Disclaimer: Austin and Ally is not mine.

A/N: Just a little holiday one-shot. Merry Christmas!

He's never been this frustrated in his entire life.

Three times.

Three.

3.

It shouldn't take three attempts to kiss someone, especially if said someone is you know, your soul mate and the love of your life and your best friend and the prettiest—did he mention he was frustrated?

The first time, she was wearing candy cane pants and she looked positively delicious and all he wanted to do was find out how many licks it would take to get to her—oops, wrong candy.

The second time was during their performance and he could understand why she thought it might be funny to duck away, but come on, even the background dancers were confused.

The third time was after he had bought her freaking jewelry while she was wearing a red dress, for Santa's sake! It was the most romantic gesture he had ever made towards her (minus the whole getting her a plane ticket to anywhere thing and saying multiple times that he'd give up his career for her but who's even counting anymore?). And she had loved the bracelet and when he pointed out the mistletoe she had flirted with him. Flirted. He knew rules were important to Ally but he did not know her passion for rule following meant batting eyelashes and coy smiles and almost kisses. In fact, with this newfound knowledge, he might never break a rule again.

So now, he's frustrated in a car with said source of frustration as he gives her a ride home so they can spend the rest of the day with their families.

But then inspiration strikes.

"Ally!" he yells, and she jumps in her seat. "Austin, wha—"

"What time did you tell your dad you'd be back?" he asks excitedly.

She glances at the clock. "Oh, not for another hour. I thought we'd be there longer. Why?"

He just grins widely and she looks at him suspiciously. "What are you planning?" she asks warily.

"You'll see," he says, before suddenly making a U-turn, heading in the direction of the beach.

He is getting his Christmas kiss, even if it means holding seaweed over their heads in place of mistletoe.

Crap. The only thing he can find is seaweed. He quickly grabs some off the ground and stuffs it into his pocket as Ally stares out over the ocean.

They're back at the beach because he had said something off the top of his head about wanting a white Christmas and the only way he could get close was the white, sandy beaches of Miami. But she had bought it, even squealing slightly at the cheesy sentiment. So now they were walking on the beach, her heels long since discarded in the car. He's carrying his blazer over his arm, which means he's wearing white on white, which is a bit much this far past Labor Day but he doesn't have a choice. Dez would wholeheartedly unapprove, though, and he sends a silent apology to his fashion-forward best friend.

He glances down at Ally, walking slowly beside him as she looks out at the water. He looks at her hand. Her free hand that's free. Should he hold it? He should hold it, he decides. It's winter. Her hand must be cold. It would be the gentlemanly thing to do.

He grabs her hand before he can think about it anymore and she tenses a little bit before intertwining her fingers with his and he breathes a quiet sigh of relief.

"It's nice to get a little quiet time," she says softly. "We've been so busy the last few days, and I have a ton of family over so it's going to be crazy when I get home. This was a good idea."

He nods. "That's why I did it," he lies. Not because he wants a kiss. Nope. Definitely not because of that.

He clears his throat.

"You wanna sit down for a minute?"

She stops walking. "Sure."

He lays out his blazer on the sand for her so her dress won't get dirty and she smiles at him gratefully as she lets go of his hand to sit. He joins her, sitting extra close to her so they can share the blazer. Yup, that's the only reason. He is wearing white pants, after all.

"We've had a crazy year, haven't we?" she asks. "You started off by performing in Times Square, and then I got over my stage fright. Then we…" she trails off and blushes. "Then we dated," she continues quickly, and he feels the tips of his ears getting hot. "And you went on tour and I got a record deal and now we're back. Could you have imagined any of this happening last year?"

"No," he says honestly. "But I'm so proud of you, Ally. You've come so far in such a short time."

She smiles softly at him. "It's because of you, you know that, right? I couldn't have done any of it if I hadn't met you. If you hadn't helped me, if you hadn't pushed me. If you hadn't inspired me."

He swallows. "Really?" he whispers. "I inspired you?"

She nods shyly. "My goose, remember?"

"Ally, you're like…like," he struggles for the right words. "You're like…a million gooses to me. Geese. Whatever. You make me better. You make everything better," he says, echoing what he had told her on tour. "You…you have no idea what you mean to me."

And all of a sudden, the air shifts and he's left looking into her wide eyes, and in them, he sees everything he's ever wanted. He leans his head closer to hers and he sees her eyes closing and this is it, this is it and then he finds himself kissing the air because she's turned away.

He gapes at the side of her head in disbelief, unable to comprehend what just happened. It was perfect, it was going to be amazing. And then he hears a quiet sniff and he's immediately in protective-Austin mode, all thoughts of frustration and kissing flying out of his head as he focuses on his best friend.

"Ally?" he asks softly. "What's wrong? What happened?"

She shakes her head. "N-nothing," she stammers. "I just got…I um…I got sand in my eyes," she says. "Yeah! Sand. In my eyes."

"Ally," he says, a little more forcefully. "You're a terrible liar."

She slumps a little in defeat and turns to face him. She's not crying but he can tell she's upset. He looks at her expectantly as he takes her hand in his. "I'm scared," she finally whispers.

"Of what?" he whispers back.

"Us. You and me. This. We already failed once and I don't know if our friendship can stand—"

He digs around in his pocket.

"Look up," he says, interrupting her. "It's mistletoe. You don't wanna break the rules, do you? Especially on Christmas."

She looks up. "Austin, that's sea—"

"Mistletoe. Sea mistletoe. New in Miami this year."

"Austin," she sighs.

"Ally."

She bites her lip.

Now or never, Austin. He takes a breath.

"Kiss me."

She searches his eyes.

And apparently she likes what she sees because the next thing he knows, he has one hundred and ten pounds of warm, soft, Ally on his lap and her hands are in his hair and she's kissing him.

He freezes for a millisecond but then he chucks the seaweed away and wraps his arms around her and tilts his head for better access.

Her tongue swirls lazily around his as she kisses him like she's never done anything else and he slides a hand into her hair, tightening his grip on her waist.

When she finally pulls back, he leans forward and presses his lips to her cheek, her jaw, and he watches as her eyelids flutter shut and feels her fingers clench around his shoulders when he softly kisses her temple.

"Merry Christmas, Ally," he whispers.

Her eyes open slowly and she blushes immediately when she sees him looking at her and realizes her position on his lap.

"Um…oh, Merry Christmas, Austin," she whispers back. She tries to shift away but he holds her firmly in place.

He leans forward and softly nudges her cheek with his nose. "What do you think of sea mistletoe?" he asks.

She turns her head so her lips are brushing his. "I think it's my new favorite thing about Christmas," she murmurs.

"What a coincidence," he mumbles back, smiling against her lips. "It's mine, too."

So maybe the fourth time's the charm.

He'll take it.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you enjoyed this little fic, have an awesome holiday! And a review would be a great present! ;D