Chocolates and Choosers- An Auslly Story

Chapter Twelve

peoples just remember this is a short story so its gonna end soon well i think so anyways just dont be surprised if theres only a few more parts but maybe not

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Ally's P.O.V.

"Great job, Ally," I heard someone call. I smiled.

"Nice work," somebody else agreed.

I had finished my part in Austin's performance, now he was singing and dancing on the stage without me. I sat down in my seat in the audience and watched him.

"No matter what you do I'm gonna steal your heart," he finished. Then he winked at the crowd, causing several girls in the crowd to squeal.

"It was me!" a fan shrieked. "He winked at ME!"

Another fan glared at her. "It was me," she argued.

For some reason, I felt defensive. No it wasn't, I thought. Not either of you.

Austin started on the next song, with him sitting on a stool and plucking a guitar. "When you're on your own, drowning alone, and you need a rope that," he sang. "Can pull you in."

I heard myself softly singing along. It was this song I sand when I first overcame my stage fright. I sang it with Austin... "Try to have a little hope, 'cause someone's gonna be there when you don't, when you don't."

"If you wanna cry, I'll be your shoulder. If you wanna laugh, I'll be your smile. If you wanna fly, I will be your sky. Anything you need, that's what I'll be."

Then he stopped. I could tell the audience was confused. Honestly, I was pretty perplexed myself. Austin didn't have stage fright like I once did, and he wouldn't forget lyrics on an important night like this.

Slowly, I got up. He was smiling faintly, like he had expected me to. I walked up to the stage, and picked up the microphone I had been using. "If you wanna climb, I'll be your ladder, if you wanna run, I'll be your road."

Austin was grinning. He started singing along with me. "If you want a friend, doesn't matter when, anything you need, that's what I'll be, you can come to me." I set down my microphone, realizing what just happened.

"Sorry," I apologized, trying to cover it up. "My mistake." Yeah, that's right, Ally, try to cover it up in front of thousands of people! That's gonna work out.

"Whoops," he said, shrugging.

I was about to walk off the stage when the announcer came over. "Wow! That was a great duet, 'You Can Come To Me,' by Austin Moon and Ally Dawson. Now for a quick break, and stay tuned!" The show went to commercial.

Trish walked up to us. "What was that?" she demanded.

"Um-" I started, but she cut me off.

She smiled. "It was so beautiful!"

Austin fidgeted awkwardly with his fingers. "Trish? Could you give us a moment?" He rocked back and forth on his feet.

Trish nodded. "Sure."

As soon as Trish left, he began spouting words. "So I know that we agreed to break up because it was awkward but I still kind of sorta maybe like you and I don't know can I ask you something that probably-"

I interrupted. "Slow down," I instructed. He took a few breaths. "Now, start over."

He blinked nervously, then started talking again. "So, um, I'll just be quick about it...Ally Dawson, will you- will you be my girlfriend - again?" He looked at me, unsure. "Please?"

I was about to answer, but the camera went back to the show. "And we're back with the gala! Everybody, give around of applause to Austin Moon and his amazing partner, Ally Dawson!" The crowd clapped loudly, with some girls yelling marriage proposals. "Now, on to the awards: first one, Best Song of The Year, here are our nominees!" He read off of a card.

I hurriedly exited the stage, waving at the crowd. "Uh, bye?" Nobody replied or threw tomatoes, thankfully.

"And Austin Moon!" Austin looked like he wanted to follow me and get an answer, but he reluctantly stayed on the stage with the rest of the nominees.

The rest of the show, I couldn't pay attention, to busy focused on Austin's question. He won three out of the six awards he was nominated for, and there were only ten awards total. I was proud of him, but I was too overwhelmed to do anything more than that.

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It was pretty late at night, almost 1 AM. I opened my dressing room door to grab my stuff and head home. The afterparty had just ended. I tried my best to avoid Austin, and it wasn't hard, since all these people were mobbing him and congratulating him. But he kept trying to grab my attention, yelling my name over the crowd or following me before he was pulled back by someone.

I had just picked up my purse and slung my coat over my shoulder when a torn sheet of blue and red tissue paper caught my eye. It was lying in the corner of a small table, right behind a picture frame. 

Curious, I reached for it. On it was written: You don't hafta make any choices. But I just wanna let you know. xx Austin P.S. I'll keep asking you :)

I sighed. I didn't know what to feel. Maybe I did want him to like me, maybe I was over Dallas. But I wasn't going to decide tonight. For starters, it was already 1 in the morning and I wasn't even home, let alone sleeping like I should be.

Gently, I tucked the scrap of paper into my purse, turned off the lights and walked out the door. I closed it shut behind me, still thinking. 

I remembered when Trish mailed in all those lies, and Megan Simms came to see Austin do them. He did, but the one I got us into was bungee-jumping....when I had to take a risk. But I felt better jumping from that high up with Austin holding my hand, with his reassurance.

Then I flashed back to the time when I first performed on stage post my stage fright. Don't look down, down, down, down. I sang with Austin.

When he came into Sonic Boom, playing the drums with corndogs. When he made the video with Double Take and got famous. When he went on The Helen Show and dragged me along. Everything. With Austin.

It made me smile. Because everything was better with Austin - everything.

I gave the crinkled ball of paper one last glance. I was ready to take that risk, if Austin was with me.

Since Austin hadn't left the building yet, I quickly flipped over his note and wrote my own short message down. I ran to his dressing room - hopefully he wasn't there yet - and opened the door. Thankfully, it was empty.

The note landed on the top of the sofa, where he would never miss it. Grinning, I shut the door.

Sure xx Ally