Alice by heart one-shots

The Future

The end of the school year was fast approaching and the spring musical opened in just a few days. Alice and Alfred were sitting in a practice room, Alfred at the piano and Alice next to him on a chair. "Nigel is the sweetest little freshman but we open in three days and I swear he still doesn't have the timing right at measure 83" Alice moaned, burying her head in Alfred's shoulder. "I'm sure he'll get it, don't worry love." He responded with a kiss to her head. "Did you wanna run through the finale real quick?" He asked as she pulled her head back up from his shoulder to see him. "Yeah sounds good." She responded. The two of them sang through their parts (Alfred a tenor and Alice a soprano one) and both smiled at the end. "That was so good!" Alice exclaimed with a little clap. Alfred smiled, that pretty pretty awkward little smile of his was just about the most endearing thing Alice had ever seen. "I can't believe we only have a month left here." Alice said, looking out the high window to the blue sky above. After the musical was over they had one final choir concert and then they'd graduate, and high school would be done forever. They'd never have that experience ever again. Nothing was going to be quite the same anymore, not as it had once been. Sure, she'd always have her Alfred, she'd always have her friends, but everything was going to be so different. What was she going to do when she couldn't see them every day? "It's scary," Alfred admitted. "It's terrifying Alice, it is, but time ticks forward. We can't stay. We have to go on, no matter how uncertain it all is." He said, taking her in his arms. She held on tight to him, god there wasn't a better place to be in the entire world than in his arms, no one else made her feel the way she did around him. "Promise me you won't leave me Alfred" Alice whispered, holding him tight, as tight as she could. "Never Alice, never." He responded. "I can't imagine my life without you," she continued. "No one else has ever made me feel so special, so loved, not in the way that you do. You make the future seem golden and glowing with sunlight. I've been having these dreams, wonderful dreams, where you and I have this garden. Somehow it always looks the same, well, last week the roses were on the left instead of the right but the rest was just as it was the first time I dreamt of this little place. I think we're out of college by this point, 26 maybe, that seems right. And I think maybe I'm scared, because you always look at me with such soft eyes, like I'm a wounded little doe, and you speak so soft and so sweet to me. Last time I was crying. I just cried and cried and cried and you just held me softly and pet my head as it rained. I remember that, it was late at night and raining, and yet I was up in the storm and you were there to comfort me. It's bittersweet to wake up from a dream like that, where it's just me and you. I'm happy that I get to see you, and talk to you, but I wish we could have that life we have in my dreams. I want to spend the rest of my life with you Alfred. I want to hold you when you're upset, I want to pick up dirty laundry off the floor, I want to get an apartment and paint the walls together, I want to wake up and make you tea because you can't do coffee, I want to stay up late with you and watch you play Animal Crossing, I want everything life throws at us and I want it all with you. And I know we're young and we've got all this time ahead of us but I want to spend that time with you. I want us to grow together." Alfred kissed her hand and held her tighter, burying his face in her neck from behind. He kissed her neck lightly, lovingly, as soft and sweet as ever. "I'm not leaving you Alice." He whispered. "How could I ever leave you forever? Even if we're 300 miles away you'll still be on my mind, and I'll text you every day, call every week, distance won't part us Alice, we'll grow into that garden someday, but for now we'll be seeds, and we'll plant ourselves next to each other when the time is right. And when the sun shines we'll grow, and we'll be a loveliest garden." Alice pulled away from him to turn and touch his face, holding it in her hand as she gazed into his eyes. "I'm going to wait for that garden forever Alfred, if I have to, but I've already been waiting four years. I...I only have so much time left to hold you Alfred, and I've been waiting for so long..." Alice trailed off as she looked at his lips, thumb just barely grazing the corner. "Just a little longer Alice" he promised. "We won't part without a goodbye" he said, taking her other hand in his. "I promise, I know what you've been waiting for, I've been waiting for it too." He whispered like it was a secret, and maybe it was, something special and soft, just for them. Alice was about to speak when the bell rang, high and shrill, signaling the end of lunch and the impending start of 4th period. "Cmon," Alfred said. "We don't want to be late" He squeezed her hand and she gave a soft smile as they headed out into the world, both waiting until they could be alone together again.