La Serenissima

Making It Work

Three days. He officially had three days left and he was dreading it. If you had asked him three weeks before now if he was anxious or excited to head back to the States, he would've told you an astounding yes. He missed the normal television (he had watched SNL religiously since he was 15), he missed the sweet and yummy, but very bad for you candies (he was a sucker for Sour Patch Kids and Nerds), and he definitely missed the flaming hot, spicy and mouth watering chips you could only find in vending machines at rest stops. He and Dez had stumbled upon them one weekend while on their way back from summer camp in the middle of Florida. At the time, finding those was the best moment of his life.Now, things were different and his answer had changed. Austin had never really been that guy who was clingy or had to be around his girlfriend all the time. His relationship with Jamie was actually the opposite and they could have been apart for days, weeks even, and would be okay with that.

Now, with Ally, it was new and fun and exciting and he found himself wanting to be around her all the time. He couldn't go an entire day without talking to her or seeing her or touching her. Ask him the same question right now if he wanted to stay in Venice longer. Do it, really. He'd tell you yes.

It was what he was telling Santo at this very moment as he sat across from his friend and tried to find any loopholes for him to stay for another week with Ally instead of heading straight to Los Angeles and back into the studio there. As much as he tried to find one though, he didn't. His arrangement with his record company was for three full months and when he tried to see if he could extend it by just a few days, they told him a resounding no. He couldn't blame them, they were taking a big chance on him and he was grateful that they were giving him all this time in the first place. Plus, Santo was off to Austria right after he left too. He had a few concerts he was playing there.

"It's not like you'll never come back here, Austin," Santo reasoned with him, sipping on his wine. "She is just a girl."

Austin shook his head at his longtime friend. "Not just a girl, Santo."

"Wow," Santo leaned forward into the table they were seated at a table in the corner at a little restaurant on the mainland. Santo had had an appointment with a student who lived there and Austin needed to spend every moment today with him to finish up all the Italian translations for the final songs on his album. He could've asked Ally, but he was too busy absorbing all of her to even bother.

Austin raised his eyebrow. "Wow what?"

"Wow, you fell fast. I never thought you were the one to fall in love to quick and so hard."

He choked back the drink he had just taken. "Woah, didn't say I was in love with her."

"Didn't have to," Santo smiled. "I'm glad things are going well with you two. Kind of smacking myself for interrupting you that one day. Just think of what would've happened."

Brushing away all the emotions and hundreds of other thoughts that were rushing to his brain, Austin turned it back to the music. He would deal with the love issue later...when he was back in the city and back with her; when he could really be sure if he was. The music was what brought him to Venice in the first place and because Santo said it was there or nothing and it didn't take long before Austin was on the plane just moments before the New Year started on a flight to the Floating City.

Now it was the end of his fellowship and they had completed around fifteen songs for his album and a few others for some other artists on his label. Three of the songs mixed Italian with English and were some of his favorites they had written. While Ally was hoping that "West Side Story" was his first single, he was secretly rooting for "Promise Broken". The song had come to him after he had first run into Ally without knowing it and once he had all the lyrics written down, ran back to the conservatory where the song was done in an hour time.