Secret Love- Auslly Fanfic

To Be Afraid

Team Austin spent nearly all of the next day working on and preparing the demo for the interview. It had to be perfect, it had to be more than perfect, because it was all they were riding on. It was the only thing giving them hope.

Ally smiled to herself as Austin hit the last note perfectly. Slowly but surely, his confidence was returning.

Dez played back the track. Everyone was silent until the very end. They looked at each other, all wanting to see how the others reacted. Dez spoke first.

"Epic." He high-fived Austin excitedly.

"Brilliant!" Trish exclaimed.

"Beautiful," Ally breathed. Austin beamed at all of them.

"So...is this it?" he asked? They all nodded vigorously.

"I think it's probably the best I've ever heard you sing," Ally complimented, kissing his cheek. Austin smiled at her, but she could tell he was anxious.

Dez quickly burned the track onto a blank CD, then made an extra copy.

"A lot of work went into this, and it's for something very important. We can't afford not having backup," he reminded. And that was that. They'd spent so much time on this, they were almost afraid to stop, fearing that it wasn't good enough. Finally Trish spoke up.

"C'mon guys, lets go celebrate! I say we go get ice cream, Dez'll pay."

"I will? I mean, uh, yeah, I will." Ally laughed.

"You don't really have to pay, Dez," she said. He shrugged.

"It's fine, I'll pay."

Trying to impress Trish, Ally noted. Well, at least she got free ice cream out of it. "Let's go!"

The foursome made their way down the already dark streets. Ally slipped her hand into Austin's. Everyone was so content, everyone's hopes were high, so much cheer in the atmosphere.

"I can't believe New Years is only about a month away!" Austin exclaimed in a sudden burst of energy. He was talking about performing, of course. Except...would he be performing? Ally's stomach churned as she thought of how he'd react if he found out.

To her, the bubble of happiness surrounding them seemed to pop, as she cast Trish a worried glance. Trish brushed her hand over her mouth, as if to say 'zip it.' She was pretty sure he'd be able to go on, but just in case...no need to worry him, not yet. Ally's forehead creased as she thought of what would happen if he couldn't go on. How would they tell him?

She realized she couldn't tell him. Even if it was true that he wasn't allowed to perform...Ally wouldn't be able to tell him. She didn't want to be the one to break his heart.

"Alls, what's wrong?" Austin asked, noticing her discomforted expression.

"Nothing." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Seriously, I'm fine," she argued. "I'm just a little nervous about the interview." Her lies were getting so good, even her boyfriend couldn't tell when she was bluffing. She didn't know if that was bad or not.

"Ally, you're stressing over this way to much. I mean, I should be the nervous one," Austin pointed out.

"But you aren't!"

"Exactly. If I'm not worried, then you have nothing to be concerned about either. You over-worry about things much too much, you know."

Yes I do, Austin. I know I do. But I'm not worried for me, I'm worried for you.

"I guess you're right," Ally gave in. On the outside. Because on the inside she wanted to burst into tears. So many things had the possibility of going wrong, and Austin was too naive to accept it. She nearly envied him for that, but knew it was useless.