There was a melody in his head and it was one that he couldn't get out of his mind for the past week. Austin could blame, or more thank, Ally for it. After their kiss at the ball, he'd been stealing many more from her each and every day after and could not get enough of them. Her lips had tasted of strawberries the night of the ball, and they changed each day. At first he could still taste the berries, but then there were oranges, and grapes and the latest flavor he was still licking his own lips over was caramel.
They had met up every day between her classes and in between his own time at the conservatory at Santoli's and in Campo Santo Margherita and outside his apartment and basically, wherever they could to spend time together. Austin had found out even more about the girl who he'd become captivated with - she could talk about music just as much as he could, she had an unhealthy addiction to pickles and was very, very proud of her role as president of a cloud watching club. He laughed so hard at the last confession from her. He figured she'd be having the best time right now in Venice, seeing as the entire sky was filled with gray ones. But the biggest thing he found out about her was that she had grown up in Miami, just like he had. It was still amazing to him that they were from the same hometown and he hadn't known about her his entire life. Miami was a big city...but not that big that you didn't know about the cool kids at a different high school down the road.
Austin leaned up against the sound booth while Santo made the final adjustments to the song he had just recorded and waited for the playback. While the lyrics and music were all him, and very much all about Ally, this wasn't a song for the album he was making for himself. This was a song for someone else, someone who was still looking for love.
There's something in the air tonight, something electric. The point where love ignites, the center of the heart. You never see it comin', no. There isn't a warning, no reason, not a sign, but you can feel it everywhere. There's something in the air.
Even his voice didn't match the song, but it didn't mean that it wasn't a good song. Austin smirked as Santo leaned back further in his seat and smugly smiled up at him. "You like this one."
"I do," Santo nodded. "I just wish your voice matched it."
Austin laughed right back. "Yes, because I'm going to be that sappy artist now," he shook his head. "This is more for The Magnolias or even that new artist my label just signed. What's her name..."
"Greycen Mars," Santo finished for him and Austin snapped his fingers, pointing at his friend. "This would be good for her. It's a slow ballad she would be amazing at."
Austin hopped back into the booth again, and dove head first into the other track he had written that he knew for a fact wouldn't be on his album, or the next. This was another one that he had to get out of his head before it exploded and to move on to the next song. This one was faster, and definitely something you could've found on his two previous albums; full of sugary pop about running after a girl and getting her. It was a good song, he was biased on that part, but again, he knew it wasn't for him. It was for another artist, but he had to get it out of his mind so he could work on the other tracks he was sending off to his label tonight.
Talking with them earlier in the day, along with Santo, they all loved the first two songs he had sent them a few weeks ago and were anxious to hear the rest. In fact, they were so excited, they had already pre-booked him for appearances on The Today Show, and Good Morning America and so many late night talk shows that he had lost count. Together, they had ball parked for a fall drop date and to him, that meant that as soon as he was finished with the last song in Venice, he would have to head back to the States. A part of him was excited, getting to promote an album he was insanely proud of, and another part of him was saying, no, don't go just yet. You just met this girl may well be the love of your life.
His voice kept singing the words he had written down in the microphone, headphones over his ears as he listened to the chords. The clock's turning around, and you're still playing these games. It's such a waste to bring me down, down, down, don't being me down cause...hey girl, I wanna catch your wave.
Austin let his worries drift away with the upbeat tempo. He didn't see Ally enter the studio until he was on the last chord and he waved at her while she greeted Santo. The university wasn't far from the conservatory and he had assumed that they would meet later at Santoli's, but he wasn't against seeing her now. He'd never be against that, especially when she was looking hot as hell despite the cool weather outside. Austin hurried the last lines of the song, pulling the headphones off as soon as he could and swept her up in a kiss as soon as he opened the door of the booth. They had only been apart for, well, most of the day, and he was amazed how fast he could miss her beside him. It wasn't long before Santo left them for a date of his own and Austin was leading her up that grand staircase she had been admiring since her first visit and up to the rooftop.
"How was your day?" he asked her, looping his arms around her middle as she leaned lightly on the railing that lined the perimeter of the building, supporting the stone.
Ally leaned back into him, his mouth lightly brushing her temple. "Tiring. I don't think I thought it through when I took the position. I don't like being a T.A. at all."
Austin laughed at her. "Why not?"
"Mostly because the professor I'm working with has me doing his dirty work. I got to tell three people today that they're masters degrees wouldn't be coming because they failed to get the proper grade on their final papers," she told him as he came to stand beside her. "Worst job ever."
Austin took her hand in his, trying to keep them warm at the same time as just wanting to have it in his palm. "Doesn't sound fun at all."
"It wasn't. Crushing dreams is not what I signed up for, and remember when I told you that arguing in Italian was better than in English? Not so much anymore," Ally let her fingers crawl over his hand. "What about your day? I pray it was better than mine."
"Not to brag, but it was," he smiled up at her. "Recorded five songs today, including some demos of the songs I'm not going to use." He watched as her face lit up at him, like his news wiped all her bad ones away in a minute.
"Austin, that's fantastic. I can't wait to hear all these songs again."
"Soon," he promised her as the drifting sunlight that was peaking out of the gray sky hit him in the eyes. Before he met Ally, the rooftop was a place he loved to come, just for the sunsets alone. Now that she was with him, it made the place that much better. He knew that they would need to talk about what would happen when he was leaving and when she was leaving and if they even had a future outside of Venice...but this place, with the sunset, and with Ally...there was nothing topping that feeling right now.
Austin had thought he knew what love felt like before, but apparently, he didn't. They had only really been dating, if you could call it that at all, for a week. But within that week, every single time he saw her, touched her, kissed her, talked with her, even just being around her was a rush. A complete rush that he liked having. It gave him something to look forward to every day on top of making music and he would be lying if he said that she didn't inspire new lyrics or a new melody that he would wake up in the middle of the night with. He'd be lying even more if you asked him if any of the songs on his new album were about her. They were.
Now, after picking up some coffees to go and with the promise of food at his place, he was leading her back up to his apartment, without the dress of a thousand layers this time. And with every intention of not letting her leave without showing her he most definitely wanted more. He opened the door to his place and let her slip inside first this time around, not worrying about any messes he left out. She knew him now, and his messes - the ones were papers were all over the place, records piled on top of each other in teetering stacks and song sheets were spread out over a keyboard on his breakfast bar - were a part of his career.
"You still need to clean this," she muttered and took a seat at the bar where her eyes were now glued to his musings while he pulled out something to eat from his fridge.
"I think it looks better than when you were first here."
Ally looked around as he started to prepare some simple sandwiches before he saw her hands pulling together the sheets that were sitting his keyboard. He looked up from his expert culinary skills and watched her study the sheet music, her fingers following the notes he had written down just the night before. His eyes followed her hands as she tapped them against the bar and smirked, secretly wanting her to turn on the instrument in front of her to play.
"Do you like that?" he got her attention once again and Ally looked up at him, nodding. "It's not finished yet. Maybe you can help me with it later...after you eat."
"You want me to help you?" Her right eyebrow lifted up just so as he took a seat beside her and pushed the sandwich towards her.
He was already mid-bite when she asked and after clearing his throat and making sure all the food was down, he nodded in confirmation. "Yea. I mean, you know music, Ally and from what I recall, you did tell me that you still write stuff."
"But that's just for fun and when I have time, it's not for...Austin, I'm sure your music will be better if I'm not in it."
"But you are," he confessed, his hand grazing over her wrist. "If you think you aren't already in my music, Ally, you're very mistaken."
Austin stared back at her before it was her sweeping him up into a kiss instead of the other way around and he liked it. Ally stood up from the stool and her hands slithered up the sides of his neck. She bit on his lip, teasing him along the way as her tongue met his in a duel. He wanted to pick her up right then and take her to his bed...but he didn't. Not yet, not this soon. While his mind and heart were struggling about if it really was that soon at all, Austin pulled back but kept her close to him with his arms locked around her waist.
"That, was the cheesiest, corniest and most romantic thing I've ever heard a guy say."
"It worked though, didn't it?" he winked, capturing her lips once more with a quick kiss. "And it's true. Now, eat, so we can make some music together."
+++
Ally needed someone to pinch her. Right now. To wake her up from this dream, this most wonderful dream and bring her back to reality. Wait, maybe she didn't want to be woken up. Not when she was cuddling up with the sexiest guy in her life, and possibly the planet and writing up lyrics to a melody he had just written minutes before. Ally hadn't made any type of music since she was in high school, and even then, it was shown to nobody and sharing this, doing this right now with Austin, was actually making her dreams come true. He loved music just as much, maybe even more than she did and she hadn't found that in any other guy she had been involved with in her life. She loved it.
After eating the sandwich he had made for her, Austin surprised her with red wine, not white and she was now on her second glass, spitting out word after word and hoping they worked together while he wrote them down on his notepad. They had started off with a quote she remembered, one that she loved and went from there. Now, they were two verses in and Ally was on a high.
She leaned forward, putting her glass back on the table and looked over Austin's shoulder, letting her leg drop from the sofa and hang over it lightly.
"Play the melody again," she said and his hands floated over the keys of the keyboard and letting the notes escape the instrument and fill up the apartment. "I think we need more. It's like the notes won't cover the lyrics. Add i flat at the end and an E at the beginning."
Austin played them again with the added notes, and she slipped her hand over his, pressing them again, producing a harsher play than what he was doing.
Gone was the ballad that they both thought they were writing and in place of it was a emotion driven beat that in all honesty, was turning her on.
"I was in trouble, trouble, Knee deep in trouble, trouble," Ally sang the words of the chorus before Austin picked them up.
"When you smiled, laughed and looked my way. Weak in the knees is something I thought I'd never be."
Ally let her hand linger over his as he looked back at her, and she watched his eyes dart from her own to her lips many times over and as much as she wanted to finish the song and work on music with him, she couldn't deny the fact that she would love to make another type of music with him right now. She had no clue if she or they were ready for that though...they had only just started to be together and in mere weeks, they'd be separated again. She just didn't want to regret anything with him and something told her that if they were going to take this next step, no matter how soon, she wouldn't be regretting it. "I was in trouble, trouble..."
Her hand wandered over his shirt covered torso and down his arm, squeezing his muscle just before he turned into her and kissed her soundly. His mouth covered her own and he leaned into her, laying her back on the couch. She could feel his tongue teasing her lips and parted them open, giving him all the access he wanted and needed. Ally hadn't been kissed like this in a while. It was full of lust and passion and if she could remember, her last kiss like this was with her second cousin's ex-boyfriend last year. She was drunk and he was drunk over said cousin's wedding and their little one night stand was never mentioned again. This time around, with Austin...it was definitely more; much, much more and what started out as just a few kisses was turning into a heated makeout session. One that she wasn't against at all.
Ally's lips felt cold as his mouth left her own, trailing even more kisses over her chin and down her neck. She was enjoying every single minute of this and while she wanted to give herself fully to him, she was second guessing everything after that. There were so many what ifs and what thens that her head was truly spinning. "Austin..." she barely mumbled his name before his mouth made her moan even more as he sucked on her clavicle. She'd always thought her sweet spot was on her thigh, seeing as she always went over the edge when a guy would slide his hands over them, but now with Austin's tongue and lips drawing any and all kinds of pictures on her shoulder blade, maybe that was it.
"Austin," she called his name again. "The song. We need to finish the song."
Austin didn't stop though...at least not at that direct moment. He kissed over the top of her chest, up to her chin before sealing her lips with another sensual kiss. "You," he kissed them once more, with his hand rubbing the skin underneath her sweater and his thumb teasing her all over and making her stomach do flips. Not the flips when she was starting to really like him weeks before, but the kind of flips you get when you really, really like someone and are praying and hoping you don't do anything to screw it up. "You are definitely worth the trouble."
Ally scrunched her nose up at him, rolling her eyes at his chessy-ness that she was secretly loving. She giggled and pushed him back playfully after he kissed her nose before pulling her up with him. She adjusted her sweater again and repositioned herself on the sofa, ready to work with him on the song again. Ally watched him write more words on the page, almost completing the song immediately and pulled the keyboard closer to them from the coffee table. His fingers flew over the keys once more, producing more hard notes rather than soft ones and singing the words aloud. This song they just wrote in one night wasn't really different from his other songs, but it was at the same time. It was full of fire and want and if she could say so, lust. Much like she was actually feeling right now.
She looked at him working, a pencil in his mouth while he tuned the finer notes out. In just a matter of days, she had gone from feeling like she was still in high school and finding out that the star quarterback on the football team who she had been crushing on all year was feeling the same about her, to being that almost college graduate trying to figure out if she was going to stay with the quarterback after four years in university together. She wanted to do things with him, do it all actually, but before she could even think about that happening, they needed to talk about all those what ifs and what thens and what's going to happen afterwards. And seeing as most of the song was indeed done, at least for her, there was no better time, right? Right.
"Austin, can we talk?"
He stopped working on the keyboard and looked over at her, taking the pencil out of his mouth instantly. "Not the best words to ever hear."
"Sorry. I don't mean them like that," Ally paused, taking a drink of the wine that was begging her to consume it. "I just...I'm turning into this giddy high school girl here and the girl who wants to define everything and I don't want to be that, but...you're leaving in a few weeks, I'm leaving after that and..."
"So let's define it," Austin leaned back, taking the glass from her hands and drinking a bit of it himself.
"What I mean is...wait, what?"
"We define this," he said once more. "I'm not going to lead you on or take advantage of what we have here. You mean a great deal to me."
"You mean a lot to me too," she admitted, stringing her fingers through her hair and pulling it to the side. "When do you leave again?"
"Two weeks."
That was two weeks. Fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty six hours. Most of which she planned to spend by his side, in his personal space and in his bed. Did she really just think that? Ally gulped, "Where to?"
"Los Angeles," he answered quickly. "And then home before I start album promotion, but that's a little aways."
"Four weeks for me."
"Where?" he grabbed her hand, letting his fingers trace over her own before letting it sit safely in his bigger one. It had been a long time since she felt protected with just one touch like that. Austin just had this way of making her feel everything all at once and she wasn't sure how he was doing it.
"Home first," Ally shrugged her shoulders. "I have to see my Dad since I haven't seen him in six months. And we don't have to define this. I just don't want you to regret anything or..."
"Ally," Austin cut her off like he had before and with his strong hands, pulled her whole being closer to him. "I'm not going to regret anything about you, or this trip. I think we should let what happens happen, and before we leave, we make sure we have every type of phone number, emails, addresses, everything. I'm not making this out to be just a fling."
Ally looked back into his eyes again, the ones she would always get lost in. Tonight, they weren't the welcoming shade of brown she was used to seeing, and they weren't the deep chocolate she fell for all over again at the ball. No, tonight they were more of a burnt bronze and lined with flickers of mahogany. Tonight they weren't friendly, but they were serious and genuine and meaning every word that his mouth was uttering to her. They were also desirable and enticing and sexy and if she didn't leave in at least the next half hour, she wouldn't leave at all.
"This isn't just a fling for me either. I guess I'm just worried about it all. I mean, you're this globe trotting musician and I'm not even sure if I'm getting that consulate job. I'm worried that once we both hit U.S. soil, we'll be out of touch and all we'll have is Venice and yea, it's a great romance to have, but in my mind, I just want it to be more."
Austin brushed his hand through the bottom tresses of her hair and let it rest on her neck before she took the lead and made the space between them disappear. His lips were velvety against hers and she honestly didn't want it to end...but it had to. He had a full day of recording tomorrow and she had another day full of crushing students dreams who were too lazy to do the work, and if she stayed...she would be truly staying all night and all throughout the next day, convincing him to stay with her.
Ally bit on his bottom lip, and pressed another kiss on him again, she smiled up at him. "I have to go."
He shook his head, and their noses rubbed against each other. "No. No you don't."
She smiled even more. "I have to. You have an early day tomorrow and I do too," Ally pushed off the couch and went to retrieve her coat with him following close behind her. Zipping it up, she turned around once again for her shoes and bag, pulling it around her body so it rested on her hip. One more turn again found her facing him all tall and handsome and staring down at her with a lustful gaze. No, Ally, you have to go. "Santoli's tomorrow?"
"When's the last time I missed Santoli's?"
"Good point," she pointed up at him and was reached the doorknob, opening it up just a nudge when he surprised her. The door shut immediately and he had her backed up against the old entryway, his lips on hers in seconds. If she didn't want to leave before, it was nearly impossible now. Austin snaked his arms around her coat and she knew it would only take two seconds for her to jump up and swing her legs around him. But just as soon as she thought those thoughts, he broke their kiss and tugged on the shearling collar, making sure it was covering all spots of her skin. That was a good night kiss she could live with getting every day of her life.
"Santoli's tomorrow afternoon."
Ally kissed him once more before opening the door again and headed down the stairway. The cool air hit her as soon as she was out of his building and skipping ahead to the bridge, she didn't want to be that cliche and look back, but she did and there he was, watching her from his balcony. She shoved her hands inside her coat pockets and turned back around, and started to count down the hours until she would meet him at their cafe tomorrow, as she had now been calling it in her mind.
They had two weeks. Two weeks.