Guess what you guys? It's my 16th birthday! (Seriously.) And I would absolutely love some reviews on this chapter. I miss the love...

The scene kept replaying in his mind. The way Ally looked so beautiful and innocent. How he had felt when he had done to her what he had wanted to do since the first day he met her. As much as she denied it, he knew that she had surrendered to her feelings the moment she started kissing back. He could feel the way she eagerly pulled him close and even though she pushed him away ,there was a deeper reason she had done that. And Austin was set on finding out.

Everyone in the house was going nearly insane. With preparations for the dinner rehearsal that night and the wedding tomorrow in the afternoon ,no one even had time to use the restroom. If it wasn't making place cards it was arranging center pieces. If it wasn't double checking with every florist, musician, and caterer it was picking up relatives at the airport. Everyone was so busy and Austin knew it was bad time to talk to Ally. Instead he just stayed out of her way and helped out with the wedding by volunteering to pick up Ally's grandmother from the bus station.

"She's a tiny thing and she always has this filthy floral luggage bag with her, God knows why," Ally told him hastily, pushing him out the door.

He waited at the green bench at the end of the road, silently counting all the yellow cars that drove by before the bus finally arrived. Sixteen.

He saw person after person get off and make their way to their loved ones or go in the direction of the train station ,but there was no sign of Ally's grandmother. Finally, the last person to depart from the bus was a short old woman in a brown coat and her thin gray hair styled up in a bun. Surely enough, the infamous dusty floral bag was clutched in her hand and firmly by her side.

"Hey Ally's grandma," Austin said walking to her ,"I'm Ally's friend, Austin Moon and I'm going to take you to her house ,okay?"

"Whatever you say Mr. Loon," she laughed, giving him her suitcase and taking his arm as they crossed the street to his car. He didn't know if she had unintentionally call him 'Mr. Loon' ,but he decided not to question it. She chatted his ear off about her retiring home in Tampa and how some lady named Darlene Parker always cheated during Bingo games. Out of the entire conversation, only one thing caught his attention.

"You know when Ally told me she was going to marry Elliot I thought 'my darling could do so much better.' But I'm not one to judge. No one agreed with my marriage with my husband at first and that lasted 55 years!"

"Really," Austin asked curiously.

"I met Harry when I was fourteen years old. We were friends for two years before we began going steady. Our friends hated each other and they tried to break us up ,but we were too in love to listen and frankly, we were each other's best friends in the end."

Austin looked over at her in the passenger's seat to notice how happy she looked telling the story.

"When we turned eighteen we ran away together. All I had was him and this bag," she told me, patting it and causing a circle of dust to form up in the air. He smiled back at her and couldn't help but notice how Ally and her had the same eyes. Brown and shining ,but still lonely somehow.

He helped her out of the car and up the steps of the house ,but the entire house was in more chaos than before. No one had even noticed that Austin had been back with Grammy until she whistled and brought all the shouting to a stop.

"Grandma Aggie," Ally squealed, running to her and welcoming her in a warm embrace.

"Sweetheart, what's going on," she asked, the concern obvious in her voice. Ally's smile immediately disappeared and her look of anger came back.

"The florist cancelled," Ally wailed, going back to her state of panic.

Grandma Aggie just rolled her eyes, "Sweetie, there is no such thing as designer flowers. Just go down to the pharmacy and buy some bouquets." Austin chuckled at her comment and tried hard to ignore the death stare that Ally was sending his way. She instead excused herself to go talk to Elliot outside on the porch and looking from the glass doors, they both seemed upset about something. Something more than just flowers. Maybe pre-wedding jitters?

Elliot stormed off onto the beach and Ally marched back inside, arms crossed and face red with rage. Trish and Grandma Aggie followed her trail closely behind ,while Austin went to help Dez and Dallas set up the tables in the backyard for the wedding ceremony that would take place tomorrow.

"Wow, you really screwed up," laughed Dallas, placing the blue and gold centerpieces neatly on the tables. Austin looked at him with a confused look on his face ,but the understanding finally settled in.

Elliot knew about him and Ally. Everyone knew about Austin and Ally.

Austin sat at one of the tables set in the banquet hall, patiently waiting for the waiter to come with their food. Who knew rehearsal dinners were so boring? He sat with Trish, Dez, Dallas, and one of Ally's cousins, who by the way would not stop ranting about her breakup with her boyfriend. While Dallas listened intensely to the story for the eleventh time that night, Austin entertained himself by watching Dez and Trish argue back forth about which Zalien movie was the best.

Everyone else was just as bored as they waited for Elliot and Ally to arrive ,so they could start eating. Ever since the scene they had all seen from the porch in the morning, everyone was strangely quiet and time seemed to go on forever. The day itself had been tense and no one wanted to speak up in fear that it would cause even more problems. Suddenly, the lights flickered on and off as everyone made their attention to the front doors where Ally and Elliot walked through arm in arm, fake smiles plastered on both their faces.

"Wow," Austin whispered to himself breathlessly.

Ally wore a tight red, strapless dress that cut right above the knee. Her heels made it seem like her legs went on for miles. Her makeup was a simple array of gray tones ,but she wore red lipstick that made Austin even more attracted to her lips. The only piece of jewelry she wore was a diamond ring on her left hand; the same ring that kept Austin and Ally apart.

Ally greeted her family as she made her way to the separate table reserved for her and Elliot. From Austin's view, it seemed like Elliot had whispered something very serious to Ally ,but she just seemed upset. Quickly, she got up from her seat, throwing her napkin on the table and walking furiously outside, her hands clenched into a fist on her side.

"I'll be back," Austin told the table, standing up and moving through the crowd to reach Ally. She was pacing back and forth, arms crossed and muttering something under her breath. He could tell she was shivering from the cool night breeze ,so he took off his coat and put it over her.

"Thanks," she chuckled for a second, right before whispering "Shit," her voice sharp and upset.

"What's wrong," Austin asked.

"This. All of this," she screamed, waving her arms in the air, right before crumbling to the floor. He knelt down next to her and just thought about what he was going to say next. He thought he was just going to let the words he wanted to say flow out of him ,but instead he found himself struggling. Austin heard her crying softly into her hands. He reached over to grab her hand.

"You deserve happiness. Complete happiness."

Ally finally turned to look at him through her tears. "You make me happy."

"You wrote a song," Austin said suddenly, "A really great song. Was it about.."

"You," she cut him off, clearly knowing what song he was referring to. "The song was about you. I've never been as inspired as I have until you showed up. And I know it's crazy ,but it's true. And I'm scared. We don't even know each other ,but I feel like...I don't know how to explain it."

"Run away with me," Austin told her, quietly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

She looked at him, laughing, and shaking her head, "That's insane."

"Not as insane as marrying someone who you don't love. And I know you love me. And..I know that's scary because we haven't known each other for long...I'm scared ,too. But we can't keep hiding our feelings for each other when feelings like ours are so powerful."

Ally looked at him with bewildered eyes ,her lip quivering.

"So I'm going to ask you again," he told her in a whisper, drawing nearer to her, "Run away with me."

He felt her surrender. He felt it; she was going to say yes. They were really going to do it: run away and be together. But just as suddenly as their romance had blossomed, it was all taken away. Someone pulled Ally up from the floor and Austin looked up to face the intruder. Elliot. Rage was written all over his face. And as much as Austin had hated to admit it, he had every right to be. Here he was confessing his love to someone who was supposed to be married tomorrow. Ally began to cry again as she turned to look to Elliot and then to Austin.

"You are not invited to the wedding," Elliot shouted, "I never want you near me or my wife ever again. And I want you out of my home. I want you gone." He took Ally's hand in his and began to walk back towards the direction of the reception hall.

Ally turned back once, horror on her face and tears running down her cheeks.

Austin really had screwed up.

I was going to make this into a two part chapter ,but I decided to just put it all out there.

Now leave reviews for the birthday girl! (aka me.)