together should be interesting. It only increases from here! Austin will formulate and collect a few things up his sleeves to help "thaw" Ally out. I like how you said that, mind if I use it? Haha. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks again! :)

Thank you guys so much! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Tell me your favorite and least favorite parts of it, maybe? Thanks again, I really appreciate all of you!

Until next time… :)