Rumored Nights

With red rimmed eyes Alice stared down at the mug of tea steaming in front of her.

William continued to busy himself at the sink, washing and rewashing the kettle as he spoke.

"I called your mom, her, Caroline, and Ryan are heading right back, they'll be here by noon." He explained, remembering the conversation.

He had been so nervous about calling her, not knowing what to say or not to say that he had just blurted out the whole thing on the phone.

Alice refused to talk though, falling back into silence after he had carried her down the stairs far from her room.

There had been no mention of Caroline in his retelling of events, who by now was probably the same as her sister, lost in her mind silently sitting in the back seat.

He glanced over at the girl sitting on the kitchen stool staring down at her tea and she continued to absentmindedly stir it.

What do you do after something like this?

William had come to her house with a plan, a goal in mind... he had never expected this.

How different would things have gone if he hadn't come over... he didn't want to think about it.

Both their minds were a blur of thoughts and emotions colliding unsaid, the pressure increasing as time passed, but the room stayed silent.

By definition nothing had happened, but there are things in this world that leave no physical mark behind and still cause damage.

The house was silent, the hour steadily approaching dawn, yet the only sound was Alice's spoon hitting the mug from time to time with a muffled chime.

The dark night was graying, the moon slowly falling from sight; Alice remained on her stool, William stayed by the sink.

Before this he would've been next to her, comforting her while inwardly threatening murder.

And while those thoughts of hatred toward Luke still lingered, his only concern now was Alice.

How would she be after tonight?

Would she become the victim so overwritten in fiction, or a cold hearted woman scorning all who approached.

It was like she was a coma patient, with William at her bedside wondering if she'd ever wake up.

"Thank you."

Her voice was small and clear, magnified almost in the absense of sound.

"What?" William asked, too caught by her voice to hear the words.

She stopped stirring, turning to face him.

"Thank you for ignoring Mike and Melanie, for being the bigger person through this whole falling out... if you didn't care so much I don't know where I'd be right now." She explained softly.

She got up from her chair and slowly padded over to where he stood.

"I never realized how much I needed you in my life, not just for saving me, but for staying around after."

William had turned into the mute one of the two of them, not sure what to say.

This whole time she must've been sorting out the words as she continued without his reply.

"We've both been stupid haven't we?"

With a slow nod he answered her, fighting back the desperate urge to hold her in his arms, the only way of comfort he could think of.

Tucked away in the blanket she held tight around her, Alice wasn't finished.

"I was going to tell you before... that I felt the same way about you. I was so happy that things were going to finally be the way they should've been for us... but that seems like forever ago."

Despite how suddenly selfish he felt, William couldn't help but pause a moment to let the information sink in, that she loved him too.

Yet he knew there wasn't going to be a fairy tale ending where he kissed her and all their problems went away.

The girl staring up at him wasn't the same he'd known for so long.

Despite looking so young, there was no naive innocence in her eyes, the eyes he stared into being of who he'd hoped Alice would be when he left her, though without the pain.

They'd stopped protecting her, let her grow up and figure things out on her own, only to have the whole the backfire in the worst way, the cold irony being that they, William, got what he'd hoped for.

"Bill?" She asked, in a calm but curious voice.

"Sorry." He replied, shaking away the bitter thoughts.

Alice took him by surprise in that moment, slowly wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her face in his shirt.

He didn't realize the acute need she had to be held right now, to feel loved by someone, or how the way his shirt smelled soothed all of her overwhelmed senses and brought her back to a better place.

He instinctively put his arms around her, holding just as tight.

"I love you William, and someday I want to kiss you and go on dates with you, and get yelled at for staying out past curfew with you, but I don't know what's going to happen after this. There's going to be a lot of crying and screaming for a long time, I'm probably going to need therapy and push everyone I love away."

William stood in shock from her words, not knowing what to say or do.

As she looked up from his chest, Alice leaned up on the tips of her toes to place a small kiss on his lips.

"And I need you not let me do that, to remind me that what I had is too precious to throw away. I need you back as my friend for now... if you'll still be there." She murmured in a quiet pleading voice.

William remembered what he'd told Mike before, that he just wanted to be back in Alice's life.

He would take any part she'd let him have and as she asked him if he would take up where he had left off, William knew he would've even if she'd never asked.

The moment was tinged with bittersweetness, the calm before the storm looming on the horizon.

He leaned down and kissed her cheek, pulling Alice into a fierce hug as he whispered, "Of course."

They both knew in a few hours this silence would be broken once more by an again wounded family.

There would be crying and screaming, confronting Caroline and holding back Ryan, her mother once again losing a husband and a dream for love.

The happy peace they had enjoyed now lay in pieces at their feet, ready to be tread on by lawyers and officers.

At the moment the future was unclear for so many things, but was for sure was that William would be there at Alice's side.