If you want to spare yourself the few thousand or so words that is this chapter, you can just look at a picture of vomit. It's almost exactly the same thing, I can assure you.

The only thing I like here is a reference to Veronica Mars. That's it. That's the only thing. Everything else is pretty much vomit, so. (I also directly reference some other movies that I do not own.)

But I'm going to take a moment to thank you guys for the wonderful feedback for the last chapter. I really wasn't happy with it but after seeing all the amazing reviews you guys left, it made me feel relieved and it was like a giant, stressful weight lifting off my shoulders. I'm not entirely sure about this chapter, either, so any comments or concerns would mean a lot to me.

Ten minutes into lunch and not a sign of Ally. Frowning, Austin does a quick sweep around the cafeteria and when he still doesn't see any sign of her, he grinds his teeth and does a much more thorough sweep around the area. His leg starts to bounce up and down in annoyance as he waits for her, his patience quickly waning.

He wants nothing more than for her to walk into the cafeteria so he can breathe a sigh of relief and apologize. He'd been miserable since the car ride home from Ally's house Friday night and he'd talked himself out of texting her all weekend, wanting to apologize in person, but he was afraid that she'd blow him off, claiming to need more time. Not that he would have blamed her, he was a total asshole Friday night. So he held off and planned on cornering her at her locker this morning to apologize profusely or even grovel if he has to. Unfortunately, his alarm hadn't gone off and he ended up being late, narrowly missing first period.

But now it's lunch, Ally isn't sitting beside him, he hasn't apologized, and he just feels like complete crap. His frown deepens and he hopes she's not giving him the cold shoulder and going so far as to skip lunch to avoid him. His jaw twitches in hurt and anger from the mere thought and without a second's delay, he jumps out of his seat, stalking out of the cafeteria, his lunch tray quickly forgotten.

If Ally Dawson thinks she can give him the slip like that, she's horribly mistaken.

Ally gazes up at Tilly as a long silence settles over the both of them. The air is practically stifling from the thick tension and Ally wants nothing more than a breath of fresh air, but first, she knows she'll have to go through Tilly.

"Well, I'm here, so talk." Ally realizes a bit belatedly that her position on the floor isn't going to give her any advantages. Her knees are also drawn up to her chest, but she does her best to look as defiant as possible, refusing to make this easy for her blonde tormenter.

"I want you to stay away from Austin," Tilly says, glowering at the brunette. "Austin doesn't want me, then fine, his loss. But I don't want him to want you, either." Her eyes dart up and down Ally's small form, sneering in disgust. "I mean, look at you, you're practically in-bred."

Ally may not think she's a model by any means, but even she knows that insult was reaching. She shakes her head and focuses on the part about Austin and her. "Austin doesn't want me, not in the way that you're implying."

Tilly glares at her. "I am so sick and tired of seeing you take everything." Ally frowns at the statement, confused. "I'll be damned if you take Austin, too."

Ally doesn't know how to address the first part of what Tilly tells her so she continues focusing on the part where Tilly seems to think she and Austin have the hots for each other. "Tilly. You can have Austin," she says, sounding beyond exasperated as she rolls her eyes. "I really couldn't care less." Okay, so that's not entirely true, she's pretty sure she'd be rather upset if she had to see them sucking face which, ew. "But don't hate me just because he's painfully turned off and disgusted by you," she says off-handedly.

The harsh crack of flesh hitting flesh resounds through empty bathroom and a second later, Ally's holding a hand to her stinging cheek and licking her lips to make sure there isn't any blood. Ally slowly turns her head to face Tilly, looking an eerie picture of calm.

Ally works her jaw under her palm for a second, wincing from the stinging pain. "Oh yeah," she rasps, "Definitely did not miss these talks."

"I hate you," Tilly says, as calm as still water.

There's a grimace on the brunette's face and she says, without any hint of humor, "I know."

"Then why do you keep insisting on pissing me off?"

Ally stares at Tilly through half-lidded eyes, annoyed. "Well, it's not like I doodle it into my day planner under 'personal goals' or anything," she says with a wry look.

Tilly's eyes narrow at her. "Do you think you're funny?"

"What, you don't think I have what it takes to be a stand-up comedian?"

"I liked you better when you were scared of me," Tilly says, looking at her coolly. Her lips curve into a smile that doesn't quite reach her cold, dead eyes; almost as if it can't. "I miss those days," she muses to herself.

Ally lets loose a slow and bitter chuckle. "You haven't scared me in a long, long time, Tilly." She looks at her, unimpressed. "And honestly, nothing you can say and nothing you can do ever will." She takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders as she looks into her tormentor's eyes. "You know why?"

Tilly raises an eyebrow, almost intrigued. "Why?"

"Because I'm not that little girl anymore," Ally says, glaring at Tilly.

Tilly blinks, surprised by her answer and her sudden defiance. And then her eyes glitter with something dark and ominous, her smile curving upward into an almost sinister grin. "Oh gosh, I forgot how cute you could be." She laughs. "Okay, okay," she begins with a slow smirk, "You have until Friday to get rid of Austin. If you guys keep insisting on this whole 'friendship' thing— which, ew, how after school special is that?— then I will make it my personal goal to make sure you go back to being terrified of me."

Ally's reply is snarky and crisp, "Don't forget to write it in your day planner." And then she smiles at Tilly, as sweetly and as helpfully as she can.

Tilly snorts. "Whatever, enjoy what precious little time you have with Austin if you want. But remember that you've got until Friday."

The second Tilly leaves and the door slams shut, Ally collapses in on herself, her forehead brushing against her knees as she wraps her arms around her legs.

For the first time in a long, long while, she cries.

Not from fear, because Ally wasn't exaggerating or kidding when she said she was no longer that girl; the one that used to be scared of her, the one that took everything to heart and cried about it later, the one that didn't know how to ignore her or talk back. No, what Ally feels is complete and utter frustration that Tilly has put Ally back on her radar— and in a big, big way. And on top of that, the irritation she feels for this moment of weakness just makes the tears fall faster and she reaches up to wipe them away, her breathing already becoming ragged.

"Oh, god," she mutters aloud as she throws her head back to look up at the ceiling, feeling annoyance fall over her. "This is like middle school all over again," she says with a bitter chuckle as she closes her eyes briefly.

She swallows the emotional lump in her throat and then she opens her eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling for a long moment, trying to regain her composure.

And then she gets up, making her way to the mirror. After making sure that her eyes aren't too red or wet, Ally finally decides it's safe to leave the bathroom. There's not much she can do about the handprint, angry and red against her skin, since she doesn't have any make-up on hand.

Walking quickly down the hall, she glances at the clock hanging on the wall and sees that lunch is mostly over. She decides to skip it all together and continues to her locker, planning on grabbing her books for her next class. Her appetite's gone anyway – thanks to Tilly and the emotionally draining time she had in the bathroom – but this means she'll have to wait until later to talk to Austin about their fight Friday night.

She winces, both from the memory of their fight and the sting in her cheek, and the later reminds her that it's probably a good thing she won't be seeing Austin, after all. She just hopes he doesn't think she's upset enough to avoid him on purpose all day. Her heart sinks at the thought, not wanting to drag out their silence any longer, and she considers shooting him a text to apologize about skipping out on lunch as she does the dial on her locker.

Maybe if the swelling in her cheek is gone, she could ask him to swing by Sonic Boom to sort things out between them. The thought perks her up a bit, and she smiles, feeling a new sense of hope rising within her. Her day may have been awful so far, but at least this will give her something to look forward to after school.

Her thoughts must have dulled the sound of footsteps thundering down the hall, because by the time she fully registers the noise, someone is already talking in the previously silent hallway.

"There you are!" a voice calls out, sounding breathless from running. "Finally!"

Ally's eyes widen, instantly recognizing the voice. She quickly bows her head, reaching up to mess with her hair so it'll hang like a curtain around her left cheek. Twistedly, she finds herself wishing the slap had happened on the side of the metal door to better hide it from view.

"Ally, I've been looking all over for you," he says, coming up behind her. "Where were you?"

"Hey, Austin," she says, quickly sticking her head further into her locker.

He frowns at the way she retreated into her locker, mistaking the move to be related to their fight. He takes a deep breath, and launches into his semi-planned apology, "Look, I know you're probably still mad about Friday and while I totally understand… I just want—"

"I forgive you," she blurts.

He blinks, taken aback. "Wait, I didn't even finish—"

"Austin, it's fine, I forgive you." And it's true, she has, but right now she can't focus on the relief of them making up. She's too worried about him seeing the mark on her face and what his reaction might be. Considering what their fight had been about, she assumes it won't be pretty.

"Really?" He sounds surprised. "Just like that?"

She nods into her locker. "I was going to apologize to you during lunch… but then something came up." Which isn't too far from the truth, she thinks wryly to herself.

"Oh." His voice sounds a bit far away. There's a beat of silence before she hears him chuckle a little in relief, saying, "Well, good! I've been beating myself up all weekend about this."

Ally feels a strange sense of warmth wash over her after hearing his confession. She wants to stop hiding behind her lock so she can look at him; she wants to know if the relieved, boyish smile she's imagining on his face is anywhere close to his real one. But the sting from Tilly's slap reminds her that she can't.

"Hey, Austin, can I talk to you later? I really have to get going." She takes a deep breath, hoping that will be enough to get him to leave.

Austin snorts. "Get going where? It's still lunch! C'mon, catch up on your homework or reading later. You've got to be hungry, right?" He pauses and then speaks up again. "And why the hell have you been hiding in your locker this entire time. Jeez, come out here already."

She freezes at the suspicion she can hear in his voice. "I'm just – I'm reorganizing my books," she protests, turning into her locker even more.

"Ally," he says in a low voice, "If you're not mad at me, then why the hell won't you look at me?"

She flinches, tensing up her shoulders. "I'm not ma—"

And she realizes with a sinking heart that it's too late now, because Austin has grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around to face him. The move makes her hair whip around her shoulders and from the way his eyes widen, she knows he's seen the mark on her cheek.

He recoils, too stunned to speak as his eyes flit back and forth across the area. Finally, he opens his mouth to speak. "Ally," he says, his voice shaking with something she's too nervous to pinpoint. "What the hell is that?" he asks, pointing to her cheek. He takes a step closer, his fingers opening up as his hand reaches for her face. "Let me see."

She desperately turns her face, letting her hair fall forward to hide it again. "It's nothing," she says. "I just ran into—"

"Don't you dare say you ran into something," he interrupts, his voice turning to steel. "Now let me see your—"

"Austin, I'm fine," she says, drawing in a shaky breath, trying to calm her nerves.

His eyes flash dangerously as she continues to lie to him. He switches tactics because him playing dumb isn't going to get anywhere and she clearly isn't planning on cooperating or telling him the truth on her own. "That's a fucking handprint, isn't it? Somebody hit you, didn't they? Who was it?" he demands.

"No one." Her voice is small. And it's ridiculous but she can feel tears start to prick her eyes all over again. She berates herself because she hadn't even been this emotional during her encounter with Tilly in the bathroom and she thought she had gotten it out of her system when she'd been alone. "Can you please just let it go?"

Now he looks pissed. "You want me to let it go? Somebody fucking hit you and you want me to let it go?" He runs a hand over his face and through his hair in frustration. "God, what the fuck is wrong with you? You let Tilly walk all over you and now some—" he stops abruptly, his eyes widening as he pieces it all together. He stares at her, stunned, for a long moment. The defeated look in her eyes confirms his suspicions. "Tilly did this, didn't she?" he breathes.

Ally shrugs, feeling numb. "It's not the first time," she mumbles, her eyes downcast and aimed at her shoes.

"Not the first time?" he echoes, incredulous. "What the fuck does that—?"

"Wait, no!" Ally interrupts in a hurry, whipping her head back up to look at him. "That came out wrong." She swallows nervously. "There's only been one other time and that was forever ago. This is just the second time, I promise."

Something seems to snap within Austin and his eyes start to glitter dangerously. "Fuck this," he mutters as he swiftly turns away from her and starts to stalk down the hallway.

Ally's eyes widen with worry and she moves to follow him. "Wait! Where are you going?" she asks, sounding scared and desperate.

"To find Tilly," he spits, full of menace. "We're going to have a little talk."

"You can't," she says, practically begging. "You don't know—"

"Don't know what?" he asks, furious, as he stops in his tracks to stare her down. "As of right now, all I know is that somebody hit you, I'm fucking pissed as hell, and I want to do something about it. What else do I need to know?"

"Just don't talk to Tilly. Please," she begs.

Austin actually laughs, and the hollow, bitter sound of it makes her uncomfortable. "Oh my God, you can't be serious."

"Talking to Tilly isn't going to do anything," she whispers, sounding exhausted. She sees him start to protest again but she rests a gentle hand on his forearm. "Austin, think about it," she says, sounding resigned, trying to get him to see reason. "What's going to happen if you talk to her? If you stand up for me, it's only going to make her madder and she's going to retaliate again."

He stays silent, honestly not knowing what the outcome could be. He wants to hope for peace and quiet on Ally's behalf, but he has a sinking suspicion that Tilly won't back down that easily. Between her encounter with him the previous week and what she's put Ally through this morning, he's starting to come to the unsettling conclusion that a simple talk probably won't cut it.

"Fuck," Austin mutters, running a hand through his hair in defeat. "So that's it, then?" he asks with a hard swallow. "You're just going to – to let her keep this up?" he asks, in disbelief.

"Look, I've been dealing with her a long time, okay? If she thinks she's not getting to me, she'll eventually get bored and moved on."

"But how long is that going to take?" Austin asks, his jaw clenching.

"Doesn't matter," she says, her head held high. "I'll be fine," she says, staring at him unflinchingly. "Tilly doesn't scare me and I'm not going to let her get to me, either, okay?" She took a deep breath and continued to look him in the eye. "If you don't believe, then fine. I don't need you to. But I need you to promise me that you won't talk to Tilly or start anything, got it?"

"Ally," he growls, "I can't just—"

"If anything happens or if I feel like I can't handle it, then I will come and talk to you about it, okay?" she says, drawing in a shaky breath. "But until that happens, I want you to leave this alone."

Austin gives her a hard look but finally spits out an unhappy agreement to the promise. But before Ally can relax and move on, Austin starts reaching for her cheek again.

Ally takes a step back and gives him an odd look. "Wh-what are you doing?" she asks, eyebrows crinkling together nervously.

Austin looks a little hurt from her actions but stays still, not wanting to spook her any further. "Look, I already agreed to your stupid promise, so just… just let me see your cheek, okay?" he says, eyes flashing back and forth between irritation and concern.

She protests with a shake of her head. "Austin, it's—"

"Please," he adds, sounding almost desperate as the worry sinks in, his eyes soften and his shoulders seem to sag from an invisible weight.

Her head drops forward and she stares at her shoes determinedly. "It's really not that bad," she insists once more. But her voice is small and tired; the fight in her starting to simmer down.

A second later, she feels his knuckle and his thumb grasp her chin, gently tilting her face back up. She swallows, almost ashamed, and her eyes flutter close because she's not sure she'll be able to handle the look in his eyes. She feels his other hand come up to brush aside her hair and tuck it behind her ear, the gentle touch making her breath hitch a little and her shoulders stiffen. She stays impossibly still while she waits for him to be done with his inspection.

"Damn," he whispers, his voice hoarse with emotion. With his fingers still around her chin, he turns her face to the side to get a better look. "Does it still sting?" he asks, his voice quiet. He lifts up his free hand, letting his knuckles ghost over the handprint marring her fair skin. The splash of red is incredibly jarring against her pale skin and Austin feels his jaw clenching from the sight.

Her eyes pop open and her bottom lip quivers, unsure of how to answer. His gaze stops lingering on her cheek and dart up to meet hers, looking at him from her from the corner of her eye since her face is still turned away. His expression is unreadable but his eyes are uncharacteristically dull and flat, and she manages to force her lips apart to tell him, "No, it doesn't hurt anymore."

And then the bell rings, the suddenness of it jarring Ally back to reality and she jumps, jerking her chin out of Austin's grasp.

The students are beginning to filter out of their classes and fill the halls.

Austin slowly lowers his hand, but doesn't take his eyes off the brunette as she gulps and takes a few steps back, distancing herself from him.

"I – I have to get to class," she whispers, her eyes downcast as she turns around, hurrying down the hall and blending in with the other students.

Austin stays rooted to his spot in the middle of the hallway, eyes trained on her back until he can no longer pick her out amongst their peers. Only when he loses sight of her does he feel the need to move from his spot.

The laugh track coming from the TV may have been signaling for her to laugh, but Ally just finds herself staring blankly back at the rerun playing on the screen. She's half-curled up against the corner of her sofa, her fingers plaiting and re-plaiting her hair in an effort to keep herself busy.

She'd wanted to go to work and take her mind off the day she'd had at school but she'd felt so drained by the end of the day (avoiding Trish and Austin and keeping her head down proved to be more exhausting than she'd realized) that she'd called her dad and asked if it was possible for her to stay home for the rest of the day. Ally rarely ever asked for days off, so while he'd been surprised, he'd given it to her.

But now that she's finished her homework and watching reruns of nineties sitcoms, she almost wishes she'd gone to work instead.

The laugh track goes off again and Ally just sighs tiredly as she finishes her braid and ties it off. "Okay, I think that's enough out of you, Uncle Joey," she mutters as she reaches for the remote to turn off her TV.

That seems to have been perfect timing because as soon as her screen blips to black, there's a knock at the door. Ally begins to wonder who could be at the door when she suddenly flashes back to Friday night and she can't help but tense up, not sure whether or not to hope that it really would be Austin at the door.

The knocking starts up again, louder and more urgent, and she bites her lip, leaping off the couch and hurrying to the door. Her arm is already outstretched, fingers curling around the knob as she shouts, "I'm coming, I'm coming!" because the knocking has started up a third time.

She twists and yanks on the knob, the door flying open as Austin's fist falls through, the door no longer there to catch its fall. He quickly withdraws his hand when he sees her reflexively cringe at his raised fist. "Oh, shit. Sorry!"

"It's okay," she says quickly. "Really, it's – it's fine. You just startled me a little," she reassures him.

He nods. "Sorry," he apologizes again, looking uncomfortable as his eyes dart all around the inside of her house and never once landing on her face.

She's not entirely certain about how she feels as she looks at Austin – looking just as uncertain as she must feel – standing there on her doorstep, but there is an odd sense of relief that rolls through her.

She just prays that this interaction won't result in another fight or argument.

Ally hesitates and then shoots him a nervous smile. "So, um—"

Unfortunately, it's the same time Austin tries to say, "Your cheek looks a lot better." As if realizing what he'd just said, he quickly winces, looking apologetic. "Sorry, you… you probably don't want to talk about that," he mutters, clearing his throat.

Upon the reminder, Ally's hand automatically reaches up to ghost across the now-absent mark. "It's okay… and thanks. I iced it a little when I got home, so I'm glad it looks better," she murmurs, dropping her hand to fiddle with her side braid instead.

"Good. I'm glad you, uh, took care of it, then," he says, nodding at her.

She nods, chewing on the corner of her lip nervously as they lapse into silence. It's not exactly uncomfortable but Ally's pretty sure he didn't come over to stand on her doorstep and make awkward small talk with her.

She considers inviting him in when Austin beats her to the punch. "Would it be okay if I came in?" He asks, reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck. "Just for a moment? I promise I won't take long," he adds, quickly to assure her.

Ally blinks in surprise, dropping her braid and stepping aside to make room for him. "Yeah. S-sure," she stutters as she gestures for him to come into her home.

He looks relieved as he walks through the doorway. He waits for her to close the door and then they're standing outside her living room, silence falling around them once again.

Austin moves to take a step toward her but stops, as if rethinking the decision. Ally frowns, noticing his hesitation around her, but before she can call him out on it, he's already beginning to speak.

"Okay, look, I'll be honest with you, I don't really have anything prepared or – or whatever. I haven't got a big apology speech or anything like that, but—"

"Apology speech?" she interrupts with a crinkle of her brows. "Austin, you've already apologized for Friday, what else did you need to apologize for?"

He exhales loudly and scratches at his neck again and Ally is quickly picking up on the nervous habit. "I meant about today," he admits with a cringe.

"Oh," Ally says, voice low. She'd already planned on making amends and things would have been perfect had it not been for Austin seeing the slap mark on her face earlier that day. She takes a moment to think that over and then shakes her head, giving him a small smile, deciding that she's past apologies and she'd rather just go back to their friendship. "Austin, how about we just… put everything that happened this morning behind us?"

Austin frowns, giving her a considering look. "Are you sure?" he asks, sounding hesitant. "I was kind of a—"

"As long as you keep the promise you made me, we're good," she says, giving him a firm nod. She looks at him in concern. "You can do that, right? Keep your promise about not talking to Tilly?"

He sighs in resignation. "Yeah," he mutters, "I can keep my promise."

"Good," Ally says, sounding relieved. "Now can we please just go back to being friends without all this weird baggage?" she asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I'd like that," he says, and the sincerity in his voice makes her heart skip a beat but then he's crossing his arms at her and she finds herself really not liking the serious expression that has just appeared on his face. "But you know that I have a ton of questions, right?" he asks in a low voice.

She winces and nods in defeat. "I had a feeling that you did," she says, bracing herself for an interrogation.

Instead, Ally gets nothing but silence from Austin.

When it becomes clear that he wasn't planning on asking any questions at the moment, Ally frowns and looks at him plaintively. "Aren't you… going to ask them?"

Austin shakes his head. "Not right now. I'm trusting you to tell me on your own when you're ready," he says, looking at her meaningfully.

Ally's eyes widen in surprise and she can't help but balk at him for a long moment. "Really?" she sputters, sounding shocked.

Austin rolls his eyes. "Yes, really."

She gives him a funny look. "You've never struck me as the patient type."

"Because I'm not," he admits, giving her a mildly annoyed look. "But this is your business and this is your past, and you'll share it with me if you want to… I just hope that one day, you'll trust me enough to want to," he says with a shrug.

"That's… that's really mature of you," she says, awed. "Thank you," she murmurs gratefully, looking up at him with soft eyes. "Thank you for not pushing this."

"I'd be a pretty shitty friend if I kept pushing you about this," he says, giving her a pointed look.

Ally gives a small scoff of laughter and grins a little more widely at him. "That's rather true," she says, nodding in agreement. "We should add another clause to the contract: 'can't be a shitty friend,'" Ally continues, laughing a little.

Austin chuckles slightly at her dorky joke in spite of himself. "That should have been a given," he says, rolling his eyes good-naturedly.

Ally grins up at him and Austin can't help but feel an immense wave of relief when he sees that while her eyes aren't nearly as bright as they could be, they're no longer dull like they'd been that morning. Now that the harsh handprint is gone and she's smiling at him like that, Austin finally feels fully relaxed and at ease with her.

Afraid that she'd notice his staring, Austin quickly shakes his head and clears his throat loudly. "So, uh, now that we're good… I guess I'll just go," he says slowly, jerking a thumb behind his shoulder.

Ally's grin slips just a fraction. "Oh," she mutters, disappointed to hear that he was going so soon, especially right after they'd cleared the air between them. She shakes herself out of it and quickly plasters on a forced grin. "Yeah, sure, I won't keep you if you need to go," she says as she moves to turn around towards the front door.

"Well, uh, I don't actually need to be anywhere," he confesses, looking at her shyly. "I just wasn't sure if you were busy or not, so…"

"I'm not," she says, wincing at how quickly she'd said the words. "I mean, I have the rest of the day off and I've already finished my homework."

Austin rolls his eyes, unsurprised. "Of course you did," he mutters, exasperated.

"So you can stay if you want to," Ally suggests with what she hopes is a nonchalant shrug.

"Of course I— wait, what?" Austin stutters, sounding shocked by her invitation to stay.

She hesitates, wondering if maybe she shouldn't have made the offer in the first place. "Um, I said that you can stay... if you want to." She turns a little pink from embarrassment and quickly looks down to her bare feet.

"Really?" he asks, and he sounds almost excited so she lifts her head to chance a glance at him. "I can stay?" he says, looking at her with wide, hopeful eyes.

She blinks, a little surprised by how eager he sounds. "Y-yeah. If you want."

Austin brightens and nods emphatically. "Sure, I can stay for a few hours," he says, grinning widely at her.

Ally bites her bottom lip to keep from giggling at the look at on his face, but she feels less embarrassed now that she knows he didn't seem to mind the idea of extending his stay. "Okay, we can watch some TV or I can start a movie." She shrugs. "Or whatever else." She gives him a small smirk. "I could always help you with your homework."

Austin gives her a look that lets her know that he thinks she's insane for that last suggestion and she just laughs in response.

"So that's a 'no' on your homework then?" she asks, doing her best to manage a straight face. Despite her best efforts, a corner of her lips lift upward anyway.

Austin rolls his eyes but shoots her a smirk as he saunters into her living room, calling over his shoulder, "Please don't tell me you've got a boring DVD collection."

She follows after him, feigning a look of offense. "Don't you mock my romance movies or my Disney collection."

They plop down on her couch simultaneously and Austin nudges her shin with his foot, making a tutting noise with his tongue. "You're picking out a DVD, aren't you?"

Ally rolls her eyes but gets up off the couch. She sits in front of her TV and opens the cabinets on her TV stand, looking over all the DVDs. "What are you in the mood for?" she asks as she taps a finger on her chin thoughtfully.

"I dunno. Something scary?"

She looks over her shoulder and gives him a pointed look. "I don't have any scary movies, and even if I did, we would not be cuddling."

He snickers but gives her a look like he's been caught. "Okay, okay. Uh… something funny?"

Ally wrinkles her nose. "Something tells me we don't have the same sense of humor."

Austin gives her a suspicious look. "You like lame puns, don't you?"

"Guilty," she says with a sheepish expression.

Austin sighs and scratches at his head. "Okay, fine. How about one of your lame romance movies, then?"

She blinks at him, surprised. "Really? You want to watch a romance movie?" She narrows her eyes at him suspiciously. "Okay, there's gotta be a catch. What do I owe you afterwards?"

"No catch, Ally," he insists, giving her an amused smile and shake of his head. "Promise. Besides, after… what happened today, I think this is the least I can do," he says, his eyes softening as he looks at her.

She's touched by the sentiment, but she frowns at the thought of making him sit through a movie he won't enjoy as well. She opens her mouth to protest, but Austin seems to have caught on, because he immediately pipes up with, "Hey, I made you go through skee ball. You sure you don't want to take this opportunity to make me sit through one of your romance movies?"

Ally groans, dropping her head in her hands. "You're never going to let me live the whole skee ball incident down, are you?"

"You almost gave a guy a concussion; no way am I letting you live that down," he snorts. She groans again and he laughs at her. "And they tell me that Ally Dawson is boring. Pfft, yeah right."

"Moving on!" Ally mutters, turning back to the shelf of movies. She runs a finger along the spines thoughtfully. "Um… City Lights is kind of cute…"

"What's that about?"

"It's a silent film—"

"Oh my god, no. No. Stop right there," Austin interrupts loudly, sounding appalled. "You want me to watch a silent film?"

"Hey, I thought you said you'd sit through a movie with me," Ally says, frowning at him.

"Yeah, but you gotta meet me halfway here, Ally. Can you please try to pick something I can semi-enjoy?"

Ally sighs, pouting a bit. "So I'm guessing Roman Holiday is out, too?"

The title seems to have caught Austin's interest, if his facial expression is anything to go by. "What's that one about?"

"Well," Ally starts slowly, "it's black and white and—"

"Dude, you lost me at 'black and white.'"

Ally huffs. "Fine, then. Come over here and help me pick a movie," she says, rolling her eyes.

Austin gets up to walk across the living room to sit down next to Ally, anyway. But before he can start skimming over the movie titles, he feels a tap on his shoulder. "Hey!" he whines, turning to look at Ally and her weapon of choice, a DVD.

She sniffs disdainfully and waves the DVD back and forth. "Roman Holiday happens to be a great movie, you know," she says, eying him with stern look.

"Yeah?" he asks, grabbing the DVD from her and looking it over.

"It's about a princess that's—"

"She the princess?" Austin asks, squinting at the cover of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck thoughtfully. "She's pretty cute," he muses. After another moment of looking at the DVD – both the front and the back cover – Austin looks up at Ally and hands back the DVD. "Fine. We can watch it."

Ally stares at him as her jaw drops in shock. "That's it? That's all it took to convince you to watch it?" She makes a noise of exasperation. "You wouldn't even let me finish telling you what it's about, and all it took was a cute girl?" She makes a face, looking at the cover starring some of her favorite actors. "I didn't even get to tell you that it stars Audrey Hepburn and GregoryPeck…"

Austin shrugs. "I like cute girls." He smirks at her a little, a mischievous glint in his eye. "You should have just told me there was a cute brunette in it; I kinda have a thing for brunettes."

And Ally knows, just knows he worded it like that to get to her, which is why she's twice as irritated by the blush that creeps along her cheeks. She quickly ducks her head and opens the DVD container so violently, the disc nearly pops out from the force.

"I'll meet you on the couch," she mumbles, still red-faced, as she jabs at the DVD player to open up.

She can hear Austin snickering his entire way over to the couch.

"Wait," comes Austin's alarmed voice as the credits begin to roll. "That's— that's the— Ally, what the hell?"

Ally turns to him, confusion written all over her face. "What? What's wrong? I thought you were enjoying the movie."

"What kind of ending was that?" he yells, throwing his arm up in a sweeping gesture toward the TV.

Ally winces. "Um. A bittersweet one?" she tries, giving him a sheepish grin.

He sputters at her incoherently. "You just made me sit through a romance movie where the guy and the girl don't even end up together?" He makes a noise of frustration and crosses his arms bitterly as he slumps into the couch cushions. "God, you couldn't even pick one with a happy ending?" he mumbles with a pout.

Ally stares at him, flabbergasted. "Oh my god," she whispers. "You're really upset."

He freezes and then straightens up, clearing his throat. "No. No, I'm not," he says quickly— too quickly.

Ally begins to giggle behind her hand. "Yes, you are," she argues playfully. "You're really sad that they didn't get a 'happily ever after', aren't you?" She grins at him, unable to stop herself from finding this whole situation adorable.

(Not that she'll ever tell him, of course.)

Austin just gives her a pained expression. "But, like, he spends that entire day with her, falls in love with her, kisses her, and then he never sees her again?! That's so— that's so lame." He sniffs, slumping back into the back of the couch. "I'm never letting you pick movies ever again."

Ally leans over to pat him on the arm consolingly. "Austin, it's okay. They love each other and they know that. For them, it was enough," she tells him in a comforting voice.

"… I guess," he mumbles gloomily.

She sighs but then brightens as an idea hits her. "Hey, you know what always cheers me up after a sad movie?"

"Pancakes," Austin says immediately.

Ally gives him an odd look. "Um, I was going to say ice cream…"

"Oh." Now he looks sheepish.

Ally laughs. "It's okay. If you want pancakes, I can make you some pancakes," she smiles.

Austin sucks in a deep breath and stares at her like she has just promised him all the riches in the world. "Ally, don't joke about making me pancakes," he whispers, full of reverence.

She clears her throat dramatically and holds her hand up, palm facing outward. "I, Ally Dawson, promise to make Austin Moon a stack of pancakes if he stops moping about the ending of Roman Holiday, because it is a great ending, even if it is not the happiest," she declares, face serious.

"It's a really sad ending!" he whines. She gives him a look, completed with a high brow, and he coughs, averting his gaze. "Okay, I promise I won't complain about the ending anymore," he sighs. "Even though they never got married and, like, started a family or whatever because of her dumb princess duties, like taking care of her country." And then he mumbles something that sounds akin to 'stupid princess duties' under his breath.

Ally grins at him and hops up off the couch, gesturing for him to follow. "C'mon, you big softie, pancakes for you, and a giant bowl of ice cream for me."

He jumps up and ambles after her, calling out, "You have maple syrup, right?"

Ally just looks at her over her shoulder, offended, as they make their way to her kitchen. "Please. Don't insult my household pantry."

He holds up his hands in a placating manner. "Hey, I had to make sure," he insists.

A beat of silence passes and just as Ally pushes through the door separating the kitchen and the living room, Austin asks, "… You're not making them out of a box, are you?"

"Well?"

"Shh!" Austin shushes around a mouthful of syrupy pancake. He closes his eyes and chews mildly in deep concentration.

She rolls her eyes but continues to watch him expectantly. It sort of dawns on her how ridiculous it is she is actually holding her breath in suspense, but here she is, doing it anyway as she awaits his approval.

Austin finally swallows the first bite and his eyes pop open as he looks at her with a grin. "Yeah, okay, these are pretty awesome," he praises as he shovels an even bigger forkful into his mouth.

Ally gives a triumphant grin and mentally does a happy dance as she gets up to make herself a bowl of ice cream. "I can't believe you thought I was going to make you pancakes out of a box," she snorts.

"I can't believe you made me pancakes from scratch," he sighs happily. "God, I could marry you," he mumbles absently around another mouthful. He's practically inhaling them since they're almost half-gone.

Ally laughs as she plops two scoops of the cold dessert into a bowl. "I'm telling the girls at school that all they need to win over 'the' Austin Moon is a stack of decent pancakes made from scratch," she teases.

He smirks at her after gulping down his current bite. "What can I say? I'm easy."

She laughs again as she moves to sit down across from him at the small, circular dining table. She smiles at him, dragging her spoon through her ice cream. "Well, I'm glad you think they're up to par." She shakes her head faintly. "I didn't realize you were such a pancake snob."

Austin looks at her gratefully. "Seriously, Ally, thanks for the pancakes."

She pauses, lowering the spoonful of ice cream as she stares back, also looking grateful. "I want to thank you, too, Austin," she admits.

His brows crinkle and he manages a confused, "For what?"

She shrugs a little, and bows her head, watching her spoon drag back and forth across the ice cream in her bowl. "Just… for everything. For respecting my decisions— even though I know you don't agree with them." She looks up at him. "And for keeping me company when I think I want to be alone," she murmurs, smiling at him softly.

His expression softens and just before he returns to his pancakes, he tells her, "Anytime, Ally, anytime."