I can't believe it. It's right there. After more than two months of searching high and low, it's right in front of me.

My songbook.

I stand there for a moment, dumbstruck, a million questions swirling around my head. One in particular repeats itself over and over: what is it doing here?

I reach out tentatively, afraid that my mind is playing tricks on me. When my fingers brush the familiar soft leather cover, a breath that I didn't know I had been holding rushes out. Relief floods through me like a child who has gone too long without their security blanket. I clutch it to my chest and breathe in the familiar scent of its pages.

"Hey Ally, I got Chinese food, is that fine?" Austin's voice rings out from down the hall, bringing me crashing down from my cloud of relief and making me remember the circumstances.

I take another look around the room at all the instruments. A wave of dread washes over me. What if he stole my songbook because he really is using me for my songs?! My fingers tighten around my songbook as I creep out into the hall. I walk as slowly and calmly to the front room as I can, despite the flurries of rage whirling in my head. When I turn the corner I find Austin in the kitchen, back to me, arranging plates of a variety of Chinese foods in the counter. My stomach gives me away as it growls loudly.

"I take it your hung-" He stops short as he turns around and sees me. "Woah, what's wrong?"

I say nothing. He furrows his eyebrows as he begins to walk towards me. He stops short as his eyes fall on my songbook.

"Why do you have this?" I ask, my voice strained.

"I can explain. I-"

"No." I cut him off. "I knew it. I knew you were just using me for my music."

I expected him to look guilty, or remorseful, or something, but instead he looks… confused?

"What?" He asks, clearly taken aback. "No, I've told you already that I am not 'using' you!"

"Then why would you have my songbook if not to use them without my permission in your show?!" I ask, exasperated. He better not be playing dumb with me.

He bites his lip. "It's stupid, really."

I huff. "Austin, just tell me the truth, please."

He sits on one of the bar stools and puts his head in his hands. For a moment confusion overcomes rage, causing me to sit down next to him.

"I don't know why I did it." He says, lifting up his head and looking at me, his face sincere. "Okay, well maybe that's not totally true. To be honest with you, I'm jealous of you."

Okay, now I'm definitely confused. "W-what.?"

He gives me a small smile. "Wasn't expecting that were you? Anyways, I'm jealous of you because you can write these amazing songs. Those songs that you let us use in that show a couple months ago and the songs you've written for the show are so good. I couldn't get them out of my head. Ever since I was little, even before I started magic, I've loved music. I learned to play every instrument I could get my hands on. I loved to sing, too. I would always sing along to the radio at the top of my lungs. I tried writing my own songs, but they were really, really bad. In high school, my mom talked me into entering the school's talent show. I wanted to do magic, but I knew I would get made fun of. So my mom told me to write a song and perform it. I thought that would be really cool and make people like me. I spent weeks writing until I came up with something I thought was good. I wrote a song about this girl that I had a crush on, thinking it would be a cool way to ask her out. Well it didn't go so well. My song sucked. Everyone laughed at me. The girl never talked to me again. Ever since then I've stuck to what I'm good at-magic.

When I heard your songs, I knew right away that you are incredibly talented. I got the bright idea that maybe I could learn to write songs like yours, but I didn't know how to approach you about it. So one night I was walking around backstage and I saw your book lying on one of the makeup tables. I went over and picked it up and opened it. When I realized it was your song book, I got the stupid idea to borrow it and study your songs so I could try to write my own."

I have no words. Seriously. I open my mouth to say something but all that comes out is: "Uhhhhhh"

He looks at me with sad eyes and his head dipped. He seriously looks just like a puppy sometimes.

I blink slowly and shake my head a bit, as if to jostle my thoughts into place. "Well, I… uh…"

"I'm so sorry Ally. It was stupid of me to steal it."

"You could have talked to me." I finally manage to say.

He sighs. "I know. It's just that not many people know about my musical side. I'm sure if any of my managers found out they'd force me into some kind of record deal or concert series."

I look down at my song book and smooth my hand over the cover. All the anger I felt has dissipated. I can't stay angry at him. "It's okay,Austin, I forgive you. I'm just relieved to have it back."

He smiles. "I should have given it back a long time ago, but I just couldn't get enough of your songs."

Heat suddenly rises to my face. "Some of my songs are pretty personal."

He slaps himself in the forehead. "I'm such an idiot. You're right, that's your personal property and I had no right to look through it."

I laugh and touch his arm. "Hey, it's okay, really. I mean I probably would've ended up performing all of them at-"

I stop myself short as I almost reveal my second job. That would have opened up a whole different discussion. He looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to go on, so I quickly change the subject.

"So did you end up writing any songs?" I ask, poking his shoulder.

"Nope, just as sucky as before." He responds , laughing.

"You know," I say slyly, "I would love to sing a duet with you and hear that singing voice you were talking about."

"Oh would you look at that, we don't want the Chinese food to get cold, now do we?"

A&A

An hour later we're lying on the couch, empty plates spread out before us.

"That was so good," I groan, rubbing my stomach.

"It's my favorite Chinese food in Vegas." Austin says as he rolls onto his stomach.

"What time is it?" I ask, staring up at the ceiling.

"Eleven thirty."

"Wow, it's getting late."

"Are you kidding me, Ally?!" Austin says as he is suddenly leaning over me. "That's like only five pm Las Vegas time! The night is still young, let's do something!"

I have a sudden moment of clarity in the midst of my food coma; I have to get to the Buzz! I sit up.

"I don't know…"

"Oh come on, Ally. What? Got a hot date waiting for you?" He wriggles his eyebrows, making me laugh.

"No, it's just that…" I falter, unable to think up an excuse. I blame the egg rolls.

"It's just that you have nothing better to do so you are going to have fun with me!" He throws his arms up in the air.

"What about the whole 'laying low' thing?" I ask, hoping to talk him out of his own idea.

He smiles slyly at me. "Did I say anything about going out?"

Ugh. He's impossible.

"You know what," he says, standing in front of me. "I propose that we have a bestest friends sleepover!"

I laugh. "What are we, twelve year old girls?"

He glares at me. "Sleepovers are fun for all ages."

My dirty mind runs wild and I pray that I'm not blushing.

If I am, he doesn't notice as he says, "We can play board games, braid each others hair, talk about our crushes; you know, typical sleepover stuff."

I roll my eyes. "I don't even have pajamas or a change of clothes."

"You can run and grab your stuff. I already called Richard." He smirks as he pulls me off the couch and pushes me towards the door.

"You were that confident I'd say yes?"

"Yep. The girls are all off somewhere this week and you don't want to be alone, right?"

"Maybe."

He laughs and opens up the door. "Oh, and pack for a few days!"

A&A

As I step out the front door I see that Richard is already waiting for me.

"So…having a sleepover, are we?" Richard asks teasingly as he opens the door.

I roll my eyes. "In the most innocent, twelve year olds on a Friday night, sense, yes."

Richard laughs as he takes his seat up front.

"Can you take me by the Buzz first?" I ask.

He looks at me skeptically in he rear view mirror. "Are you sure? You don't want to keep Austin waiting."

I sigh. "I'm not going to perform. I need to talk to Jim and apologize. I think I'm going to have to take the rest of the week off unless I want Austin finding out."

Richard nods. "Good idea."

A few minutes later we pull up to the Buzz. I go inside and work my way through the crowd up to the counter, where Jim greets me excitedly.

"Hey Jim, I need to talk to you."

Worry consumes his face in an instant. "Oh no. You're quitting, aren't you! I knew this would never last. You're so much better than this place and I knew-"

"Woah, woah, woah. I am not quitting. I love it here. I just needed to let you know that I won't be able to come in the rest of this week."

Relief floods him. "Oh, thank goodness. Yes of course, that's no problem."

"Thanks, Jim. I just have a lot going on with… school. Yeah, lots of tests."

Jim nods and pats me on the shoulder. "Good luck kiddo, and see you later!"

I smile and wave as I walk out the door.

That went better than expected, but I hate lying to Jim. It seems like I'm having to lie a lot lately. But they're just little white lies, right?

Richard helps me back into the car and we head to the penthouse. I hurry up to my room and stand in the middle of my closet. What do I pack? Austin said pack for a couple days. Does that mean he wants me to stay over a couple nights, or just have clothing options? Ugh. I pull out a duffle bag and start stuffing things in. I grab jeans, shorts, shirts, tanks, dresses- you name it. I don't know what Austin has planned, so I want to be prepared. For pajamas, I grab a couple pajama shorts and a random tee shirt I found in a drawer. I go in to my bathroom and stuff everything I need into a makeup bag. By the time I'm done packing, the duffle barely zips shut. I heave it onto my shoulder and head downstairs.

"Moving in?" Richard asks, amused at my giant duffle.

I laugh and roll my eyes, handing the bag to Richard so he can load it in the car. I spend the drive back thinking of everything Austin might have planned. That boy is just full of surprises.

Richard pulls up in the driveway and hands me my bag as I get out. I count the doors as I walk down the hall, and once again as I raise my hand to knock on the third one on the right, Austin opens the door before my fist makes contact.

"Welcome to the Super Best Friends Mega Sleepover Extravaganza!" He says, sweeping his arm to usher me in.

When I step into the living room, my jaw drops. He has truly outdone himself. Where the sofas previously were is now a giant blanket fort made out of white sheets and draped with white string lights.

"I'm impressed. You work fast," I say, nodding in approval.

He gives me a sheepish grin. "I may or may not have had my friends in housekeeping help me."

I laugh. "I'm still impressed."

I set my bag on the ground and move to look inside, but Austin stops me.

"No! You can't go inside until you put your pajamas on. Sleepover rules."

I roll my eyes. "Fine."

I dig around in my bag and pull at my pajamas. I go down the hall and change quickly in the bathroom. I look myself over in the mirror. Oh no. Major face palm. Of course I grabbed my XXL "Thunder From Down Under" shirt. I never even went to a show, there was just a guy handing them out on the sidewalk- and my dad always taught me to never pass up free stuff (well, depending on what that free stuff is, of course). The shirt features three shirtless, glistening men and is so big that it reaches mid thigh. And of course I only packed one pajama top. Wow, good one, Ally.

I slowly creep out of the bathroom and down the hall. I tuck my clothes into my bag and head towards the entrance of the fort.

"Woah," I say at the same time as Austin, scaring me and causing me to fall on my butt.

"I didn't know you were already inside!" I squeal.

"I didn't know you were a Thunder From Down Under kind of girl," he retorts, smirking.

I cross my arms over my shirt and look down at where he is seated on one of two mattresses. "I'm not! Some guy was giving out these shirts on the street."

He wriggles his eyebrows. "Sureeeee…"

I pick up the nearest pillow and chuck it at him. I shake him off and finish looking around the fort. On the floor are two mattresses made up with white comforters. Scattered around are at least thirty pillows of various sizes. Austin's sitting on the mattress farthest from me, wearing maroon pajama pants and a plain black shirt. I plop down on the other mattress, pulling the shirt over my knees. I can tell that Austin is holding back a laugh.

"I didn't realize I grabbed this one!" I cry. I feel ridiculous, so I pull my arms in and turn the shirt backwards, so the shiny men are now on my back.

Austin falls over, laughing, making me laugh, too.

"Hey, if someone handed you a free shirt, you'd wear it too!" I exclaim, gasping for air.

He puts his hands up in surrender and wipes a tear from his eye. "Ok, ok."

He takes a moment and gathers himself. "Anyways, stupid tee shirts aside, do you like the fort?"

"It's great. I can't say I've ever had a sleepover this fancy before. I'm used to sleeping bags on hard living room floors."

"Well you've never been to an Austin Moon sleepover!" He says, gesturing to the fort and mattresses.

"No, I guess I haven't. So what do you have planned for this super special sleepover?"

"Nothing, actually."

I raise my eyebrows. "What? But you made it seem like you had some huge plan."

He smiles and shrugs. "Nope. I just wanted to get you to hang out with me longer."

I look around the fort. "So what do you want to do?"

He shrugs again. "I was kind of looking forward to just talking. I really like talking with you."

I smile. "Me too. What do you want to talk about?"

He grabs a pillow and lays on his stomach, propped up on his elbows. I mirror his position.

"Tell me more about your ex boyfriend."

Oh. I look down at the pillow and start pulling at imaginary threads. "Not really much to tell."

"How long were you together?"

"Two years."

"Did you love him?"

This catches me off guard. I look up into Austin's eyes. They're soft and inquisitive, patiently waiting for my answer. I sigh. "In the beginning, yeah I guess so. But not until recently I realized that I didn't love him for a long time. He was my first serious boyfriend. I think that I was putting pressure on myself to make it perfect, which meant I overlooked some of the really crappy stuff he did. I thought that he was going to be the one I married- not because he was the love of my life but because it was just…expected. I thought that was just how love works- that you love the good parts and ignore the bad."

"That is not how love works. You can't just ignore a whole part of someone. Love is loving someone entirely- accepting their flaws but being their better half that makes them a better person."

"It's taken me this long to learn that," I say, looking down at my hands. A let out a little laugh. "I think I felt trapped, too. Well I guess I was kind of trapped. Whenever I got mad at him Dallas would always tell me that I couldn't break up with him because I could never do better and that no one else could tolerate me."

Austin reaches over and takes my hand, sending butterflies through my veins. What was that? I look up at him, his eyes dark and sincere. "Ally, that is not true. Please tell me you know that is not true."

"I do." I say, offering up half a smile. "I'm learning that everything about that relationship was wrong, and that true love is nothing like that."

He smiles and pats my hand. "You're so much better off without him. He was holding you back."

I smile and nod. "Anyways, let's talk about you, Mr. Moon."

He rolls his eyes playfully. "Shoot."

Hmm. I'm actually not prepared. I don't know what I want to ask him. Suddenly I get an idea. "Have you ever been in love?"

He raises his eyebrows.

I hold out my hands,"Hey, don't dish it if you can't take it."

He laughs. "Fine." Then he thinks for a moment.

"Not really. I've had a couple serious girlfriends throughout the years that I said I loved, but in every one of those relationships it turned out they were using me for either my money or my fame, so they weren't real."

That's so sad. "That sucks."

He gives me a small smile. "I guess it's just a part of the life. Like I told you before, no one here is genuine. They always have an alternative motive. That's why I like you so much. You're real."

We share a smile. Suddenly, I'm overcome by a giant yawn, making Austin laugh.

"Time to go to bed?" He asks.

"I think all these pillows are calling my name."

I snuggle down under the covers and turn on my side to find Austin staring right back at me.

"Goodnight Ally," he says quietly.

"Goodnight, Austin."

A&A

Having been awake at any and all hours of the day throughout the past few months has made me quite adept at telling the time based off the color of the sky. That's how I know it is about four AM when a shrill ringing noise stirs me awake. It takes me a moment to place the sound. In that moment, I look through a gap in the sheet fort and look out the window, where it is still dark, but not too dark. Then I realize that Austin's phone is ringing. I look over to his mattress, where he is still sleeping soundly. I reach over and shake him until he opens his eyes.

"Huh?" He mutters, blinking slowly.

"You're phone is ringing."

He raises up and snatches his phone.

"Hello?" He asks, sleep dripping from his voice.

He listens for a moment. I am about to drift back to sleep.

Suddenly, all sleepiness gone, he cries out: "No!"

A&A

It's almost been a year. I'm sorry doesn't cut it.

|April|