La Serenissima

Miami. July.

Miami, Florida. July.

"Ally, as your best friend in the entire universe, I love you, but if you play this song one more time, I will be forced to kill you."

Trish sat on the bench inside Sonic Boom, waiting from Ally to wrap up her shift at the store so they could go to the beach and make fun of the cliche couples that had always made them gag. Ally had only stepped in for one of her dad's employees for the day since they had eaten something not on the menu at Mini's and it resulted in them not getting any sleep the night before. Not that she minded, she actually enjoyed working at the store. It was where she grew up and where she fell in love with music. Nothing could ever replace Sonic Boom.

"But it's such a good song!" Ally insisted, walking away from the register to join her friend, all clad in her bright pink zebra suit with even brighter neon blue shorts on.

"As you've told me before, and your dad, and his girlfriend, and this entire store," Trish paused for a moment. "In fact, I'm pretty sure the entire population of Miami knows because it's on non-stop. Here, on your playlist, in your car. Ally, it's even your ringtone!"

She blushed just a bit. All of that was technically true, but she couldn't help it. She was hoping that this was going to be Austin's first single off his new record and she recalled telling him that he'd lose her as a fan if it wasn't. She smiled to herself and was willing to bet that the song was chosen all because of her and even if it wasn't, she was okay thinking it was.

It had been three months since she last saw Austin, but only three days since she talked with him. As soon as he landed in Los Angeles, despite the time difference, it was her that he called. She could hear the tiredness in his voice and listened to his breathing as he fell into a deep sleep on his bed that night. She had graduated a week later and two days later, it was her on the ferry to Marco Polo Airport, hopping on the flight headed towards Rome, en route to Miami. It was her with her last Santoli's coffee in her hand and a box of food from Silvana; which she wouldn't lie, she loved that meal. It was so much better than anything served on an airplane.

"When do you get off?"

"About ten minutes. Did you pick out a movie?"

"I was thinking Baby Be Mine or that new one with Jennifer Aniston," Trish offered up as Ally grabbed her small bag from behind the counter and switched off with another employee.

Slipping her sunglasses on, Ally walked with Trish as she talked about which movie to go with, all while complaining about not getting enough time off from her job. Together they only got the long weekend off for the Fourth of July weekend and honestly, she was okay with that, but Trish was not. Trish wanted the entire month off...and that only got her thinking about Austin and his story about his family actually spending the entire month of July celebrating the summer time.

Turning out of the mall and down the walkway to the beach, Ally let her friend go on and on, not really paying attention to what the hell she was saying...up until she just happened to spot the Moon's Mattress Kingdom across the road and it made her heart skip a beat. It wasn't just any Moon's Mattress Kingdom either. It was the original location. The original where, if she had known Austin while they were both growing up in Miami, he would've been working after school and selling people mattresses and be wearing a silly costume crown that he told her was the worst thing to ever wear. 

She laughed at him for that, but now kind of wished she could've seen him wear one. She saw him in the one Gianna had made up for Carnevale but that was entirely different. This only got her thinking about just how close they actually were to each other while they were teenagers and she was berating herself about why they didn't.