Chapter 12 - The Tourist Attractions

                                    

                                          
"Where are we going?" Maddie asked as they were once again looped by the arm, going through a sea of people. 
After drinking their hot chocolate, they got up and left the chocolate shop and Maddie assumed that they would just go back to the dorms, but she quickly realized that they were not headed in the right direction. 
"You'll see." Alec shot her back a smile. He had a small surprise in store for her. 
About 20 minutes later, Maddie was staring in awe at the building in front of her. 
"I figured you'd want to tick this off from your tourist bucket list." Alec shrugged. 
"It's a shame the queue to buy tickets is so long." 
"You really think I would bring you here just to look at the outside of the Empire State Building?" With that he put a hand to her lower back and gently pushed her along. "Come on." He chuckled.
They reached the desk and Alec took out his phone to show the tickets. 
"How much do I owe you?" She asked, and he looked at her confused. "For the ticket." She added. 
"You're all good." 
"I'm serious. It's a tourist attraction, don't suppose the tickets were cheap." 
"Consider it your Christmas present." He flashed her a toothy smile. 
"But we haven't known each other that long." 
"So? Doesn't matter." 
"Fine, I'll just check online how much they are." She took out her phone, but he swiftly grabbed it from her hand. "Hey!" 
"I said, consider it a Christmas present." 
"Fine. What would you like for Christmas then?" 
"For you to stop trying to pay me back for everything. It's all good." He handed her the phone back. 
"But I just feel bad. I should be buying you stuff." 
"Why?" He questioned, a bit taken back. 
"Because you let me stay in your dorm for free this weekend. Which is saving me money as I don't have to get a hotel room last minute." She explained. 
"If I let you buy me something from the gift shop, will that make you happy?" 
"Yes." she grinned. "Anything you like." 
They had a good time exploring the different levels of the Empire State Building. Maddie was trying so hard not to burst out laughing when Alec quietly re-enacted a scene from King Kong in the room with the giant monkey. 
Thankfully it wasn't as late or dark yet, and they went up the glass elevator, and to the observatory point where they could see the city. It is said that on a clear day you can see up to six states, so Maddie wished she could return in the summer to experience that. However, that's not to say that she didn't enjoy being there in winter. As she thought, there was something about New York during Christmas time. She knew this before, obviously, but it was different to actually experiencing it. 
On their way out, Alec picked out an eraser in the shape of the Empire State Building. Maddie gave him a look and told him to at least pick out a key ring or something as well. Reluctantly, he did. He protested saying that the eraser will be useful for his architecture class, but she knew he picked the cheapest thing. 
She also got a matching miniature version of the Empire State Building key ring for herself and a magnet for Ava.
Alec got them a cab, but once again, they were not going in the direction of the dorms. 
"We just have one last stop on our tourist attraction tour." He explained, seeing her confusion. 
They arrived at Pier 16 just in time to get on the New York Water Taxi. 
"When did you have time to plan this all?" Maddie asked. 
"Last night. Mostly. You really think I'd be waking you up so early just to go ice skating?" 
"I thought it was to avoid the queues." She shrugged. 
"Yes, that too, but also to have some daylight while we go sightseeing." He smiled. 
"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy you did this, but can I ask why?" 
"I figured today would be the only day you'd get to explore the city, so I thought we should do the most we can." 
The boat ride was 50 minutes. They saw The Statue of Liberty and the beautiful New York Harbor. Maddie was actually looking forward to seeing Lady Liberty when she made her plans with Adrian. She was happy that Alec did this for her. As they were going back to Pier 16, Maddie thought about the awesome day she had. Filled with all these attractions and sightseeing. The sun had begun to set and it was getting colder, but nothing would be able to ruin the mood that she was in. 
On their way back in the cab, they decided to stop at Central Park, and walk the rest of the way, admiring the Christmas lights decorating the trees that brightened up the place. 
Maddie had always loved the Christmas time, but it was amplified in New York. She kept thinking how it looks like something out of a movie scene. The soft layer of snow that fell earlier, still held up nicely, and more snow was beginning to fall. 
"You know what I just realized? It has been a while since I last had a snowball fight." She voiced her thoughts. 
Alec contemplated for a moment, but seeing as they were just about 5 minutes away from the dorms, he replied "Well, we can't have that." And threw a snowball at her back. 
This startled Maddie, she wasn't expecting him to do that. 
"Oh you're so on!" She said as she turned around to face him. Then she swiftly moved to the side and hid behind a bench as she accumulated a few snowballs. Unbeknownst to her, Alec had done the same. 
They were just throwing snowballs at each other and avoiding the ones flying in their direction.  
At some point, they drifted to an open area - nowhere to hide. After they were both out of breath, Maddie fell back and started making snow angels, seeing as there was quite an amount of snow lying down now. Who won the snowball fight? They didn't care, it was just a bit of fun. 
"We should probably go back now, don't want you catching a cold right before Christmas." Alec offered her his hand to get up. 
She accepted. However, she did contemplate pulling him down to the ground too, but decided against it, she didn't know him that long after all. Maybe he wouldn't like that? She didn't want to chance it.