Rumored Nights
On The Other Side
William stared at the scrap of paper, slightly smeared with crisp ink letters.
It was an innocent piece of paper, torn from the corner of a notebook, slightly crumpled in haste.
Having spent the last few hours at the bottom of his pocket had only creased it further, adding a blue tinge to the edges from his jeans.
Those hours that passed had made this insignifigant scrap of paper shrivel into unimportance with all the other thoughs that clouded his mind.
Alice.
He had spent a good half hour after he left her walking around the neighborhood muttering about how stupid he was.
His grand scheme to make his feelings known to her had failed, his last move was even worse, done out of desperation with no hope of succeeding.
William had kissed her and, instead of standing around and waiting for her reaction, or to explain himself, he walked off.
Surely the word coward must've been etched across his forehead.
The simple fact of the matter was he wasn't prepared to face rejection from Alice, nor was he really ready to face the dim hope that she may have felt the same way.
Fate was against him in every sense, bringing his feelings to light, something he had never planned on doing.
All those years ago when he had been a kid helping her up from the sidewalk with the best intentions he had never in his wildest dreams thought that one act would've changed his life in this way.
And that really was what it had done, meeting Alice had changed his life.
If he hadn't met her he wouldn't have met Ryan and in turn the domino effect of meeting friends through him would've never occured and he wouldn't be who he was.
But at the same time he would've never seen the world through her eyes, a glimpse that made him want to change it for the better, for her.
That first night he had spent over at her house he remembered was the turning point in his mind.
Both he and Ryan had been watching The Exorcist, the beginning of their love of horror films, when a real scream broke through the silence.
In the midst of William's confusion Ryan became someone else, maturing past the two years he already held over William.
He left William sitting stunned on the floor to come back a moment later tugging Alice by the hand.
Later when she had fallen asleep once more he explained what happened.
Not even a year before their father had been driving home from work, like any normal day, a car had crashed into his, killing him instantly.
The shock of his sudden death had shaken Alice the hardest, her night terrors were just one of the after effects of it.
To this day he could recall the terror in Alice's eyes that night , the only time he had ever seen the shine of tears in her eyes.
That was the thing about Alice, that despite their many years of friendship he had never seen her cry.
In the puddle of the thoughts William found the tiny scrap of paper buried deep in his pockets along with his troubles from the rest of his world.
Seeing the nine little numbers scrawled across with the name Avery swirled under it in black sent his mind down another path.
His heart was still beating unevenly from the afternoon's events, even with the mere thought of Alice it thumped painfully in his ribcage.
If coward had been on his forehead before it must have been carved into his soul by his next act.
He could see it now, he, William Beckett, standing at the gates of heaven with Saint what's his name going down his list of life.
"Let's see... ate all his vegetables... made straight A's... oh but what's this? It looks like you used a girl you met in once to replace you're best friend emotionally... apparently because you couldn't handle the pain? You know our lord Jesus Christ died for your sins, I bet that was painful too..."
Guilt ran through his veins, racing along with adrenaline and nerves, but his testosterone cancelled it all out.
The crude selfish boy inside him, his inner frat boy if you will, reached the phone first and dialed the numbers one by one until he heard the phone ringing.
"Hello?"
And William knew right then that just by hearing Avery's voice his life had taken yet another turn based off taking a girl's hand in his.
It was an innocent piece of paper, torn from the corner of a notebook, slightly crumpled in haste.
Having spent the last few hours at the bottom of his pocket had only creased it further, adding a blue tinge to the edges from his jeans.
Those hours that passed had made this insignifigant scrap of paper shrivel into unimportance with all the other thoughs that clouded his mind.
Alice.
He had spent a good half hour after he left her walking around the neighborhood muttering about how stupid he was.
His grand scheme to make his feelings known to her had failed, his last move was even worse, done out of desperation with no hope of succeeding.
William had kissed her and, instead of standing around and waiting for her reaction, or to explain himself, he walked off.
Surely the word coward must've been etched across his forehead.
The simple fact of the matter was he wasn't prepared to face rejection from Alice, nor was he really ready to face the dim hope that she may have felt the same way.
Fate was against him in every sense, bringing his feelings to light, something he had never planned on doing.
All those years ago when he had been a kid helping her up from the sidewalk with the best intentions he had never in his wildest dreams thought that one act would've changed his life in this way.
And that really was what it had done, meeting Alice had changed his life.
If he hadn't met her he wouldn't have met Ryan and in turn the domino effect of meeting friends through him would've never occured and he wouldn't be who he was.
But at the same time he would've never seen the world through her eyes, a glimpse that made him want to change it for the better, for her.
That first night he had spent over at her house he remembered was the turning point in his mind.
Both he and Ryan had been watching The Exorcist, the beginning of their love of horror films, when a real scream broke through the silence.
In the midst of William's confusion Ryan became someone else, maturing past the two years he already held over William.
He left William sitting stunned on the floor to come back a moment later tugging Alice by the hand.
Later when she had fallen asleep once more he explained what happened.
Not even a year before their father had been driving home from work, like any normal day, a car had crashed into his, killing him instantly.
The shock of his sudden death had shaken Alice the hardest, her night terrors were just one of the after effects of it.
To this day he could recall the terror in Alice's eyes that night , the only time he had ever seen the shine of tears in her eyes.
That was the thing about Alice, that despite their many years of friendship he had never seen her cry.
In the puddle of the thoughts William found the tiny scrap of paper buried deep in his pockets along with his troubles from the rest of his world.
Seeing the nine little numbers scrawled across with the name Avery swirled under it in black sent his mind down another path.
His heart was still beating unevenly from the afternoon's events, even with the mere thought of Alice it thumped painfully in his ribcage.
If coward had been on his forehead before it must have been carved into his soul by his next act.
He could see it now, he, William Beckett, standing at the gates of heaven with Saint what's his name going down his list of life.
"Let's see... ate all his vegetables... made straight A's... oh but what's this? It looks like you used a girl you met in once to replace you're best friend emotionally... apparently because you couldn't handle the pain? You know our lord Jesus Christ died for your sins, I bet that was painful too..."
Guilt ran through his veins, racing along with adrenaline and nerves, but his testosterone cancelled it all out.
The crude selfish boy inside him, his inner frat boy if you will, reached the phone first and dialed the numbers one by one until he heard the phone ringing.
"Hello?"
And William knew right then that just by hearing Avery's voice his life had taken yet another turn based off taking a girl's hand in his.
♠ ♠ ♠
Let it be known I hate holidays.It's true, social holiday's piss me off because it involves planning with my friends, something I hate, or having no plans and looking like a total loser.
Plus tonight it means I'm missing The Matches... the cap off to a shitty week.
And I was at my friend's homecoming game but left,dragging my parents with me because I thought I had plans awaiting me, but my friend cancelled because he was tired.
So now I'm feeling extremely guilty and even more depressed and I need to update because I'm not going to lie, fanfiction is my escape because people here actually want to be around me.
And I don't have to deal with assholes.
Oh, and I'm sorry justimpolite., the girl's night part is in the next one.
Originally it would've been but based on the comments after the last one I thought I should shed some light into William's mind, and I might do it more often because I really enjoy writing a character with a flaw.
It's a nice change of pace from Mr. Perfect all the time, so keep that in mind, William is a screw up.
But he's a very lovable screw up.
P.S. If I haven't updated in a while check my profile, there's a little spot for me to talk so I'll try to have an explanation there if these aren't on time.