Rumored Nights

Like most nights, Alice lay sprawled on her bed, staring up at her ceiling despite the sleep tugging at her eyelids.

Thoughts floated through her mind as she went through her nightly ritual, her self therapy session.

As the days passed it became harder for Alice to separate the feelings she had for Bill between him being her best friend and the boy that sent her pulse through the roof.

It was far crossing that thin line when her hair, still smelling faintly of Hamburger Helper, garnered the same reaction the smell of William's aftershave would.

He had found his way into her world just as she began seeing boys without cooties.

It had been easier then when Bill seemed so much older, so far gone from anyone she could ever like more than a friend.

Now years later when he had successfully wound his way through almost every aspect of her life, when she began seeing him as something more, there was no escape from these feelings.

The wide hole Alice felt in her chest gave a tug, like a masochistic reminder from her subconscious that William would never fill it.

The night often went like this with her thoughts starting out simple, reminders of the happy things she had done that day, the way Bill made her feel.

Then they would turn, dive deeper into her mind where the whole of her feelings were, and went through how each reacted to the memories.

Few were positive, most left a hollow ache.

Alice fell asleep that night curled tightly into herself under the blanket, drowning in the darkness of her mind that slowly brought sleep with it.

She was oblivious to the things happening outside her bubble of thoughts.

The sounds of doors closing, footsteps crossing the floor, and muffled cries never entered her mind as her thoughts numbed her like Novocain as she drifted off into her own world for the rest of the night, never realizing the bigger picture.

.<^>.<^>.<^>.

"How was today?"

Alice glanced up at Bill from under his umbrella.

The fall rainstorm that had begun earlier that day had continued into the afternoon and through to the bell.

All prepared to trudge home in the rain, Alice was pleasantly surprised to see William walking toward her with an umbrella aloft.

"I didn’t expect you to come today." Alice smiled, quickly ducking under the umbrella.

He grinned and wrapped his arm around her, bringing a fact to Alice's attention she hadn’t realized; in order to stay dry they'd have to keep close.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" Bill asked after he allowed their longest awkward silence, a minute and a half, to pass.

With a slightly less than dumb look on her face Alice looked up at him.

William sighed and shook his head. "Really Alice I have to wonder how you've made it so far in life without losing this pretty little head of yours. The Midtown show is tomorrow."

Alice's thoughts had just made it past William using pretty in reference to herself when Midtown sunk in.

A whole night with Bill, alone without a buffer between them... the thought was scary enough to think about let alone live in a matter of hours.

"Midtown is... is tomorrow?" She murmured, the new thought in her head being a viable distraction.

Bill assured her once more, biting his lip with obvious anxiety.

"Hey Alice... I forgot to mention something to you..." He murmured. "You know my friend Jason?"

A vague image of his very athletic, albeit naïve, friend Jason came to her mind, the kid walking across a rope at his graduation party last year.

"Yeah...?"

Bill grinned sheepishly. "Well he and his brother got tickets too and his car just broke down so I offered to take them with us, is that cool?"

Alice felt her heart both rise and fall, the fact that she wouldn't be alone with Bill being the reason for both reactions.

"Why would I have a problem with it?" Alice automatically answered.

He shrugged but mustered a grin for Alice's sake, turning just enough toward her for her to notice the half of him that was dark and dripping with water.

"Bill! You're soaked!" She exclaimed, backing away an inch too much and getting herself momentarily under the aim of the clouds.

Naturally he shrugged and started laughing at her mirror image of himself, half soaked from the rain.

"Looks like we're two halves of a whole."

Maybe it was because Alice saw no point anymore, maybe it was because of the blush heating up her cheeks, but she found herself pulling the umbrella away and leaving them to the mercy of the dark clouds above.

"Hey! What was that for?" He exclaimed, the mock annoyance in his voice ruined beyond repair by the smile now gracing his lips.

"I don't know." She murmured with a shrug, turning to look behind her as if something was interesting, which there wasn't.

An arm found its way around her shoulders, further increasing the rain water soaking into her skin.

Alice looked up at him from her small height, feeling the wave of butterflies tickle through her at his assuring smile, his arm around her moving them both forward once more.

"You're right, who needs umbrellas anyway?"

Despite the cold water weighing her down Alice felt strangely light and warm, floating along next to Bill as they made their way to her house.

As they walked up the distant but now clear figure of her sister Caroline came into view.

Like they had done when they were younger Caroline had climbed onto the roof despite the rain, which is where she lay oblivious to their arrival.

"Should I leave you to get your sister off the roof?" Bill smiled amusedly.

Alice glanced once more at her sister, sprawled out on the shingles.

Something came over her in that moment, the maternal feelings she felt toward Caroline vanished in the presence of her best friend.

After her older sister had once driven across the country just to see her favorite band any normal worries that might have risen with her on a slick roof dimmed.

She was home and she was fine.

"No, she'll be okay." Alice said, assuring herself and him.

Bill grinned. "Alright then, what's say we go over to my house, order some pizza, and I'll help you with your Physic's homework?"

Even if she hadn't been terrible in Physic's she wouldn't have said no.

Alice could never say no to William.