❀ Auslly one shot ❁

My heart will never ever change

"Where...I usually put it?" she asks, and suddenly, she looks very tired and very confused.

He frowns. "On top of the piano, Ally, you always keep it there."

She blinks.

He doesn't notice her strange expression because he's halfway up the stairs already. "Come on, let's go look," he calls, and she shakes her head at the sound of his voice.

"Coming," she answers, and he waits for her at the top of the stairs.

Sure enough, it's in the exact same place as where she always keeps it, on top of the piano, and she blushes in embarrassment. "I have no idea what happened; I just totally forgot where I put it."

He grins at her. "And I thought I was supposed to be the blond one."

She laughs.

The third time something happens, he begins to worry. It's only a few weeks after the songbook incident and she forgets the word paper.

As in:

"Hey Austin, can you hand me a blank piece of staff-"

She furrows her brow and frowns.

He looks at her oddly. "Are you sure you've been getting enough sleep? Paper?"

She nods and laughs a little.

"Pa-per," she repeats slowly, and again, the word sounds as familiar as it always has. She shrugs. "I don't know, we've been up late these past few nights. Writing and...um..." she trails off, blushing, because those words haven't quite made it into Ally Dawson's extensive vocabulary.

"Making out?" he asks, grinning, because those words have always been in Austin Moon's not-so-extensive vocabulary.

"That," she says, her cheeks still flushed, and she stands up from the piano bench. "Do you...do you wanna maybe stay over tonight?" she asks.

They're at home, in Miami, but they both have their own places now. And staying over doesn't mean sex, but it means a lot of stuff that's close to it, and he quickly stands up from his chair and sets his guitar down.

"What do you think?" he asks, and walks over to stand in front of her. She looks up at him and wraps her arms around his neck and he pulls her close. He kisses her then, because he's wanted to all night and he can because he's her boyfriend and that's one word he'll never get sick of. He kisses her softly, slowly, and when they part she presses her cheek to his chest and he rests his chin on her head.

"I love you," she says suddenly, and it's the first time and his heart starts beating really quickly and he can't say it back fast enough. Because he always has, always, and he always will.

"I love you, Ally," he says, and holds her just a little bit tighter.

And then she completely forgets where her car keys are. But as with the songbook, they're in her purse, where she always keeps them.

"I have no idea where they are," she says, her voice just very slightly hysterical. "Where are they?"

"It's okay, Ally, we'll find them," he says reassuringly. He assumes she's already checked her bag so he doesn't bother asking. "I'll look up here and you go look in the store, okay?"

She nods and rushes out the door. He can faintly hear her scrambling around downstairs as he checks every corner of the practice room. She comes back upstairs ten minutes later. "I can't find them," she says, her voice frustrated. "Where are they?"

He gets this feeling when he sees the expression on her face. A feeling that he can't describe. Maybe it's more like instinct. But suddenly he knows that she hadn't checked her purse and that she maybe hadn't even thought to look there.