"Good evening New York! My name is Austin Moon! How are you guys doing tonight?" Austin yelled into the microphone after concluding his first song "Double Take." He was greeted with the wild cheers of the crowd.
The ubiquitous song drove the crowd into delirium as everyone sang and danced along to the song which took the internet and radio by storm a few months ago. The "Double Take" mania was almost as crazy as the "Call Me Maybe" mania – it was a phenomenal hit.
Smiling at the cheers from the audience, Austin burst into his second song, "Can't Make It Without You," which was going to be the first single from his upcoming EP. I smiled as I danced along to the song while watching it from the side of the stage. Austin and I co-wrote the song together and just like the title says, we couldn't have made it so far without one another.
"You write the best-est songs, Ally!" Chantel squealed, snapping me out of my trance. I was watching Austin entertain the crowd with his dance moves and his versatile voice.
I smiled at Chantel. The teenage redhead might be a little crazy but she sure had good taste in music. I thanked her and she excused herself to go backstage. She mentioned something about going somewhere in one direction, eighty-four pounds of carrots and Louis Tomlinson's dressing room… Well, that's what I think I heard.
'To wrap up his segment on the Times Square Ball Drop, Austin will now perform a brand new track from his upcoming EP – "A Billion Hits!"' I tweeted on Austin's official Twitter account. We don't usually tweet on Austin's Twitter for privacy purposes except for occasions like these since some fans may not be able to catch the performance.
"Thank you New York! I had a blast and I can't wait to come back! Have a great night and Happy New Year in advance!" Austin screamed. I smiled – it was finally the end of his incredible performance. I stood up and closed my laptop, and waited for Austin to run back to the side of the stage before heading to his dressing room. He didn't run back though – instead, he just stayed on the stage while the lights dimmed from a bright white light to a soothing purple light.
Dez set his video camera aside and grabbed an acoustic guitar.
"What are you doing, Dez?" I asked inquisitively. From what I knew, it was the end of Austin's set and we didn't even need an acoustic guitar for the show. He hesitated, shrugged his shoulders and ran out to the stage to pass Austin the guitar.
I looked at Trish, who took my laptop.
"I'll take over from here, Ally. Just sit back and enjoy this one," she said with a knowing grin. What? I turned to Adam who just smirked.
What the hell was going on?
"It's been eighteen years, we started as friends, I can't tell you how it all happened," came Austin's voice from the loudspeakers. He was alone on the stage, strumming on his acoustic guitar and singing into the microphone.
I recognized the song instantly – it was the song Austin wrote all by himself. Well, I helped a little but he wrote the most part for himself. It was the fourth track on his upcoming EP.
Why was he performing it? Weren't we only allowed three songs? Why was he performing a fourth one? I saw that Chantel had returned to our VIP area and I looked at her questioningly.
"It's okay Ally, don't freak out. Daddy approved it," she assured me, allowing me to relax a little.
"I wonder if you miss me too," Austin crooned as I sang along to the lyrics. "If you don't, then there's one thing that I wish you knew."
And then he stopped.
He turned to the side of the stage and faced me, staring at me with that unreadable expression of his once again.
"Guys," he spoke into the microphone. "I wrote this song all by myself."
Cue all the hoots and aww's from the crowd.
"I wrote this for my best friend in the whole world. She's been there for me since we were born – well, technically, since she was born since she was born about 12 hours after I was."
"I've loved her ever since I knew how to love and I did something really stupid. Scratch that – I did many stupid things just to get her attention, and I guess my actions broke her heart and made her lose her faith in me."
"She's stuck with me through thick and thin but things haven't been so good between us lately because let's just say that some unpleasant things have happened and some feelings were revealed in an incredibly unromantic way."
"Let me make it up to you, Ally," Austin said, looking at me once again. "This song is for Ally Dawson, my best friend, my songwriter, and hopefully my soon-to-be-girlfriend. I love you, Ally."
A couple of tears slipped escaped my eyes and before I knew it, I was bawling. I wasn't sad, heck no, I was extremely touched. I turned to Trish, Adam and Dez and they smiled, pulling me into a group hug.
"I think about you every morning when I open my eyes. I think about you every evening when I turn out the lights. I think about you every moment, every day of my life. You're on my mind, all the time, it's true," Austin sang, walking over to me and pulling me out onto the stage.
He serenaded me for the rest of the song, caressing my face and all, earning many ooh's and aww's from the audience.
"Austin…" I muttered as he finished the song and looked straight into my eyes. He leaned his forehead against mine and we just stared into each other's eyes. His eyes were sparkling intensely and I don't think they've ever been this beautiful.
"I love you," he whispered as he cupped my cheeks with his ginormous hands and kissed me with a passion that I had no idea existed.
At that moment, I swear, everything just fell into place.
Life was perfect.
After the kiss we shared onstage, I finally remembered that I had stage fright. How convenient. I freaked out and Austin, being the big strong man he was, carried me off the stage and put me down on the couch in the VIP area side-stage. Then, he served me a gigantic plate of pickles. Each piece of sliced pickle had a letter written on it with ketchup and the entire thing spelled 'B MY GIRLFRIEND?'
I looked at Austin and he blushed as he handed me the plate.
"Of course!" I squealed as I tackled him into another hug. Austin really knew how to tug on my heartstrings, didn't he?
He was lying below me and I was on top. It was such a Kodak moment. I really should have kissed him, but even though we were a couple, that didn't mean that we would be lovey-dovey all the time.
I zapped him by poking his two sides with my index fingers, causing him to yelp in shock and jump up. I blew my index fingers as if it were a gun and grinned at my boyfriend.
My boyfriend.
Austin Moon, my boyfriend.
Trish passed me my laptop and pointed at the trending topics section on Twitter. #Auslly was trending at the top spot and Austin had finally passed the one-million followers mark.
I high-fived Austin and I did a happy dance. Naturally, I failed at doing the happy dance. I just fail at dancing, period.
We didn't choose to stay at the Times Square Ball Drop for the rest of the night. Instead, Austin and I walked to a secluded park near the venue, where we could still hear the screams and chants of the audience and we could hear the performances and see the ball. It was the perfect spot.
We just sat on a park bench there and talked about life. Being a couple didn't make it awkward for us at all. We were still BFFs and that was never going to change, apart from the fact that we now had permission to kiss each other without making everything all awkward.
"Um hello, how on earth is it even possible for a person to talk without its vocal cords?" I retorted. We were on the topic of decapitation and Austin told me this supposedly true story about a head. Apparently, his uncle was in an elevator when his friend rushed into the elevator while the doors were closing. The elevator was faulty and it just closed its doors on his friend's head and the elevator went down, beheading him in the process. Even after the head was separated from his body, it could still speak for a minute and it told Austin's uncle, "Your new haircut looks gay."
It was admittedly creepy, but I didn't believe it one bit. Like I said, it didn't have its vocal cords anymore. If it could move its eyes, I would still believe the story since nerves took some time to respond but speak? Hogwash.
Austin chuckled, "Oh Ally, silly silly Ally, as long as it still has its mouth, it can speak!"
My boyfriend has a brain the size of a parasite, I swear.
Allow me to recapitulate the events of that night. First, Austin gave me a beautiful necklace with our initials engraved on them. Then, he performed at the prestigious Times Square Ball Drop. Subsequently, he serenaded me in front of a billion people and asked me to be his girlfriend. And now, after officially being a couple for two hours, we were bating about whether or not beheaded people could speak.
How romantic.
I laughed quietly and snuggled into his chest. It was pretty cold up here in New York.
"Hey Ally."
I turned my head up to look at him.
"You know the To-Do List was just a sham, right? I never actually did anything with those girls," he murmured guiltily, with his lips in my hair.
I nodded.
He took that as a signal to continue. "It killed me when I saw you with Dallas. I knew I never stood a chance with you but I tried anyway. And now we're finally together," he said, his lips lifting up into a smile. I leaned up and kissed the corner of his lips.
"Hey Austin, do you know that our birthday was just two days ago?" I reminded him. We were so busy with concert preparations that we didn't even celebrate our birthday. Our parents were still away at the mattress convention and my mom was still in Africa so we didn't receive gifts from them either.
"Really? Darn, I totally forgot," he replied. "Well, happy belated birthday, Ally."
"Happy belated birthday too, Austin."
He smiled and pulled me in for yet another mind-blowing kiss. I don't know how long it lasted but it was blissful. Who needed fireworks when you could kiss Austin Moon? Don't get any ideas though – he's mine now!
"You know, all these years, I've always made the same birthday wish. And I honestly have no idea what to wish for this year," he admitted.
"Ten! Nine!" I heard the crowd chant. Looks like the New Year countdown had finally started.
"Why is that?" I asked curiously. I've never actually made a birthday wish before because I was the type of person that was all about being content and satisfied with what you have. Okay, maybe I have. Can you keep a secret? I've wished for the same thing every year, and that was to have Austin love me back. And my wish had finally been granted after all these years.
"Because my one wish has finally come true and she's currently lying on my chest."
My heart melted at that sentence. I beamed at him and I noticed the beatific smile he was wearing on his face. He looked beautiful as always. I know 'beautiful' is a rather sissy term to describe a male but there was no other word to describe someone who was so perfect inside-out.
"Eight! Seven! Six!"
"Oh really?" I asked playfully, wrapping my arms around his neck.
He nodded and grinned boyishly, his floppy blonde hair blowing in the cold December wind.
"Five!"
"Four!"
"I love you, Ally," he whispered as he pressed his forehead against mine.
"Three!"
"I love you too, Austin," I replied. Those words came right from the bottom of my heart. We sounded clichéd as hell but I honestly couldn't care less.
"Two!"
"One!"
Austin grinned. "Happy New Year," he said as he brushed his lips against mine, pulling me in for the kiss of a lifetime.