Sunday in New York

"Alright, I love you and good luck with the show, you and Jules are gonna kill it." I grinned, on my cell with Hudson.

"Thanks love, I'll talk to you in a bit. Love you, bye."

"Bye." I hung up as Christian and I walked through the crowd at the Voodoo Festival. "There's so many people here already, it's only 11:30am." I smiled, looking around the venue.

"So then it probably sucks being short, huh?" He chuckled. I rolled my eyes and playfully elbowed him.

"I'm really nervous, I'm interviewing Mumford & Sons at 12." I bit my lip.

He then gently held my arm and stopped me, turning me to face him. "Avery, you can do this. You can talk to anyone with such ease. The guys are gonna love you."

I softly smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

* * *

After an incredibly long day of walking, talking, interviewing, taking pictures, and embracing good music, Christian and I finally were back at our hotel relaxing and looking at the pictures he took during the day. I burst out laughing as I leaned in close to him to look at the screen on his camera.

"Oh that's a bad one of me, please don't publish that one in the magazine." I blushed, seeing an awkward picture of me and the guys from Red Hot Chili Peppers."

"I think you look cute, there are never bad pictures of you." He smiled.

I shook my head and laughed. He turned off the camera and set it down on the coffee table. "Okay, so as a celebration of you successfully interviewing four bands today, we're going out."

I looked at him. "Out? Where? Haven't we been out all day?"

"We're gonna hit up a bar or two, get hammered, have a good night." He grinned.

I hesitated and bit my lip, "I don't know about that."

He turned his body to face me. "Why?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know...I've never been the party type."

He quickly smiled, "Okay, then how 'bout a drink? Or two...or five?"

Still biting my lip I then gave a sigh and and started to laugh, "Alright, let me go change."

"Wear the dress." He said as I was entering my room.

"Fine." I chuckled.

Soon I came quietly out of my room, gently tugging at the hem of my dress, always insecure about wearing one. He was sitting in the living room when he noticed me and he quickly stood up with a faint smile on his face, he looked me up and down and didn't say anything.

"What do you think?" I asked, lightly laughing as I ran my fingers through my hair.

"You look, great." He grinned. "More than great."

I blushed and rolled my eyes. "Thanks. Now let's go, I'm starving, this bar better have food."

At the bar, Christian and I were laughing and talking over dinner. We had ordered some classic Creole dishes and were picking from each other's plates, sharing meals.

"So you said that Hudson is a chef, does he do most of the cooking at home?" He asked, taking a forkful of food from my plate.

I finished taking a sip of a corona, "Sometimes, but I like to do the cooking at home since he's cooking all day at the restaurant. But then again, sometimes I get intimidated when it comes to cooking, 'cause he's gone to school for it and has his own restaurant. And my mom taught me all that I know."

He nodded and looked up at me, "What's she like? Your mother."

I smiled, "She is the typical Italian mother, she's an amazing cook and she has a heart of gold. She does so much for everyone and she never complains. She's works at the doctor's office as an RN and on her days of she volunteers at the local food bank."

He watched me with such a boyish curiosity in his eyes and a faint smile. "She sounds amazing...what about the rest of your family?"

"My dad's an accountant. He's one of those guys who are quiet by nature and keep to themselves, but when he speaks, he usually says some of the most incredible things. He's like Confucius, he just says all the right things. I'm really close with him, we can talk for hours on end about anything. And I'm also really close with my brothers, Jonny and Paulie. They're older than me, Paul's the oldest, he's 26 and Jonathan is 24. Those two are a crazy duo, they've always gotten into some silly shenanigans together, oh but I love them dearly, they've always watched out for me."

He softly smiled and realized that he was staring intently at me the whole time, he looked back down at his plate. "Your family sounds pretty fantastic."

I cocked my head to the right as I looked at him, I smiled. "What about you? What's your family like?"

His soft smile became a happy grin, I assumed he liked being ask about his family. "Well, my mom is a funny and quirky lady, but contrary to her personality, she's a marriage counsellor. And my dad is just the same, he's a silly and outgoing man, very outdoorsy. He works as a physical therapist for a sports injury clinic in Brooklyn."

I smiled, "You're from Brooklyn?"

He nodded, "I was born and raised in Long Island, in Nassau, up until I was 13. Then we moved to Brooklyn and that's been my home ever since. Me and my four siblings consider that our real home."

"You have four siblings?"

"Yup. Three sisters and a brother. I'm the oldest. David is after me, he's 30, and then Jenna is 27, Elizabeth is 25, and Olivia is your age."

I chuckled. "I had no idea you were from Brooklyn, that's where I'm from. And you have a big family. I wouldn't have thought that."

"Yes, who knew the Don Juan had a close relationship with his family." He smiled.

I laughed and placed my hand on his, patting it. "I'm sorry Christian, it was wrong of me to make assumptions like that. There's just so much I don't know about you."

He held my hand and stroked his thumb along my knuckles. "And there's so much I don't know about you."

I blushed and lightly laughed, taking my hand back. "My life is pretty uninteresting."

"Then let's make it interesting. Come, White Lies are taking the stage in 20 minutes. We'll walk to the festival." He grinned, taking out his wallet and leaving a generous amount on the table.

I drank the last of my corona and stood up with him. "Mr. Reid, I better be back at the hotel by 12."

"Or what? You'll turn into a pumpkin?" He laughed.

I rolled my eyes and walked out with him, our arms linked with each other's as he hailed a cab for us to take.