Two in a Million | Auslly

Twenty Seven: Trials & Technology

Austin and Ally both stared at the screen for a good fifteen seconds, both of their jaws dropped to the floor. He gulped, unsure of what to say. He had so many questions.

"Umm, w-what the hell?" Ally finally managed, looking over at him. "Jimmy's suing us?"

"Well, not technically..." Austin muttered. "He just threatened to."

"This isn't good, Austin," Ally said, shaking her head. "If Jimmy files a lawsuit against A&A Records— or worse, us, our company could be in trouble. Not to mention our reputation as artists could go down the drain." She put her head in her hands, frowning. "I can't believe this is actually happening."

"I know," Austin replied, "And for what? As far as I'm concerned, I'm allowed to sign whoever I want, including Jimmy's niece. The fact that she's related to him shouldn't matter."

"It just doesn't make sense. Things were going so well!"

"I know."

Ally sighed. "I guess it was just too good to be true, huh? Having a record label that's in competition with Jimmy's." Austin nodded.

"I guess so." There was another moment of silence between the two. Ally started to bite her nails unconsciously and looked up at Austin.

"Austin, what if...what if he actually goes forward with this and it destroys our careers?" He forced himself to tear his eyes away from the computer and look down at his wife, who was moments away from breaking into tears. "What would that mean for us, for the kids?" Austin grabbed her hand and stroked it with the top of his thumb as he often did when her anxiety got the best of her.

He paused for a second. "We're just gonna have to make sure that that doesn't happen."

a few hours later

4:30 p.m.(ish)

"It's just so...screwed up, Dez. I don't know what to do," Austin said as he paced back and forth on the deck out back while on the phone with his best friend. He had just explained the entire situation to Dez and he'd been ranting for about fifteen minutes. Ally was downstairs with Ava, giving her another piano lesson to at least try to keep her mind off things, while Alex was out in the yard, chasing Paris around. Ally had put Austin in charge of making sure their son didn't disappear from the backyard but truth be told, he wasn't watching him that closely.

"That's rough, man, I'm sorry," Dez responded. "I wish I had some advice for you or something, but..."

"That's okay, Dez. You don't need to." Austin stared out at the yard, watching as Alex literally tackled the dog to the ground and the two of them rolled around for a few seconds in the wet grass, which was all thanks to the heightened amount of rain they'd been getting lately. Austin groaned, knowing that within minutes both of them would come running in the house, completely covered in mud. He shook his head, knowing that that wasn't the biggest issue at the moment.

At least to him. He knew Ally would be pissed—she'd just cleaned the floors earlier that afternoon.

"Well, uh, I'd better let you go. You seem like you've got a lot going on, so..." Dez' voice trailed off and Austin nodded, forcing himself back to reality.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks for hearing me out, buddy. It's always fun talking to you."

"Hey, right back atcha golden toes," Dez joked. "I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah...bye." Austin hung up the phone and peered off the deck. "Hey, Alex!" The two-year-old looked up to reveal that his face and hair were completely covered in mud. "Come over to the side of the house so I can hose you off before you come inside." Alex cocked his head and Paris looked up at him, confused as to why her playtime with her human had been suddenly cut short. "Like, I'm literally gonna wash you with the hose," he added. "Mom's gonna be mad if you track mud in the house." Austin watched as Alex ran up to the side of the house, Paris trailing behind him, as he went to look for an older towel to mop his son off with in the laundry room. He grabbed a stack off of the top shelf and his breath hitched when he recognized the one that sat on the very top.