Two in a Million | Auslly

Two: Video Calls & Venues

She pulled into the mall parking lot at around 6:30 a.m. The place was a ghost town, just like she assumed it would be. Ally walked past the stores, noting how it was already hot outside though it wasn't yet seven a.m. In the winter and spring, the average temperature in Miami was bearable, comfortable even; but in the summer it was so hot during the day that you either had to be near a body of water or indoors, in the air conditioning, to avoid heat exhaustion or sunburn.

Ally reached into the pocket of her shorts and grabbed the keys, then opened the door of the music factory. As soon as she got inside, she decided it was time to get to work. Her friends wouldn't be here for at least another few hours; they'd been up late the night before discussing plans for the tour and how they were going to make the announcement to their fans. Ally guessed that Austin and Dez would make an appearance around 9:00, which was when they had agreed to meet up. They'd be lucky if Trish got there by 10:00. That girl sure liked her beauty sleep.

She spent the next few hours doing music factory-related work, like double-checking lesson times and taking inventory on the instruments. She still technically owned the factory, but she had hired people to work there before she left for college, and every once in a while, she liked to check and make sure they were doing everything right. Then, she took out her notebook and continued writing lyrics to a song she had been working on. At 9:30, she checked her watch. None of her friends were there yet. Shocker.

Ally decided to call Trish and see where she and Dez were. It rang three times before she picked up.

"Trish! Where are you? It's 9:30!"

"Wait, what?" Ally heard some shuffling in the background and could tell that her phone call had woken Trish up. "It's that late already? Why didn't you call me?"

"Because I was busy working," Ally replied. "Just try to be here by 10:00, it's no big deal. Our phone call with Jimmy and Ronnie is at 11, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. I'm getting ready to leave as we speak. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

Ally laughed. "Okay, see you then." She hung up and then tapped Austin's number. She was pretty sure she was going to get the same response from him, especially since he had been up until 3 AM.

Austin answered the phone, the grogginess evident in his voice. "Hello?"

"Hey," she bit back a smile, blushing a little. "I got your messages last night."

"Oh, those?" Austin laughed. "Yeah, I barely remember sending those. It was weird, because I was so tired from the day, but all of the energy coursing through me overtook, like, my whole body. Y'know?"

Ally smiled. "Yeah, I get it. Hey, um, how much longer do you think you're going to be? We have a meeting with Ronnie and Jimmy at 11, and it's 9:30."

"Wait, what?" Austin squeaked. "Oh, shoot. I'm coming, Ally! I'll be there soon!" he hung up the phone, and Ally grinned. She and Austin were so alike, yet so different. That was why they were perfect for each other.

Almost exactly twenty minutes later, Trish rushed in, panting heavily. "Ally, I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine, Trish. We had a late night; I expected you to oversleep. Austin did, too."

Trish narrowed her eyebrows. "What about Dez? If we're going to talk about promos, we kinda need him here."

"Right, I forgot. Let me call him." Ally dialed Dez's number and found that he was on his way there. At least one of my friends remembered that this meeting was happening, she thought.

Ten minutes later, Dez and Austin arrived, and they started talking about how they were going to tell Jimmy and Ronnie about Austin and Ally becoming an official duo.