When The Lights Go Down

Wildest Dreams

There's something about being the only one up at night, when everyone else is asleep and the world is quiet. It's without a doubt her favourite time of day, it's her time to collect her thoughts and reflect on everything. It's her favourite time to write too, especially on the bus, as the lights of the highways twinkle through the window, nothing but the sound of rushing traffic.

I didn't plan on falling fast
I didn't know I could be kissed like that
Now I'm trading miles for minutes
This bed's too big without you in it

Sometimes love acts out of spite
And good things happen over night
Can't take it slow 'cause you and I are pushin' time
You and I are pushin' time

Her pen has been moving nonstop, trying to process the recent events between her and FP. It had been beyond words, so simple and easy, yet so life changing.

She wasn't blind, she could always see that FP was a wildly attractive man. Seeing him in a musical setting had only added to it. And well, seeing him as a doting father? That had really been the tip of the iceberg.

So it's not like she had never thought about it, she had plenty of times, but she knows from experience that love, relationships, are much more complicated than just a simple want or desire.

She's so lost in her thoughts that she doesn't even hear the creek of the bus's floor as someone approaches, that is, until the deep voice speaks and startles her.

"Woah, hey, it's just me." FP chuckles, rubbing her shoulder. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I just saw you were up."

"I'm just in my own little world I guess." She explains in regards to her jumpiness. "Care to join me?"

He smiles. "I would love to." He slides into the spot next to her and his hand finds a natural place on her thigh, warm and comforting, a sweetly possessive gesture. "Have you been to sleep yet?" He wonders, and she shakes her head no.

"Not yet, just been enjoying the quiet."

"I guess I sorta ruined that for you, huh?" He chuckles nervously.

She immediately shakes her head, flashing a warm smile at him and squeezing his hand. "No, no, not at all. You're always welcome." She scoots closer to him and rests her head on his shoulder. "By the way, were you planning to tell me that Mary knows about us?" She blurts the sentence out, and it catches him off guard.

He blushes as he begins to fumble on his words, searching for the right explanation. She smiles mischievously as she watches him squirm and he takes a deep breath when he realizes she was only kidding around with him. He finds his words much easier then. "I didn't want to freak you out. I was going to tell you when we were alone, I didn't realize she was going to ambush you."

"You should've known better, I mean you've known Mary longer than me and even I know she wouldn't be able to hold that in for very long." Alice laughs softly.

"What did she say?" FP asks, clearly nervous.

"She's fine with it. And she's happy for us, she thinks we're a good match for each other."

"I agree with her there." FP whispers, curling his arm around Alice when she snuggles further into his side.

"I know I said we don't have to announce anything right away but I can't help but ask, have you thought of how you're going to tell Fred?" Alice wonders, her voice quiet as if she's afraid to ask the question.

FP sighs, absentmindedly stroking her shoulder. "No. And I really don't want to think about it. Every conversation I've played out in my head just goes completely off the wayside."

"I could go with you when you tell him?" She offers. "Moral support?"

He pecks a sweet kiss to her head in response and and rests his own against it. "I appreciate that but it's better if it's just the two of us." He decides. "I probably should tell him soon though. We don't have to announce it to the band or anything just yet, but him? He's like a brother to me. Keeping any sort of information from him feels like a betrayal."

"I get that. He's like family to you."

"He really is actually, I think I spent more time at his house than my own as a kid. We go way back." He smiles fondly at the memory. "Makes it harder to keep things from him too when it's such good news. Like the kind of news that you just want to yell from the rooftops."

"We're "shout it from the rooftop" news?" Alice grins at that. "I'm flattered."

FP smiles sleepily, the corners of his mouth just barely curling upwards. "More than rooftop news, more like only in my wildest dreams kind of news." His eyes drift and he notices the notebook still open on her lap, his curiosity getting the better of him. "What have you been working on out here?"

She immediately blushes, flipping the notebook upside down before he can sneak a peek. "It's silly. Part diary entry, part song, I guess?"

"Weren't you the one who's said to me before that a song is sort of like a diary anyhow? Kinda hypocritical to call it silly now." He jests.

"It's just my way of processing things I guess," She shrugs. "And yes because I know you're already thinking about it, it is about you."

He smiles at that, she knows him well, but it quickly falls when he mulls over her words. "When you say processing things, is that bad? Because you know you can talk to me."

She shakes her head. "I know, and no, it's not bad just..." She sighs. "In the past, relationships have been complicated for me. And it's been a while since I opened myself up to it again, so I'm just trying to cope with the anxiety that comes with that I guess." She explains, and she reaches for the book again. "You can read it if you want to."

"I don't need to, if you need to figure things out on your own, I respect that. Just as long as you know I'm here if you do want to talk about your feelings. Maybe I could help calm those anxieties?"

"You do." Alice tells him simply, relaxing into his secure hold. "More than you know."

He's quiet for a moment, content to just hold her all night, but he can't seem to silence his thoughts. "Al? You've mentioned you have a complicated past but have never really explained what you mean by that." He begins and she immediately tenses next to him. "Which is okay, you're not obligated to, but... Look, I don't know what you went through, nor do I even have a guess, but I hope you know that I'm in this one hundred percent. I don't care about your past, I know you, and I know your heart. And if you decide someday you want to share your story with me, I'll be all ears, but until then, just know that I really like you." He chuckles. "As corny and middle school as that sounds, I do, and I never want you to feel uncomfortable around me or like I'm judging you."

"You've never made me feel that way. Hell, the first night we met you made me feel like I was the Queen of England or something." Alice chuckles. "I do trust you, and I will tell you the entire, sordid story of my life someday but for right now I just want to be with you. Is that okay?."

He answers her by kissing her softly, lips lingering on hers for a long while. When he pulls away his thumb strokes her cheek, tracing the line of her cheekbone. "That's okay."

She smiles at him and steals another kiss before repositioning herself so she's laying against him, the two of them staring out the window in an easy, comfortable silence.