"But, Dad, I like it here in Miami!" I exclaim. My dad is making us move to some tiny place in Texas. The whole town has less than 200 people in it. He wants to get away from Miami. He says it's because it's too loud but I know it's because of my mom.
My mom has been doing research in an African jungle for a book she's working on. He's afraid she'll leave him for John who she's been camping with out there. I heard them fighting about it about a week ago. My mom called him on her special phone and they got into a fight.
"Hello?" I heard him answer the phone. I sat at his door and listened in on their conversation.
"Penny, I miss you so much! How have you been doing?" he asked her. He put the phone on speaker phone.
"Honey, I can't talk long. The phone needs to charge. But I've been doing well. I found a rare—" I heard my mom giggle. "John, stop it. I'm on the phone," she said though she was still laughing. "I'm on the phone with my husband. You can have it after I'm done!"
"Who is that, Penny?" my dad asked.
"Oh, it's just John. I have to share my tent with him. But anyway, how's Ally doing?" she asked.
"Ally's doing fine. The question is: why are you sharing a tent with a man when you're a married woman?" my dad asked.
"It's not like I have sex with him every night. Lester, what's gotten into you?" my mom asked.
"I'm sorry but I just don't like the thought of a man sleeping with you every night," he said.
"We don't sleep on the same cot," my mom said.
"Couldn't you just get another tent?" my dad asked rudely.
"Even if I could, I wouldn't because you're acting very rude," she said. "I should be coming home soon but if you're treating me this way—"
"We just might not be here!" my dad yelled. Then he hung up the phone. I ran to my room crying.
I don't even see why my dad got mad. I trust my mom and so I believe that John was just a friend. I didn't think my dad would really make us move but he did. After the fight, he came to my room and told me to pack my bags because we'd be moving in a few days. So here I am refusing to get into the car.
"Ally, get into the car. We can stop by Trish's house so you can say your goodbyes but then we're leaving and that's final," he tells me.
Tears well up in my eyes. I completely forgot about Trish. I'm not prepared to say goodbye to her. I haven't talked to her because I've been too busy packing. I huff through my tears and sit down in the car. I buckle my seatbelt and cross my arms over my chest.
"Ally, come on. You'll like Texas, I promise," he says.
"Do you even know anything about the town?" I ask.
"Well, no, not really. I just know it's small. We need to get away from all of this," he tells me.
"You just don't want to be here when Mom gets back," I mutter.
"How did you know about that?" he asks me.
"You were yelling loud enough that someone in Canada would be able to hear it," I tell him. I never told him about how I sat at his door but what he doesn't know won't hurt him.
"Look, your mom is cheating—"
"She is sharing a tent!" I exclaim. He doesn't answer and he starts the car. We drive to Trish's house. I hop out the car and he keeps the car running. I walk up Trish's front steps. I hesitate before knocking on her door.
"Ally? What are you doing here?" she asks when she opens the door. Then she notices the tears in my eyes.
"What's wrong?" she asks wrapping me in a hug.
"I'm moving to Texas," I tell her through sobs.
"What?! Who am I going to complain to after you leave?!" she asks pulling away from me.
"We can video chat every day. My dad is letting me bring my laptop," I tell her. As I finish that sentence, he honks the horn.
"Hurry up, Ally!" my dad yells me.
"I've gotta go. Bye, Trish," I say giving her another big hug.
"I'm gonna miss you, Ally," she tells me breaking down in tears too. I let go of her and walk back to the car. She watches as we back out of her driveway. I put my ear buds in and listen to Adele until I fall asleep.
"Ally, wake up," my dad says nudging my shoulder.
"Huh? Where are we?" I ask.
"We're at a motel. I'm getting tired. Come on," he tells me. We climb out of the car and check into the run-down motel. He plops down on the bed and is asleep before his head hits the stained pillow. I walk over and sit down at the small table. I take out my songbook and flip to a fresh page.
Dear Diary/Songbook,
We left Miami today. I'm not sure where we are right now. I didn't ask. I can't believe my dad made me leave Trish behind. I miss her already. I am extremely mad at him right now. I just want to slap him in the face. And this is all because my dad thought my mom was cheating on him. All she's doing is sharing a tent with a man! That's crazy, isn't it?!
Love, Ally
I sigh. My dad lets out a large snore. I walk over to the bed beside his and go back to sleep even though I'm not that tired.
We get into the car and continue driving. I put my ear buds in again and scroll to my Adele playlist.
"Ally, you know—" Oops, I accidentally pressed the play button. Darn. I listen to it for the rest of the way to… Texas. My dad slows down in front of a large three-story house.
The white paint is chipping and the shutters are broken. Some of the floor boards on the front porch need to be replaced and the knocker on the door has fallen off.
"This is the house you bought?" I ask taking out my ear buds.
"Yep, she's a beauty, isn't she?" he asks.
"She might have been in the 1970s," I mutter.
"It won't take much to fix her up," he says. "Now get your bags."
I get out of the car and take my few bags up the steps. I notice a two-story house a little ways down the road. There's a car in the driveway so that means we have neighbors. My dad unlocks the door and we walk inside. It's already furnished with old, rotting furniture. It seems as if the last family just left without grabbing a thing.
My dad gives me a quick tour ending with my room. It's large and there's a big canopy bed against the back wall. There are windows on either side of it. There's a dresser beside the door with a few shirts and pants in it. There's also a closet to my left.
"You can get settled in then come back down for some sandwiches, alright?" he asks.
"Okay, Dad," I say then I shut the door behind him. I set my bags down on my bed. I can't believe this is where I'll be staying. This place is a dump!
I plug my phone into the charger and walk downstairs. The doorbell rings just as I put my foot on the last stair.
"Ally, can you get that?" my dad asks smearing mayonnaise on some bread. I walk past him and to the door. I open the door and see a boy with blond hair and brown eyes just off the porch staring at me.
"Um, hey there," I say breaking the silence.
"H-hi, I'm Austin Moon," he introduces himself.
"I'm Ally Dawson," I tell him. He just smiles. I look around.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"Oh, um, my mom sent me over here to welcome you to the neighborhood," he tells me.
"You can't come on the porch?" I ask.
"Sorry, no, I can't," he says.
"How did you ring the doorbell?" I ask.
He leans down and picks up a handful of the pebbles that are on the ground. I notice a few of them scattered on the porch signifying his failed attempts at ringing the doorbell.
"She baked you a cake," he says holding it up. I walk off the porch and up to him. I then realize that he is much, much taller than me.
"Tell her we said thank you," I say taking it from him.
"I will," he tells me. He doesn't move.
"Is there anything else?" I ask.
"Can-can I show you around the town later?" he asks.
"That'd be great," I say. He still doesn't move.
"I'll come to your house when I'm ready," I tell him. He smiles. "Okay, bye," I say. He finally takes the hint.
"B-bye," he stutters raising a hand and walking back towards his house.
He is a strange boy. I walk back inside and set the cake on the counter.
"Ooh, what's that?" my dad asks giving me my ham sandwich.
"The Moons made it for us," I say. "They seem very friendly then. Are they?" he asks. I shrug.
"I only met the son," I tell him. I take a bite of my sandwich. I begin choking on the bite I took. I look in the sandwich and see some kind of powdery substance. I throw it down on the counter.
"What?" my dad asks.
"There-there's something in the sandwich," I tell him pointing at it. My dad lifts up the slice of bread revealing ham and mayonnaise.
"I could have sworn…" I trail off. I take another bite and don't taste it. I finish my sandwich and walk up the stairs. I grab my songbook. I walk back downstairs and take a step toward the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" my dad asks.
"I'm going over to the Moons' house. Austin's going to show me around town," I explain to him.
"Okay," he says hesitantly. "Ooh, I wonder if the TV works!" Then he occupies himself with that. I walk out the door. Then I walk to the neighboring house. Suddenly, something occurs to me.
Why couldn't that Austin kid come onto our porch? I guess I'll ask him later. I knock on his door. A tall woman with blond hair and brown eyes (like Austin) answers the door. She was a very beautiful woman.
"Hello, I'm Ally," I introduce myself. I extend my hand to her.
"Oh, you must be the new neighbor," she says shaking my hand. "I'm Mrs. Moon but you can call me Mimi."
"Hi, Mimi. Um, is Austin home?" I ask.
"Yes. Austin, Ally's here!" Mimi yells up the stairs. Austin practically falls down the stairs.
"Hi, Ally," he says casually.
"Hi, Austin," I say waving at him. We walk out the door and he closes the door behind him.
"So, before we go, I have a question," I tell him.
"What is it?" he asks.
"Why couldn't you come onto my porch?" I ask. He looks around for an answer.
"Maybe I should give you the tour first," he says.
We walk onto a different road. He shows me the town hall, the church, the park, the diner, the bakery, and the library. The library looks most promising to me. It looks like it has enough books to last me a while and Austin told me that they get a new shipment of books every day. At least there's one good thing about this town.
"You wanna get some lunch?" he asks.
"Nah, I ate before I came to your house," I say remembering the powder that looked a lot like a form of poison.
"What did you have?" he asks eyeing me. I hesitate.
"A sandwich…" I say.
"Come on then, you have got to try their French fries," he says. He takes my hand and pulls me to the diner. A waitress walks up.
"You must be new," she says looking me over. I nod.
"I'll take a Pepsi," Austin says.
"Mountain Dew," I tell her. I look down at the menu and find out that the diner is called 'Dater's Diner'.
"Ooh, those cookies look good," I say.
"You don't want those, trust me," he tells me.
"Why not?" I ask.
"There's always hair in it," he tells me. Gross. I drop my menu.
"Want me to order for you?" he asks.
"Yes, please. No, actually, can I just share with you?" I ask. "If I don't like something, I won't eat it then it'd just be wasted money."
"Yeah, that's fine," he says to me. The waitress comes back up.
"Um, I'll have a double cheeseburger with the cheese inside the burger and a side of fries," he says. She turns to me. I shake my head.
"Nothing," I tell her. "Why does it matter if the cheese is inside the burger?" I ask once she leaves.
"They cook it longer so it tastes better and—"
"And there's more grease," I say with a sound of disgust. He nods excitedly. "Gross," I tell him. I set my songbook on the table.
"What's that?" he asks looking at it.
"Songbook," I answer him simply.
"So… you… write songs?" he asks. I nod. "So… that means you're into music, right?" he asks. I nod again.
"Hey, we've got something in common!" he exclaims. "I love music. I mean, I suck at writing songs but I love to sing."
"Awesome," I say a bit unenthusiastically.
"Can I see one of your songs?" he asks reaching for my book. I snatch it off the table.
"Don't. Touch. My. Book," I tell him firmly. He holds his hands up in surrender.
"Sorry, didn't know," he says.
"Here's your double cheeseburger, cheese inside the burger and your side of fries," our waitress says. She sets down the plate in front of Austin. "And nothing for you," she jokes pretending to put down a plate in front of me. "Enjoy," she tells us. She walks away laughing. Austin takes a bite of his burger and extends it to me.
I sigh, take it from him, and take a bite. My stomach does not agree with the excess grease. I immediately want to throw it back up but choke it down.
"That is disgusting," I tell him.
"Alright, then have a fry," he tells me taking back his burger. I eat one of his fries and they are delicious. I eat a few more.
"So… you owe me an answer about my porch," I tell him.
"You don't know anything about your house?" he asks me. I shake my head.
"No," I tell him.
"Your house is rumored to be haunted," he says looking up at me. When he sees the frightened look on my face, he continues quickly. "But I don't believe it. I've lived there my whole entire life and never heard any ghosts," he says.
I let out a sigh of relief.
"But a few years ago, the last family that lived there ran out screaming in the middle of the night empty-handed. Like they were too scared to even grab any of their stuff," he admits to me.
"D-do you know who… died in there?" I ask. He shakes his head.
"Nah, it was a few hundred years ago," he tells me. "And I don't read so I wouldn't be able to read up on it."
"You don't read or you can't read?" I joke.
"Hey!" he protests. "I can read. I read the menu, didn't I?"
"Don't you have a regular order that you've probably memorized by now?" I ask. He hesitates.
"True," he tells me. "But I had to read it the first time I came here to figure out my regular order, right?"
"Valid point," I finally agree. He smiles triumphantly. We finish lunch and he pays for it. I pick up my songbook and we leave. We walk a few yards towards my house before I remember something. I stop in the middle of the road.
"I forgot my keyboard!" I exclaim.
"Isn't it at your house?" he asks pointing to it. I shake my head.
"No, I left it in the practice room," I say sadly.
"Practice room?" he asks.
"At Sonic Boom," I tell him.
"Sonic Boom?" he asks. I forgot that this isn't Miami.
"It's a music store my dad used to own in Miami. That's where I lived before I came here," I explain.
"Oh, there's a music store a few miles away. I could take you tomorrow if you want," he says.
"Do you even have your license?" I ask. He looks about my age: fifteen. So he shouldn't have his license yet. He chuckles.
"It's so obvious that you're new. There are barely any cops around here to pull you over. And the cops that are on duty are at the bakery eating jelly donuts all day so there's no way I'd get caught," he tells me. I raise my eyebrows.
"I'd like that because I really, really need a keyboard. I'll go insane without one," I say.
"You can borrow one of mine for tonight if you want to. But you've got to give it back tomorrow," he tells me. I nod in agreement. We walk to his house. I was going to wait outside the door but he insisted I come down and see his music room. So I go inside with him. He takes out a key, unlocks the basement door and I follow him down into it.
"This is my music room," he tells me holding out his arms for affect. I look around. There are instruments everywhere and a couch in the corner. There's a bra on it…
"You wear bras?" I joke though I have a feeling as to why it's really there. He walks over and shoves it into the couch. When he turns back around, his face is a dark shade of red.
"It's my girlfriend's, I swear," he tells me.
"I believe you," I tell him. I was hoping he'd say 'ex-girlfriend' for some reason. He takes me over to an assortment of different-colored keyboards.
"I'm not supposed to have any of these instruments. My dad really doesn't like me playing music so my mom buys some instruments for me every once in a while. But that's why the door is locked. His curiosity never gets the best of him so he never even tries to come down here. Pick any of these keyboards," he tells me smiling. Then he glances at them. "Except this one. This one's my favorite," he tells me pointing to the yellow one. I look them over and the purple one catches my eye. I point to it.
"This one's nice," I say testing it. It sounds perfect. He picks it up and hands it to me.
"Have fun," he says. "Just don't scratch it." I laugh.
"I won't. I'll treat it like it's a newborn baby," I joke.
"Good," he says smiling. He turns around and writes something down on a small piece of paper.
"What's—?" I'm cut off by the sound of the front door closing and Austin's eyes widen.
"Go! Go!" he tells me pushing me towards the stairs. We run up them as fast as we can. He locks the door just as a tall man with brown hair walks around the corner. He smiles at us.
"Hi, I'm Mike," he says. "Ally, this is my dad. Dad, this is our new neighbor, Ally," Austin introduces us. I wave at him smiling.
"Hello, Mike," I say. Mike looks at the keyboard in my arms.
"Where'd you get that?" he asks me flashing a look at Austin.
"Um… I…" I don't know what to say without getting Austin in trouble. "I-I brought it from home."
"Why?" he asks confused. I try to think of an excuse.
"I… Oh, excuse me," I say taking out my phone as if someone called me. I flip it open. "Hello? Okay, Dad… I'll be home in a second," I tell my phone. I look up at Mike.
"Sorry, I've gotta go," I tell him.
I run out the door before he can ask me anything else. Austin catches up to me before I get too far from his house. He hands me the piece of paper.
"What's this?" I finally get to ask. He smiles a crooked smile.
"It's my number. Text me tomorrow," he tells me. "Oh, and one more thing: I-I'll never fall in love." He shoves his hands into his pockets and walks back to his house. A smile spreads across my lips.
Wait a minute.
Why did he tell me that he'd never fall in love? Does he think I'd try to get him to fall in love with me? He's crazy if he thinks that. I've never had a boyfriend before for a reason: I can't even get someone to like me. I walk the rest of the way to my house and open the door. My dad looks up from the couch. He seems to have gotten the TV working.
"Where'd you get that?" my dad asks me pointing to the keyboard in my arms.
"Oh, Austin lent it to me since I forgot mine in Miami," I tell him. "He's going to take me to get my own tomorrow."
"Ooh, Ally's got a boyfriend; Ally's got a boyfriend," he chants. I blush and look down. I shake my head.
"He has a girlfriend, Dad," I tell him looking up. He scoffs.
"Maybe he told you that to make you jealous," he says. I decide not to tell him about the bra. I walk up to my room. Well, it's possible. I begin playing the keyboard. It could have been his ex-girlfriend's and he just told me it was his girlfriend's. It's a possibility.
The next day, I found out that I was way off.
I knock on the Moons' door. I have my songbook in one hand and my purse (holding my money) on my other shoulder. Mimi opens the door. I hold the keyboard out to her.
"Austin lent it to me," I tell her. She leans around me; probably to make sure Mike wasn't home.
"Thanks honey," she says smiling. She takes the keyboard from me.
"Is Austin home?" I ask.
"Um… no, he's at the bakery," she tells me.
"Thanks, Mimi," I say smiling back. I turn around and walk off of the porch, down the road, and to the bakery. I walk inside and look around. I see Austin sitting with his arm around some girl. My heart sinks. Why? I don't know. I haven't known him long enough to like him. Maybe… No.
"Um, hey, Austin," I say walking up to him. He looks up at me then back to the girl. He does a double take.
"Oh, hey, Ally. This is Ashley," he tells me gesturing to her. She raises her hand and waves at me smiling. "Ashley, this is Ally." I wave back.
"So, what's up, Ally?" Austin asks.
"Uh, you were supposed to take me to the music store," I tell him. His eyes widen then return to normal.
"Oh, yeah that's right. I forgot, sorry. Ashley, wanna come with us?" he asks Ashley. She nods happily. She's a bit too giddy for my liking.
We all walk to Austin's house. Austin runs inside to grab the keys.
"You stay away from my Austin, got it?" Ashley asks me when Austin's out of sight. Now I see: the happiness was just an act for Austin.
"What am I gonna do? Steal him from you? I just met him yesterday," I tell her. She gives me a nasty look. Austin comes back out and Ashley puts her smile back on.
"You girls ready to go?" Austin asks. We nod. Ashley gets in the front seat so I'm stuck with the back seat. When Austin gets into the driver's seat, he has to drive with one hand because the other is holding Ashley's hand. I stare at their hands until we get to the music store. I step out of the car and head straight into the music store without even looking around.
This music store is much bigger than Sonic Boom. There are twice as many instruments and they're many different sizes.
"Wow…" I whisper. "This is amazing."
I walk over to the keyboards and look down at them. It's like Austin's variety of keyboards except there's a few different colors. I look at the red one. It has black treble and bass clefs on it. I like it. I check the price tag. It's right within my price range. I pick it up, realize that it's very heavy, and walk over to the register. The man tells me the price again and I give him my money. I also buy a stand for the keyboard. I try to pick the keyboard up again but struggle with it.
"Here, I've got it," Austin tells me picking it up for me.
"Thank you," I tell him smiling. He smiles back.
"Anytime," he says.
Ashley glares at me. I don't know why she hates me so much. I wish I could just scream, 'Austin doesn't like me!' but then Austin would be asking questions so I decide against it. Austin puts the keyboard in the backseat with me.
"That took a lot less time than I thought it would," he tells me. He climbs into the front seat and this time, he drives home with both hands. He turns the radio and blasts some country song. He also sings along… He really is a great singer. I don't see why his father would be against him singing. He stops in front of a house I don't recognize. It's a few streets over from my own.
"Why are we at my house?" Ashley asks as innocently as can be. But under that halo, there's a pair of devil horns. The halo is just plastic.
"Uh, Ally and I are going to try out her new keyboard, right, Ally?" he asks. I nod silently. Ashley scowls at me.
"Alright, I'll see you later, baby," Ashley says kissing Austin passionately. She narrows her eyes at me. Austin is the first to pull away. She gets out of the car and jogs to her door. Austin pats the front seat smiling. I sigh and get into the front seat.
"What's wrong?" he asks me. I shake my head.
"Nothing," I lie to him. He looks back to the front and drives to my house. I get out and so does he.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"What? I'm not allowed inside your house?" he asks.
"I thought you were afraid," I tell him.
"I can make an exception," he says. He takes the keyboard out of the backseat. I smile and lead him to the porch. He's hesitant but he finally steps on to it. He follows me inside. He looks around the house with a slightly scared look in his eye. My dad stands up. Austin shifts the keyboard to his left arm and holds out his right to my dad.
"I'm Austin. Austin Moon. But you can just call me 'Austin'," Austin introduces himself.
"I'm Ally's dad. Mr. Dawson. But you can just call me… Mr. Dawson," my dad says shaking Austin's hand.
"Will do," Austin tells him.
"Um, we're gonna go try out my new keyboard," I tell my dad pointing to it.
"Okay, have fun. But not too much fun," he jokes winking at me.
"Dad..." I warn playfully. I go up to my room and Austin follows close behind me. I sit down on my bed. Austin sits a few inches to my right. I sneak a side glance at him. I press a note on the keyboard.
"Well, we tried it out. You can go now," I tell him. He looks at me. "'What?"
"I wanna hear your voice and some of your music," he says smiling. My face grows hot.
"Um… uh… I'm not comfortable singing or playing in front of you," I admit to him.
"Why not? I thought we were friends?" he asks.
"First of all: I did just kind of meet you yesterday. And second of all: it's not just you. I have severe stage fright," I tell him.
"So what I'm hearing is: we aren't friends?" he asks. I sigh and look up at him.
"Sure, we're friends but I don't feel comfortable singing in front of anyone. Not even my best friend," I tell him.
"If you don't want to be friends, that's fine," he tells me.
"Austin, we are friends!" I finally tell him. "I don't sing… in front of anyone. Not my dad, not Trish, not you. The only person I've ever really sang in front of is my mom."
"Where is your mom?" he asks. He looks at me. "Oh, I'm sorry, is she—?"
"No, she's doing research for her book in an African jungle," I explain to him.
"Oh… Come on, Ally, just sing for me," he says. He stops breathing and speaks in a raspy voice. "My life depends on it." Is he really going to do this? His face starts turning blue.
"Alright! Alright!" I finally say. He starts breathing again and smiles.
"Thank you for saving my life," he tells me.
"Shut up," I snap. "What do you want to hear?"
"One of your songs," he answers. I shake my head immediately.
"No," I say firmly. He pouts.
"Why not?" he asks.
"Just pick another song," I tell him.
"Do you know Point of View?" he asks.
"Who sings it?" I ask. He's probably talking about McFly.
"McFly," he tells me. I was right. I nod my head. I start playing it.
Getting tired of asking
This is the final time
So did I make you happy?
'Cause you cried an ocean
There's a thousand lines
'Bout the way you smile
Written in my mind
But every single word's a lie
I never wanted everything to end this way
You can take the bluest sky and turn it gray
I swore to you that I would do my best to change
But you said it don't matter
I'm lookin' at you from another point of view
I don't know how the hell I fell in love with you
I'd never wish for anyone to feel the way
I do
Is this a sign from heaven?
Showin' me the light
Was this supposed to happen?
I'm better off without you
So you can leave tonight
And don't you dare come back and
Try to make things right
'Cause I'll be ready for a fight
I never wanted everything to end this way
You can take the bluest sky and turn it gray
I swore to you that I would do my best to change
But you said it don't matter
I'm lookin' at you from another point of view
I don't know how the hell I fell in love with you
I'd never wish for anyone to feel the way
I do
I never wanted everything to end this way
You can take the bluest sky and turn it gray
I swore to you that I would do my best to change
But you said it don't matter
I'm lookin' at another point of view
I don't how the hell I fell in love with you
I'd never wish for anyone to feel the way
I do
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said it don't matter
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said it don't matter
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said it don't matter
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said
And you said it don't matter
"That was amazing," Austin tells me. I forgot he was here.
"Thanks," I say. I notice that he's inched closer to me a bit.
"I've always wanted to learn that song," he says.
"You don't know it?" I ask. I learned it by ear. I don't think it'd be that hard for him.
"I can play almost every song but that one. It doesn't like me," he tells me with a chuckle. I'm going to regret saying this.
"I could teach you," I say. He smiles and I slide the keyboard in front of him. I take his hands and put them in the right chord key. I tell him the introduction notes and the notes for the first three lines.
"So play the introduction and the first three lines," I tell him. He plays the introduction then starts singing.
"Getting tired of asking… This is the final time… So can I make you happy?" he sings while playing the notes. "Ally, this is hard. It's hard when someone's trying to teach me. It'd be easier if you, like, played it with my fingers." I don't understand at first. Then I get it and sigh.
"Fine," I say. I crawl onto the bed and sit behind him. I rest my arms on his shoulders and my fingers on his. I peek over his shoulder. I see his face turn red. I start playing the song. Pressing on Austin's fingers instead of the keys feels weird but I keep going. When I finish, I get off of Austin quickly.
"S-so try it on your own now," I tell him. He plays it… perfectly. I knew he knew it. If he didn't know it, it would have taken a few more times for him to get it perfect. I sigh and roll my eyes at him. I don't even understand that logic.
"Good job," I tell him. He smiles. "Well, you'd better get home. It's getting late." I stand him up and push him to the door.
"It's only 4:30," he says planting his feet on the floor.
"Go hang out with Ashley," I tell him. He sighs at her name.
"Do I have to?" he asks turning around. What is that supposed to mean?
"Well, no, I guess not. Go do whatever you want to do," I say trying to push him out of my room again.
"But I wanna stay here with you," he tells me. I stop trying to push him. I sigh.
"Fine," I say. I turn around and stretch out on my bed. He lies down beside me. "I have a question."
"What is it?" he asks.
"Why did you tell me you'd never fall in love yesterday?" I ask.
"Um… I tell every girl that," he lies.
"Why would you need to tell someone that? You're obviously a player of some sort," I say.
"What makes you think that?" he asks.
"The bra in your basement which means you lost your virginity—"
"'Whoa, whoa, who said I lost my virginity?" he asks.
"So you just have her bra as a souvenir of your love?" I ask sarcastically. His face turns red.
"You're right. Go on," he says to me quietly.
"And the fact that you're dating a whore," I tell him.
"Ashley isn't a whore, Ally," he tells me.
"Yeah, right," I mutter. "Well, you still seem like a player to me."
"I'm not. I swear," he says.
"Maybe you should go. Really," I tell him.
"Why?" he asks. I wish he would stop asking questions and just leave already.
"I'm gonna go to bed," I tell him.
"It's still only around 4:30," he tells me.
"I'm not allowed to sleep?" I ask.
"Sorry. Um, will you text me later?" he asks.
"Sure, when I wake up," I tell him. He looks down and leaves my room.
It's then that I realize how mean I've been to him. I really want to apologize to him. I decide to actually take a nap like I said I would. When I wake up, it's really late. I grab my phone and the slip of paper off of my side table.
Bold=Ally, Italics=Austin
Hey
Who is this?
It's Ally from next door
Oh hey Ally what's up?
Nothing really. Wby?
Just in the basement.
Oh cool so—
I hear a noise and look up from my phone. I look around. It sounded like someone choking or something. They were coughing really badly. It was probably just my dad. I press send on my phone. Wait a minute; I didn't finish that text…
So what?
I forgot what I was going to say. I pressed send before I finished typing
Oh
Yep
So you wanna hang tomorrow?
I'm kinda busy tomorrow
With what? Just being nosy btw
Oh shoot, I wasn't expecting him to ask!
I'm going to see a family friend with my dad. He lives a town over
Oh okay well I'll talk to you later bye
Bye
I flip my phone closed and put it back on the side table. I hate lying to him… Wait, why do I hate lying to him? I just met him yesterday. I guess I'm just too nice… in consideration.
"Please! Help me!" a raspy male voice exclaims.
"Who's there?" I ask. No answer. "Hello?" I look around my room and see no one.
"Help us!" It's a raspy female voice this time. I look around and again don't see a living soul. That's weird. I pull my blanket over my head and fall back to sleep.
Obviously, the name of the diner is inspired by the 'Diners & Daters' episode of Austin & Ally.
The first day Austin met Ally, he told her he'd never fall in love… even though it was randomly... Lol, does anyone wanna take a guess at what song she'll write later? ;) Anyway, review if you want me to continue!
Love, Kenzie