Two in a Million | Auslly

Six: Fancy Dinners & First Shows

one month later

Almost a month had passed, and it was now the day before the first show in Miami. Dez had come back from LA a few days prior, and while he missed Carrie, he was glad to be back with his friends. With this friend group, a lot of things hadn't changed for them since high school; Austin and Ally were in love, Trish was still their manager, and Dez was ecstatic about living on the bus for three months.

"Man, I can't wait for tour!" Dez exclaimed as the four friends sat together eating dinner. Austin had gotten them reservations at one of the fancier restaurants in Miami to celebrate the start of the tour.

"Yeah, me neither!" Ally agreed, locking hands with Austin. "It'll be so great to be able to sing again, not to mention romantic." She pecked his cheek and he blushed.

"Yeah... I could go without all of "—Dez gestured to the happy couple—"That." Trish nodded in agreement.

"I'm with him on this one. That's gonna get old pretty soon." When she and Dez glanced back toward Austin and Ally, they were kissing.

"I think it just did," Dez said. Trish made a face.

"Geez, get a room."

Austin and Ally pulled away, looking embarrassed. "Sorry," Ally apologized, picking up her menu. "Hey Austin, do you want to split something? It's kind of expensive here."

Austin waved his hand. "Don't worry about it, Ally. Dinner's on me tonight."

Ally looked at him. "Since when are you so flashy about money?"

"Since I decided that I wanted to treat my friends to a fancy dinner," Austin replied. "This is a momentous occasion, and I want to spoil you guys." Ally and Trish exchanged glances.

Ally grabbed his hand and grinned. "But shouldn't you be saving some of your money for tour? We've talked about this, Austin. Tour is expensive, and we're not getting any money from a record label."

"Ally, relax. I want to do this! It'll be no big deal."

"Sorry to interrupt your little squabble, but I have to agree with Ally on this one," Trish said, glancing up from her menu, "We're already in debt from booking the venues and hotels. Plus, you did promise to pay me double since I had to plan everything on such short notice. You might want to split something just to be safe."

Austin's expression closely resembled a deer caught in the headlights. "Uh, yeah. Right."

"Don't forget about me!" Dez, who had been blowing bubbles in his water, put his hands up to do jazz hands, knocking the glass over and spilling the water all over the table in the process.

"Dez!" The other three yelled. Ally scrambled to clean up his mess with her cloth napkin. Trish muttered something about having to clean up after him for the next three months, and Ally shot her a look.

"Sorry..." he mumbled.

Ally shook her head. "Don't worry about it—accidents happen. Now as for the money," she said, placing the wet cloth next to her, "we should really try to save as much of it as possible for tour. We're practically broke right now, and we could use it to cover some of the rental fees."

Trish nodded. "Agreed. Don't worry about paying me until the tour's over. I've got just enough money left from my previous jobs to get me through the next few months. Now," she mused, turning her attention back to the menu in front of her, "Where were we?"

The four friends ordered their food and stayed for another few hours, making small talk, mostly about tour. It seemed like that was all they had to talk about these days. After they were done, Austin went back to Ally's house with her to "help" her pack, and Dez and Trish went their own separate ways. Tomorrow was the start of the tour, and they wanted to get a good night's sleep. Trish had said earlier in the day that it might be their only chance to get one since tour would be so busy, and Ally wholeheartedly agreed. Austin still insisted on coming back to help her, and, being unable to say no to his puppy eyes, Ally said he could. She knew he wouldn't be a big help, but every moment spent together was precious, according to her. After all, they had four years of catching up to do.