Holidays in New York were something Jeff always really enjoyed. Every year his family went there for the New Years celebration at Time Square. And for Jeff, with his 10 years now, it was the best family tradition ever. When he woke up on the 31st December 2004, he was all excited. Soon 2005 would be there and he would see it all happen on Time Square. He woke up his sister Jennifer, who threw a pillow after him. "Jeff, let me sleep. We have to stay up late today. You should go back to bed as well!" she mumbled and Jeff just giggled. "I am way too excited to go to bed again!" He shouted and jumped on his side of the bed. Jennifer looked up at him. "Jeff, then please wake up Elise and leave me alone. I want to sleep some longer." Jeff just nodded, jumped of the bed and ran into the hallway of the hotel. Elise was the nanny of him and his sister. Jennifer was 14 already, but their parents still wanted to have someone with them both if anything would happen. So Jeff was usually around Elise all day and Jennifer tried to go away without her most of the times.

Jeff ran through the hallway and saw a young boy standing in front of one door, nearly crying. His dark hair was still bed hair and he looked like he was in his pajamas. Why was he standing in front of a closed door?

"Hey?" Jeff said and the boy looked up. "Are you okay?" The boy shook his head. "What's wrong?" Jeff asked and went closer. "My parents are still sleeping and I closed the door of the room and now I have to wait here until they wake up." The boy answered and let out a small sob. Jeff smiled at him. "You can come and join me and Elise and later we look if your parents are awake already!" He said and took the hand of the boy. "Come on!" The boy just looked confused, but followed Jeff to the door next to his own room. Jeff knocked and a quite "Come in!" came from inside the room. "Good morning Elise!" Jeff said while opening the door. "I brought us a guest." Elise was sitting in front of the desk in the room and looked up. She was probably writing a letter again. She had pen pals all around the world and Jeff always thought it was exciting to get mail from other countries. "Oh, hello young man!" Elise said and looked at the boy which was still holding Jeffs hand. "I am Elise. Just sit down on my bed and then you can tell me why you are with us, okay?" The boy just nodded and sat down on the bed. Jeff sat right next to him and kept one hand on his back, so he didn't start crying again. Somehow he thought he should calm down his guest.

"My name is Nick." The boy said and Jeff smiled. "And I was invited to join you by…" Nick looked at Jeff and didn't know what to say…Oh yeah; Jeff hadn't told him his name until now. "Jeff!" He just said and Nick smiled for a second. "I was invited to join you by Jeff. I closed my door and my parents are still sleeping, so I can't get inside again." Elise smiled at Nick and then at Jeff. "Yeah, that sounds like Jeff. Okay boys, what do you want to do while waiting that your parents wake up Nick?" Jeff and Nick looked at each other. "What did you do when we were coming inside, Elise?" Jeff asked and Elise smiled. "I wrote my pen pal in London, England. Why?" Nick smiled widely. "I come from London in England as well!" Nick said and Jeff looked at him like he was trying not to hug him. "Really?" Nick nodded. "Can you tell me all about it?"

Nick told Jeff a lot about London while Elise wrote a little more at her letter. Around 10 a.m. they tried to knock at the door of Nicks parents again and this time they were awake already. Elise told them what happened and they thanked her a lot. Jeff asked if they would come to Time Square today and when they nodded, he told Nick to meet him there at his usual spot.

Jeff couldn't wait for seeing Nick again. He was such a nice boy and they had talked all morning while waiting for Nicks parents to wake up. He still had so many questions about England and he wanted to tell Nick a lot about America as well, especially about Ohio, where Jeff was living with his parents. He was all excited to see the boy again. He now knew that Nick was 10 years as well and that the travel to New York was a present for the 15th wedding anniversary of his parents. First they planned to go alone, but Nick begged so long until they allowed him to join them. Jeff had to laugh about that fact, as his parents were traveling a lot because of their jobs and he always begged to join them as well. But they rarely allowed it.

When it was time for meeting Nick again, Jeff was jumping in his spot. "Can you see them, Elise?" he asked his nanny. She was standing next to him. His parents were talking to some people from their work and his sister was flirting with a guy at the other side of the street. Elise smiled. "Yeah, I can see Nicks' dad coming. Just wait a second, they'll be here soon!" Elise said and waved when Nicks' dad looked at her. Seconds later Nick was standing in front of Jeff. "Hey!" He said cheerful and Jeff smiled widely. "Hey, great that you came." Jeff responded. There was still a lot of time left until midnight, so Jeff asked Elise and Nicks' parents if they were allowed to walk around a bit. Nicks' parents were a bit worried, but Elise told them that Jeff was here every year and knew where to go and where not. So they all said okay and Jeff took Nicks hand and walked around with him a bit.

They looked at the advertisements of the musicals around and Jeff told Nick about his time at "The Lion King". He even sang him one of the songs he still remembered. They laughed a lot and had a lot of fun. Later that night Jeff asked Nick, what his New Years wish would be. Nick just blushed and didn't answer. "What's wrong Nick?" "You aren't allowed to tell the wish, it wouldn't come true then!" Nick said quietly. He really believed in that. "Oh, okay. Maybe it will come true tomorrow and then you can tell me!" Jeff smiled. "We will fly back home tomorrow!" Nick said. Jeff looked at him and his smile went away. "When?" he asked and Nick looked up. "12 p.m.." Nick answered and looked at the lights around him. "So we won't see us again, tomorrow?" Jeff sounded broken. His voice was only a whisper and Nick could see tears in his eyes. "I don't think so." Nick just answered and looked in Jeffs eyes. "But you know what?" He then said and sounded hopefully. Jeff just shook his head. "We can write letters. Like Elise is doing it with her friend from London. We can write each other letters and as soon as I am back in the USA we can meet. Or you come over to London and I'll show you my home!" Jeff seemed to think about Nicks words. "I never wrote a letter!" Jeff said then and Nick smiled. "Me neither. We can find out how it works together. And I am sure Elise will help you." "I need your address!" Nick took out a little notebook and wrote down his address. "Here you go, Jeff. Can I have yours as well?" Jeff nodded and wrote his address in Nicks notebook. They both sat in silence for a while, trying to enjoy their last hours together. "We should go back, the countdown will start soon!" Jeff stood up and helped Nick getting up as well.

When they came back to their parents, Elise and Jennifer, the countdown just started. Elise smiled at the boys while everyone was shouting out the seconds left until 2005…at 0 Nick turned around to Jeff and hugged him. "Happy New Year!" he shouted in Jeffs' ear and Jeff smiled. "Happy New Year, Nick!"