Friends

Alec and Violet have known each other for years, but what happens when they think there may be something more than being just friends.

Violet and Alec had been good friends since their junior year of high school. Their friendship was steadfast. It seemed nothing could shake it over the years. Alec had dated his fair share of girls throughout the years. He was not different than any gentleman. Violet had also dated her fair amount of guys. She like most ladies just wanted to find the perfect man. Somehow, even through these relationships they still found a way for their friendship to continue.

They were able to be themselves there was never any pressure to act like anyone else. Painting was one of Alec’s hobbies, however he never let anyone see them. He was too self-concise to let anyone see them; too afraid someone would hate something he had worked so hard for. After knowing Violet for a while he let her see his painting, but she was the only one who ever was able to appreciate the beauty in them. His paintings were able to capture places in time with vivid detail. He mostly did realistic works, but every once in awhile he would do something abstract or whimsical. Violet wrote short stories, but like Alec, she never let anyone read them but him. She mostly wrote realistic fiction. She poured however she felt into the characters in the story. They were vessels to hold her emotions when she couldn't handle them. They both complemented the others work, but neither of them ever thought much of the others opinion. They both thought that the other was saying it because they were friends. Now with that being said …

Alec broke up with his girlfriend last week. He just couldn’t take arguing with her every time they were together. So after five months he said goodbye to her for the last time. He felt so frustrated that he had to end it that way with her. After that he was in a horrible mood. Then, Violet called him, “Alec?” she had said like there was something wrong.

“What’s up?” he asked her wondering what was wrong but he could guess probably what was wrong.

“Can I come over to talk?” Violet asked as her voice was breaking.

“Of course,” he said. Ugh, he thought. He didn’t want her to come over, but he was her best friend so he couldn’t say no. She showed up to his apartment a few minutes later. She had no make-up on, eyes puffy, hair in a waded on top of her head, and wearing a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. She sat on his couch cried with a box of tissues and told him her story about her boyfriend broke up with her just because he had simply just lost interest. Alec was sitting in a chair waiting for her to calm down a little. He knew that if he tried to do anything before she told her story it would just make her more upset, so he listened and waited. As Alec listened to her story it bothered him that this guy had just wasted seven months of Violet’s life just because he felt like it. Alec tried not to show his feelings and usually this kind of thing didn’t bother him, but this time though was different some how. When it seemed she was done crying, Alec moved to the couch to sit beside her and gave her a hug.

“Alec, I’m so glad I have you to listen to me,” Violet said wiping her eyes again.

“Vi, you know that I always will listen to you,” he assured her touching her shoulder.

“Do you remember the first time we talked like this?” she asked Alec laughing a little.

“Yeah, I had only known you for a few weeks, but you insisted on talking to me,” Alec replied smiling.

When Violet left, Alec turned on the T.V. but didn’t really watch it. He thought about what Vi had told him and tried to figure out why he felt the way he did. Then, his roommate, Jordan, strolled in from a date. “Alec, what did you do tonight?”

“Hey, umm… Nothin’ much, Vi came by tonight, but…” Alec said slow knowing how Jordan would react.

“Man, I don’t know why you don’t just date her already,” Jordan blurted.

“Jordan, you know I don’t like her that way,” Alec sighed because he had explained this over and over to Jordan.

“Yeah, yeah, but I wish you could see the way both of you act around each other especially after you have a nice talk,” Jordan smiled widely and tried to explain.

“I don’t want to talk about, Jordan.” Alec said firmly, and that was the end of the conversation. However, the next few days Alec thought about what Jordan had said, even though he thought it was a bunch of crap.

The more Alec thought about what Jordan had said the less crazy it seemed. Then, he thought about the girls he had dated. Even the best girlfriends he had they just never seemed to work out. Then, he thought about the guys that Violet had dated. The best boyfriends she ever had never seemed to be what she was looking for.

The next morning Alec and Violet went to a coffee shop like they did about every other week on Mondays when the cold weather set in. Alec paid for he caramel coffee and Violet’s mint mocha with extra chocolate. It was his turn to pay. As they walked to a table he couldn’t stop thinking about being on a date with her, but there was no way he was even going to show that he felt that way. He decided that if in a few weeks his feelings didn’t change he would just ask her if she felt the same way.

“What are you thinking about?” Violet asked.

Dang it! he thought. “Oh, nothing of any importance. Jordan was being dumb the other night and I was just thinking about it.”

“Well you must be thinking pretty hard about it. Did he say something about us dating again?” Violet asked, even though she already knew the answer.

“Yeah, you know how he is,” Alec said hoping he would not be place in the category no guy wants to be placed when he likes a girl.

“He should know better than that. I can’t believe he brought this up right after both of us just got out of relationship,” she said almost scolding Jordan. He was happy to know he was not put in the friend zone yet.

“So, have you started on Dr. Rathbone’s project?” Alec asked trying to get the conversation going in a different direction.

“I started. I’ll have it done next week,” Violet smiled sheepishly.

“I could give you some help if you want?” Alec told her.

“Thanks, I’d like to get off campus anyway. I’ll come by tonight,” Violet said smiling.

The next few weeks went by and Alec's feelings had done nothing but grow for Vi. They were eating lunch in the student center usually there was a small group of their friends that ate with them, but everyone had been busy that day. As they were sitting there Alec was getting kind of nervous.

"Umm, Vi..." he trailed off.

"Yes?" Violet said calmly even though she was almost as nervous as Alec was.

Alec felt like he was suffocating but he managed to get out, "What if we dated? I understand if you don't want to, Vi."

Violet was a little surprised. Silence. Violet was thinking, and Alec began to worry. "Alec, I would like to try. I have thought about it. I mean if the first date is just too weird we don't have to continue. We'll just go back to being friends," Violet said kind of letting her mouth say too much like when she was nervous.

He was able to breath again, but his heart was pounding as hard as possible. "So Vi,... will you go out with me?"

"Yes, I will," Violet said smiling.

The fallowing Saturday they went to a local pizza place that they both ate at least once a week, and then took a walk in the park afterwards. As they walked, Violet laced her fingers with Alec's fingers. He didn't flinch away. He just squeezed her hand and walked on. Violet was having a good time, to her this was not much different than just hanging out. She could tell there was a slight change in their attitude towards each other though.

Once he could tell Vi was getting tired he lead her back to his car. He drove her back to campus. The stereo was playing softly and he talked to Vi some trying to keep her awake. He could tell she was sleepy because her answers were not very lengthy. He smiled a little at that. He thought it was cute. He was walking her up the sidewalk to her dorm and stopped for a second. They looked at each other for a few seconds. Then Alec bent his head, took a quick breath, and kissed Violet gently. He pulled away waiting for her reaction. He was afraid he had crossed a line. Violet had just looked so beautiful that night, and if they were giving it a test run why not go ahead and kiss her. Then, she looked up at him smiling and kissed him back.

"I had a really good time, Alec," she said still smiling. It was the happiest she had looked in a while.

"I'm glad Violet," he was so happy to know that he was the reason she was happy.

"Alec, I want you to always call me Vi. I love it when you call me that. Besides you were the one that gave me that nickname," she said swinging their hands back and forth.

Alec laughed a little at her request. He kissed her on the cheek and said, "Ok, Vi."

They both knew that this was the beginning of something that would last.

Author's Note

If there are any grammatical errors please let me know and I will be more that happy to fix them. Please feel free to give me any good advice.

Reviews

[Celeste]

Hello! Welcome to WritersCafe. I hope you enjoy it here! c:

Moving on to your story, I just noticed that this best-friend relationship is pretty cliche around here, so maybe, you could add some sort of twist to this story so as to make it unique! Think outside the box, and transform it into a better story! c:

I also spotted a few grammatical errors that I can point out for you, if you want. I've included an example here, which is:

> She sat on his couch cried using a box of tissues and told him her story about her boyfriend broke up with her just because he had simply just lost interest.
^ The thought continues without pausing to let the reader understand what's happening. Also, I think you get confused as to using the correct tense, but I'll explain that in a bit.
^ That sentence could also be edited into this: She sat on his couch, keeping close a box of tissues as she cried. Alec listened to Violet intently as she spilled out the story about her boyfriend, who broke up with her simply because he had lost interest in her.

Now, about the tenses. It's always important to stay with the same tense in your story. Like in this one, there were times when you were in past-tense, and there were times when you were using the present-tense. Be sure to keep it constant so you don't make the reader confused.

I think that's it! There's nothing really wrong with your story; you just have to fix a few things to make it better than it already is! c:

Keep writing!