"New York is so beautiful," I told Trish.

I was sitting in my hotel room. The plane ride was exhausting, but I'd managed to keep myself awake during the flight and the cab ride to the hotel.

I was the only one. Austin and Mimi slept on the plane and Dez fell asleep in the cab.

The hotel was beautiful. I had my own room, with a huge bed. I could actually lie on it any way I wanted, it was so big that I fitted on anyway.

Yes, I tried that.

It was late. Tomorrow would be a busy day. I figured I wouldn't have time to talk to Trish, so I'd called her now.

But I was really tired, and lying on my bed, I could feel my eyes closing on their own.

"I bet. But I don't really care about New York City, darling. I want to know how your crush is doing."

"He's fine," I muttered.

"Oh come on Ally, details!" Trish whined. I knew she wouldn't leave it alone, so I decided that short and sweet would be a good approach.

"There's not a lot to tell. We slept together. And I mean sleeping in the most innocent sense of the word, Trish. We just fell asleep. And then I woke him up by throwing a vase with water in his face."

"You threw a vase?" Trish exclaimed. I laughed.

"Oh god, no, only the water."

"Wow, that's kind of mean for you Ally." She paused. "I'm so proud of you. Why did you throw water at him?"

I explained.

"I've got to go, Trish." I yawned. "I'm really tired and it's going to be so busy tomorrow. I need to find the time to write that article, because your boss told me it has to be out before Christmas. And Austin has to rehearse for his big performance and I have to find the time to buy my dad a Christmas present and…"

"Okay, I get it. Goodnight Ally!"

"Night Trish," I muttered, but I was already half asleep.

I figured that if I would ignore it, it would go away.

But it didn't.

"Yes, I'm coming, for the love of god!" I yelled, making my way to the door.

Having someone bang on my door for half an hour wasn't my favourite way to wake up. I opened the door, ready to give the person, who I was convinced was a hotel employee, a piece of my mind.

"Do you have any idea… Austin. Hi."

"Hey Als! You awake?" Austin pushed passed me, inviting himself in.

"I am now."

He turned around and looked at me. Stared at me, even. And suddenly, I became very aware of what I was wearing.

Which was very little.

"You're wearing my sweater," Austin smirked. I started to blush.

That was also the only thing, except for my underwear, I was wearing. I'd packed it because I knew New York could be cold and I figured I would sneak it back in his suitcase when we went back.

"Why are you up so early?" I changed the subject. Luckily, he went with it.

"Because we have so much to do! I can't believe you were still sleeping." His smile grew even bigger than it already was.

"We're going Christmas shopping!"

"But I can't," I stuttered.

"Why?"

"Because I have to write your article."

I didn't actually want to remind him of that. I didn't want to remind him that I was only here for one reason and that he wouldn't see me after that ever again.

Because I wished he could just forget that part.

"Well, you'll have to do that later. Get dressed, come on, we have to hurry!" Austin exclaimed.

I muttered some reasons why we shouldn't go under my breath, but I walked into the bathroom, leaving Austin behind in my room.

He sounded so happy that I didn't have the heart to tell him no.

Also, I preferred Christmas shopping with Austin over writing an article about Austin Moon.

Because to me, they were two very different people.

Austin Moon was the guy that threatened to kill me if I used his mother for anything fame related. Austin Moon was the guy that nearly punched me in the face when I broke his guitar. Austin Moon was the guy with the sarcastic words, the one that didn't like me.

Austin was the guy that liked romantic movies and swing sets. Austin was the guy that I trusted enough to sing to, Austin was the guy that asked me to come to New York with him. Austin was the guy that I liked.

So I got dressed, wrapped myself in a scarf and a beanie and gloves and a coat and a sweater and boots and anything else that could keep me warm, and we left.

I thought Dez and maybe Mimi would be coming with us, but I didn't see them.

Austin saw me look around.

"Just us two, Als. We all have to shop apart because we have to buy stuff for each other."

So he wasn't planning on buying me anything.

I got into his car, mentally slapping myself again. Of course he wasn't going to buy me anything, I was just a reporter for a magazine that was only interested in his mistakes.

When we arrived at the shopping street, my bad mood disappeared.

"Oh my god, look how pretty!" I squeaked. In excitement, I grabbed Austin's arm. He started laughing and I immediately let go.

I needed to control myself.

"I thought you didn't believe in Christmas," said Austin teasingly.

"I love Christmas. I don't believe in Christmas miracles." We started walking.

In the end, I ended up buying a really cool vintage guitar for my dad. Austin got recognized by the girl in the music store so she gave us a big discount.

I got a voucher for a spa treatment for Trish. I wanted something more personal, but couldn't find anything, and I knew this would be the only occasion I had to actually buy presents.

I bought something for Austin too, when he was out buying a videogame for Dez.

It was necklace. It immediately reminded me of him. On the end was a little whistle.

It was, according to the saleswoman, a special kind of whistle, one that was actually very often used to imitate bird calls. The people that used it found birds superior organisms that mastered art in a way humans could only ever dream of.

It reminded me of him, because he was mastering art.

Also, he could whistle if he was ever lost or something.

Like people do with small kids and dogs.

I was planning to leave it in his suitcase when we went home. He would find it when we would have already said goodbye, so it wouldn't be awkward because he didn't buy me anything.

When we were both done, Austin pulled me into a coffee shop.

"You are very brave," I giggled, remembering our very first encounter.

"I am, yes. But I'm holding the coffee. At all times. I will feed it to you."

I laughed. Austin turned to the barista.

"Hey! Could I have a cappuccino and a… Ally, what do you want? A hazelnut latte?"

How on earth did he know my coffee order?

I must've looked really surprised, because Austin smirked.

"You can't throw coffee all over me and not expect me to notice the flavour."

"That's weird! That's…" I couldn't finish my sentence, because Austin started laughing really hard, and I realized he hadn't been serious. "Oh."

"Your room service gets charged to my account," he explained.

I did order coffee yesterday evening, knowing it would give me just enough energy to deal with Trish. I completely forgot that he had paid for my room and that, therefor, my room service would also be paid by him.

"I'll pay you back for that," I told him, after nodding yes to the barista and she went off to make our coffee.

"Nah, that's fine," he said.

Then when I wanted to pay for our coffees, he smacked my wallet away. We walked to our table.

"You didn't have to pay for me, Austin," I said softly.

"And you didn't have to come to New York with me. It's only fair, Ally," he answered, adding my name like I'd done.

We sat down, and I decided to ask the question I'd been wanting to ask him for a long time.

"Why did you ask me to come with you to New York?"

He shrugged off his coat. I realized the beanie looked really cute on him. I also realized it probably wouldn't look cute on me, so I took mine off. Then I waited for him to answer.

It didn't take him long.

"Because I like you, Als. You're nice. Dez is my only friend, and he can be a bit…" He paused, thinking of the right word.

"Weird," he finally decided. "I feel like I can talk to you about anything. I don't have that with Dez, because I don't always feel like he understands me." He sipped his coffee.

"You do. You know me by heart. And I don't know how, because I haven't known you for long and we spent the first days not understanding each other at all."

I wished I could tell him that I felt the same. But I couldn't. Because I couldn't talk to him about everything. I couldn't talk to him about my song writing.

"Also, I don't think you want anything from me, which is a first," Austin said, with a smile on his face.

And that was exactly the reason why.

But I did feel that Austin understood me in a way Trish didn't. And I did know that I really wanted to keep Austin close to me.

And I knew that just Trish wasn't enough anymore. Austin and Trish, they were really different kind of friends.

But I needed both of them. I needed Trish, like I'd always had. But now, I also needed Austin.

Really bad.

So the song writing would just have to be held a secret from him. Forever.