Ally sighs, her steps becoming heavier as she walks down the sidewalk with a grocery bag hanging from her left hand. Of all days, why did today have to be sweltering hot? The chestnut waves of Ally's hair began to stick to her neck and she whimpers, trying not to groan or complain out loud.

For the past couple of days, she's gotten dark circles from late night studying and always helping out her dad at the store. In near defeat and temptation to give up right there and lay in the grass, the worn out brunette hangs her head, another childlike whimper resonating from her. With another fighting sigh, Ally lifts her head, pushing her hair out of her face with her free hand. "A couple more blocks, Ally," She self preps. "Almost there."

However, her weariness gets the best of her the more she walks. The beat beats down on her and her own vision begins to blur.

She passes by a store just as the door opens from a departing customer. The cool aircon blowing from inside stops Ally, making her look back at it. Through the windows, sets of beds and mattresses were arranged. Of course the mattresses were too welcoming; Ally found herself walking in, moaning in relief at the cool air con inside. With her head still dizzy, she saunters like a zombie to the small mattress at the back of the store and sits on it. THe white cotton and firm welcoming comfort of the bed practically crooned her to lay upon it. But with no second thought, Ally lays upon it, curling up with a tired mewl and closed eyes and drifts instantly.

Ally hears a soft chuckle and squirms, breathing in. She cuddles towards the soft mattress under her. "Was my bed always this comfy…?" She thinks to herself. As a few seconds roll by like leaves in the wind, Ally gasps, opening her eyes in a jump when she remembers where she was. She props herself halfway up on her side, her locks falling in front of her face, absorbing her surroundings. She indeed is still in the mattress store; Only when her eyes shift to the left to appraise a blond boy nonchalantly sitting on the edge of the bed, with a thoughtful and color of amusement on his face as he looks forward, did Ally turn beet red.

"People don't usually fall asleep on the beds until they get home," The blond says in a gentle and lighthearted manner. His eyebrows are up, bemusing at the statement himself.

Ally, still burning red, didn't know what to say. She tries but only makes the vowel 'a', only for her to lower her head in sheer embarrassment. Then, did the boy finally glance at her, and she peeks up at him. After a beat, an affectionate grin spreads on his face as he positions his body more toward her, his leg now curled on the mattress. "You don't have to be embarrassed, I do it all the time!" He says with a chime in his assurance. Ally blinks, doubting it but cracks a smile at him trying to make her feel better.

"I'm...sorry." She mumbles under her breath as she sits up. At the corner of her eyes, she sees he wears the vest belonging to one who works here and internally faceplants. She halfway knew already but still cursed herself for her luck.

"Um…" She starts in a soft voice that he has to look at her to make sure it was her speaking. "How long was I out?" She's scared of the answer because she knows it would only aid her embarrassment. She notices a nametag on the left of his torso. Ally is about to crane her neck to see, but stops herself, shy.

"About...half an hour."

"Oh." She pauses. "Why didn't you wake me…?"

The blond shrugs lightly. "You looked really tired. I couldn't bring myself to wake you." He says in a sincere, empathetic voice, looking at her.

Ally's looks at him, trying to read his expression. She somehow starts studying his tousled sandy blond hair to his handsome profile to his laid back posture and hands. She only realizes she's checking him out (to her oblivious horror) when she feels his amused stare. Which is proven right when her eyes flicker to meet with his brown ones, matching shades. She mentally facepalms and beats on her head for praising the features of a random - cute - stranger. However… "You seem familiar. Have we met before?" She feels hesitant, but he looks like her age.

Blondie responds with a one shoulder shrug and sympathetic half smile. "We go to the same school."

Ally feels stunned, dumbfounded and a weird curiosity. Her eyes widen, looking back at the name tag she still couldn't see. Austin looks down at where her eyes were and back to her with a smile. "I'm Austin." He says openly.

Ally opens her mouth and then smiles. "I'm Ally."

Austin grins and glances at her lips and back to hers, holding a warm gaze. He leans toward her, his palm on the mattress. "...We should probably get off the bed, Ally." He suggests mindfully, his eyes having a teasing glint in it.

"Oh! Oh, right," Ally flushes, shuffling to get off the bed. Austin laughs lightly at her struggle as she slides off and fixes her flats. Ally presses her lips together, tucking her hair behind her ear as she keeps her eyes down. "Um, I should probably leave,"

"Wait," She stops to his call, looking at him with curious eyes. He stood up from the bed, eyes having a flicker of vulnerability before it shaded back brown. "Do you really have to go?"

Out of surprise, Ally tilts her head. "Well, I've been a hassle enough, I probably should and-" She gasps. "Where's my grocery?"

Before she starts a search, Austin makes an amused grin, holding up a familiar grocery bag in his hand by his index finger.

"Eep," She reached for it, which he gave to her. Although there was a hint of wanting to tease her and hold it away, he held the urge back. "Thanks!" She peeks into it to make sure it's all still there.

"Pickles and pencils?" Austin says, finally giving into the teasing, crossing his arms over his chest. Ally's mouth drops looking at him.

"Hey! I needed pencils and pickles help me study…" She turned it into a mutter, turning on her heel to walk out. Austin jumped and walked after her, not letting her get too far before he turned her around by holding her shoulder.

"Wait," He says again. "Can you please stay and keep me company? Working at my pa- this mattress store is so boring sometimes. If you stay, I'll let you lounge on all the comfy beds and not let you get in trouble." He winks at the end and Ally was caught between a blush and a laugh.

"Tempting but...I really do have to get home. I have to study and help my dad close up shop-"

"You can't take a break?" He interjects a little sadly. This gets Ally, making her stutter.

"Well-"
"You know I've seen you at school. You're a straight A student, and always look dead tired when the bell rings." He says, keeping their eyes locked. "So when I saw you passed out here, I was so surprised and kind of worried."

Ally opens her mouth but has no words to say. She only stares back up, searching for answers in his eyes. Austin stares back, his eyes fleetingly going to her lips before to returning to her eyes. They hadn't noticed how close they'd gotten to each other until, "Austin!" made them jump apart.

A middle aged couple, matching in pink and grey sweaters tied around their shoulders, and a crown on both their blonde hairs approaches them with arms linked daintly. "Have you been slacking, son?" The man of the couple asks Austin- in a bad British accent, presumably.

Austin opens his mouth to interject, but the woman interrupts. "Ooh, who is this pretty girl?" She says, talking about Ally.

Austin makes an exasperated sigh, giving Ally an apologetic look before saying, "This is Ally. She's from school." Austin introduces.

"Oh, great to meet you Ally! I'm Mike Moon and this is Mimi Moon. What brings you to Moon's Mattress Kingdom?" The man says in the same bad accent.

"Um," Ally starts, looking at Austin for help because she didn't like lying. "I'm, just leaving," She said, giving a polite grin, pointing to the front doors.

"Aw, that's too bad...oh Austin sweetie, you forgot your crown," Mimi says, turning to carefully place a crown on Austin's head, which he looks up at in horror. Once it's placed securely, he looks at her.

"Mom!" He whines and Ally brings her hand to her mouth to hold back a giggle. So they were Austin's mom and dad? Then that means…

"See we can't do this thing without the crown," Mimi says in a low normal voice to Ally. She returns to a pitchy, British accent and holds up her right hand. "There's no hassle in our castle," She pledges. Mimi and Mike look at their son with a look. Austin looks at them briefly before rolling his eyes up. "Where the best mattresses are found," He says in ( an honorably better British accent than his parents) bored tone. Ally lets half a laugh escape from her, watching him and Austin looks at her and grins. As Mike and Mimi are temporarily occupied by a customer asking them something, Austin leans down close to her, holding her arm. "This is why I wanted you stay with me. You're not going to let me suffer here alone right?" He whispers.

She smirks up at him, fighting the shiver when he let go of her arm.

Mimi and Mike turn back to them. "Oh Ally dear, I thought you were leaving?"
"Um," Ally looks at Austin for a second before returning to them. "I think I'm going to stick around just a while longer. To make sure Austin doesn't slack off." She adds.

The parents raise their eyebrows and look at each other in approval. "Alright then. Austin, take care of this princess and work diligently!" With that, the two walk off to the other side of the door.

Austin has his hand covering one side of his face, dragging it down. "Ah… see what I go through." He jokes, smirking at Ally. "And you're staying?" His tone changes to pleasant surprise.

"One hour." Ally states sternly.
"Perfect. I get off in one hour. I'll walk you home."

"Oh, no, no you don't have to do that." She objects quickly.
"Ally." He says, stopping her. "I want to. Now help me not fall asleep at my own job."
"Help me first," Ally muttered, brushing past him.

Austin stops her by gently holding her arm. She looks up, about to blush and say something before he cleans close to her again, not meeting her eyes. "Please get more sleep, okay? You can lay on that bed there while I work."

Ally blushes at the proximity. "I'll sit in the chair. I'm not going to fall asleep in the mattress store again."

With that, Austin lets go with a small smile. He goes and helps a lost looking customer while Ally goes and sits in the spare chair sitting by the wall. After a few minutes, Ally gives up and stands up to join Austin and share hearty laughs and smiles for the next hour.

"Alright Ally, my shifts over," Austin calls, walking to the back of the store. He looks around for the petite brunette girl who's no where to be found, until his eyes land on her snoozing in the chair. Her arm is propped on the arm rest, and her cheek weighed against her palm.

Austin crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head. He wasn't mad though. He was shaking his head at how little sleep she probably gets. She was so tiny too, he could just pick her up like a child right there…

He bends down in front of her so he was squatted next to the chair, to see all her features closely. His eyes trace the dark circles under her eyes, and her pink lips pressed together as she breathes in and out. Strands of fallen chocolate hair were in her face, tickling her cheeks. Austin's fingers graze across her cheek, gently pulling the strands away from her face, lingering in her hair. She squirms, her fingers closing in a fist and out as her eyes lazily open. "Where am I?" She mumbles, disoriented.

He pulls away his hand before she did and smiles. "We're going home."
"We?" She says,
"You." He corrects, rolling his eyes.
"Oh." She yawns, stretching. "I'm sorry, I fell asleep again somehow…"

"Don't worry about it." He dismisses, standing up. Ally stands up too, grabbing her grocery bag.

As they're walking to the front of the store, Ally points out something. "Oh hey your crown is gone."

"Sshh." Austin waves his hand in her face. He waved at his parents across the store. "I'm walking Ally home!"

"Alright, be safe." Mike said.

The two walk outside, Austin holding the door open for Ally so she could go first. As they went out, it wasn't as hot as before but it affected Ally. "It was probably just the heat earlier that made me so tired…" She mumbles.

After a few moments of silence, Austin makes a sound, and Ally peeks at him to see him grinning. "That was so awkward earlier with my parents." He says.

"Nooo…" Ally tries. He gives her a look. "Kinda. But not really!" Austin rolls his eyes as they walk.
"Sorry, they're kind of all about this mattress career…"
"...what do you want as your career?" Ally asks.
Suddenly, Austin lights up, looking out with a bright look in his eyes. "I want to be a musician. A singer. My dream is to play in New York Times Square on New Years."

An inspired grin forms on Ally's lips. "Really..?"
"Yeah, it's always been my dream. I love singing, and dancing, and playing guitar, piano… anything really." He pauses. "But my dad always said I had a billion to one chance in making it."
A comfortable rest of quietness went by as they walked. Ally looked up at Austin as he returned the gaze and she gave a soft, reassuring look. "I believe in you Austin."

Austin, a little caught off guard, stares at her. "...thanks Ally." He smiles at the end, looking back forward. The brunette smiles at the ground and finds herself walking closer to him the way home. Their hands brush together a couple times, and Ally thinks about the time her dad told her the same thing.

When they get to her house, Ally smiles at him. "Thanks Austin. Oh! And I promise I won't fall asleep in one of your mattresses again," She says with a serious deteremined look at the end.

Austin cocks his head to the side, walking a step back with his hands in his jean pockets. "That's too bad." He grins.

Ally blushes and gives him a watchful look. Then she gives in and giggles, lowering her head. "Bye Austin."

"Good night Ally." He says.

Her eyes go to the orange and pink sky and smiles a little more warmly. "Good night."

He stares at her a second longer with a smile until he turns around fully and walks. Ally sighs and starts going up her driveway until Austin's shout startles her. "Oh, and check inside your bag!" She whips her head over her shoulder, him a distance away, his hand cupped around his mouth. When he saw she heard, he turned and ran off.

Confused, Ally looked in the bag as she got to the doorstep.

On the top of the pickle jar was a sticky note with pen written on it.

Promise me to get some sleep tonight. For proof, you have to text me when you're going to sleep. No lying either! Thanks for the company, Alls. :) -Austin Moon

And below it was Austin's cell number.

Ally laughs, rolling her eyes and goes inside her house. Later that night, something about her mattress doesn't seem as warm as the one as at the store as she curls up in bed and texts a certain person good night.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Take care, always.