Capture It

Chapter Seven~ The pain doesn't go away easily

Alex was amazing to be with tonight. He was just perfect in every aspect. Good manners, great looks, and..he actually cared so much about me. We spent two hours in my room talking.

I lay in the exact same spot we had laid in a half hour ago, his scent still faintly laced into the comforter. He was able to mask the pain of losing my best friend for a while, but as soon as he left, the burden crushed me like a bug. There was a heavy weight on my chest I couldn't shake. I had just lost one of the most important people in my life.

The bear Paige had given me sat on the edge of my bed, next to my blankets and pillows. I can't even count all the nights I have spent with my arms wrapped around the stuffed toy. Picking it up slowly, I examined it and then threw it across the room in fury. "Screw you Paige! Why did you have to do this to me? Why did you have to destroy me?" I screamed, my eyes blurred by tears. Off to my left my phone chimed, notifying me that I have a text. I grabbed it and read the message that flashed on the screen. My fingers tightened around the phone, and I nearly threw it at the wall like I had the stuffed bear.

Paige!<3: Hey hun I'm sorry for what happened earlier can we please talk? I didn't mean to be that rude I snapped and I didn't think before I spoke. Please talk to me Ally babe!

"She knows I hate it when she calls me Ally." I muttered, and continued reading the texts.

Paige!<3: Please Alice answer me!

Paige!<3 Alice? Are you okay? I'm really sorry! Please answer!

"Alice? Would you like to come watch a movie with me?" My mom called from the bottom of the stairs. Glancing once more at the texts Paige sent me, I powered off my phone, picked the bear off the floor, and walked down the stairs with it in my arms. "What do you want to watch?" She asked as I curled up next to her.

"Doesn't matter." I shrugeed, and she ended up choosing The Hunger Games.

My mom fell asleep about a half hour in, and I wasn't too far behind her. Both of us were exhausted, physically and emotionally.

* * *

"Alice!" I heard someone yell faintly from behind me. My muscles tensed, and I turned the volume up louder on my music as I continued to walk to the studio. "Alice!" I heard again. Finally someone put a hand on my shoulder and spun me around. I expected to find the bright eyes of Paige, but instead found a broad chest. Alex pulled my left earbud out aand grinned. "Ignoring the world won't help anything Alice. C'mon, let's go work on our cameras."

We sat in udder silence for about fifteen minutes, both of us engrossed in our work. Today we were focusing on still life, Alex on plants and me on fruit.

Alex slowly set down his camera and looked at me. "Alice, what's going on? You have been silent for nearly twenty minutes and it's scaring me. Are you okay?" I just shrugged and shook my head.

"It's just Paige. She tells me I'm too much to handle and then she's trying to get me back by saying she didn't mean it." I sighed, and continued to focus on the slightly rotten fruit across the room.

Alex fiddled with the lens of his camera, unsure what to do. "Look Alice I need to tell you something. Yesterday at rehearsal, when I said I was gay... I-" The door of the studio flew open, and Paige stood in its frame.

"Alice! There you are! I have been looking for you all morning!" She said between jagged breaths.

Alex instinctively slide me behind his back, which I gratefully accepted and leaned into his muscular frame. "This is a private working session. You can't be in here right now, Alice and I are working on a big project."

"Oh shut the hell up Alex, and stop protecting Alice like you actually care about her." Paige scoffed and shoved him aside and grabbed me by my shoulders and tried to give me a hug. I put my hands between us and pushed her away.

"No. No Paige. You are wrong. Alex cares about me. Because yesterday when I was sobbing in the school hallways, stranded and alone, he was there. He listened, he drove me home, stayed with me for a few hours and just made sure I was going to be all right. And where were you? You were off with someone else, because "I'm too much to handle." I'm a burden, a weight on your shoulders!" I screamed, tears forming in my eyes. "You said so yourself you couldn't take care of me anymore! I'm too much of a problem! That's all I am to you now! A PROBLEM!" I whipped around and ran back to the desk, supporting my shaking legs.

Paige stood in shock, unsure what to say. "Maybe.." Alex said, in a gentle but firm tone, "It is time for you to leave."

"No!" She yelled, marching straight up to him, looking him straight in the eye. " I don't trust you. You will hurt her! Who do you think you are, trying to protect her when just last week you did everything you could to make her life a living hell?"

He sighed quietly, taking a moment before he spoke. "I am Alice's boyfriend. I have amended my wrongs, made everything right. And who are you to tell me that I will hurt her when the person who was always supposed to be there for her left her alone in the school hallways crying? I have every right to protect her." My sobs had faded to mild sniffles, and both Paige and I were frozen in shock.

Paige was the first to act. "Boyfriend?! BOYFRIEND?!" She glared at me. "Alice, you will regret him. Everything about him. I am trying to apologize and hope you will give me a second chance, but you go to your enemy instead. I see how it is. Well, I'll leave you and your "boyfriend" alone. But remember, I won't be there for you when he breaks your heart." I gasped and had to turn away from her so she wouldn't see the tears that started to fall again. She left, and Alex wrapped his arms protectively around me. I buried my face into his black T shirt and let myself cry. Somehow we ended up on the floor, me in his lap, him leaning against the large metal desk.

A shrill bell sounded, signaling the end of the hour. I went to stand, but Alex wrapped his arms around me again. "Maybe we should let you relax. The only thing all classes are doing is review for midterms. You should stay here for a bit." I didn't protest.

"So... That's what you were going to tell m before Paige burst in right? You aren't gay?"

Alex blushed. "No... When we kissed I was so nervous and I was sure you hated my guts so I screamed the first thing that came to my head. I'm sorry. I really liked you. And last night... It took everything in my power to just not kiss you and I was going to tell you but-" I pressed my lips to his, silencing his rant.

"I would love nothing more than to be your girlfriend." He grinned, and we continued to sit curled up together on the studio floor.

"Alice?" He said, glancing down at me. I looked up at him through half closed eyes, exhaustion overruling my body.

"Yes Alex?" I mumbled quietly.

"I really do like you."

I smiled half heartedly. "I like you too, boyfriend."