Disclaimer: lol I don't own Austin and Ally and I am in no way affiliated with Disney or Disney's affiliates

Word Count: 4 587

A/N: Hello interwebs! I've been dying to do a coffee shop AU, but also a college AU, and even though I have several fanfictions in the process of being written, I couldn't resist starting another one. Por que no los dos? I've made this a coffee shop and a college AU! So, here goes nothing, and I hope you like it!

The small café was filled with pleasant chatter and the smell of coffee as Austin Moon finished his last set of the day. The sounds of his acoustic guitar plicked and plucked softly and gently, his lips pressed against the mic as he finished the last song. His eyes were closed as he savoured the soft clapping from the patrons in the café, never tiring of the praise he received whenever he did a good job with his music. Although he was only in his third year of college, Austin was swiftly becoming well known around the neighbourhood for his frequent performances in various coffee shops and restaurants. The young man moved back slightly and murmured a 'thank you' into the microphone, before standing from the stool he had been perched upon, and turning around to start packing his things up.

Performing was something that gave Austin a rush that nothing else could. If he was completely honest with himself, performing gave him a better feeling than kissing his girlfriend did, and he certainly enjoyed kissing his girlfriend. Who wouldn't enjoy kissing the brown-eyed beauty? Yet, there was something about performing, the way his fingers would dance across the fretboard, the keyboard, the keys – whatever instrument he had been graced with the ability to play – that just made him happy in a way that nobody and nothing else could.

And, to top it all off, he got to be surrounded by the smell of coffee all day.

Life was pretty good for one Austin Monica Moon, and as he stepped off the stage, adjusting his beanie and the guitar strap slung around his chest, he was almost immediately swarmed by girls. These girls certainly weren't shy, and although he was flattered, he had a girlfriend and he was quite sure that he loved her. Austin smiled as he made simple small talk, and then motioned with a tilt of his head towards an empty booth. If he was going to chat with his admirers, he wanted to at least sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee. The smell had been tantalising him through his whole performance, and he was really beginning to crave it.

When Austin sat down, he was immediately pushed completely into the booth as the girls swarmed and joined him, effectively bordering him between the wall, the table, the squishy booth chair, and their bodies. At least he had had the common sense to set his guitar down before he had moved into the booth, so his precious instrument was not being crushed as he was. Instead, it was propped up against the wall, the hard case protecting it from the way one of the girls poked it with fascination. In retrospect, Austin really should have sat in one of the chairs opposite him, rather than sliding into the booth. He noticed that there was a plain black wallet on the booth beside him, squished between his hip and the girl next to him. He silently thanked whoever's wallet that was, because it prevented the girl from pressing completely into him – and she hadn't noticed the wallet, so hadn't attempted to move it. He made a mental note to take it to the counter later, to ask his friend Cassidy if she had seen who left it there.

"So, Austin," said Brooke, one of his most ardent admirers. "When and where are you next performing?"

"U-um, I don't know, Brooke," he replied, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

He hadn't thought far enough ahead to book his next gig – although, the coffee shop owner had recognised Austin's talent almost immediately and had hired him, booking him in to perform every week on a Friday evening. This was tailored both to fit Austin's busy college schedule, but also simply because the owner knew that the café was a hotspot for tired college students ready for a fun night out – and in need of caffeine for the energy they needed for their 'downtime.' Friday nights were perfect, and although Austin no longer got to do the whole 'bar scene', he didn't mind, because performing was his drug of choice and the only girl he ever wanted to lay eyes on was only a phone call or text message away at any one time.

Brooke was consistently at his performances, almost every Friday evening, and she would often swoon and praise him as soon as he stepped off of the stage. On the few times his girlfriend had been there, he had expected her to get jealous and moody because of the way Brooke stared at him, like a python ready for her next meal. However, his girlfriend was cool and confident and was not 'the jealous type' (although, he often wished she was, because just once he would like the situation to be reversed where she was the one getting irrationally jealous and he was the one chuckling and saying 'honey, you know that I only have eyes for you'). She had never gotten jealous before, simply because it was clear to see that Austin was smitten. They didn't have a lot in common, since she preferred sport and he preferred music, but they looked fantastic together, and they certainly had fun, which Austin thought made up for the fact that the most intimate conversations they had ever shared were the same sort of conversations that he had shared with his best friend, Dez.

It was true that when Austin first met his girlfriend, he had been taken by her beauty, and she had thought he only liked her for her looks. He had admitted that her looks was what had originally drawn him in – but one's appearance is the first thing that will draw somebody's eye, not one's personality. It's impossible, Austin would argue, to tell what kind of personality a person has just by looking at them. He had told her that yes, he thought she was beautiful, and he wanted to get to know her to see if she had a beautiful personality to match the pretty packaging. Eventually, his charm and sincerity had won her over, despite their rocky start, and Austin was proud to call the blonde-haired, brown-eyed beauty his girlfriend.

Her name was Piper, and she smelled like the ocean.

A polite cough drew him out of his reverie, and he smiled sheepishly at the girl in front of him. She cocked her head expectantly, as though she had just asked him a question, and all Austin could do was stare at her with a confused expression until she repeated herself.

"I asked you how things were with you and Piper," she repeated, raising an eyebrow. There was a hungry sort of gleam in her eye, the sort that terrified Austin, and she leaned forward in anticipation. Her friends all leaned forward as well, eagerly awaiting his reply.

"Um, things are really great?" He squeaked, looking confused. "I mean, she's my girlfriend, so I guess it's inevitable that not everything is going to be perfect, like, all the time, but we're happy together and she's – well – she's amazing? I don't know, things are really great." He trailed off, looking scared as the whole group slumped backward in disappointment.

Brooke cleared her throat and stood, and her friends all stood with her.

"Well, Austin," Brooke said, smiling at him and waving as they began to depart. "You know what my number is if things are ever not going really great." She gave him a charming smile, and if Austin wasn't so smitten with Piper, he certainly would have been calling her right away, but as it was – he was happy, and while Brooke seemed like a nice girl and he agreed that they had the sort of personalities which could be compatible, he really only had eyes for Piper.

"Thanks," Austin said, waving awkwardly. "But things aren't ever going to not be really great."

Her eyes narrowed for a split second before she broke into another easy grin, although, in Austin's opinion, it did seem a tad forced. "That's a pity. You could get any girl you wanted," she told him, flipping her hair flirtatiously. Her friends had already left the store, and she was the only one who remained. "Call me if you change your mind," she added, wriggling her fingers at him in a good bye before she left the café as well, presumably to join her friends.

Austin sighed and leaned back, rubbing his eyes. He was tired, and he got up to order his coffee. Once he was seated again, the little number on the table as he waited for the drink, he pulled out his phone and scrolled mindlessly through various apps. It was annoying for him to constantly have to ask these girls to back off, and since he didn't wish to be rude, he couldn't even scream that he adored Piper and that he didn't want that kind of attention from them. He could only politely suggest it, but it seemed with each performance that the gaggle of girls only grew. In fact, a few of them had even isolated him – they had come into the café under the guise of only wanting coffee, made eye contact, and walked directly toward him. Later, they would flip their hair and giggle flirtatiously, claiming that they had only walked towards him because they thought he had beckoned them, so he had gotten into the habit of sitting in this booth – his booth, really, since he had long ago etched his initials onto the side of the table – since he didn't have a clear view of the front door from where he sat, and he couldn't possibly be mistaken for 'beckoning' them to come join him. He always sat so that he was facing the barista, because normally, Cassidy was working and she would rescue him if he looked too scared by the flirtatious women.

When Austin's coffee came, he heard the little bell jingling another customer was coming in. It was already getting late, close to the closing time – almost eight in the evening – and curiosity got the better of him. Barely anybody ever came into the café around this time, since most people were either already at the club, or out at dinner, or something, and Austin had often seen the most unusual people come in at this time. Once, a cool motorcyclist with an eyepatch and a beard and a tattoo of a unicorn on their massive bicep had walked into the café, and he had spent the night telling Austin all about the sort of escapades he got into when he was Austin's age. Ever since then, Austin had always made an effort to chat with the more unusual looking patrons, since they normally had an interesting story and they enjoyed the rapt attention the young man gave them. Their stories were more interesting than listening to Piper talk about her day, in any case, and even though he adored Piper and would always listen with equally rapt attention when she spoke about her day, there were only so many times that he could sit down and hear about the 'cool vegan friends' who she went shopping with that day.

The girl who walked in, however, was not unusual in any way. She had wavy brown hair, and the tips were ombré. There were glasses perched upon her face, and she clutched a large bag with the logo of the local bookstore on it. She was talking rapidly on her phone, and she walked up to the counter, momentarily pulling the phone away from her ear to chat to Cassidy. She was boring and ordinary, and judging from the silhouette of multiple books in that bag, she was probably a nerd as well – she didn't seem as though she had any interesting stories to share with Austin. He sighed and stirred his coffee, gulping down the last of it before setting down the cup and wiping his mouth. When he looked up, the brunette turned around at the counter, still talking rapidly on the phone and looking around. She suddenly made eye contact with Austin, and her eyes flicked to either side of him, no doubt noting the empty seats. She hung up her phone and dropped it into her bag, before her eyes met his once more.

Shit, Austin thought, quickly glancing away, and hoping she wouldn't think that was an invitation. She was pretty, no doubt, but Austin was tired and not in the mood to fend off another girl trying to get into his pants.

When he glanced up again, he found that his silent wishing had failed. The girl was headed straight toward him, looking flustered, shy, and awkward.

"Uh, excuse me. Hello," she said, setting her bag down into the empty chair opposite from him, and rubbing her shoulder where the strap of her bag had clearly been digging into. "I don't mean to be rude, or anything, and I'm sorry to interrupt you, but –"

Austin held up a hand to silence her, and she immediately fell silent, looking awkward and embarrassed and incredibly shy. He almost felt bad that he had to shut her down, because none of his other admirers had ever been so polite in the lead up to asking him on a date, and although he didn't think he had ever seen her in this café before – surely he would have remembered those big brown eyes? – she had probably always been watching him perform from afar. Judging from the shy way the girl held herself, it had probably taken all of her courage to come over here and ask him out. He almost felt bad that he was about to reject her, potentially ruining her self-confidence forever to the point where she would never ask out a boy ever again.

"Let me guess – you've seen me perform here before, and now you want to ask me out?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

The girl looked surprised, and her eyes flickered to the empty seat beside him once more, her lips jutting out the slightest in a confused pout. "Uh –"

"Look, I have a girlfriend. I don't know if you came over here because you thought I was checking you out or something, but I wasn't."

Once more, the girl simply looked surprised, and she raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" She asked, blinking rapidly and shaking her head in confusion, as though she hadn't properly processed his words.

"Well – that's why you came over here, isn't it?" Austin asked, tipping his head to the side. Judging from the way she was responding, she was nowhere near as shy as he had originally thought – perhaps she was one of those girls who used the 'cute and innocent' charm to trick unsuspecting guys into their bed. He noticed her make-up – a perfect flick of the eyeliner on the top lid, none on the bottom waterline, and a light pink lipstick. She wore very little make up, but it was clear that she had put effort into her appearance; perhaps she was attempting to impress him by being one of those girls who don't wear a lot of make-up, but are still quite pretty.

"Um. Right. Okay. So, anyway," she began, gesturing to the seat beside him, her tone soft and timid once more.

With a roll of his eyes, Austin held a hand up for silence. Man, this girl was persistent. "Look, ma'am, you're very pretty and all, but I'm a taken man! And in any case, you don't seem to be my type, anyway, so please don't bother leaving me your number 'just in case'," he said bitterly. He hated how many girls did that – they frequently gave him their number. Just in case he was ever 'lonely'.

His words seemed to annoy her, however, and she cocked a hip out, her arms folded across her chest. All traces of the shy and timid girl seemed to dissipate like mist in the sunshine, and a fire began to burn in her chocolate brown eyes. "Oh? I'm not your 'type'? Pray, tell me, what is your type, and what is it about me that makes you so sure that I'm not?"

Yikes.

"Uh – um –" he stuttered for a moment, before running a hand through his hair nervously. "I – well – you – you don't seem like my type, I mean, but that isn't the point! The point is that I have a girlfriend, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

"No, I want to know," the girl persisted, her tone sharp. "Firstly – what makes you think I'm not your type? And secondly, why do you believe the very concept that women can be sorted into types?"

Austin rolled his eyes. "Everyone can be sorted into a type. It's generic, yeah, and each person is unique or whatever, but anybody can be sorted into a 'type'. There's not a single person in this world who doesn't share similarities with several other people."

The girl cocked her head, peering at him as she pushed her glasses back up at her nose, clearly contemplating his words. "I suppose you're right," she admitted in defeat, tapping her chin thoughtfully. She shook her head before continuing. "You didn't answer my first question. How would you know that I'm not your type? I could be your type. You don't even know me."

A small smirk slid onto his face, and he shook his head with a small laugh, looking up at the ceiling for patience. Damn, he thought. Per-sis-tent. "Don't change yourself to impress a guy," he said eventually, raising an eyebrow at her and hoping that if he acted enough like a douche, she would be repelled and would leave him alone.

"I'm not – you can't just – I'm not trying to impress you!" She exclaimed, looking peeved. It seemed as though his plan was working. "You don't even know me! I don't even know you!"

"Please," he scoffed, beginning to feel annoyed as well. This girl seriously just did not quit! "You say that as if you think I've never heard that before. 'I'm not like the other girls; I'm different!'" he squeaked, imitating a girl in a high pitched voice.

The brunette stared at him. She didn't say anything for several moments. She simply scrutinised him, one hand tapping her chin thoughtfully, and the other resting on her hip. "Excuse me for making a judgement based off of your appearance, since it's really quite hypocritical of me when my very point is that you can't form an opinion of someone based on appearance, but may I please have the benefit of the doubt?" As she spoke, she pulled out the chair beside her heavy bag and sat down in it, evidently under the impression that Austin wanted to continue the conversation.

"Alright, whatever, go for it," Austin drawled, when it became clear that she wasn't planning on leaving. "Tell me all about how you have me figured it out."

"Okay," she said, shrugging. "So let me just get this straight – you looked at me and decided I wasn't 'your type'. Correct?"

"Correct."

"And judging from the guitar case on the wall, and that pick necklace you've got on… You like music. Correct?"

"Correct."

"And you perform here. On a regular basis, I assume, since the barista pointed at you and said you were Austin. Yes?"

He nodded, bored. "Look, lady, I understand if you're a fan or whatever, but you're really just telling me things that all the regulars here know."

"Uh-uh, Austin," she said, shaking her head. "No interruptions. You said you'd give me the benefit of the doubt."

He sighed. "Okay, whatever. Continue, O Psychic One." He bit sarcastically.

She looked pleased with his response, and an amused smile quirked over her face – and for a moment there, she really did look quite pretty, the sort of girl who could be his type, but he refused to let her know that his opinion on her not being 'his type' was incorrect. It wasn't even as though he had a type, as he had led her to believe. Austin had only said that to make her go away, but evidently, that hadn't worked.

"Mhm. So, as I was saying – before I was rudely interrupted," she said cheekily, her glasses glinting as she leaned forward to poke him in the chest, before she leaned back to her spot. "I'm going to assume that from the way you responded to me just walking in this direction, and the fact that the first thing you said to me was 'you've seen me perform here, and you want to ask me out' – a lot of girls practically throw themselves at you. You're used to them not even asking for your name, simply just inviting themselves to join you and probably attempt to figure out whether or not you have a girlfriend. And, since you do, you never want them to join you – unless the girlfriend you mentioned earlier isn't real, or you're an asshole."

Austin gagged and nodded, looking quite doleful. He was actually quite surprised at how perceptive the girl was – although, he supposed that was because she was a nerd. She probably majored in psychology, or something equally boring. "They always just throw themselves at me. They don't understand that I only want to be with my girlfriend."

She tapped her chin. "I bet your girlfriend is hot, blonde, and athletic. She was probably a cheerleader, most likely had decent grades since you seem to genuinely not be interested in the slightest at the prospect of other girls trying to 'woo' you, so to speak."

For a moment, he was genuinely surprised. "How- damn, you're good at that," he said, raising an eyebrow and shaking his head in wonderment. Perhaps his earlier decision that this girl was far too ordinary to provide him with entertainment and quirky company for the evening was incredibly incorrect – she was actually quite interesting!

The girl looked slightly embarrassed and ducked her head. "It's a gift," she said shyly, before she shook her head. Her eyebrows knitted together, as though she had just remembered that she was annoyed with him. "You interrupted again!" She whined, pouting.

Austin held his hands up in surrender, and mimed zipping his mouth shut before motioning she continue.

"Alright, okay, so, let's see… You probably liked all the hot, blonde, cheerleaders back in high school. Your grades probably weren't terrible, but they weren't good either. You didn't like studying, but sometimes you would use your supposed good looks and charm and ask unsuspecting 'nerds' to help you. Most of them were too smart to fall for your tricks, but they would help you anyway and you'd end up respecting them. Am I on the right track?"

He nodded slowly. She was really beginning to scare him with how scarily accurate her assumptions of him were.

"Uh huh. So, I walk in, with my glasses and with my books, and you assume I'm a typical, boring nerd – 'not your type'. Correct?"

He nodded once more, feeling uneasy. His awkward admission made the fire in her eyes flare up momentarily, before she took a deep breath and calmed herself.

"And because I made eye contact with you and walked directly towards you, you assumed I was coming over to ask you out. You thought, 'oh geez, not another girl that I must fight off! I have a girlfriend, dammit!' and you were absolutely certain that I came into this coffee shop to willingly ask you – a random guy, that I don't even know – on a date."

"It sounds dumb when you say it like that," he mumbled.

The girl ploughed on. "You looked at my face, and decided that I put some form of effort into my appearance. Because I headed towards you, clearly determined, you felt as though this only proved your hypothesis that I had come here with the sole intention of asking you out. Is all that correct? Did I get it right?"

Austin looked mildly annoyed and nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. That about sums it up."

She tapped her chin, scrutinising him thoughtfully. "Interesting."

A wave a guilt flooded him for making a rude, snap judgement about this girl, but then he felt defensive. She had done the exact same thing to him, hadn't she? He looked up at her sourly.

"Well, get off your high horse," he grumbled. "You made a snap judgement about me, too. Even though it's true doesn't mean you get to act all high and mighty. If you really didn't come here to ask me out, why would you walk in, make eye contact with me, walk directly towards me, and come up all giggly and shy and cute and stuff?"

The girl cocked her head. "Cute?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. She shook her head, continuing before Austin could even begin to splutter and deny that he had just called her cute. "I came here to get my wallet," she said.

"What?" Austin looked incredibly confused, and then he suddenly remembered the plain black wallet he had been planning on taking up to Cassidy once the girls had left him. Oops.

"My wallet," she repeated slowly, pointing to the wallet beside him. "I came here all 'giggly and shy and cute and stuff,'" she said, mocking him in a low-pitched voice, "so that I could get my wallet back. I was embarrassed that someone had sat down beside it, and it would be awkward to lean over and just take it when you're practically sitting on it. I was embarrassed because I would have to ask you to move so that I could get it," she explained, looking bored.

Austin continued to stare at her with an incredibly confused expression, making no movement to get up. He was still perplexed, reeling from the fact that he had been so wrong, and that he had been unnecessarily rude to this girl. He wanted to make it up to her, but he didn't even know who she was.

"Well?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and motioning to the wallet. "Can I have my wallet?"

"Oh! Oh, right, yes, of course," Austin spluttered, awkwardly picking her wallet up and passing it to her. "Here."

The girl stood and smiled her thanks, mumbling something that was likely to be 'thank you', and moved to leave the café. She slung her bag back over her shoulder and tucked her wallet away, patting the bag as though checking it was definitely in there.

"Wait!" Austin exclaimed, and she turned around slowly, patting her pockets as though she were checking she hadn't accidentally left behind her phone or something. "Uh, sorry for, um. Being all. Mean earlier. And whatnot. Sorry."

"Hm? Oh, right, yeah. No worries." She gave him an awkward thumbs up and started to walk away again.

"Wait," he called again, standing from the booth and walking towards her. "I – I didn't even catch your name."

The girl looked confused and sighed, running a hand over her face. "And I didn't catch yours either," she said, patting him patronisingly on the head. She walked away once more before he could even react. She exited the store, the bell tinkling as she opened the door and left.

"I'm Austin, nice to meet you too," he muttered under his breath sarcastically, sighing as the door swung shut.

A/N: Ahahahaha gotcha! Did anyone think his girlfriend was Ally, until I started going into the in-depth description of the girlfriend?

But yes, I hope you enjoyed that. Lemme know what you thought! Are you iNtRiGuEd? Hooray! Is this worth continuing?!

Side note – It physically pained me to write about how much Austin likes Piper, because on the show I think the way she treated him in that first episode was super mean lmao. She judged him the same way he judged her? And then she acted like she wasn't being super hypocritical? That's why, when I made Ally judge Austin, I made her hyperaware of how hypocritical she was being. If I continue this, I promise not to bash Piper as a character, since I think she's a pretty cool character, but I will be putting in my reasons as to why I don't ship Ausper and whatnot. That will be much later, though. A few chapters in.