Never Knew,I Needed A Hero

Three Words

*Claire's POV*

We had finished our soup and I was taking our dishes to the sink. I couldn't help but feel all of those old feelings I had for Dave come rushing back to the surface.

"Dave?" I called to him from the kitchen.

He came walking in with a smile on his face. I loved the way he smiled it melted my heart every time I saw it.

"Yeah?" He said as he stood next to me.

"Can I tell you something?" I asked him. I wanted to get a feel for how he would take it.

"Of course you can Claire you can tell me anything." He said with a warm smile.

"I'm not sure how you'll react to this," I started to say as I washed the dishes, " I have had feelings for you since we met back in 1990. I never said anything because I didn't want to ruin our friendship by telling you." I looked down at the ground I wasn't sure that I could face him after telling him that.

"Claire, I-I feel the same." He said looking into my eyes with brown eyes showing nothing but love.

I was still afriad to meet his gaze but he put his hand under my chin forcing me to look at him. I knew right then and there that this was how things were supposed to be from the start.

"I love you." I said barely above a whisper.

"I love you too Claire." He told me never once breaking our gaze. It had felt like time stood still and so many memories came rushing back to me. The memories of when things were good before Alex and all of the nightmares and abuse. I thought back to the days of Nirvana and everything that had made me laugh and smile back then.

"I'm just sorry it took so long for me to admit how I felt." I said smiling a little sheepishly.

"Don't be I'm just glad we admitted it before there was no time left." Dave said returning my smile.

*Dave's POV*

I was in shock just a little at the fact that Claire had admitted how she felt about me. I always kept quiet for fear she wouldn't feel the same and I didn't want to make things awkward between us if that was the case. Her and I had always been close since we met. Back then there was so many memories and so much fun to be had.

Kurt and Krist used to constantly tell us that we should get together, back then we just used to brush it off and laughed cause we thought they were ridiculous. Or at least that's what we let them believe. We were so naive then.

"Claire?" I said.

"Hmm?" She responded shifting herself to look at me.

"Wanna go walk around cause I'm tired of just fuckin sitting here." I said with half a smile and laugh.

"Sounds good to me." She told me as she stood up and reached for my hand.

Claire was a beautiful girl, her bluish green eyes, long brown hair with natural blond highlights. I couldn't seem to figure out why Alex treated her the way he did. She deserved so much more and so much better. I was determined to prove that to her.

We didn't stray too far from my house just because neither of us was ready to run into Alex again just yet. My face started hurt more as time went by. It reminded me why I never liked to fight but I'd do it all over again for Claire in a heart beat.

"This is nice." Claire said with a small content sigh.

"Yes it is." I told her as I put an arm around her.

The rest of the walk was fairly silent , it was simply us enjoying being around each other. I started thinking would I have been able to stop this from happening if I told her how I felt back in 1990. I knew that was the past but it didn't stop a twinge of regret from washing over me. I was hoping that Claire didn't notice.

*Claire's POV*

I noticed that Dave's demeanor changed, it seemed as almost a sudden pang of grief or regret came over him. It worried me so I decided to say something.

"Dave is something wrong?" I asked him searching his brown eyes for answers.

"No I was just thinking that maybe if I had told you how I felt about you back in 1990 that you wouldn't have been hurt by the douche bag likes of Alex." Dave said not looking directly at me but instead off to the distance.

"Dave you don't have to regret a thing, I'm here beside you now. Yeah I may have been hurt but Dave I've known you most of my life and I know that you'll treat me better than he ever did. It happened for a reason." I said finishing my statement in just a few breaths.

He didn't say a word just stopped walking and hugged me. I knew I had gotten my point across. I knew he understood that it hurt while it was happening but I have no regrets because all regrets do is being you down and make you sad when you should be happy.

When we pulled away we started walking back to his house because I was beginning to get cold and tired. The walk home was slow and I beginning to think that we would never make it. However, eventually we did make it.

When we were back inside I was playing hell trying to warm back up. I had this problem that once I got cold it took me forever to get warm again.

"You still cold?" Dave asked after we had been inside for a bit.

"Yeah." I said with a slight nod of my head.

"C'mere." Dave said as he motioned for me to sit bezide him. When I did he pulled me close, A shudder uncoiled from within as I started warning up. Three words had really changed my day for the better.