Two in a Million | Auslly

Twenty Two: Endeavors & Excitement

Although Austin was not in school at the moment, any sort of productivity when it came to work and music had still been hard to come by. Ava had apparently entered her terrible twos early at one and a half— the "feisty stage," as Austin had called it— which made it very difficult to get anything done. Ally was longing for a break, and since Penny wasn't home from Africa, she had asked Austin's parents if they would take her for a few nights. To no one's surprise, Mimi had said yes right away. Ally knew they would miss Ava, given that they hadn't been away from her for this long before, but she also knew that they needed this mini-break to focus on work.

"Okay, I'll meet you down there," Ally choked, flinching, hoping her voice didn't give it away.

Austin frowned. He couldn't help thinking that her voice sounded different, that maybe he should go upstairs to check on her. He knew that she'd been under quite a bit of stress lately, with having to take care of Ava by herself some days and the financial aspect of him being in college. But he also knew if Ally had something she wanted to talk about, she would bring it up herself. He didn't want to push her too hard. Austin retreated down to the basement. Ally let out a relieved sigh and squeezed her eyes shut.

You can do this. Just... put on a brave face and pretend like everything's fine. Nothing you haven't done before.

Her lip quivered as more tears fought their way out. Ally put her head in her hands. She suddenly didn't even care if he found her like this anymore.

Downstairs in the studio, Austin was trying out different options for lyrics and writing them down in his notebook as he sang them out loud. He'd just come up with a possible option for the chorus, and his voice echoed through the room as he accompanied it with piano.

'Cause baby home is where you are

You know that you're my shining star

From where we started, we've come far

Yeah, cause home is where you are...

Austin nodded. "That's actually not too bad," he thought out loud, looking around the studio. Their grand piano sat towards the back left corner of the room, and to the right of that was what they had deemed their "guitar wall," made up of the different guitars Austin had owned and used throughout the years. In the right corner was a drum set with plexiglass and several different microphones surrounding it. They had built a mini recording booth (although it was actually quite big, and took up most of the front half of the room) for vocals in the front right corner, which included state-of-the-art equipment. Plastered on the walls were the various awards that Austin and Ally had won throughout the years. Austin smiled, thinking about the days back in high school when they'd won the awards and the memories they had made in the process, but it quickly faded. What was taking Ally so long? It wasn't like her to be late for a songwriting session. Austin left his songbook right where it was and retreated back up the stairs. He nearly peed himself when he opened the door and found her standing right behind it.

"Als! God, you scared me half to death!" Ally grinned a little when she saw his face. "Are you ready to get started?" She nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah, let's go."

Austin let the last chord of the piano ring out as he played the chorus of "Home is Where You Are" for Ally. She nodded and smiled.

"Austin, this sounds great. I think we've got a good start on it."

"Yeah, me too." She looked down at her hands. Austin frowned, remembering how her voice had sounded different earlier, like she'd been crying.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."

He put his hand on top of hers and she looked up at him. "I know that's not true. I can read you like a book."