"Ah, Prince Austin Moon, welcome to Seaside Academy," the dean says as soon as Austin walks through the door. "I'm Dean Williams. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Austin shakes his outstretched hand firmly. "The pleasure's all mine, sir."

Dean Williams smiles. "Have a seat." Austin obliges, and tries not to show his nerves. "I wanted to introduce myself and answer any questions you may have for me before you're thrown into this new situation."

"Will I have a roommate?" Austin asks.

"You will. Your application said you want to have the same experience as any other foreign exchange student. But I also understand that you need to keep your status a secret. You aren't the first exchange student we've had in this situation, and your roommate is one of the few specially chosen students who are trusted to help you fit in and feel comfortable. His name is Dez Wade, and he's the only person here other than me who will ever know your status as royalty."

Austin nods. "Thank you. Do you have any advice for me, sir?"

The dean smiles again. "Learn as much as you can and try to enjoy yourself. Is that all?"

"I think so."

"Well, if you think of any more questions or you have any problems, don't hesitate to come see me."

"Thanks again, sir."

"Of course. Now, here's the key to your dorm, a map of the campus, and your class schedule. And here are the clothes you'll need for school. In this bag, you'll find five white button-down shirts, three pairs of pants, two ties, two sweater vests and one blazer. You have about a week before school starts to settle in while all the students arrive from all over." Dean Williams passes the bag of clothes, key, schedule, and map across his desk to Austin and then stands up. Austin takes the items and follows suit. "I hope you enjoy Seaside Academy, Your Highness."

Austin smiles slightly. "I will, Dean Williams."

His dorm isn't far from the administration building, but he takes as long as he can to get there. He knows his roommate will be great, considering he's done this before and the dean spoke so highly of him, but that doesn't mean Austin isn't nervous to meet him.

Eventually, he arrives at the door. Taking a deep breath, Austin enters the room and tries his best not to looks nervous.

The first thing he sees is a flash of bright red hair, and then a grin. "You must be Austin. I'm Dez," he says, holding out his hand.

Austin nods and shakes it. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. I sorta already took the bed on the left, but if you want it we can totally switch."

Austin frowns slightly. "No, the right bed is fine. Is there something wrong with it?"

"No, not at all," Dez says, shaking his head quickly. "It's just, some of the other princes and dukes and nobility I've roomed with are super particular about that kind of thing. I just wanna make sure you're comfortable."

Austin finds himself smiling as he sets his bags down on his bed. "Thank you. But I'm not particular. I'm just happy to be here."

"Wait…you want to be here?"

"Well, yeah. Why else would I come?"

"Usually the noble exchange students are forced here by their parents. But not you?"

"Not me," Austin confirms with a shake of his head. "I wanted to come study abroad in America."

"That's actually really cool. So, where are you from, exactly? If you don't mind me asking, of course. I like your accent, but I can't tell where it's from."

"I'm from a small island off the coast of Italy," he says. "It's called Ocheria, but it's so small you can't even find it on a map."

"Oh, that's interesting. Makes you wonder just how many little islands there are that the majority of the world doesn't even know about."

Austin nods, and the boys finish unpacking their bags in a comfortable silence. Then, Dez gives Austin a tour of the campus, which actually just turns out to be a walk to the closest coffee shop and then the quad.

"Yeah, this is where a lot of kids hang out on their downtime during the week. You can see the beach, and the weather's usually pretty nice. A lot of people study out here, too. And there's usually some sort of activity going on."

Austin tries to pay attention to what Dez is saying, but he finds himself getting distracted. "Hey Dez," he says. The redhead looks at him, but he's fixated on a girl resting under a tree. "Who's that?"

Dez follows his gaze. "The brunette over there?" Austin nods. "That's Ally Dawson. She's not very good at school, and her parents refused to accept anything but perfection, so she kinda stopped caring. Then her parents started shipping her off here so they wouldn't have to deal with her. I don't think she's your type."

"I don't understand."

"Well…you just seem so nice, and she's, well, not all that nice. She doesn't really like people."

"I'm gonna go talk to her."

"Whoa, were you listening to anything I just said?"

"Yes," Austin says, already starting to walk over to her.

"Then what are you doing?" Dez asks, keeping pace with Austin.

Austin doesn't answer, and they arrive at the tree where Ally is resting. Austin clears his throat, and she opens one eye.

"Hey, Ally," Dez says, sounding nervous. "Sorry to bother you – "

"Who's the new kid?" she asks, apparently not caring that Dez wasn't finished speaking.

"I'm Austin Moon," Austin says with a smile, kneeling down next to her.

"Ally Dawson."

Austin holds a hand out, and Ally knits her eyebrows together. But she sits up and starts shaking his hand. Forgetting that he isn't supposed to be acting like royalty, he kisses the back of her hand out of habit. She raises her eyebrows.

Realizing his mistake, he releases her hand. "Forgive me if I'm overstepping my bounds," he says. "You're quite beautiful."

"Uh…thanks."

"Alright, that's enough of that. C'mon, Austin. I'm gonna finish the tour." Dez grabs his arm and pulls him up off the ground. "Sorry again to bother you, Ally. Won't happen again."

"It was a pleasure to meet you," Austin tells her as Dez drags him away. She simply lays back down and closes her eyes again. Austin looks at Dez, and the redhead releases his arm. "What's wrong?"

"Maybe let's tone down the hand-kissing and big, random compliments. It's all very chivalrous, but unfortunately chivalry is dead in America. And Ally Dawson isn't really the type for things like that, anyway. She's pretty unapproachable and abrasive."

"We just approached her. She seems nice," Austin says.

"I'm one of the few people she'll talk to. It's really best if you stay away from her. She's just gonna be mean to you. And besides," he adds, lowering his voice, "if anyone is gonna figure you out, it'll be her."

Austin frowns. "Well…if you say so…But she really is beautiful, isn't she?"

"I mean, I guess. In a weird, terrifying, stray kitten surviving on its own sort of way."

"I don't think she's weird or terrifying. And I don't quite understand that last part."

Dez is silent for a second as he takes a deep breath and shakes his head. "Never mind."

"You said you're one of the few people she talks to. Doesn't that make you friends with her?" Austin asks.

"Not exactly. We have a…complicated relationship." Austin raises his eyebrows expectantly, and Dez sighs and continues. "Her best friend Trish de la Rosa and I have known each other since we were kids, and we're friends sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Austin asks.

"Once you meet Trish, you'll get it. Anyway, I don't really have many other friends here because most people think I'm weird and all my roommates for the past few years have been exchange students like you, which means I end up hanging out with Ally and Trish. And since most people are afraid of Ally and she hates everyone, not many people other than me hang out with them either. So we're more like outcast allies than friends, per se," Dez explains.

"Seems close enough to friendship for me," Austin says. "I didn't know anyone my age back home, except the royal kids of our allies who would only come to visit a few times a year."

"That's kinda sad. But really, I don't think it's a good idea for you to talk to Ally. There are plenty of other beautiful, sweet girls here who I'm sure would love to be friends with you."

"I'll be friends with them, too. I just have to be careful Ally doesn't figure out my secret, and then I can be friends with her," Austin says more to himself than to Dez.

Dez gives him a look. "You're gonna try to befriend her no matter what I say, aren't you?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

When classes start, Austin finds himself sitting next to Ally in English. She rarely acknowledges him, probably because Dez isn't around, but he tries his best to connect with her anyway.

"I noticed you drawing in your notebook yesterday," Austin tells her as they sit down before class. "You're very talented."

"You should really mind your own business," she says flatly, not even glancing at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he says immediately. "I didn't know those drawings were private. I just…liked what you were drawing and I wanted to tell you."

This time, she gives him a sideways look. "Really?"

"Well, yeah," he says, smiling victoriously. "I especially liked your sketches of famous works in your own style on the back of our homework assignment from yesterday." He points to the worksheet sticking out of her notebook.

"Um, thank you," she says hesitantly, shoving the worksheet further into her notebook to hide it completely. "But my stupid drawings aren't really for you or anyone else to see. So – "

"Of course," Austin says immediately. "I'm sorry if me seeing them or what I said made you uncomfortable."

"Yeah." She presses her lips together in a line and gets the book they've been assigned to read out of her backpack. Then she glances over at him again. "What was your name again, new kid?"

"Austin Moon," he offers. "My roommate is your friend Dez. He said you wouldn't want to be friends with me, but I thought I'd try anyway."

"I don't like people," she replies.

"So I've heard."

"That didn't scare you off? I didn't scare you off?"

"Why would you scare me off?" he asks her, tilting his head.

She doesn't answer him. Instead, she asks, "You're an exchange student, right? Where are you from?"

"Italy," he replies quickly.

She raises her eyebrows at him, but before she can say anything else, the bell rings and he turns his attention to the front of the class. He feels her watching him for a few moments, but then she must realize all his focus has been given to the teacher because she starts drawing in her notebook. He makes sure not to look over. He's finally made some progress with her, and the last thing he needs is to ruin it over something stupid like that.

When the bell rings at the end of class, Austin stands by his desk and waits while Ally finishes shoving all her loose pieces of paper in her backpack. When he starts walking out alongside her, she crosses her arms and stops.

"Why are you following me?" she asks.

He looks back at her just as a few students shove past him. The strap of his backpack falls off his shoulder and onto his arm, and he stumbles forward with the shift of weight. He tries not to be embarrassed – luckily, a life in the eyes of his entire country has given him a thick skin and taught him how to hide it should he actually do something ridiculous enough to warrant embarrassment – but the way she's staring at him with so much judgment in her eyes is too much, even for him. He feels heat rise to his cheeks as he clears his throat, swings his backpack over his shoulder, and fixes his tie.

"I'm not following you," he tells her, gripping the strap of his backpack. "We were just talking before class and we're both friends with Dez, so I thought – "

"Let's get a couple things straight," she interrupts, narrowing her eyes as she looks up at him. "First of all, that 'conversation' before class was literally just me telling you to mind your own business and you spouting some crap about how it was an accident."

"I honestly didn't know you didn't want anyone seeing – " he tries.

"Second, I would hardly call my relationship with that idiot a 'friendship'. I only tolerate him because he's sometimes friends with my best friend. And third, even if Dez and I were friends, that doesn't automatically make you and me friends."

"What would make us friends?" he asks her.

She knits her eyebrows together and takes a step back, looking confused. "What?" The acid in her voice is gone. He actually caught her by surprise.

"Well, you said me being Dez's roommate doesn't automatically make you and me friends, so I'm asking what will."

She opens her mouth, but no words come out. Suddenly, the bell rings, signaling that they only have a minute left to get to their next class. Austin smiles at her.

"We should go. But if you think of an answer, let me know, okay?"

She closes her mouth, presses her lips together, and turns around to go to her next class. Austin sighs and goes to his.

At lunch that day, Austin finds that Ally and a girl who must be Trish have joined Dez at the table the two of them have been eating at. When Dez sees him, he grins. "Austin! You finally get to meet Trish. Trish, this is Austin."

"Hey," she says, holding out her hand.

He smiles and takes her outstretched hand, kissing the back of it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Trish."

"Uh…okay." She pulls her hand away fairly quickly.

"Sorry," Dez says. "He does that. He's Italian."

Trish looks him up and down before looking at Dez again. "You sure about that?"

He clears his throat. "My parents traveled to Italy when they were first married and loved it so much they stayed. They haven't ever told me where they're originally from, they always just both say they're from Italy."

"Interesting. I guess he can stay. He's no weirder than you, bozo."

"Hey! I'll have you know, I got a D plus on my art test today," Dez exclaims.

He and Trish start bickering, and Austin starts to understand what Dez meant by "sometimes." He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly and sits down across from Ally.

"So…did you ever think of something I can do to be your friend?"

She doesn't answer, and instead focuses pointedly on her lunch. He leans back in his chair in defeat, trying to convince himself that she must not have heard him.

Austin has been making some steady progress the past few weeks: she and Trish sit with him and Dez at lunch every day now, and she seems to tolerate his presence instead of being completely annoyed with it. It's not much, but it's a start.

If he didn't feel like their friendship was going anywhere before, he definitely finds encouragement when she decides to willingly spend time with him.

"As you all know, one of the major themes of this novel is the idea of a utopia and how maybe a 'perfect society' may not actually be so perfect," their English teacher begins after they take their final test on the first novel of the year. "So, you and a partner are going to try to see if you can create a better utopia than the one in the book. This means not only thinking of how your society would theoretically work, but it also includes coming up with ways to solve any hiccups in order to maintain the utopia. The full assignment is on my website, but I want you to draw me a map of your city, including any important government or administrative buildings as well as any other landmark that's important to the way your utopia runs. I also want a write-up talking about how your utopia works, a description of day-to-day life there for an average person, and at least one problem that could arise in your society that would threaten the harmony and how you would fix it. This will be due two weeks from Monday. Pick partners today and come see me to tell me who's working together."

Austin blinks a few times, processing all the information the teacher just gave him. He starts looking around the classroom for someone he could partner up with.

"Austin," Ally says from beside him. He looks over at her. "We're partners."

He raises in eyebrows in surprise, finding himself smiling. "We are?"

She crosses her arms and faces forward in her seat. "You're the only person in this class I don't hate."

"I'll take it." His smile grows as he walks up to the teacher's desk and tells her that he and Ally are partners.

When he sits back down, Ally looks at him again. "I'll meet you in the quad after school to start working on it. I wanna get this over with."

"Okay," he replies.

She's silent for a moment. "And wipe that stupid smile off your face."

After hours of working, Austin and Ally finally finish figuring out the technical aspects of their project. Austin turns another full page in his notebook and takes his blazer off, setting it down next to him on the blanket he brought out so he and Ally wouldn't have to sit on the grass. Then, he shifts from his seated position to laying on his stomach, clicking his pen thoughtfully.

"Okay, what fun details should we have? I mean, a utopia can't be a utopia without fun," he says.

Ally grabs a grape out of their almost-empty bag and tosses it in the air before catching it perfectly in her mouth. "Fruit Olympics."

He looks up at her, raising an eyebrow.

She chews the grape and swallows, shrugging. "Fruit Olympics. Like regular Olympics, but with sports like Mouth Grape-Catching, Speed Orange Peeling, Bobbing for Apples, Greased Watermelon, Lemon Eating…you know, dumb stuff like that."

Austin laughs a bit. "Where did you come up with that?"

"I'm really good at this," she explains, tossing and catching another grape in her mouth. "And if you think about it, we have a lot of fruit-related games or stuff we do with fruit that could be turned into a game. Plus, sports and food all in one."

"I am truly honored to be creating a utopian society with such genius," he says.

"I can't tell if you're being funny or if you're truly serious."

He smiles and shakes his head, writing down her ideas. "There should be free pancakes at every restaurant, all day, every day."

"Let me guess. Pancakes are your favorite food?"

"Not only are they my favorite, they're the most delicious food of all time. Historically proven. Look it up."

She lets out a small, incredulous laugh and shakes her head at him. He grins.

"What?" she asks.

He shrugs, writing down his pancake idea. "I like your laugh."

"That wasn't a laugh. You didn't make me laugh."

He looks up at her, biting his lip to try to hide his smile but failing miserably. She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, and he can almost see her retreating back behind her stoic emotional barrier. For a few moments, she was actually being herself around him. He isn't ready for that to end.

"Sorry," he says, clearing his throat. "That was a…strange cough."

She nods, and then quickly changes the subject. "Lots of parks around the city, with a lot of grass and trees, and playgrounds for kids."

He writes it down. "And free pancake carts."

"Okay, sure, and free pancake carts."

He sits up again and stretches before looking at her. Her face seems to glow in the soft orange light of the sunset. He knits his eyebrows and turns around. "The sun is setting. How long have we been working?"

"Huh. A while, I guess." He feels the blanket shift underneath them as she moves, and then she feels her arm brush against his when she sits next to him.

"Time flies when you're…doing homework."

"That's definitely not how the saying goes."

He smiles a bit, and they watch the sunset in silence.

"I thought you and Ally finished that project the other day," Dez says when Austin warns him that Ally is coming over to work on it.

"We finished the essay the other day. We still have to draw a whole map with labels and everything. Which is why I'm kicking you out now, so we'll be done by the time you wanna come back to go to bed."

Dez sighs. "I don't know how I feel about you and Ally getting so close."

"We've just been hanging out to work on the project."

"Uh-huh. Tell that to your stupid puppy eyes every time you come back from seeing her. I told you, she's not your type. She's just gonna hurt you. And besides, you're royalty. Not only would she ditch you if she ever found out, but she'd never be able to live up to those standards if you guys got serious."

"You're looking way into the future. We're barely halfway through first semester. And Ally doesn't even wanna be friends with me, remember?"

"You two sure seem like friends. You don't need to spend hours at a time together every day for two weeks for some stupid project."

"Hey, we didn't see each other at all over the weekend." Dez gives him a look. "I mean, we talk a little while we're working," Austin admits. "But just dumb stuff. I think she's doing it ironically. Yesterday, she asked me my favorite color. Does that seem like getting close to you? Because where I'm from, that's the definition of small talk with no substance."

"Did you ask her favorite color?"

"She doesn't have one. She's real artsy, so she likes all the colors. Her favorite just depends on what she's feeling or what she's drawing or what she's inspired by at the time."

"That seems like more than small talk," Dez says knowingly.

"Well, what do you want me to say?" Austin asks. "I've liked her since the moment I saw her. You know that, it's not like I've been subtle."

"Just…be careful, okay? I'd hate for your whole American school experience to be ruined because some girl hurt you."

"Yeah, yeah. Now get out before she gets here. Please."

Dez rolls his eyes, grabs his wallet and keys, and leaves. Austin takes off his sweater vest and starts loosening his tie, but he hears a knock on the door and forgets all about it. He finds himself smiling as he opens it.

All he sees is a stack of art supplies with curly brown hair. But then Ally pokes her face out from behind it. "Hey – "

"Where do you keep all this stuff?" Austin asks, taking half the pile out of her hands to help her carry it inside. She's wearing ripped denim shorts and a plain white t-shirt, and he realizes that this is the first time he's seen her in anything other than her school uniform since the day they met.

"Everywhere. That's why I came here."

"Right." He shuts the door and sets his half of the supplies next to hers against the wall. "So, you're the art mastermind. What can I do to help?"

"I mean, I can draw the whole thing, I was just coming over here for a second pair of eyes to make sure I include everything."

"I wanna help," he says.

"You don't have to."

"Yeah, but I want to."

She rolls her eyes, and he knows that she's holding back from snapping at him. She's been opening up to him in the past week, but she still keeps her artistic side locked in a safe. Plus, he knows how seriously she takes her art and how she probably thinks he'll ruin it. But he does want to help.

"Fine," she finally says. "I'll draw everything and color it, and you can outline everything in sharpie and write the labels. And maybe color some parts."

He smiles. "Deal."

Ally grabs the huge poster board and a pencil out of the pile of supplies, sits up on her knees, and starts sketching. While Austin waits for her to tell him he can start doing something, he watches her. She switches between chewing on her lower lip and sticking her tongue out as she concentrates. But he only realizes that he's actually staring at her when she sits up, puts her pencil in her mouth, and ties her hair up. Luckily, she doesn't seem to notice.

"You can start outlining that half while I finish sketching it out," she says, her voice muffled by the pencil in her mouth. He clears his throat and grabs a sharpie.

For a while they work in an achingly comfortable silence, and he almost wishes that the silence was awkward because then he wouldn't feel so damn close to her. He tries to remember what Dez said and repeats it in his mind. Not only would she ditch you if she ever found out, but she'd never be able to live up to those standards if you guys got serious.

He knows Dez is right. As a prince, Austin has the future of his country to think about. If he's going to date anyone in America, he has to truly see a future with that person and believe that they would be able to handle learning his secret and then help him lead their country when they become King and Queen. The logical side of him focuses on the fact that Ally still hasn't even called him a friend yet, she would probably hate him if she found out he was lying about his identity, and she'd never want to have to deal with all the rules and standard of dating a prince and eventually being royalty. But his stupid, optimistic heart can't stop reminding him how herself she's been around him and how she would never open up even a little bit to just anyone.

Then, she breaks the silence and makes everything ten times worse. "So, are you here of your own free will or did your parents ship you out of the country?"

He stops his outlining and glances over at her. "I, um, I wanted to come here. I want to learn about other places and cultures and meet other people."

She doesn't look up from her work, so he continues his. "I guess it's different because you're from another country and you're doing a cool exchange program." She finishes the sketch and sets down her pencil before grabbing a big box of colored pencils and going to work on the parts Austin has finished outlining. "I was shipped off."

"Dez told me before I met you."

She sighs. "Of course he did. Why wouldn't I want a complete stranger to know the depths of my personal life?"

"If it helps, he didn't tell me anything else. Just that your parents are super strict."

"Yeah, well, he probably would have if I had told him any more. My dad's a tech genius and my mom's a neurosurgeon."

"That's…a lot to live up to."

"You have no idea," she says, shaking her head. Actually, I do, he wants to say. "Anyway, since they're both wicked smart, they expected me to be a combination of both of their brains to be even smarter. But they made me take advanced classes that I just wasn't ready for and all I could get were C's and a few B's. Instead of just accepting that I was trying my best or, even better, letting me move down into classes that I actually belonged in, they decided I was a disappointment for not getting straight A's in the honors classes. And once I realized there was no way for me to live up to what they wanted, I just kinda…gave up. So, because they're stupid rich and have no souls, they started sending me to this overpriced boarding school so they wouldn't have to be reminded of such a disgrace every day."

Austin swallows and looks over at her again, unsure of what to say. She stops coloring for a second, keeping her eyes fixed on where her colored pencil hovers over the paper.

"That got super dark. I don't know why I just told you all of that."

"I'm…sorry?" he tries, worried that she'll think he was somehow butting into her personal life by engaging the conversation beyond what she was originally planning on sharing.

"I should be the one apologizing. I just dumped my entire life story on you."

"You don't have to apologize either. I'm glad you told me. Now I know you better. And it kinda sounded like you needed to get it off your chest. Maybe." He winces and prepares for her to snap at him for assuming that. But she doesn't.

"Maybe I did."

She keeps working and quickly changes the subject to something more lighthearted. He does his best to pay attention and be present in the conversation, but he's distracted trying to process everything she just told him while trying not to acknowledge the fact that they really do have a lot in common.

They finish the map a while later and stand up to admire their work. Ally's drawings and beautiful coloring mixed with Austin's superb outlining and labeling skills have created what he thinks is the most beautiful map of a utopian society ever. (Sure, the competition is pretty narrow, but still.)

"Ours is gonna be the best in the class," she says.

He looks over at her, and he notices the small smile on her face. However, he doesn't notice what a bad situation he's put himself in until she looks at him and he realizes how close they are. He swallows, trying so hard to move away from her but unable to. He does his best not to think about how she isn't moving away either.

But when her gaze breaks away from his as her eyes shift down to where he knows she's looking at his lips, all bets are off. It's like the entire room is frozen in time, holding its breath, waiting to see what'll happen next.

Before he can stop himself, he hears "May I kiss you?" in his own hesitant, whispered voice. He holds his breath again immediately after uttering those words, just knowing that nothing good can come from this and mentally slapping himself for not being stronger.

Her lips part slightly in surprise as those big, beautiful, mesmerizing brown eyes meet his again. Her cheeks tint pink, as if she's only just hearing him.

Then, all at once, the entire room exhales and time starts moving again as she grabs the tie still loose around his neck, pulls him towards her, and kisses him. He closes his eyes as a breath he didn't even know he was still holding escapes through his nose in a deep sigh before he actually registers what's happening. He inhales sharply again and kisses her back, grabbing her face in his hands and running his thumbs over her cheekbones to make sure she's actually there kissing him.

She loosens her grip on his tie and pulls away just enough for him to feel her lips curve into a small smile as she wraps her arms around his neck. Then she kisses him again, and time seems to slow down again. He takes one hand off her cheek and wraps his arm around her, even though the prince in him is screaming that this is all completely inappropriate and rude to her. She doesn't know you're a prince and she kissed you. Get out of my head so I can enjoy this. He wraps his other arm around her waist and pulls her in closer.

As much as time felt like it slowed down, she pulls away again way too soon. But she rests her forehead against his and lifts her chin so their noses bump together gently. A few beautiful, silent moments pass.

"I'm gonna be honest with you," she says barely above a whisper as she catches her breath. "I did not know I was gonna do that until about three seconds after I did it."

He smiles, laughing a bit, almost awestruck as he replays everything that just happened in his mind. "I'm gonna be honest with you. I didn't know you were gonna do that either." She laughs too, and he smiles more. "So…does this mean we're friends now?"

She pulls farther away, and he opens his eyes to see her already looking up at him, her cheeks pink and a tiny smile on her face despite the look she's trying to give him. He moves a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear, unfazed by her failed attempt at an annoyed look.

"You are…so beautiful, Ally," he marvels quietly.

Her face scrunches up. "Now that we're being honest with each other, I'm not great with compliments. I don't get very many, so I don't really know how to react to them." She pauses for a second. "I'm really just spilling my soul to you today."

He chuckles. "Well, now that everything is officially out on the table, you're gonna start getting a lot more."

"Wait…you've liked me this whole time?"

He raises his eyebrows at her, laughing incredulously. "Are you kidding?"

She shrugs innocently. "I don't know! I just thought you were, like, weirdly nice. I don't know much about Italian culture. Maybe that's just how everyone is."

He laughs more and shakes his head, pulling her into him for a hug and resting his chin on her shoulder. "I like you," he tells her.

"I…think I like you too," she replies. He smiles and pulls away to look at her again.

"So…could I maybe take you out? On a date? Tomorrow?"

She nods, biting her lip to try to contain her smile. "I'd like that very much."

"Is the blindfold really necessary?" Ally asks as she stumbles yet again while he leads her to the location of their date.

"It really is," Austin replies with a smile, squeezing her hands as he holds them to guide her.

"Should I have dressed differently for this? You didn't give me any details."

"You look beautiful."

"Are you taking me into the woods to murder me?"

Austin laughs. "Ally, breathe! We're almost there."

The brunette sighs. "Sorry. I don't know if you picked it up already, but I'm not really the romantic type." Austin stops walking, and Ally bumps into him. "Are we there?"

He takes a deep breath and lets go of her hands. "Don't take the blindfold off just yet, okay?" he says quickly when he sees her already reaching up to take it off.

"Okay…please don't murder me."

"I'm not gonna murder you," Austin says as he straightens out the picnic blanket he laid out for them and lights the candles he surrounded it with.

"Promise?"

"Promise. One of these days we're gonna work on your trust issues." He opens the picnic basket and pulls out the roses he hid inside. Once he double checks that all the food is still there, he stands up straight in front of her.

"Whoa, let's demolish one wall at a time, Moon. I can't believe I'm on, like, an actual date right now."

He smiles. "You can take off the blindfold now." She starts untying it, and he continues. "You may not be the romance type…" She takes off the blindfold, and he hands her the roses. "But I am."

He steps aside so she can see his entire setup of the picnic blanket and candles and rose petals that Dez told him not to include but he did anyway. Her eyes go wide as she takes it all in. She looks down at the bouquet of roses in her arms as if she can't believe it's real and then turns to him, blushing rosy pink. He smiles sheepishly, and then bites his lip as the nerves set in.

"Too much?" he asks her.

She looks at the roses and the setup again. "Way too much." He swallows, regretting every decision he's ever made. Then she looks at him, an emotion he didn't even think she could feel etched across her face and woven through her smile: giddiness. "I love it."

He chokes on his own nerves. "You-you love it?"

"I love it!"

She hugs him tightly, and picks her up and spins a few times, laughing in relief. "I thought you hated it," he exhales when he sets her down. "I wanted to do something big but when we got here I realized that you might be overwhelmed."

"I'm extremely overwhelmed," she says, looking around at everything again. "But…in the best way."

He smiles, and then she smiles, and then they sit down and eat and talk and everything is great. When she shivers as the sun gets lower in the sky, he tries to give her his jacket. She refuses a couple of times, insisting that she's fine, but he knowsshe secretly wants it, so he keeps offering until she finally gives in and lets him wrap it around her shoulders, that giddy look back on her face.

He realizes this must be the first time anyone has done something like this for her, the first time anyone's ever treated her as special as she deserves. She's grown up under the impression that she can't ever be good enough, and this is the first time anyone has ever shown her that she is more than good enough.

So when they finish eating, he wraps an arm around her and pulls her extra close as they watch the sunset. She makes a pointed effort not to totally be close to him, but she doesn't seem uncomfortable either. He looks over at her, but she keeps staring ahead.

"Just like that first day," she says softly.

"Like a week ago?" he teases.

She smiles a bit and turns to look at him. "May I kiss you?" she asks, those big brown eyes sparkling.

He grins and presses his lips to hers for a few moments. He feels her relax under the arm he has around her as she kisses him back. When he pulls away to watch the sunset again, she rests her head on his shoulder. He closes his eyes and kisses her hair before resting his cheek on her head and marveling at how lucky he is to be watching such a beautiful sunset with such a beautiful, amazing girl.

Once the sun disappears from view and the sky is painted a million colors (although it pales in comparison to her art), he kisses her again. (And again and again and again and again and again.)

Then they lay down and stare up at the stars starting to twinkle into view. He rests his free hand behind his head while she starts pointing out constellations.

"How do you know all these?" he asks after a while.

"We have a cabin in the middle of nowhere," she says. "We'd go up there for a few days a couple times a year, and since it's so far away from the city, you can see a million stars from there. When I was little, my parents would point out the constellations and tell me the stories."

"And now you can pass them on to me."

She doesn't respond, and instead turns fully on her side and moves even closer to him, nuzzling her ice-cold nose in his neck. He feels her eyelashes on his skin as she closes her eyes, and she relaxes even more as he brushes his thumb in gentle circles on her shoulder.

Laying there, with her, he feels like he's exactly where he's supposed to be. He forgets that he's hiding pretty much his entire identity from her. He forgets he's royalty at all. Hell, for a while he forgets his own name. But he likes it, loves it. It's okay, because he's with her, and he feels her hair tickling his arm and her soft, steady exhales on his neck and her hand on his chest where she kept moving it until she could feel his heartbeat. Everything is good.