A Birthday and A Realization

Pancake Barn

It was just another ordinary day for the gang. Austin and Dez were up to their usual shenanigans. Trish getting hired to her 8th job of the week, and Ally making her usual lame jokes. 

"Guess who got a job at the Pancake Barn!" Trish announced, striking her signature pose as she walked into Sonic Boom. 

"Another Job? How are people still hiring you?" Ally said with a half smile present on her face. 

"Easy, just lie on the interviews." Trish shrugged her shoulders and walked over to Austin, who was stirring a bowl of something.

"Austin, what are you doing?" She questioned, raising her eyebrow.

"Yeah," Ally agreed, turning to face him. "You've been mixing that bowl for, like, 5 minutes."

"Oh, this? This isn't mine. It's Dez's. He handed me this bowl and told me to keep stirring it." The blonde boy explained, briefly glancing down at the bowl.

"Well, what is it?" Ally said curiously, coming around from behind the counter and looking inside the bowl. "Smells like strawberry." 

Suddenly, Dez came running in, his usual colorful and unmatching attire covered in pink batter. "Austin, I need that bowl!" He shouted before snatching it from Austin's hands.

"Dez!" Austin whined as a bit of the batter splashed onto his white shirt.

"It's okay, buddy. You look good in pink!" Dez said before running back out the entrance with the bowl.  

"What a doof." Trish muttered under her breath before turning around and leaving. "I'm gonna head back to the Pancake Barn now. I've been on my 5 minute break for an hour." 

Austin scoffed and walked towards the door. "I'm gonna go change my shirt. I'll be back, Ally."

Ally nodded and went back to her place behind the counter. "Whenever you get back, maybe we can finish your new song for that gig tomorrow."

"Yeah, of course." Austin gave a small smile and left.

-- A half hour later--

Dez came running into Sonic Boom, having a frantic look on his overly-expressive face.  "Ally! I need your help to decorate this cake!" He said rather loudly, leaning on the counter in front of her.

"Cake? Why are you making a cake?" Ally replied, tilting her head a little. 

"For Austin's birthday! Now, will you help me decorate it?" Dez grabbed her arm and practically dragged her out of the store. 

He took her to his house, which was very close to the mall. Inside Dez's kitchen was a complete mess. You would think a strawberry milkshake exploded from how the walls and floor looked.

"Dez! It's a disaster in here." Ally walked over to the counter that held the cake, it was three layers and pink. "And why is the cake pink?"

"Duh! Austin loves pink." Dez answered, to which Ally gave a look to. He handed Ally some strawberry frosting and some sprinkles. "Please, please, please, help me!"

Ally sighed. "Fine, I'll help." She took the frosting and sprinkles, setting them down on the counter before her. 

"Yes! Thank you, Ally!!" Dez yelled happily, hugging her briefly.

"You're welcome. Now can you get me a butter knife and a piping bag?" Ally asked while opening the frosting. 

"Uh-huh!" Dez went into his cabinets and grabbed the supplies, putting them in the cabinet in front of Ally. 

--A few minutes in--

"..Oh! And I want it to say 'I Love You, Austin!' real big on the front. But on the top, it should say 'Happy Birthday!'" Dez said cheerfully, doing his normal weird gestures. The first layer of the cake was already frosted, only two left to go.

"Yes, Dez, I know. You've been saying it for the past 5 minutes." Ally nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"Sorry, I just really want this cake to be perfect." Dez looked at the cake and raised a judgemental eyebrow. "Have you frosted a cake before?"

"Uhh, yeah? Why? Is it not up to your standards?" Ally stopped frosting to give him a look. 

"No, nope. It's just fine." Dez nodded. 

"Good." She said and finished up the second layer.

--A half hour later-- 

The cake was FINALLY done. It was three pink layers tall with a sort of zig zag pattern in the frosting. It had "I Love you, Austin!" written on the front of the middle layer and "Happy birthday!" written on the top one. 

"Wow! This looks better than I thought it would." Dez muttered under his breath. "Thanks, Ally! I'm glad you ignored your phone buzzing for the last 45 minutes to do this!"

"You're welcome!-" Ally said before her smile quickly faded. "Wait, what?"

"Hm? Oh, your phone's been buzzing the whole time you were decorating." He clarified, staring at the cake.

Ally reached and grabbed her phone, checking it. "Oh, no! It's Austin. I told him we'd finish his song once he changed his shirt." She shoved her phone in her back pocket. "I gotta go, Dez."

"Bye, Ally!" Dez gave a small wave at her as she left and looked around at his messy kitchen before sighing and grabbing his mop off the wall.