At the dance, the group stayed together for the most part. They danced together and laughed. They were stuffed from having ate dinner already so they didn't feel a need to separate to get snacks. Alec and Cera stood near each other as much as possible. Beth and Josh, trying to frustrate them, kept trying to pull them apart. The more they did that- the more Josh tried to get Cera's attention- the more Alec thought, There's no way I can survive tonight if Josh keeps this up. He would have to say something. He would have to confess... it was getting to a point that he couldn't stand the thought of her dating or flirting with someone else. He wanted her for himself, selfishly. He wanted to be the reason she smiled and laughed, who she turned to in a time of need... he wanted to be her shoulder to cry on and the person she could love. He wanted to be everything to her as much as she was for him.
During the dance, while some up beat song was playing, Josh whispered something in Cera's ear and excused himself to walk away. Cera smiled at the group before following him. They went to a corner of the dance where no one was and where it was dark. The place they stood was behind the speakers, making hearing easier than when they were on the dance floor. Neither of them even saw Alec saw them from the dance floor as they talked.
"Hey, what did you want to talk about?" Cera asked, leaning against the wall.
"I need to ask a favor- no questions." He said immediately, making Cera raise an eyebrow.
"What's the favor?" She narrowed her eyes, skeptical. Josh glanced around and saw Alec looking at them so he smiled and chuckled before looking back at Cera. He brought one hand up to her face to push her chin up with his index finger so she could look him in the eye.
"You still like Alec, right?" He asked.
"Yeah. So?"
"So, I'm trying to get him jealous and he's looking this way. Once a slow song comes on, I'm going to dance with you very closely. But if I do this, Maria can never find out how far I took my flirting with you. Do you agree?" He still held a charming smile as Cera thought about it. She figured there'd be no harm in it if nothing happens and he doesn't get jealous so she started smiling back.
"Okay. But I doubt he'll do anything." Cera said. Josh chuckled.
"We'll see." He winked and they went back out on the dance floor to their friends. Alec saw Cera and Josh and felt his blood boil. If this keeps up, I won't survive the night, he thought to himself.
Eventually, a slow song came on. Alec, accidentally, reached out for Cera's hand before she turned and walked off with Josh. Alec blinked before feeling himself be pulled somewhere by Beth. His eyes stayed on Cera. Josh moved his hands to her lower back and pulled her close to him, tightly, making their faces close. As far as Alec could see, Cera and Josh were having a great time. They smiled at each other and laughed. He was already feeling angry for the situation.
Cera was a little uncomfortable with how close Josh was to her but she didn't complain audibly. She just tried to adjust to him as much as possible and ignore the awkwardness she felt.
"He's still looking at us." Josh smiled at her. "Make sure to smile and laugh- I think we're pissing him off." He chuckled. Cera forced a smile and fake giggled.
"Am I even doing this right?" She asked after a while of talking about random crap and laughing for no reason.
"Yeah. Can you tighten your grip around my neck though? Make you look closer to me?" He asked and she did. "Yeah." He grinned, hoping Alec was listening. "Just like that."
Alec did hear that last sentance. It was his breaking point. He let go of Beth immediately and started walking away but stopped when he felt Beth grab his arm.
"Wait! Where are you going?" She asked.
"I can't take it anymore- sorry I'm ditching you, Beth, but I need to go." He pulled away from her and angrily stomped over to Cera and Josh. When he walked up to them, they both looked at him with smiles. He did not smile.
"Hey, Alec. What's up?" Cera smiled.
"I need to talk to you right now." He demanded. Cera exchanged confused glances at Josh but pulled away.
"Okay, what's wrong?"
"Follow me." Alec grunted and walked away, knowing Cera would follow him. They walked out of the dance and behind the main building the dance was in. There, Alec stopped abruptly and but his hands on his sides. What the hell am I doing? He thought. Cera stood there patently for a moment but eventually spoke.
"Erm... Alec?" She said, making Alec turn and face her. "What's going on? Are you mad about something?" She smiled politely. Alec stared at her a moment to think about what he was going to say.
"I don't like how Josh flirts with you." Alec blurted. Cera pressed her eyebrows together in confusion.
"Huh?" Cera asked. Alec walked up to her. He walked up to be right in front of her. He was so close to her.
"Josh flirts too much. I don't like you being around him." He shrugged. Suddenly, Cera was mad. Who gave him the right to say things like that?
"Good thing you don't control who I hang out with, then." She snapped at him, catching him by surprise. She hadn't talked like that to him since they hated each other over a year ago. Alec narrowed his gaze.
"Cera, he had his hands all over you!"
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock! It's called slow dancing! And we'd both would still be doing that had you not dragged us both out here!"
"Well I didn't want you dancing with him like that!"
"Why? I'm willing to bet you had your hands all over Beth! Why can't Josh be all over me?!" She argued.
"My hands weren't all over her! Not like Josh was grabbing you! It's almost like he likes you or something!" Alec yelled back at her. Cera wasn't thinking straight anymore.
"So what if he likes me, huh? So what if a guy as nice as him likes me? What's so wrong with that?!"
"I don't want him to like you!"
"So you get your dream girl and you want me to die alone?! IS THAT HOW THIS WORKS?!" Cera yelled. Alec was about to spill everything but his mouth went dry. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Cera sighed and straightened her posture as Alec tried to gather enough spit in order to be able to speak. Cera looked away for a moment and shook her head, only to glare at him, upset.
"You know what? For a while, I thought we were drifting apart as friends. Then I thought we were getting better. But now?" She scoffed. "How about you just go off with your dream girl and you'll never have to worry about me again?" She said. Everything around them stopped. Everything in Alec's body told him to move but nothing did. Not until he saw her turn away and felt like he was saying goodbye to her forever. He just couldn't do that- he couldn't let her go like this- knowing he liked her so much it hurt.
"Beth isn't my dream girl!" He shouted angrily. Within a second, Cera turned to him and walked forward as she asked, just as angrily,
"Then who the hell is?!" She looked him in the eyes. Alec let out a breath, letting his expression soften. Cera was confused by his change in behavior but kept her stern expression.
"It's you." He confessed, making her stern expression disappear and shocked expression become prominent. Her eyes were wide and lips were separated ever so slightly. Alec stepped forward so he stood close enough for them to feel each others breath in the chilled air. "It's always been you." Alec couldn't take holding back anymore. It was bold, but he reached to hold her face in his hands before leaning down, turning his head slightly to the right, and pressing his lips against hers. Cera could hardly move or breathe. She closed her eyes but didn't know what to do beyond that. Her legs felt like jelly and her heart thumped wildly in her chest. The kiss made her shiver, happily. Alec, on the other hand, was hurt. He pressed his lips against hers, but she didn't kiss back. After a moment of waiting for her to show she returned his feelings by kissing him, he awkwardly pulled away and looked at her. She opened her eyes as soon as he pulled away and looked at him with wide eyes. Alec dropped his hands and his gaze from her as he took a step back, ashamed. "That's why I don't want Josh flirting with you." Alec said. Cera only blinked. After another moment, Alec spoke. "Sorry." He said before gripping the back of his head as he walked off, leaving Cera to put together everything that just happened.
***
Alec walked in the dance, flustered. He kissed her and she didn't kiss back. Maybe she was too shocked to do anything? No, don't give yourself too much credit, Alec. You're an okay kisser but not that good. He thought to himself.
"Hey, Alec." Gabe walked up to Alec. "What's up? You don't look to good."
"Can you go get Cera and take her home for me? I need to get home- I don't feel good- and Cera is probably embarrassed right now. I don't think she wants to talk to either Josh and I for a while."
"Uh, I guess. What happened?" Gabe asked, sipping the drink he got. Alec didn't want to embarrass Cera more than he already had.
"Just... get her home." Alec said before walking out.
***
Chris and Gabe walked out of the dance, promising their dates they'd return and explaining to Josh he would need to take one of the other girls home since they didn't go the same direction Beth's house is and that it would be easier if he took her. Chris was only going with cause he forgot something at his house he needed and Gabe agreed to give him a lift while he was out.
The boys walked out to the parking lot and found Cera, smiling and giggling to herself as she slowly walked towards them.
"Hey, Cera." Gabe said with a raised eyebrow. Cera looked up at him and smiled wider.
"Oh, hey." She giggled.
"....Are you okay?"
"Never better. Why?"
"Alec said he had to go home and didn't want you to ride with Josh so he asked us to take you home." To this, Cera smiled and giggled.
"He did?" She asked. "Well, then I guess..." Cera was going to say something until something clicked. Suddenly, he smile disappeared and her happy expression was replaced with an angry one. "You knew." She said before looking at Chris, angry. "Both of you knew and didn't tell me!" She started hitting them. Obviously not hard enough to hit them but she wanted to be annoying, at least, to them.
"Wait! Cera, what do you mean? We knew what?" Gabe asked, making her stop and glare at them.
"You knew Alec liked me and didn't tell me!" She said. Chris and Gabe looked at her with raised eye brows and shared shocked expressions to each other.
"He told you?" Gabe asked. Cera felt her face relax and she started to blush.
"N-not... directly..." She said and bit her lip.
"Then what happened exactly?" Chris asked. Cera felt heat rise to her cheeks.
"He... uh... well, he.... he may have... kissed me?" She felt her face become bright red. The boys looked at her with wide eyes.
"You're kidding." Chris said. Cera shook her head. Gabe smiled.
"Finally!" He sighed, earning a glare from Cera. "I've been trying to get him to tell you for months now. It would've been wrong if I told you." He explained.
"Yeah, apparently he's liked me for a while... he said I was his dream girl..." she laughed, thinking about it. She remembered all the hints he dropped. She was the girl he kissed in his dream.
The memory of him talking about his dream girl having a disability came to mind. Cera closed her eyes and sighed, feeling really dumb.
"How did I not see it before?" She asked out loud. Chris and Gabe laughed.
"We've been asking ourselves that for months." Chris said and they all laughed together.
"So, Alec went home?" Cera was hoping to talk to Alec about the kiss.
"Uh, yeah. He said you probably didn't wanna talk to him for a while." Gabe said. Cera pressed her eye brows together, confused. Why would he think that? That's when it hit her.
"I DIDN'T KISS BACK!" She realized. "I was so shocked... I didn't do anything- I couldn't do anything!" She said. Cera closed her eyes. "Oh, he probably thinks I hate him or something!" She groaned, annoyed.
"Don't worry, Cer. You'll see him monday." Chris shrugged. Cera suddenly felt a rush for time. She was going to see him Monday which only gave her a day to prepare. She was beyond excited to see him again.
***
Cera had spent her entire Sunday deciding on what she was going to wear Monday. She planned to look as good as she could make herself for when she told Alec how she felt.
On Monday, however, she got a little nervous when Alec didn't show up to his first few classes. It wasn't til the afternoon that he came in, didn't look around and just sat in the nearest seat. That's how the rest of his classes were with her. Cera didn't think it was a smart idea to try to talk to him in between classes. If she was going to confess, she was going to do it right. After the bell for the last class of the day rang, Cera followed Alec to his car. As Alec fumbled wit his keys, Cera walked up behind him and stopped.
"Uh... Hey, Alec." She said, making him tense up and freeze. Slowly, Alec turned and faced her.
"Hey." He said simply, not really knowing what else to say and causing a moment of uncomfortable silence.
"Erm, Y-you've been avoiding me all day." Cera called him out, abruptly.
"Honestly, I wasn't sure if you came to school today. Besides, I didn't want to make it worse for you. I know you probably don't want to talk to me. I just wanted to give you space."
"If I didn't want to talk to you, I wouldn't be standing here, for one. Two, that's actually what I wanted to talk about." She said, seriously. "The kiss." Alec closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.
"Please don't." He said, balling his hands into fists.
"Huh?" Cera pressed her eyebrows together. Alec opened his eyes and frowned to give a pleading look.
"I know I didn't give you the same curtisey in the fifth grade, but please spare me the rejection speech." He begged. Cera blinked. "Look, Cera, I've liked you for a very long time and although I respect you enough to accept you rejected me, I really don't want to hear you say it. You mean so much to me and I've already messed up our friendship with this- not to mention I stole your first kiss- and I already feel bad for all that."
"Alec-"
"No, please. Let me finish." Alec begged. "I have no right to be jealous but when I saw how Josh was dancing with you, I couldn't keep my feelings in anymore. I'm sorry I messed everything up and I'm sorry I stole your first kiss." He finished. Cera sighed and stood there for a moment, thinking about what she was going to say to him.
"Alec?" Cera said sweetly before walking closer to him. She walked so close, Alec moved to press his back against his car and she still was close enough to feel his breath. Cera smiled up at him. "I like you too." She said. Alec didn't move.
"Huh?" He choked out.
"I've liked you for a long time too. Honestly, I don't even know when I started liking you again. I just did." She shrugged. "When you kissed me, I didn't know what to do. I froze. It's not that I didn't like you, it's that I forgot to kiss back." Alec looked at her a long moment.
"You're not just trying to be nice, are you?" He asked, making her laugh.
"You know me, Alec. I wouldn't lie just to be nice... especially about something like this. I mean, thhink about it, why else would Josh be all over me like that? We were trying to make you jealous."
"I just thought he really liked you." Alec said.
"Alec, Josh has a girlfriend in Kenya." Cera giggled.
"Well he could have mentioned that." Alec groaned.
"Anyway, that's why I acted the way I did. So I'm not rejecting you. Because I like you." Cera smiled. Alec fixed his posture to be more relaxed and bent down slightly to meet her eyes. He placed his hands like he had the night before as they smiled at each other.
"I'm not rejecting you either." He said, happily. "So how about we try this again?"
"Try what again?" Cera asked before Alec leaned in and kissed her. This time, despite not knowing what the hell to do, she kissed him back. It was better than either of them expected. Alec found it comparable to the kiss they shared in his dream which was amazing.
They pulled away from the kiss and looked at eachother, smiling. Cera tried looking away, knowing her face was bright red, but Alec kept her where she was.
"Hey." He said. Cera looked up at him. "Cera, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Shouldn't you at least buy me dinner first?" She joked, making him laugh and kiss her again.
And that was their love story.