A/N: hello, happy Halloween!

I know I suck at updating but the college life is keeping me busy. I even had my first college exam yesterday... yay.

I wrote this chapter like forever ago but I hadn't had the time to proofread it until now, ugh. So now I'm writing the next one and I'll try to finish it this weekend :)

Hope you like it!


"Breaking into the kitchen? Man, Ally. I didn't picture you like that type of girl."

It was past 9 in the evening and the cool air of mid-October was making itself known as it blew rather violently on Ally's skin. She regretted wearing that red dress instead of a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans. It was Trish's fault; she put the idea of wearing that dress in her mind in the first place.

In addition, Austin's jokes weren't that much helpful. She couldn't tell what they were doing, keeping her plan a surprise, but he was pestering her with jokes about her being a bad girl and a rule-breaker and ugh, she kind of felt like one as she skillfully tried to open the kitchens' doors.

Man, those doors were heavy to push.

Finally, she successfully opened them and the light inside glowed on both their faces. Her eyes landed on the figure of a man she hoped would be there.

"Uncle James!" she shouted cheerily.

The man raised his gaze and looked at Ally, his lips forming a big smile. "Ally! What are you doing here?" He cleaned off his hands on his apron and wrapped his arms around the girl. Austin took the man's appearance in; he was tall and with broad shoulders, his hair under the cap he wore seemed grayish, the same color of the wide moustache just above his lips. He looked in his mid-fifties and he might as well have been an ex football player.

"Uncle Jamie, this is Austin, a friend of mine. Austin, this is James Dawson. The best uncle in the universe," she smiled up at him and rested her head on his arm.

Austin shook his hand politely. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Dawson."

For some reason, he was trying hard to make a good impression on him, too hard. But hey, this had nothing to do with the fact that he was related to Ally.

No, it was just Ally's influence about being a gentleman with everyone, not just with girls.

"Nice to meet you, Austin. May I ask again why you guys are here? If you're looking for a hideout to get some privacy, I got to inform you that we don't leave the kitchen until 11," he said, winking at the two.

Ally blushed dark red and, as it weird as it may seem, Austin did too. "Uncle! Oh my goodness, we are not! Actually, I was looking for you. See, we skipped dinner and since I'm giving Austin lessons about… things, I thought we could cook something here and then eat. I thought that he needed cooking lessons, please Uncle!"

His face was uncertain until she gave him the puppy eyes and it softened. "Fine, but let's be quick. It's against the rules to let students here."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She wrapped the man in a tight embrace. "If somebody asks, I'll come up with some family problem that I needed to tell you about."

He messed up her hair fondly, laughing. "You never fail to amaze me, Al. You've always been a smart girl. I don't get how you can be the child of that idiot of my brother."

She chuckled, "Come on, don't be harsh on him. I know you love him, he's still your little bro, after all."

"Yeah, yeah. And I got to admit he raised you well. If he only wasn't so cheap…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "And I wish he hadn't let your mother go. But we can't change the past."

Austin looked at James, then at Ally, whose expression had hardened a little. He wondered what her uncle meant with "let your mother go", but judging by her face, that still was a touchy subject. A wound not yet healed.

"So, what are we cooking? I hope it's something good," he butted in, maybe too suddenly, and maybe with a clear amount of nervousness in his voice, but his comment made Ally's frown turn back into a smile. Like she had erased her parents' thoughts from her head.

And he was glad he had brought that smile back.

"I'd go with pasta! You know, girls love foreign food. Especially Italian cuisine. You could make any girl impressed with a good plate full of pasta."

James' expression seemed approving. "Ally's right. I don't get why we're talking about girls right now, but I'm sure you guys have your reasons. Pasta is a perfect choice, anyway."

Ally smiled triumphantly. "What kind of pasta do you think it's best for us to cook?"

He pondered a bit, slowly caressing his moustache. "What about Spaghetti Carbonara?"

Ally's face lit up with such a light Austin thought she might illuminate a whole room just by walking in. "Really? I love you, Uncle James. You are the best."

James smiled down at her and then adverted his dark eyes towards Austin, who started to feel smaller under his gaze. That man gave him anxiety.

"If you're wondering why my niece is behaving like a kid, just know that this was her favorite food as a little girl. She would eat Spaghetti all day, every day and never got bored of it."

"In my defense, Carbonara is exquisite," she countered.

"Okay, let's get started," James interjected, "Austin, take that pot and fill half of it with water."

The blonde realized that he was talking to him soon after, and scurried to the place the pot was standing in all its glory. He did as he was told and almost dropped the pot before reaching the cookers; of course, he blamed it all on his nervousness. It's not like his perfect sculpted arms couldn't carry some water's weight.

But as the chef nodded at him, he felt like having just accomplished an impossible mission.

Well, for him, cooking was kind of a Mission Impossible.

He had to ignore the snicker of another cook nearby, even though at first he had a very strong desire of punching him on the face. But he had the feeling that Ally may have not liked it.

In the meantime, Mr. Dawson had began cutting the slices of bacon in little squares, and then left Ally in charge of cutting the rest as he prepared a pan with some oil. Austin stood beside her as he watched her small piano hands moving delicately the knife - an instrument that looked, in opposition of her gentleness, dangerous - on the bacon. He wondered what she looked like when she played piano. If she used to close her eyes in concentration, if she smiled or frowned without noticing.

He had to stop the thoughts in the same way they came into his mind in the first place: abruptly. She had said, not even two hours before, that there was no way he could hear her sing her songs.

But then he wondered again if she could at least sing for him different songs.

A manly voice brought him back to reality and he almost sent a salt shaker on the floor; he was being so clumsy he was having identity crisis. Austin Moon was never known for clumsiness. In high school, he was thebest basketball player (hence the trophies) and everyone used to compliment him for the graceful way he moved on the field.

But things change.

He had learned it first-hand.

"Austin," James had said, "the water's boiling. It's time to put the spaghetti in it."

Somehow Ally had approached them, making her presence known when her soft hair hit the flesh of Austin's arm. This caused Austin to feel a tingling sensation that wasn't entirely physical; he kind of felt it into his whole body, too.

He smirked down at her, to cover up what was feeling on the inside. "So, what do you think of Chef Austin?"

She rolled her cute, doe eyes. "Not bad."

Soon enough, the spaghetti was ready and the bacon was perfectly cooked. James put the pasta in the pan and mixed it all, adding eggs and parmesan. Lots of it. "The more, the better," as Ally suggested.

Finally, they got to eat. Austin couldn't wait to fill his empty stomach and he was pretty sure that at least, while eating, he wouldn't make a fool of himself.

He learned Ally's father and uncle had Italian origins and they both knew how to cook, but only James matured the idea of becoming a chef. Lester's passion for music - and money - overcame all of his other passions and, after a few years of giving people piano lessons to scrape together some money, he decided to get into business and open a music store.

Much to his surprise, Austin realized to have another thing in common with the brunette. His parents also owned a store - a mattresses one. He had to struggle his whole life with their annoying commercials and crazy ways to draw clients into the store.

Sometimes, he found himself involved.

The thought of those past memories made him shiver.

Plus, if putting up with that ridiculousness wasn't enough, his father prompted him to major in economy/business, something that he despised with all his being. Though, finding a job was still important and that major would provide him a good one, so his father kind of had a point. And he, reluctantly, accepted.

So now, there he was, with a psychology student who claimed to be the solution to all his problems and her Uncle, the college cafeteria's chef, whose appearance made him nervous (but you already know that).

"That was very good, Mr. Dawson. My stomach thanks you," Austin said jokingly as he put the fork down.

"You're welcome. You're lucky you were with my favorite niece or else you wouldn't have had this fancy dinner," he joked back.

Ally looked back and forth between the two, smiling as she sensed they were getting along.

"So, it's getting late, we don't want to disturb you further, Uncle. Do you need help with cleaning the dishes, before we go?"

Austin was again speechless at her gentleness, she didn't even try. And he, on the other hand, had to take notes not to forget how to behave correctly.

James shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'll take care of everything, just go back to your dorm and sleep. You've got classes tomorrow, girl," he said, kissing her forehead and then shook Austin's hand, giving him a not-so-frightening warning. "And you, take her back to her dorm, immediately. Am I being clear?"

"Yes, sir."

If you were to ask Ally, though, she'd say he was a bit frightened.

They stepped outside of the heavy, thick doors in the dark night, lightened by the moon and the clearly visible stars. Ally admired how his face shone in the moonlight, his bleached hair turning slightly silver. The vision was too perfect for her to ruin it with some joke about the Moon's (beside her and up in the sky).

Therefore, she didn't say anything.

And he had no intention of saying anything, either.

So they just walked together heading to her dorm in silence, a quite loud silence filled with the million thoughts forming in both their heads.

The air was even colder now, since the deep night was slowly approaching, and Ally shuddered visibly and wrapped her arms around herself.

Before registering what he was doing, Austin took off his denim jacket and dropped it on her slim shoulders. The action caught Ally totally off guard and she grinned up at the blonde to tease him, but he was already looking away in an attempt to avoid her eyes. "Giving me your jacket? Very good, my apprentice. And I didn't even ask you to, I'm impressed."

He snorted, walking ahead of her. "Oh, just shut up. I've seen people doing this in movies and when I saw you getting cold, I just… remembered. That's all."

She giggled at his out of character awkwardness and grabbed his wrist, forcing him to turn back. He stopped abruptly and looked back at her, now finally seeing how funny she looked in his over-sized jacket but cute, nonetheless.

Wow, those movies were rubbing off on him.

"What?" he spat. He didn't mean to sound angry, just emotionless, but it was impossible considering the pent-up nervousness inside of him.

"I don't want to go back yet, let's just stay around here until the curfew. We can talk some more and let go of our lessons for now. What do you say?"

Why did his lips have to lift up into a smile themselves?

Man, he wasn't in control of his body language anymore.

"It's okay for me."

Ally suggested to lay down on the grass in a small park within the campus, just under a centenary tree. She loved it there.

The grass was slightly wet because of the air humidity, but thanks to the little gift she had received by her blond company, she could feel it only on her legs; the jacket shielded her upper body from that dampness.

"This may sound random but," he began, leaning his head on his palms, "I miss Miami sometimes. Don't get this wrong, I love NY, but my family, my old friends, my house… I left it all back in Miami."

At his revelation, Ally felt a heavy weight pressing on her chest, almost taking the ability of breathing away from her. She flinched, but he didn't notice. "And you, Ally? Do you miss your dad? Wait, I never asked where you are from."

"I- um, what a weird coincidence!" She said, surprised, but with a hint of nervousness, "I'm from Miami, too."

His neck cracked to the side, eyeing her questioningly. "Really? We're from the same city? This is so cool, Ally!"

She chuckled nervously. "Yeah. Funny, right?"

She hoped he wouldn't question her further about their hometown and just drop the subject; but he had other plans. "What school did you attend?"

"Umm, Mustang High School! You know, 'go Mustangs!'," she said, repeating the school's well-known and over-heard cheering and moving her arms around to add emphasis to her little performance.

"Oh, we beat those losers so many times! I attended Marino High School, by the way."

Her breathing problem still hasn't stopped. "Marino! I perfectly know it, I've heard it's a good school," She hoped her tone of voice was misleading him into thinking that she didn't know the school well.

But, alas, she did.

And the composure she had tried to manage since she had met him in Jace's room was tumbling down.

"It's weird you've never heard about me if you used to watch matches," he pointed out.

Ally laughed, "I guess I've never heard about you cause I wasn't into sports and I'm still not. And I didn't have a strong high school spirit, either."

He just shrugged and went back to stargazing. She had to keep herself from letting out a 'whew' of relief; that would have been suspicious.

They didn't say anything for a while, enjoying the view and the cool breeze blowing on their bodies, until Ally broke the silence. "Did you mean it, Austin?"

The question left Austin puzzled, not catching what she was referring at. "Mean what?"

"The internet sensation thing-"

"Oh, that," he laughed at how silly that statement had been, "no, I'd never steal your songs, if that's what worries you."

"No, no, I mean… would you like to become a singer? Playing shows, sharing your music with fans?"

That though had crossed his mind just… a million times. That was his biggest dream, bigger than his dream of eating the world's largest pancake.

But even if pursuing that dream would make him the happiest person alive, he had to keep it locked up in his head.

"I wouldn't like that, I'd fucking love that. Music is my first source of happiness and sharing my music around the world? Man, I've got no words to describe accurately how amazing it would be."

Like every time, he was picturing himself on a stage dancing and singing his hit songs.

Ugh, just fantasies.

"What about you, Ally?" He asked curious and looked at her again. He noticed her face crumpling a bit as she pondered on how to formulate her answer. From that point of view, he could see the shape of her lips, nose and her dark, long lashes forming shadows on her rosy cheeks.

"I'd like that, but I'd never able to accomplish that. I'm scared, I wouldn't even make it on the stage. I'd throw up before getting there," she sighed, "stupid stage fright."

He was bummed at hearing her problem but, at the same time, that heart-to-heart conversation only made him crave a kiss from her. But he suppressed the want, stiffening all his muscles as if it kept him from jumping on her and making his lips land on her plump ones.

If he did, he'd have earned a slap and lost a teacher whose subject mattered a lot to him at the moment.

But was it hard.

She couldn't like him, she was interested in gentleman type of males. The type of male he was learning to become. And who knows, he thought, then I could actually have a chance.

"You should try," he said, then, "start singing to people. Put videos on the internet, you could get rid of your stage fright and become famous."

"Easy for you to say, you're so much more confident than me. Don't worry, though, I'm going to be a psychologist and I really love this job, too."

He smiled.

Her expression turned peaceful once again, therefore he avoided asking the question that'd lingered in his mind since he had listened to James speaking about her parents; he was dying to know what happened to her mom.

But curiosity killed the cat, they said.

And maybe it also killed the gentleman.

So he just shut up.

After a few minutes, she stood up and straightened her dress, the familiar weight of his jacket still on her shoulders. She could get used to it.

"It's time to go back, my apprentice. Can you walk me to my dorm?"

"You don't even need to ask," he said as he helped himself up, pressing the palm of his hand on the damp grass, "I'd never let you walk alone at night. Plus, I think Uncle James would kill me with one of his chef knives if I did."

She laughed because she knew he actually would.

Okay, maybe he wouldn't kill kill him, but… you get it.

And as promised, he walked her to the dorm and Ally ignored a couple of girls staring at them (nothing new since she had started hanging out with him).

"You know," she began, as they reached the door, "I had fun with you today on our non-date, we could do that more often."

She immediately regretted saying that, wondering if she had been too bold and if that request had somewhat bothered him or if he had misinterpreted what she meant.

He didn't seem to mind, though. "You're right. I had fun and I'd learned plenty of things. So, what do I deserve for today's lesson? An A+, maybe?"

She shook her head. "Don't go ahead of yourself! You've got a long road to walk through. I'll go for a B, for now. Be patient!"

He sighed, "Okay, I'll accept my B for now, but I promise, Dawson, I'll be the best student you'll ever have in your whole life. At the end of this, you'll be impressed of my transformation."

Austin was grinning ear to ear.

And Ally just rolled her eyes at him. "We'll see. Bye, Austin, see you. I'm already preparing lesson 3."

"Can't wait," he winked at her and with a quick wave, he left swiftly as the curfew was approaching.

With one last smile thrown in his direction, she opened the door and stepped inside her apartment and for a moment she thought his odor was still in the air around her.

She felt like having completely reached a non-return point of mental illness until she realized the smell came from his jacket, which she was yet wearing.

Well, she wasn't that crazy, after all.


Uh, it looks like Ally has a secret... what it could be? Let me know what you think with a review! :D

And tell me if you're wearing a costume tonight, I'm curious. As for me, unfortunately, I'm not dressing up for Halloween even though I reeaally want to. :(