Our Eternal Ruin (Auslly)

25. Skinny Dipping, Check

Austin teaches me to swim, and I basically throw myself at him in his pool. Oh gosh, imagine what's going to happen when we bungee jump, I'm probably going to try to peel his clothes off as we fall. Sweet Lord ! What's going on with me 

~Ally~

I changed and went downstairs to meet Austin, but he hadn't made it down yet. It was already one in the afternoon. Melda had everything set up for dinner at four, which meant we had a few hours to ourselves.

I wasn't kidding when I said I hadn't watched the parade in years. I'd always watched it with my parents, and once they died it just seemed pointless.

In fact, everything had seemed pointless. Weird, how it took stepping outside of my dark, selfish little world to actually see how ridiculous my behavior had been.

Pouting hadn't brought them back.

Crying didn't make me feel better.

Hiding in my room hadn't made the pain go away.

But living — living had been my salvation, just like Austin. He was like my own personal life coach — only I was afraid I was falling too hard and fast to find my way back.

I pushed away that thought — we liked each other, that was all that mattered. If I looked too far into the future I would over-think things. After all, I was only eighteen. I didn't want to get married.

Holy crap! Was I thinking about marriage already?

See? This was why girls needed other girlfriends to reign them in.

I momentarily thought about calling Cassidy, but that girl was anything but the voice of reason. She'd probably drive me to Vegas if I asked her.

My finger hovered over the phone, just as I gained enough courage to dial Dez' number, the phone lit up.

It was him.

"Hey," I answered. "I was just going to call you."

I waited on the living room couch for Austin to show up and twirled my hair in my fingers.

"Sure you were," Dez said, laughing. "I was just calling to make sure you were still alive. I heard you went for a swim."

"How?" I gasped. "That was only forty minutes ago."

"Someone's boyfriend called to update me on the adventures of Ally." I could practically see Dez' smug grin in my mind as he spoke. "And he wanted me to be the first to give you a high five for being brave."

"Swimming isn't brave," I whined. "I feel like a five-year-old."

"I wore water wings until I was fourteen," Dez said dryly. "What you did was brave."

"Fourteen?" I repeated.

"I had a minor shark phobia."

"In a pool?"

"We aren't talking about me." Dez changed the subject. "How goes the fairy tale, Cinderella?"