Two in a Million | Auslly

Four: New Songs & Last Nerves

"Because she wanted me to help. Right, Trish?" Dez put a hand on Trish's shoulder. She flung it off, disgusted, shooting him a glare.

"Absolutely not." She turned back to Austin and Ally. "I came and told you this because I was wondering if you guys would... consider hiring another manager? Let's face it: this tour is in"— Trish looked at the calendar on her phone— "exactly three months, and I'm in over my head."

Ally glanced at Austin, but she couldn't read his face. "Can we talk about it and get back to you?" she asked.

Trish sighed. "Sure, but you'd better make the decision fast, because I need help, like, yesterday."

Ally nodded. "No problem. Now, if you guys would excuse us," she put a hand on Trish and Dez's shoulders and pushed them out of the room, "we've got a song to finish." Once they were outside, she closed the door and leaned up against it. Austin put his hands on his hips and sighed.

"So."

"So," Ally replied.

"Are you feeling guilty for putting all this responsibility on Trish like I am?" he asked, sitting down in one of the comfy chairs.

"A little," she said. "I'm not sure about hiring another manager, though. It would be another person to pay, and we don't have a ton of extra money. We have to book the venues and the trailer for equipment, rent the tour busses, pay the drivers...let's not forget I just graduated college and I'm still trying to pay off my student loans."

Austin nodded. "Believe it or not, my tours didn't make as much money when we were broken up. I pretty much broke even on my last one, because of the school expenses. And since we're not with a record company anymore, we have to find a way to pay for everything ourselves."

Ally grinned. "Yeah, I believe it. From what I heard, you weren't yourself after we broke up." she laughed a little. "I wasn't either. But seriously, I don't see why we can't pitch in— we can have Trish train us."

"What about those songs that we were going to finish?" Austin asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"I'm sure we could make it work," Ally said, but she seemed unconvinced herself. The pair sat in silence for a minute or so. Given that they'd been writing partners for four years, they'd managed to pull several all-nighters and work around both of their school schedules. But now, it just seemed impossible.

"Don't worry," Austin finally said. "We'll figure it out. We make a great team." Ally smiled, but started to chew on her fingernails. The tour wasn't for another few months, and she was already stressed. Never in a million years did she think that they would be back together and planning another tour so quickly after she finished college, but here they were.

Austin grabbed her hand and kissed it lightly. "Don't stress; we've got this." Ally smiled. How in the world did I get so lucky? she thought.

Just as Austin and Ally were sitting down at the piano bench, getting ready to keep working on the song, Dez burst in the room again. Austin and Ally both groaned.

"What now?" Austin asked. His voice rose, indicating that he was annoyed.

Dez frowned. "I'm just here to take pizza orders. Trish is ordering some since we'll probably be here a little while longer."

Ally glanced at her watch. "Oh, yeah, it's almost noon. I completely lost track of time." She gave Austin a look that asked how he could speak to his friend so harshly.

Austin smiled sheepishly. "Uh, I'm okay with whatever. Like, pepperoni or sausage?" When the gang ordered pizza, they usually got two: one for the guys and one for the girls. This way, each had some leftover for lunch the next day; or as Austin and Dez preferred, for breakfast —cold, of course.