Auslly One Shots

She's Beautiful

By Fishelle

The first day he meets her, he gives her a glance up and down and briefly thinks 'she's pretty', because he's just met this girl and she isn't hot because that implies that he wants to sexually destroy her (and he feels like it's a term that objectifies women, and his mother raised him better than that), but she's got these big brown eyes and soft-looking skin and he can't think of a better adjective to describe her other than pretty. He thinks that 'beautiful' is a term that should be reserved for appearance and personality, because you can't be beautiful if you're ugly on the inside but you can't be ugly if you're beautiful on the inside.

When Austin hears her singing and playing, he admittedly waits until she finishes. He thinks it's impolite to interrupt, especially since she seems so absorbed in her music, and he knows better than anybody just how important music is. She's talented, but so is he. He's impressed that the song is so catchy, but he thinks it should go faster. He gets bored of waiting, though, and he interrupts anyway, because he wants to know if he can get the harmonica for a discount since it had been inside the old lady. As it turns out, he can't. She's feisty and surprisingly stronger than he thought she would be and she pushes him out the door and kicks it for good measure, and he finally gets the picture that she wants him to leave.

He doesn't give the cute girl from the music shop much thought as he continues on with his day. Why would he? He lives in Miami and sees plenty of pretty – and hot – girls every day.

The second time Austin meets Ally, there's fire in her eyes and venom in her voice. It turns out that he didn't write that amazing song and he feels disappointed and ashamed because he had oh-so-proudly flaunted his song-writing prowess to his parents, his friends, and anyone who would listen. She doesn't want credit for it, she wants acknowledgement, and he thinks maybe – just maybe – she could be the kind of girl he could be friends with.

After she destroys the set of the Helen Show, they sit backstage and she looks so embarrassed that he's worried she'll blend in with the red curtains that are blocking the destroyed set from his view. He can't help but smile, until he notices that she's crying and hyperventilating and he suddenly realises that it's his fault. He made her live her biggest fear and even though he had good intentions, he knows it's his fault that she's crying.

"I'm sorry," he tells her, looking crestfallen.

Ally sniffles and wipes at her nose, before she turns those pretty brown eyes on him and offers him a small smile, swallowing hard. "I know you meant well," she says, her bottom lip trembling and her jaw clenched from the effort of not crying. Her knees are drawn to her chest and she's hugging them tightly, her knuckles white and her skin red where her fingers are digging into it.

"I promise I won't push you like that again," Austin says, biting his lip and looking at her with concern.

"It's okay," she insists. "You meant well. I'm not angry at you, Austin."

He still feels bad. He's an awful person, but she's willing to forgive him. He hadn't expected her to have a big heart.

Then she smiles properly at him, and even though there are still tears in her eyes and her nose is red and she's still physically shaking from the emotional and physical turmoil she just went through, it crosses his mind that she's beautiful.

•°•°•°•°•

He learns quickly that he likes pancakes and she likes pickles. He likes surfing and she likes books. But they both like music, and they both like the feeling they get when their hands brush. He doesn't think anything of it, because he knows she's pretty – he's always thought she was pretty – but all of sudden they're best friends who write love songs together and sometimes sing together when nobody else is around.