scared, love? || eddie kaspbrak x oc {1} (COMPLETED!!) ~under editing :)~

~EIGHT~

EIGHT: To Love Someone
And to Be In Love

Words: 942 (including non-story related words such as these)

Author's Note: when this is a eddie x oc fic but the author (moi) is falling for beverly-
***

~the next day~

A cigarette between her fingers, Ali walked along the streets, on her way to the quarry. It was a Saturday so the streets were mostly empty with the exception of the occasional bikes and few cars.

"Hey, wait up!"

Ali turned around to find Beverly running to catch up with her. Ali waved and waited for her to catch up.

There was something different about her but Ali couldn't put her finger on it.

"Hey." Ali offered her a cigarette and Bev gladly took it.

"Thanks." Beverly blew a pretty impressive smoke ring and turned to Ali. "How do you like my hair?"

Hair! That's what it was.

Bev's formerly shoulder-length hair was now cut short.

Ali smiled. "Yeah, duh. It looks great."

Bev sighed in relief. "You're sure?"

"Yup." Ali nodded, smirking. "You look hot. I bet Bill's gonna have a ball after seeing you in it."

"Excuse me?!" Bev gasped.

"Don't lie." Ali smiled smugly. "You two are so obvious, it hurts."

At first, Bev considered trying to act innocent. But the look on Ali's face suggested whatever act she was gonna play up wasn't going to work on her.

Bev groaned. "I'm not that obvious, am I?"

Ali shrugged. "Pretty obvious. But Bill's even worse. He practically turns scarlet and looks like he's about to pass out whenever he sees you for less than half-a-second."

Bev groaned again, laughing and embarrassed.

Ali grinned. "So you do like him?"

Bev rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously."

Bev suddenly stopped walking and stared out dreamily.

"Ali, I think I might love him."

Ali stopped walking too. She gave her a small smile. "Oh, Bev. You've known each other less than a week."

Bev covered her face, turning redder by the second but still giggling uncontrollably. "Well, yes, maybe so. But everytime I see him, I get these butterflies and just feel instantly better. Ali, I'm telling you. You can stick me in a torture house for five hours and one smile from him will make me feel all-of-a-sudden better."

Ali shook her head knowingly. "Bev. You're in love. But you don't love him."

"Is there even a difference?" Bev snorted.

"Yes." Ali nodded, her smile growing a bit smaller. "When you're in love with someone, you feel...y'know, butterflies when you see them. You can't stop thinking about them, you eat and you sleep and they're on your mind, they talk and your face gets stuck in a smile for an hour."

Bev stood, listening attentively and Ali continued.

"When you love someone." Ali looked up at the sky. "The butterflies disappear and instead of looking at that person and seeing someone you want to kiss, you see someone you want to spend your whole life with. You don't constantly feel sparks everytime you see them, they just...them being there is like an ordinary day of life. But that doesn't mean that your spark with that person is gone. It just means that you love that person so much, it's like life with them is so normal and perfect the butterflies just don't come anymore because you're used to it. They're your person and your partner rather than just a crush you want to kiss and make out with. That's the difference."

Bev slowly nodded, surprised by Ali's sudden knowledge on love.

"Have you experienced loving someone before?" Bev asked.

"Being in love with someone? Yes." Ali nodded. "But loving someone, no. I've seen it before though."

"Really?" Bev stared at her. "Who and when?"

Ali smiled. "My parents. My mother and father were the definition of people who loved each other."

Bev smiled too. "How do you know that they love each other and not just in love?"

Ali suddenly looked sad.

"Because my dad died." Ali sighed. "When I was six, in a car crash. And when he was gone, my mom just...ever since then, it's like she's not a human anymore. Like she doesn't function. My mom got depressed and began to drink heavily. She couldn't even tale care of me properly. That's why we moved here. My aunt lives here and she offered for us to move. Miraculously, my mom accepted."

Ali paused and looked at Bev who was teary-eyed. Bev was surprised Ali's eyes weren't even glistening while she felt like bawling.

"My dad..." Ali continued, looking back up at the skies. "My dad was my mother's half. And without him, she couldn't function or work as a human being. That's how I know they loved each other rather than just being in love."

A small moment of silence passed by as Bev took a few seconds to let what Ali had just told her fully sink in.

"Ali, I..." Bev said solemnly. "I don't know what to say..."

Ali shrugged and took a puff from her cigarette. "You don't need to. Anyway, we should get going or by the time we get there, Richie'll make some dumb dirty joke out of us being late. That kid is high on life or something, I swear."

Ali began to walk away and Bev followed. Ali went on, conversating like normal and Bev tried to act normally too but her mind was bugging her, replaying Ali's words.

Bev felt sad as she looked up at Ali.

There was a lot more that there was to her than just the tough girl from school.