Picture Perfect

Not much was said by either of them as Allison made the ten minute drive, and the gravity of the events that took place at the "home from tour" party made itself known. Aside from an occasional annoyed sigh from Allison, or a few periodic tongue-clicks from Vic, the pop radio station was the only noise in the car.
Allison reached the shore, parking her car at one of the many public docks along San Diego's waterfront. As she reached to open her car door, Vic grabbed her hand. She looked at him with a confused expression.
"I'm home now, you don't need to do that," he said, smirking. Allison rolled her eyes and sat back as Vic exited the car, laughing silently at Vic's outdated sense of chivalry. It was what had made her his friend 15 years ago; he was the polite boy in her grade who'd helped her pick up her books when she'd dropped them. It never failed to impress her how he continued to be gentlemanly toward her even when they'd seen each other at their worst.
Allison's car door opened, and she swung her feet out to hit the ground. Vic extended a hand, and she gladly grabbed it as she stood up.
"Thank you, sir," she nodded as she stood, and Vic shut her door.
"My pleasure, madam," he responded, gripping her hand a little tighter as they walked to a stretch of rocky, empty shoreline.
Vic glanced at his best friend as she looked towards the water. Her long copper hair flew in the breeze, and her gaze was fixated on the beach. Vic had known from the first day they met that she was special; he didn't know anyone quite as beautiful as she was.
As they reached the shore, they both took off their shoes and socks. A force of habit; they'd always climb the rocks to sit on them and they found it easier to get up there with bare feet. Allison ran towards them quickly, because she had always loved to climb. She quickly conquered the group of large rocks, which had to be at least 15 feet high, before Vic even got to the bottom. Allison stuck her tongue out at him.
"I'm the princess at the top of the tower!" she shouted, letting her imagination run rampant. While others had grown up, Allison was 29 years old and still daydreamed as much as a little girl. She created picture perfect worlds in her head, often to distract herself from more immediate situations that stressed her out. "What are you, Victor?" Princess Allison asked, watching him climb from where she stood.
"Your knight in shining armor, duh. Here to woo you and attend to your every need!" He answered as he reached the peak of the rock mountain. The princess put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. As much as she'd love to continue in her picture perfect world, there was something the both of them needed to talk about.
"Sit," she said, plopping down on the rock. She folded her legs Indian-style and tugged on Vic's hand. He sighed and sat across from her, sensing the conversation that was about to unfold.
"Alright," she said, not in the mood to beat around the bush. "Do you remember last night?" Vic nodded his head. "D-Do you..." she took a deep breath, "Do you regret last night?"
Vic snapped his head up to look directly at her face. They stared at each other for a few seconds, unblinking, before Vic spoke. "I hate that I let alcohol do that to me. I disrespected you, and you did not deserve that in any way. You are an amazing girl, and I crossed a boundary. I am so, so sorry for that," he said, sternly, before letting his voice soften. He dropped his head. "But... it felt so nice, to have you so close. I had a lot of built up emotions from tour, Ally, a lot. Most of them were how much I missed you, how much I love you and want you with me always. So, in that sense, no. I don't regret it." He let out a sigh, before looking up at her again and saying, "How... how did you feel about that?"
Allison continued to stare at Vic. Neither of them spoke, or even moved, for at least a minute, before Allison sighed. She began to speak
"I'm not going to lie, you touching me... that felt so good. Partially due to the fact that I haven't been with anyone in a long time, but partially due to the fact that it was you." Vic gave her a confused look, so she elaborated. "We're a lot closer than normal best friends, we know that and that's the way it's always been. But... maybe the closeness isn't just due to the fact that we know everything about each other. I have so many emotions for you, Vic, emotions that are different from any I've ever had for a person." Allison saw Vic nod slightly, and asked, "Do you feel like that?"
Vic let out a humorless laugh, "Allison Reyes, my heart caves in when I look at you. We've always had a stronger emotional attachment than other best friends. We just never really thought about it."
Vic's words sat on top of Allison like an anvil. This was not a situation that she could imagine herself out of; it was immediate and had to be dealt with.
She choked out in a very hurt voice, "Then how come you barely called me when you were on Warped?"
Vic gasped softly, before letting the breath out in a sad sigh. His emotional attachment was exactly the reason they hadn't communicated much while he was away all summer.
"I was afraid that... that something like last night would happen if I talked to you too much." It was Allison's turn to shoot Vic a confused look. He continued, "These emotions I have for you? At the beginning of the summer, they terrified me. I thought I was going to do something incredibly stupid if those emotions got stronger, so I left. I was with my friends all summer, but it only made it worse. It wasn't good enough. I can't run away from you, I need to be with you. It's the only way I feel whole. When I'm with you... nothing hurts. Everything feels okay. You make things alright for me, Allison. I would be so stupid to leave you like that again."
Allison shook her head softly, willing away the tears that were about to burst from her eyes. She wanted to jump into Vic's arms, to be close to him and tell him that she felt the exact same way, and that she had missed him so much. But she couldn't shake the agitation she had toward him, because while he was running away from her, she was at home being sad. Her picture perfect world in her imagination could no longer keep her happy while Vic wasn't talking to her. So Allison had started pill popping again.
It was an old habit from high school that Vic had helped her kick by the time she was 20, but Allison's addiction to painkillers and diet pills had been incredibly dangerous. She had shut out the people that she loved, and nearly destroyed herself. Both mentally and physically, the pills wrecked her, but she refused to admit it. The high she got from not being able to walk, getting sick, passing out and waking up to be unsure of the day - she loved it. It was so potent. But Vic thought she'd stopped; until late May of that year, so did Allison. 9 years of being clean wasn't something she could just go back on. She didn't want to tell him. She wouldn't.
"Allison?" Vic whispered, snapping her out of her internal debate. She looked up at him, and the same feeling rose at the back of her throat, and in her tear ducts. She began to rant.
"Vic, I understand how you feel completely. I feel the exact same way, it's so complicated, I just... I can't imagine you Vic. You're too good for my picture perfect world, you're better. You're real. I need you here, in my life. That's why I've been hurting so badly this summer when you didn't talk to me. I get that you needed space but... that was the type of pain I couldn't imagine myself out of. I felt all of it." Allison wiped away the stray tears that had escaped. "And now you're back and... it's nice. It's fantastic." Vic softly grabbed her hand. She looked up to see that his eyes were glassy. Vic was never a crier, so this was obviously a huge deal to him.
He closed his eyes, before saying lowly, "I'm-I'm so sorry. Nothing will be able to fix that, and it's my fault. I can't believe I hurt you like that." His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. "And now, I know I need you as more than... whatever we are right now."
"More than friends?" Allison asked, putting her other hand on top of his and rubbing it. "Like..."
"These emotions I have for you, Allison, they're way too strong to be friendship anymore. I don't know what they are, but they're not that." Vic responded.
"So," Allison was still confused, "what does that mean for this relationship? For us?"
"I love you, Ally, I..." Vic tried to find a way to describe it, "All these emotions finally showing themselves, it's weird. Like push really came to shove. But, I don't want to label us. All I know is that this is more than friendship. I want to be with you."
Allison closed her eyes and thought about it. Her, Vic. Together? After 15 years of this 'a little more than' friendship, it felt strange. But she remembered all the nights she'd spent in Vic's arms, the small, comforting kisses they'd shared, the things they'd confided in each other, and the way they felt. If being with Vic meant that they could do that and not have anybody question it, then Allison was all for it.
"Just..." Allison piped up. "If we're going to be together as more than friends, we have to make this work. You can't leave me like that again, Victor. I don't think I could take it."
Vic closed his eyes and pursed his lips, feeling the tears come back. Instead of telling her how sorry he was, like he had been, he reached across the rock and pulled the small girl onto his lap. Holding her tightly, he wished to show her how he would never let anything take him from her ever again. He would never hurt her like that, because she deserved the world.
From their seat on the rocks, that's when they fell in love. Not at first, but when push really came to shove.