A/N: I suck, I know.... I am super duper sorry, it's been 2 weeks since my last upload, I'm ashamed. In all fairness I've moved houses (for the thirteenth time), been super busy with homework and a new art project I'm doing, along with my fulfilling my addiction to Once Upon A Time and family stuff as well. But I've been thinking about this and it's been sitting on my laptop, staring me in the face every time I see it on my sidebar. The worst part is I had nearly finished it a week ago, but I just couldn't bring myself to finish. It's done now though! Not edited at all but come on, it's half past eleven and I've got school in the morning. Anyway I'll stop talking now! I hope you all enjoy this one as much as I truly loved writing it! 

***

“Rainy? Hello? Anybody home?” Reece’s voice interrupts my thoughts; the thoughts of him at Hannah Starks 16th birthday party. I can’t get the way he looked out of my mind, nor the way he said I want to, as if he couldn’t have possibly stopped those three words from slipping out of his mouth. His voice was breathy, quiet, and so strong with desire that it burned itself permanently into my memory.

“Sorry,” I apologise, trying to shake him out of my head.

“Don’t apologise, just let me know where you keep going off to,” he chuckles. “Fairyland?”

He takes the forgotten playing cards from my hand and puts the deck back together, before sliding it into the pocket of his jeans.

I cross my legs, resting my chin in my hands. “Not quite,” I say, biting my lip with hesitation. I struggle to keep my eyes locked with his. “Hannah’s 16th.”

For someone who doesn’t know the man sitting in front of me, they would think this answer has no impact on him. I, however - the girl who had been his best friend for years – can see how he becomes tense. He doesn’t allow himself to move a muscle. His breathing becomes shallow.

His reaction takes me back to the party, later on, when everything fell apart. When we, fell apart.

Reece wanted to ask me out. That was the only thought buzzing through my mind. Quinn was pestering him to do so but they were becoming hard to hear over the music. I had squeezed past the crowd and back into the small room where Quinn was smirking up at Reece.

I frowned in confusion but also in questioning, directing my gaze back and forth between the two of them. Quinn’s smug smile was wiped away when Reece nudged her in annoyance, looking down at his shoes. Something was wrong.

“Hey. You okay?” I had to ask, getting a hold of his hand. If only he would have looked at me I could see what was really going on. I could always tell what was going on in his mind through his eyes.

He blinked, shook his head and answered. “Yup. I’m great!” He was lying. It was clear from the false enthusiasm in his voice, almost undetectable from beneath his grin. Almost.

“Excuse us,” I said to Quinn, who was biting her lip. She seemed to be regretting something. What had I missed in those brief moments I couldn’t hear them?

Ah well, I would find out soon enough.

I laced my fingers with Reece’s and pulled him out the glass sliding door. It was twilight and the fairy lights that dressed every tree had just flicked on. It was a bit chilly but I ignored it, eyeing off the tree house in the back corner of the small yard. I dragged Reece across the soft grass and to the bottom of the tree house’s ladder, motioning for him to go up ahead of me. I was wearing a dress. He was going up first.

Without saying a word he climbed up, his black connies balancing on each small wooden peg until he reached the top. I followed after him, struggling immensely in my heels. Reece’s warm hand reached down when I was nearing the top and I took it. He helped me up.

“Thanks,” I smiled at him, but it instantly faded when I saw his face. His lips were turned down at the corners and his eyes faced the ground so far below us.

“Sit,” I said softly, sitting on the edge of the balcony that surrounded the tree house. Reece hesitated before sitting down beside me, his arm touching mine.

My eyes didn’t stray from his face, or the half of it that I could see. He was staring at his dangling feet as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.

“What’s up, Reece?” I asked, pulling my hair over to one side. “What’s wrong?”

He took a deep breath, whispering, “I really really like you.”

My heart stopped. My stomach filled with butterflies. My lips couldn’t contain the laughter bubbling up inside of me.

“Ah yes, I understand why you’re worried. Are you concerned you’ve gone insane? Are you feeling okay?” I had to tease, putting the back of my hand to his forehead as if to check his temperature.

He smiled seemingly in spite of himself, shaking his head at my theatrics. “No, I’m sure I’m not insane. It’s you, how can anyone not like you?”

I rolled my eyes as my cheeks flooded with heat. “Then I don’t understand. What’s wrong?”

For the first time in too long he turned to me, his eyes burning into mine. As I looked into his dark eyes, it clicked.

“You know I like you too.”

He shook his head. “No, I know that, Princess. It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?” I asked, putting my hand on his arm. I turned to sit cross legged, facing the handsome sixteen year old beside me. “Reece, you know you can talk to me about anything. Please, I want to help.”

“How long have we been friends?” His expression was serious. I was worried.

“Umm, I’m not sure. Ten years?”

His lips turned up into a small smile. “Not quite. Eleven and two months.”

“Specific, aren’t we?” I teased, but I was as confused as an atheist in Church. I didn’t understand what he was getting at.

“That’s not the point,” Reece said, tangling his fingers with mine.

I tried not to smile at that. “Then what is?”

“Rainy. I-” he paused, meeting my eyes. “I think I lo-”

“GUYS!”

I jumped, breaking out of the intense little bubble we had created. I looked down to the back veranda, where Quinn was standing.

“Dammit, Quinn,” Reece hissed under his breath, shaking his head. “WHAT DO YOU WANT QUINN?”

“I WANT YOU TWO LOVERBIRDS TO GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE AND PLAY SOME GAMES!” She stood with her arms crossed, tapping her foot against the wood. Her down-turned lips shined in the light of the fairy lights.

Reece groaned, burying his head into my shoulder. “Why can’t she just go away?”

I had to laugh, despite dying to know what he had to say. “Come on, Reecey. We can talk later. You’re staying over tonight, right?”

“Of course.” He sighed, leaning away from me while pushing himself to his feet. He offered his hand out to me. “I guess we should go then. Ladies first.”

I thanked God for his gentlemanly ways. I was in a dress, so him climbing down before me wasn’t an option I was willing to consider.

Quinn was still waiting for us when we climbed up the stairs to the porch, looking between us with suspicion. She turned to Reece.

“Did you-”

“Nope. Thanks to you,” he muttered, fiddling with the end of his sleeve.

“Oh you’re too dramatic Reece. You’ll get another shot. But Hannah is organising a small group of people for games upstairs and wants you two there.” Despite her words, Quinn seemed regretful.

“Guys, what’s going on? What am I missing?” I had to ask. The confusion was starting to bug me. Quinn just smiled and turned back to the house. I turned to Reece.

“I’ll tell you later,” he whispered in my ear, before taking my hand and following after Quinn.

As soon as Quinn opened the back door ahead of us, the music hit us like a brick wall of sound. It was too loud. Thankfully after we pushed through the crowd, Quinn led us upstairs where it was much quieter. The open space was carpeted with gold fixtures around the room. Even on the chandelier there was gold fittings. I tried not to frown in distaste.

“That is way to much gold,” Reece whispered. I shivered from his proximity.

“Tell me about it.”

“Guys, stop procrastinating,” Quinn interrupted, standing by the door to what looked like an extension of this space. Quinn was kind of stubborn, impatient and extremely outgoing. That’s why she was my best friend.

Reece laughed and crossed the space with me on his arm, entering the small room. Twelve sets of eyes landed on us; everyone was silent. My cheeks turned red and I stepped away from him, going to sit on the opposing side of the circle beside Hannah. Quinn came and sat next to me, while Reece sat with the other guys.

All the people in this room were people of a larger friend group I was a part of. Hannah and Laney were two of the other girls in the group, but there was also three others; Bianca, Hayley and Remy. Remy and Hayley were cool, but Bianca was… Well, to put it frankly, she was a bitch. A very flirtatious one. She wore a dress that clung to her tiny frame, that emphasised the cleavage she tried to create. I couldn’t stand her.

Pushing her aside, we were the seven girls in the group. The guys sat on the other side of the circle. Of course there was Reece, but also four others that I didn’t know too well. Only one of them who was renowned for being an absolute pig.

“Okay now that everyone’s here, we can get started,” Hannah grinned, nearly bouncing up and down in excitement. “We’re going to play ‘truth or dare’, with a couple of ground rules. You can not ask someone a question that will create any awkwardness or tension. And you can not dare anyone to kiss someone if the person they have to kiss is in a relationship. Fair enough?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, while in the dim lighting, Bianca’s lips turned up coyly at the mention of kissing. I wanted to throw something at her, but anything I could get my hands on would have been too valuable to break.

“Alright, who’s going to start?” Hannah asked. I liked Hannah. Even though she was spoiled, a ‘girly-girl’ and a bit over-confident, she was a genuinely kind person.

“I will,” one of the guys said. I think his name was Beau. He had curly dark hair and green eyes that made half the girls in here swoon. He wasn’t bad, but I rathered boys with dark eyes and lopsided smiles.

“Okay, go ahead,” Hannah said, gesturing with her hand for him to do so.

And so we played, getting asked about our secret crushes and dared to eat objectionable food that could be conjured up from inside Hannah’s bedroom. For a typically princess-pink bedroom, there were some questionable foods lurking in the corners. Thankfully it was only the boys who had food dares.

It was getting late when Hannah deemed the game almost over, only allowing one more person to have their turn. It was the curly-haired guy’s turn, and his eyes were narrowed on Reece.

“Parker, truth or dare?” He asked him. Reece’s eyes snapped up, his eyebrows raised.

“Dare,” he challenged, wiping his hands on his jeans.

“Thank fucking God,” the guy said with a smirk so wide he looked like The Joker. “I dare you to go into that closet-” he pointed to a door to the left of Hannah’s bed “–and kiss Rainy.”

My stomach dropped like I was on a rollercoaster, but as soon as my eyes met Reece’s a million butterflies burst into my stomach.

Everyone’s eyes were on me – on us – but I wasn’t looking at them. Reece’s eyebrow quirked up in question, asking me if I wanted to do this. I copied his actions so that he would have to answer first. I wasn’t about to say how much I wanted to before he said that he did.

As soon as he saw this a grin spread across his entire face, as his head made the slightest movement of confirmation, so small you would have missed it if you weren’t looking for it. I bit my lip to keep from smiling as I nodded as well.

“Alright,” Reece agreed, led by cheering from everyone in the circle. Everyone except Bianca, who’s lips had turned into a scowl. I ignored her, not prepared to let her ruin this moment with her sourness.

Reece stood up from opposite me and walked over to me, extending his hand to help me get up. Beau, the curly haired darer, escorted us to the closet, which turned out to be a large walk in wardrobe. After basically pushing us in there, he closed the door shut behind him.

All the light had escaped from the wardrobe, leaving us in the dark.

“Reece?” I asked, willing my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I felt around blindly with my hands until they found Reece’s hand. Even without my sight I knew it was him, just from the familiarity of my best friend’s hand.

Then he kissed me. It was short and sweet, but it was the best kiss I’ve had in my life.

“I lo-” He started to say, before the door swung open. We were greeted with celebratory cheers and were swarmed with our friends, but no one was as happy as we were. The boys took him downstairs but before he left, he turned back to me with the biggest, happiest smile I had ever seen, consuming his whole face. He winked at me, then allowed himself to be taken downstairs, out of sight. Meanwhile I was faced with the girls; everyone except Bianca who I could only assume had gone to bug someone else with her presence.

I was pumped with questions, none of which I can remember answering. All I can remember was wanting to see him, wanting to get out of this place, away from the party so that we could be alone. So that we could talk.

I had no idea what we were now; because I knew we couldn’t just be friends anymore. I was overcome by the immense need to get out of there, so with the help of Quinn, I escaped the room full of girls and got to the landing at the top of the stairs. The room with the golden chandelier.

“You’re happy?” Quinn asked, hand on hip as she asked the stupidest question.

I nodded. “Immensely.”

She smiled at me, before getting serious. “Does he know that?” Her lips fell into a straight line and her eyebrows furrowed.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused. Reece knew I liked him, he would be able to guess how happy I was. I was sure of it.

“Reece doesn’t think you like him as much as he likes you,” she blurted out. It was evident that she wasn’t supposed to let that slip, but she didn’t try to take it back. She just shrugged.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said.

Quinn shook her head. “Bianca’s been getting into his head, trying to make him believe you don’t like him anymore. Being Reece, he’s starting to doubt it.”

Shit. “What does she know?” What a bitch. “I have to talk to him.” And after I did that I was going to find that cow and tell her to piss off.

“Yeah, you really do.”

I turned away from my best friend and stormed to the stairs, rushing down them so fast I was almost certain I’d fall over. Somehow, I didn’t, and I got to the ground floor. I stayed beside the banister to the stairs and scanned the crowd.

There he was, just across the room in the kitchen. I couldn’t see who he was talking to but my mind was set. I only just started across the room when I stopped dead in my tracks.

Reece.

Bianca.

Joined at the lips.

Fuck.

He pulled away and his eyes connected with mine, full of something that I didn’t give myself the time to understand. I had to get out of there. The room, it was too small. I couldn’t breathe. My eyes were going blurry. I had to get out of there.

Luckily my feet started to move and I managed to stumble to the front door, swinging it open and running out into the cool night.

Someone was calling my name but I wouldn’t turn to them. I couldn’t. All I could think about was Bianca and Reece, hooking up right in front of me. It replayed in my mind over and over and over until I couldn’t think about it anymore.

“RAINY!”

The voice broke through my thoughts, the voice I couldn’t stand to hear right now. I continued down the steps from the porch, nearly tripping on my stupid heels.

“No! Rainy! Please, don’t go.”

I stopped, turning to face the one person I trusted with everything. I trusted him with my deepest and darkest secrets; the ones you swear never to tell anyone. I trusted him with my life, but over all that I trusted him with my heart. And he just broke it.

“What do you expect me to do? Sit around here and watch you hook up with someone else?” My voice broke as a tear escaped my eye. “I thought we were sorting everything out, Reece. After all these years I thought we were finally sorting it all out. Apparently not.”

“Please, Rainy, I can explain. Just, please-“ the desperation in his voice almost hurt “-I can’t lose you.”

I turned to face him, my feet at the sidewalk already. His face was ashen and his body slumped, but his hands were together in front of him, begging me to listen to him. I didn’t bother to wipe away my tears.

“You already have.”

With those three words, everything was over. Our relationship lay broken on the sidewalk in front of that house, waiting to be swept away by the wind. It was done. I was done.

“I guess we have some talking to do,” Reece mutters, looking down at his shoes; looking ashamed.  It’s almost as if he’s the same boy I left on the sidewalk two years ago. He looks so broken, but he wasn’t the one who was broken that night.

“No,” I say, reminded of why we stopped being friends in the first place. “You have some explaining to do. You said before that you could explain? You had better get talking.”