Once more, to the fabulous Karen, or as you guys know her, Miss-Rainy-Skies, the superb author of the utterly flawless Damage Control. It has, sadly, come to an end now so go read it right now if you haven't. This little ditty can wait.

So, Sunday.

Today's the day; her dinner at Café Adagio's with Austin at 7:00 sharp.

And then her heart does this thing where it skips a beat and she nearly walks straight into the counter because she's nervous.

This has pretty much been going on all day. A little bit of work and then a whole lot of stressing over Austin and dinner.

"Oh God," she mutters, placing a hand over her chest.

She can't quite remember the last time she was this nervous for dinner.

Ally refuses to call it a date— and she really needs to stop putting such a weird amount of emphasis on 'dinner'—because there are a myriad of reasons why this cannot be deemed a date. One, she still has Daniel constantly hounding her with godawful romantic overtures. Really, her plate is full enough from that alone. Two, Austin is just her good looking, friendly neighbor-guy and this thing is wholly platonic. Three, even if, by some bizarre, random happenstance that he wanted this to be a date, she has this distinct feeling that he would have just owned up to it when he asked her.

Besides, Austin doesn't exactly strike her as 'shy', so tricking her into a date doesn't seem like it would be his M.O.

"Dinner," she mutters to herself as she starts going through the nightly routine of closing down the store. "It's just dinner. I can do dinner. You just pick up your fork, put the food in your mouth, chew, and then swallow." She pauses, mentally going over her step by step procedure.

"Note to self: Put food on fork first…"

Having to remind herself to put food on her fork during dinner; yes, tonight already looks incredibly promising.

Huh. Okay, so maybe she's more nervous than she cares to admit, but at least there was no weird emphasis that time. Maybe she can handle this after all.

And then Austin's charming grin flashes in her mind's eye and her stomach lurches a little.

Or not. It's a toss-up, really.

Ally takes one final look at her outfit in the mirror—a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a pale yellow blouse—and decides that she isn't going to change anymore.

She eyes the previous four outfits strewn across her bed and her floor with guilt and embarrassment. Two of them were discarded because they were too formal, a third because it was just horribly put together, and the fourth because she was hanging out with a friend, not slumming it in her apartment.

She checks her clock and sees that she has about fifteen minutes left and she runs a hand through her hair, thinking about what she can do help pass the time.

Ally eyes the mess in her room resignedly and decides to start putting her closet back together. She's in the middle of hanging up the second dress when there's a knock at her door.

She inhales and exhales to calm her nerve and quickly hangs up the dress and hurries to the door, excited and anxious about eating with Austin. Idly, she wonders what his favorite meal from Café Adagio is; she knows he's a fan of the pasta, but she has a soft spot for their pizza.

She opens the door, beaming just a touch too widely out of nerves. "Hey! You're ear—" she stops mid-sentence, eyes growing wide. "Oh my God. Please don't do this now," she begs, her heart sinking at the sight of Daniel with another bouquet of roses.

"Good! You're home!" He thrusts the flowers right under her nose and she gets a big nice whiff of the roses, which—having mixed with Daniel's cologne—smells less than delectable.

"Oh, ew, Daniel," she mutters exasperatedly as she turns her head and pushes them away.

Daniel manages to appear sheepish as he lowers his arm. "I'm sorry about yesterday," he says softly. "I shouldn't have shown up at your work and I'm sorry. Really, I am. I clearly upset you and that's why I decided to give you some space."

Ally eyes the lack of space between them, especially with his looming figure, and gives him a dry look. "Really? I hadn't noticed," she says sarcastically.

He takes a deep breath and then exhales tiredly. "Ally, I'm really trying here. I just—I miss you. Being with you was easy. You were sweet and kind and you never complained or nagged or picked fights with me." He looks at her sadly. "I just—I made a mistake, Ally. And I'm sorry."

Ally stares back, shocked, as she tries to absorb what must have been the most sincere sounding thing Daniel's said this entire week. "Daniel, I—" And then shakes her head and places a gentle hand on his arm. "Look, I'm flattered," she begins sincerely, "but I have to be honest—and oh my God, what are you doing?!" she screeches as she ducks her head and holds out her arm, her hand flush against his chest to keep him away from her.

He freezes mid-lunge at her, with his head angled toward hers. "I was going to kiss you."

"Why?" she demands, equal parts horrified and exasperated.

Daniel frowns and stares at her thoughtfully. "I misread this moment, didn't I?"

"Ya think?" she asks flatly with lowered brows, irritation coloring her voice.

And then they're at an awkward stand still for an uncomfortably long moment until they hear a door opening.

"Oh, great. Douchenozzle's here, just like old times," Austin says sarcastically as he exits his apartment. He eyes Ally with her arm braced in front of her, holding off Daniel and his dumb roses. He raises an eyebrow. "I'm not interrupting, am I?" his voice is light and joking, but Ally can see that his eyes are full of concern, silently asking if he needs to step in.

Ally shakes her head frantically and gives him an exasperated look. "Oh, no. Trust me, you're not interr—"

"Yes! You are interrupting! You're always interrupting!" Daniel snaps, whirling around to face Austin. His eyes narrow and his features contort in a manner that Ally thinks is supposed to be threatening but really just comes off like he is severely, painfully constipated.

May the Lord have mercy on his soul if he ever found himself in a fist fight.

Austin stares back at him, bored and unimpressed. "I can't help it if I like to watch," he deadpans. Ally's eyes widen and she chokes back a laugh. Austin's eyes flicker over to hers and a corner of his lips twitch into a small, lopsided smile. When they flick back to Daniel's, the corner drops and he resumes his previous expression.

Daniel's face reddens in anger and Ally can almost see the steam blowing out of his ears. Sadly, he's still about as threatening as a shaking Chihuahua peeing itself. Which, needless to say, is not very. "Why are you always around her?" he demands in a bellowing voice. "Are you some sort of stalker?"

Austin gives him an are you shitting me? look and scoffs, "Dude. Do you hear yourself right now?"

Oblivious to his own stalking habits, he blinks and says, "What do you mean?"

Austin rolls his eyes and states, very slowly and very clearly, "I live here." He lifts an eyebrow. "It might be a strange concept for you to grasp, but Ally and I—" he pauses, gesturing between him and the brunette "—are what you call 'neighbors' because we live in close proximity to each other. It makes sense for me to be here." And then he narrows his eyes and Ally can't help but think Now that's how you do it! "But I can't seem to find a valid reason for you to be hanging around her all the time."

Daniel bristles and glowers at Austin. "I told you! I'm her boy—"

"Ex," Austin and Ally chorus simultaneously, both sounding equally exasperated.

"—friend!"

"EX," the repeat, louder than before.

"Oh, for the love of—" she mutters in irritation as she pinches the bridge of her nose. She inhales and exhales quickly and levels a stern glare at him. "Daniel. I do not have time for this. We made dinner plans at seven and we don't want to be late."

"We did?" He looks at her hopefully.

"Not with you, you dolt!" she cries incredulously as she stares at him in disgust.

Austin snorts at Daniel's crestfallen look.

"Well, then, who is it?" he asks in confusion. "Who's this 'we' you're talking about?" he demands indignantly.

Austin's face lights up with a much-too-pleased smirk and he saunters to Ally's side and swings an arm around her shoulders as he points at their bodies with both his forefingers. "BOOM," he says smugly.

Daniel appears stunned and Ally wants to face palm. Between Austin's smug, gloating smirk and Daniel's jaw flapping uselessly in the wind, she feels a cluster headache coming on.

"You can't be serious," Daniel says hoarsely, his face paling slightly as his eyes dart wildly back and forth between the pair. "You're—you're going out with him?"

Austin frowns, not liking his incredulous tone. "I happen to be excellent company, pal," he says, sarcasm and venom dripping off of the 'pal'.

"The two… the two of you?" he asks, horrified. He turns to Ally. "Is this true?"

Ally nods and then pries Austin's arm off her. "Yes, it is," she grounds out, beyond irritated.

Daniel takes a dramatic step backwards and clutches at his chest, his face twisting in hurt and disappointment. He turns his sad, woeful eyes to Ally. "Ally… him? Really? You're replacing me with him?"

Her face scrunches up thoughtfully. She's not really trying to replace him with Austin, per say, because that would imply that Austin was becoming her new boyfriend. "Well, I'm not—"

Daniel interrupts with an overly dramatic sigh and runs a hand through his slicked-back hair. Not a single strand moves out of place and Ally can't help but think Yuck. "You really don't think this is going to work out between us, do you?"

He actually has the audacity to fake complete and utter heartbreak in his voice and Ally rolls her eyes so hard, she doesn't even mind the risk of them falling out of her head. But then his words sink in and a little flutter of hope starts in her chest because maybe, finally, he's gotten a hint.

"Yes!" she says, nearly cheering. "Yes, I do not think this is going to work out. I don't think this is ever going to work out."

Daniel hangs his head and sighs dejectedly. "Well, if you ever change your mind—"

"Which I won't."

"—you have my number, so—"

"Hm, I should really block that."

"—I suppose I'll just take my leave, then."

"It only took you forever, but okay." And then she makes shooing noises, accompanied with matching hand gestures at him.

He turns to Austin and half-heartedly says, "You, you take good care of her."

Austin nods and salutes him. "Aye, aye, capt'n."

He lets out another pathetic little sigh and if possible, hangs his head even lower as he shuffles away. "Bye, Ally, I'll always miss you," he throws over his shoulder, his voice wavering from the emotion; the emotion of what, Ally isn't entirely sure of.

They watch him go and as he rounds the corner, Austin lets out a low whistle. He turns to her, clearly impressed. "You heartbreaker," he accuses slyly.

She flushes. "That's not an applicable nickname," she mutters, trying to brush him off.

He shakes his head, his smirk widening, his eyes glimmering with laughter. "You broke his heart." He swoons unsteadily on the spot and clutches a hand over his heart. "You gonna break mine, too?"

"I did not!" Ally protests. She frowns and crosses her arms. "You do remember that he's the one that dumped me in the first place, right?"

He stops his swooning and gives her a pointed stare and makes circles with his forefinger next to his head. "So he had a case of the crazies, doesn't mean that he didn't honestly want you back and that you broke his heart."

Her brow furrows. "You really think he actually wanted me back?" she sounds skeptical as she eyes him wearily.

"Maybe. Who knows?" Austin shrugs. When she continues to look unconvinced, he rolls his eyes. "Jeez, Ally, it's really not that hard to believe. You're adorable, you're funny, and you're interesting to be around. It's not that much of a stretch, you know," he says as he raises an eyebrow at her.

Ally's eyes widen in surprise, not expecting his sincere compliments. "Um, well, thanks, Austin."

"But either way, you're better off without him," he says softly.

The corner of her lips quirks into a small smile. "That's true," she murmurs.

"I'm glad you didn't take him back," he says.

Ally gives him a look. "I have way too much self-respect for that."

He grins at her, full of boyish charm. "Well, that is another good trait to add to your already shining personality."

She laughs and gestures ahead. "So are you ready to go?"

Austin nods. "Oh yeah, I'm starved," he says as he offers her his arm.

She forgets to hesitate and loops her arm through his but can't bring herself to care when he glances down at her happily. She feels a smile tugging at her lips and she ducks her head to hide her blush.

She's not even mad that the butterflies decide to make a reappearance because as she focuses on the warmth radiating off Austin, she can't help but think This is nice and after her crappy week, she deserves nice.

The walk to the restaurant had put Ally at ease. The conversation was light and casual, with Ally talking about her slow day at work and Austin listening attentively.

It was oddly comfortable, even familiar-feeling. But now that they're sitting in the cozy little restaurant with the dim lighting and the homey—but not tacky—décor, she feels nervous.

Luckily, the waiter comes by and the routine of ordering and waiting helps to ease her nerves. Austin's friendless and the easy atmosphere helps, too, as they lapse into another comfortable conversation. And before they know it, their orders are placed in front of them, both having ordered different pasta dishes.

After the waiter walks away, Austin looks up from his plate and says, "So can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure," Ally replies absently, twirling some pasta onto a fork. She's glad to have remembered this important step from her pep talk this morning.

"It may be a bit personal," he warns as he picks up his own fork.

"Uh-huh," she says, still too focused on the food in front of her as she brings the forkful of food into her mouth.

"So how come you never slept with Daniel?"

She can't even savor the taste of the pasta in front of her because she's too busy choking and sputtering from Austin's question. "What?" she coughs with bulging eyes, immediately reaching for her glass of water.

"Hey, I warned you that it was personal," he says defensively when he sees her glaring at him from over her water cup. He does send her an apologetic glance right after, though. "Sorry. You don't have to answer, you know. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he adds with a wince.

She gulps down the water greedily and thumps herself on the chest. "No, it's fine," she croaks, her face red with embarrassment due to his question and her choking fit. She cringes at the sound of her own voice and takes another long drink of water. "Um. Why do you want to know?" she asks in her normal voice.

Austin shrugs. "It's none of my business—"

"You're not wrong there," she says with a raised eyebrow.

"—and while I'm glad you didn't, I'm still curious."

She frowns thoughtfully. "You're glad I didn't?"

He nods and says matter-of-factly, "Again, none of my business if you had, but he was an asshole that didn't even seem like he'd be any good in the sack."

"What makes you think that?" she asks, fascinated.

"He was selfish, impatient, and never paid attention to what you were saying." He gives her a hard look. "Now imagine being in bed with a selfish idiot with no patience that can't even pay attention to what you want or what you like," he drawls.

Ally flushes a deep red. "Oh," is the only thing that she can think to say.

"If he was at least a memorable lay, I'd understand. But a shitty personality and a shitty lover? Nobody wins there."

Ally can't help but laugh. "Yeah, okay, you've got a point there," she concedes with a small smile. She wrinkles her nose in thought. "I don't know why I didn't sleep with him. The timing never seemed right, I guess?" she says with a helpless shrug of her shoulders.

Austin raises an eyebrow. "Timing?" he echoes before shaking his head. "Nah, I don't think that was the issue between you two."

She furrows her brow. "What do you mean?"

Austin rolls his eyes. "Okay, let's say you two managed to somehow make it to six months. Imagine that for just a second."

She stares at him, expressionless. "Austin, there is a beautiful dinner in front of me and it'd be a shame to lose my appetite," she states flatly.

"Just imagine it!" he insists with a small chuckle. "Close your eyes."

She gives him an odd look. "I can imagine things without clos—"

"Close them!"

With an impatient sigh, her eyes flutter closed.

"Now imagine this," he starts in a low, soothing sort of voice. "You, your beloved douchenozzle, and your six month anniversary. Oh, look, he even got you another bouquet of roses, imagine that! And a pair of ugly-ass diamond earrings that are tacky and age you eighty-something years."

She cringes but gives a slow nod. "Yeah, I'm imagining it."

"So tell me honestly, would you sleep with him because you wanted to or because you felt obligated to?"

Her eyes fly open and she fixes him with a pointed look. "I think we both know the answer to that."

"You wanna know what I think the problem was?" Austin smirks and stares at her knowingly as he leans over the already small table to close some of the gap between them. "I don't think he ever made you feel hot."

Her eyes widen and she almost chokes again, this time on her own spit. "Excuse me?" she sputters.

He leans back and looks at her, amused. "Don't look so scandalized," he chastises. "Hot," he repeats. Her expression of wide-eyed horror doesn't let up and he rolls his eyes. "You know, heat, passion. Hell, I'd be surprised if he even managed to get you excited."

She swallows and notes the spark in his eye, the wolfish smirk on his face, the confidence exuding from him. "Uh," she stutters dumbly.

"Was he a bad kisser?"

Ally's answer is in her blush and silence.

Austin points his fork at her. "You deserve excitement."

Her eyebrows jump up. "Do I?" she mumbles, dazed, as she refocuses on the food in front of her.

"Everyone deserves some excitement," he says with a casual shrug. He takes his first bite of food and groans. "Damn, this is good," he mutters, now directing all his attention to the food in front of him.

She hums in agreement and takes her fork to her food, almost wanting to ask him if he thinks he could give her the excitement he thinks she deserves. She quickly stuffs that question down with a forkful of delicious pasta, though.

"Oh my God, I can't remember the last time I ate that much," Ally moans during their walk back to the apartments. "Good call on getting our own orders of tiramisu, by the way."

He snorts. "That stuff is way too good to share."

"Very true," she agrees with a giggle.

Austin chuckles. "It was impressive, how much you ate."

She winces. "Sometimes I forget about manners when you put good food in front of me," she admits sheepishly.

He shrugs. "I don't have a problem with that. Besides, you were kind of cute while you were eating." And then he puffs out his cheeks, bring up his hands to mime holding something next to his cheeks. "Just like a little chipmunk."

"The compliment every girl is dying to hear," she deadpans. "Thank you."

His cheeks deflate and he laughs. "You're very welcome," he shoots back jokingly.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Ally speaks up again.

"Hey, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but thanks."

"What? For paying to feed your insatiable appetite?" he asks as he pokes at her belly playfully.

"Ha ha," she laughs sarcastically as she bats his hand away. "And I tried to pay my portion of the check," she reminds him in annoyance.

Austin shakes his head. "Nope, I invited you out and took you to dinner."

She rolls her eyes and clears her throat. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you for cheering me up this week."

Austin blinks, surprised by her gratitude. He drops the playful attitude and looks at her softly. "You don't have to thank me," he insists.

Ally shakes her head in disagreement. "No, I do. You cheered me up, kept me company, and took me out when I was having such an awful week." She gives him a small smile. "If it weren't for you, I'd probably still be at home, pathetically bemoaning my life."

The corners of his lips quirk upward and he adds, cheekily, "Don't forget the eggs, the universal sign of friendship."

She grins back up at him. "I know. You supplied me with breakfast all week."

He shrugs nonchalantly. "What can I say, I'm a perfect gentleman," he brags.

"And so modest, to boot," she adds dryly as they make their way through the lobby and into an elevator.

He chuckles at her and presses the appropriate number for their floor. "I try."

She rolls her eyes and socks him in the shoulder. When he dramatically leans toward the wall for support, feigning a wound to the shoulder, she can't help but laugh at his theatrics. Austin grins at the sound and straightens up only when the elevator doors open up on their floor. He gestures for her to exit first, following after. Pretty soon, they're in the middle of the hallway, their backs to their respective apartments.

The first uncomfortable silence of the night and Ally is mildly afraid she'll start sweating soon if this goes on any longer.

"I had a good time!" she blurts, immediately wincing afterward. She smacks her forehead and stares intently at her shoes. "I honestly meant for that to go smoother."

He tilts his head and regards her carefully. "You know, I have this feeling that you and smooth don't necessarily belong in the same sentence." She chances a glance at him as his lips twitch upwards into a smile and suddenly, he's looking at her with what she hopes is affection, but thinks that may be too good to be true.

She winces and sends him a guilty look. "You got me," says with a resigned sigh.

Austin laughs, but it's fond and warm and she feels herself smiling at the sound. "Well, I'm glad you had a good time," he murmurs. "I had a good time, too," he adds, giving her a lopsided grin.

"Thanks, again, for being there for me this week," she murmurs.

"Hey, any time, alright?" he says softly.

She looks up at him hopefully. "Promise?"

"Promise," he says with a curt nod and she can practically hear the conviction in his voice for miles.

Ally closes the gap between them and throws her arms around him in a hug. "I wasn't kidding when I said you were the best thing that's happened to me," she murmurs.

Austin chuckles and returns the hug. "You're only saying that because I keep feeding you," he teases. But he buries his nose in her hair and they stay like that for what is quickly becoming the world's longest hug. Top contender for it, anyway.

Finally, she reluctantly pulls back far enough to look at him. She means to thank him one last time before pulling away completely for the night, but the unreadable look in his eyes makes her stop. She swallows nervously when he brings up a hand to brush aside a stray hair from her cheek before resting there. Her eyes dart to his hand and then back up to his eyes.

"Austin…?" she whispers hoarsely.

And then his eyes widen and his hand drops and the spell is over.

The spell is over and she hates herself for breaking it in the first place.

Austin takes a step back, forcing her to drop her arms. "Sorry," he says gruffly.

She hesitates and reaches out with a hand before thinking better of it and brings it to her chest, instead. "Are—are you okay?" she asks meekly.

"Yeah! Yeah," he says in the same gruff voice. He waves a hand at her dismissively and plasters on a grin she's never seen on him before.

She's never seen it before because it's the fakest grin ever. Her brow furrows and she takes another step toward him. "Aus—?"

"Night, Ally," he says briskly and then turns his back on her. She doesn't say a word and continues staring at his back and soon after, his closed apartment door.

She feels hurt and wonders what went wrong and why he's shutting her out like this.

But you wanna know something really stupid?

For a split second there, she really thought he was going to kiss her.

And yet another Monday comes 'round.

She sighs and wonders how so much could have happened in one week: Daniel dumping her and then wanting her again, having one of the worst weeks she's had in a long time, meeting Austin, becoming friends with Austin, and her personal favorite, developing a butterfly-inducing something on Austin.

(A treacherous whisper in the back of her head snidely tells her it's called a crush, but she shushes it.)

And that's before she even factors in the confusion after last night's dinner.

Needless to say, she's a little distracted for the rest of the day at work.

After work, she finds herself pacing in front of Austin's apartment again, just like—hell, it hasn't even been a week since the last time.

But she needs to know about last night and whether dinner was supposed to have been a date or not. Austin's right; she needs some excitement and this time, she's going to seize it for herself.

Or at least try to, anyway.

With a huff, she stops her pacing and determinedly squares her shoulders. She brings her white-knuckled fist up to knock mightily on his door.

Well, that was the plan, but they come out as two dainty raps and she quickly spins around and tries to run back into her apartment, deciding to tell her need for excitement to go screw itself.

Sadly, she's not fast enough because she hears the door open up behind her.

"Ally?" Austin calls curiously.

Her shoulders hunch over in a dramatic cringe before she turns around to meet Austin's confused stare. "Hey," she says weakly, averting her eyes.

"Did you just try to play ding-dong-ditch?" he asks humorously, an eyebrow quirking upward as he regards her.

"Well, you don't really have a doorbell, so it's more like knock-knock-ditch…" she coughs awkwardly and wow, she really wishes she had a better brain-to-mouth filter.

Austin nods, trying to hold back a chuckle as he looks at her oddly. "Is this a newly discovered hobby of yours?"

She quickly shakes her head. "No, it isn't," she assures him.

"Well, good. Your juvenile days should be long gone by now," he laughs. "So what's up?" he asks, grinning at her.

She smiles, glad that the initial weirdness from last night seems to have dissipated between them. Too bad she's about to ruin it in about two seconds.

Ally opens her mouth and then closes it. She inhales deeply and rushes out, "I wanted to talk about last night."

His eyes widen and the easy-going grin on his face slips just a fraction. "Last night?" he echoes, sounding surprised.

Ally can feel her stomach sinking but she soldiers on. "Yeah," she says, trying to keep her voice casual.

"Um, okay," he says slowly. "What about last night?"

She takes another deep breath and squares her shoulders. "Was last night a—" she breaks off, suddenly unsure of her question. She swallows nervously and fidgets from foot to foot. "Was it a, you know—I mean—was it though?" she finishes lamely, wincing at her own vague question. "I just—I felt like maybe it… could have been?"

"Oh," he says. But Ally can tell from his expression that he has caught on fast enough. "No, it wasn't," he says quietly, but in a firm enough voice that she knows he's not budging.

"Oh." Her voice sounds small and faraway, even to her own ears. Her mind registers somewhere that her cheeks are heating up with embarrassment but all she can really feel is the visceral disappointment his words have given her.

Of course it wasn't, she thinks bitterly. You were just setting yourself up for heartbreak.

"But tonight can be," he says gently as he regards her very, very carefully.

Her head shoots up and she looks at him, stunned and wide-eyed. "What?" she whispers, sounding a little breathless from shock.

Austin scratches the back of his head before launching into an explanation. "Look, I didn't want last night to be a date in case you weren't ready. Your break up with Daniel was still pretty fresh and I didn't want to add my name to your list of jerks." He looks at her, so softly and so hopefully, she feels her heart clench. "You deserve better than that."

She shakes her head, the beginnings of a smile starting to light up her face. "Oh, believe me, I am so ready to move on from Daniel. I was waiting for you to make a move all night."

Austin's eyebrows jump and Ally face palms.

"Oh my God," she squeaks, red-faced. "I didn't—that's not—I meant—" she looks around desperately as Austin tries to reign back his chuckles. Her hands flail uselessly in her embarrassment and she takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. "What I'm trying to say is… I was hoping last night was a date—especially after Daniel pretty much gave up and everything—but I couldn't exactly tell."

He suddenly smirks and leans in closer to her. "Oh, trust me. If you're on a date with Austin Moon, you'd be able to tell," he promises, his voice low and husky.

Her heart skips about a beat and a half beats and she nearly swallows her tongue. "Is that so?"

He laughs and says, "Ally, I explicitly said dinner for a reason. If I had wanted a date, I would have said date." He grins at her and adds, "So, would you like to go out with me on a date tonight?"

"Yes," she says, trying to contain at least some of her excitement. Her cheeks are hurting form the mile long beam on her face though, so she thinks the containment thing isn't really working.

"Good."

And then he leans down and kisses her. She starts in surprise, but relaxes when he brings up a hand to cup the side of her cheek. The kiss is gentle and slow, making it easy to melt into his touch, and her breath hitches as her eyes shutter closed.

All too soon, the kiss is over.

Her eyes flutter open and it takes her a second because she has to remind herself to just breathe as she stares back at him quizzically. "Do you always kiss girls after they agree to a date?" she finally asks, albeit a little breathlessly.

He smirks and his thumb runs back and forth across her cheek. "Well, you said you were waiting for me to make a move last night and I figure I've kept you waiting long enough."

She lifts a hand to let her fingers ghost of her still tingling lips. "Totally worth the wait," she murmurs, looking up at him.

Austin grins and presses his forehead against hers. "Tonight just got a little bit better."

Ally bites her lip in anticipation. "This may be the best Monday ever," she whispers.

"I'm planning on it," he murmurs before leaning down to kiss her again.

Mondays. Who said they were the worst again?