Here's the part where Alex and Steph meets. Also, just to clear things up a bit, Steph's not evil...just clingy and a little obnoxious. :) Someone's gotta be the annoying one, right?

By the way...you guys owe me reviews. Let's start off easy okay? At least 5 reviews. Last one only got three. You guys can do it! There's 19 alerts & 9 faves on this thing!! :) Oh, and thanks to the constant reviewers, you guys are awesome!


Hidden Secrets

Chapter Four

Nate's ringtone on his cell phone woke him up. He sat up in the dark and patted his bed, looking for his phone. He could already tell who it was.

"What time is it?" He mumbled to himself. One look at the clock said that it was 5 am. Great. Steph had already woken him up 3 times during the night.

"I thought I turned off this stupid phone!" He said, getting angry. It wasn't that he was mad at Steph for calling him all the time, it was because she was calling him at 5 in the morning, when she clearly knew he would still be sleeping.

Steph is too clingy. I should break up with her right when she gets to New York. Suddenly, he was wide awake. Today was the day Steph was supposed to come. She'd texted him 10 times telling him that.

But it was also the day that he'd promised to go around the city with Alex. And they had almost no time together, just the two of them, the last week. Everything was hectic, moving stuff into Nate's old house, signing autographs to crazy fans, and working on a new song. He'd asked Alex for a tour of the city, to get used to New York again, and she'd promised him one today.

He couldn't exactly back out on that plan. Alex was going to skip going shopping, her favorite thing to do, with Harper and Mitchie to be with him. And if he ditched Steph, which he really wanted to at that moment, she was going to kill Alex for taking his time with her.

"I hate this," he grumbled, getting out of bed. He threw on some clothes and ran down the stairs. To his surprise, Jason was on the couch watching Spongebob.

"Jason?" He asked, standing there.

Jason turned around and smiled. "Hey Nate. Wanna watch Spongebob with me? It's the episode where it's Best Friends Day!" He turned back around toward the TV, not caring whether Nate was going to join him or not.

Nate sat down next to him. "Why are you up so early? It's 5 AM."

"I wanted to watch Spongebob. Is that a crime?" Jason cried.

"No, no. Please, just keep watching your Spongebob." Nate said, not wanting to upset Jason anymore.

Jason happily turned the volume up a little, focusing on the scene that was happening. Nate got up and walked over to the kitchen. Eating usually helped him think.

Shane came down the stairs, his hair messed up and also a grumpy look on his face. "Turn down the volume, would you?!" He was obviously in a bad mood.

"Why are you two awake at 5 in the morning? Usually you sleep until like 11!" He sat down across from Nate and glared at him.

Nate threw his hands up as if surrendering to a cop. "Steph called me so I woke up."

"And I wanted to watch Spongebob!" Jason called.

Shane gave Jason a weird look. "Spongebob?"

"Don't ask." Nate said, playing with his cell phone.

"So," Shane said, peeling a banana. "When are you going to break up with Steph?"

"I was planning on today, but she just got here. And, I promised Alex that she could take me around the city but today's the day that Steph's coming and...and...I don't know what to do!"

Shane threw the banana away, it was rotten. "Why don't you take Alex to meet Steph? Maybe they'll become good friends and everything will be okay."

Nate gave him a look. "You really think that'll work?"

Shane shrugged. "Worth a try, right?"


Alex rang the doorbell on Nate's house. It was 2:30 and they would probably be awake. Usually Nate slept until 11, ate 'brunch' at 12, and was awake by 2:30. On rare occasions, he slept until 1 in the afternoon.

Shane opened the door, and seeing it was Alex, smiled. "Hey. Nate's coming soon, you can wait inside."

Alex smiled her thanks and stepped inside, seeing Nate's old house again. The walls were kinda old but she could help repaint the house.

Jason was on the couch, watching Spongebob. Alex sat down next to him. "Hey Jason."

"Hi Alex! I'm watching Spongebob!" He pointed excitedly toward the TV.

"Thats...great!" Alex said, trying to appear happy that he was watching Spongebob. She hated the show. Seriously, which sponge in the world could talk and wear pants?

Nate came down the stairs, looking awesome even though he was in an old T-shirt and jeans. Alex grinned at him and he kissed her, not caring that both Jason and Shane were watching them.

"Let's go." Nate said, ignoring Shane's smirk. He had a plan all in his head. First, they would go along the plan as normal, then he'll say that there's a friend Nate wants Alex to meet. Hopefully, they'll become friends and everything will be fine...for a while. After a week or so, Nate would tell Alex the truth, and hopefully she'll understand. Then he would break up with Steph. Shane helped with the plan.

Nate opened the door and let Alex go first, it was the gentleman-ish thing to do. "Where do you want to go first?" he asked.

"How about we just look around the neighborhood?" Alex suggested. She was willing to go anywhere, as long as she got some time alone with her boyfriend.

Nate followed Alex, looking around the place. He could recognize a lot of things, but there were some new stores or places that he didn't know about. Alex pointed out a lot of things, and finally they ended up in Alex's family's sandwich shop.

"So did you miss New York?" Alex asked, sitting down.

Nate took the seat across from her. "Of course. And I missed you for the last week."

Alex smiled, she loved the way Nate was so sweet.

Nate took a deep breath. "And there's also a friend of mine that's coming to visit. I want you to meet her."

Alex shrugged. It was a girl, but just a friend. She could live with that. "Sure. When's she coming?"

"Today."

"Today? But we still have a lot of places to look at."

"Why don't we meet her and then you can show both of us around?" Nate asked.

Alex crossed her arms, refusing to answer Nate's question. "Why didn't you tell me she was coming today?"

"I'm sorry." Nate said, feeling guilty for making Alex upset.

Alex sighed. "Alright, alright, I forgive you. But only because your face is so cute and I can't stay mad at that."

He laughed, then stood up. "Okay, let's go."

Alex followed him out the door. "So where are we meeting her?"

"I'm not actually sure. She told me to stand at the end of this street." He walked to the end of Waverly Place (A/N: Thanks Freakybirdgirl for letting me know it's Waverly Place!)

Alex walked behind him and stopped when he stopped. "So where is she?"

"She'll be here soon." Nate answered, staring straight ahead. He hoped Steph wouldn't call him her boyfriend or anything. That wasn't part of the plan.

He saw a blond head coming their way. Steph. Her hair was in two pigtails, which she probably thought was a cute look for her. He thought it didn't cute at all.

"Hey Nate!" Steph said, smiling brightly and hugging him. Seeing Alex behind him, she raised her eyebrows and said, a little rudely, Alex might add, "Who are you?"

Nate sighed. "Steph, don't be mean to her. This is Alex. Alex, meet Steph."

Steph immediately went from raised eyebrows to suck-up smile. "Hi, I'm Steph, Nate's--"

Nate cut her off, "Right, she's Steph. Steph. Yeah, Steph." He laughed nervously.

Alex gave him a weird look. What was Steph going to say before Nate cut her off? She smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Alex."

Steph ignored her hand and walked away, expecting only Nate to follow her. Nate started walking and looked back, seeing Alex just standing there.

"You coming?" Nate asked. "We still have a lot to see."

Mitchie came running toward them. "Hey guys! How's the tour going?"

Alex looked at Nate and shook her head. "Nah, you guys go ahead. I'll just go and shop with Mitch and Harper." She turned toward Mitchie. "Where is Harper?"

Mitchie laughed. "She went to get more fabric so she can make more clothes on her sewing machine."

Nate took a step towards Steph, who was waiting impatiently, then looked back. "Alex, are you sure?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, go have fun with Steph. You can come over later if you want."

Nate hesitated, then walked away slowly. Alex looked at Mitchie, who was giving her a confused look. "Weren't you supposed to spend time with Nate, and only Nate?"

Alex sighed. "Apparently he's got another friend that's here. Her name's Steph, and don't tell anyone, but she's kinda...cold."

"Ice cold?"

"Yeah. Come on, let's go. I haven't been shopping for 3 weeks and it's killing me." Alex made an exaggerated move of dying.

Mitchie laughed. "Okay. Let's go."


Nate sighed again as Steph began to talk about which shoes were 'hers.' They were in a shoe store and Steph had bought about three dozen pairs of shoes. That was an exaggeration of course, but it seemed like it was true.

Shane was so wrong about this. Nate thought. They didn't become friends!

I should never listen to him again.


Okay, there you have it. Chapter four. I have a question: Am I making this story a little too fast? Like should I have waited a little bit before Alex and Steph meet?

Don't forget, 5 reviews!

:)