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"Hey Carla?"

"What?"

"Want to go to a movie tonight? I hear Harry Potter came out, like, a few days ago."

I nearly choked on my coffee when I stared at him for a second. He was looking over at me curiously, laying upside on his bed with a novel in his hands. Obviously waiting for an answer that I clearly wasn't giving at the moment because I decided looking like a deer stuck in headlights was more appropriate. When I tried my best to quickly recover, I arched an eyebrow at him and cautiously asked why.

"Cale and his girl are going and he asked me if we wanted to tag along, so I told him I'd ask and, well, now I'm waiting on you to answer me."

"Uh, sure. I suppose that's okay."

"Great! I'll let him know."

As he reached for his cell phone and texted back to Cale, my mind was racing with frantic thoughts.

Was this like a date to him? Do I try to look sexy? Okay, ha. No. Damnit!

I had gone into the bathroom while he went back to his book and looked at myself in the mirror with some disgust. I never had problems with my looks, but considering how my life has gone to shit - I hadn't felt pretty or even remotely adorable in awhile. The movie would start in a half hour, which meant I had even less than that to try and doll up as best as I could. For the next 15 minutes I would fumble with my hair and makeup and eventually give up in hopeless anger before deciding to just stick with eyeliner and a ponytail. I grumbled at my reflection, not pleased, and left the bathroom.

Alex was leaning against the main door, waiting for me with a warm smile.

"You ready? I bet this is gonna be kickass."

"Oh, uh, yeah. Totally."

Real slick. Bet that got him wrapped around your little finger, dumbass.

As we walked down to where we were going to meet up with Cale and his date, I think I was the only one between Alex and I feeling weird and out of place. He just did what he always did and let his eyes roam over certain things and seemed almost interested in them, even when he gazed over to a random cup on the floor. I let myself fall back a little so I could look at him without being caught and I watched him watch the world from his eyes. No matter what the hell he was looking at, he seemed to be searching for something in them. Not like he was lost, but sort of like he was just so curious about everything.

I allowed myself a few moments of naughty thoughts, like how I would love to have him look at me like that, how much I wanted to kiss those small, pouty lips of his and how badly I wanted to grip his long, black hair so much I got tangled in them, tangled into him. Before I could move on into my fantasy, I saw a guy who seemed to be waving us over and I went back to my reality. The girl next to him seemed shy and stayed quiet the whole time we greeted one another. She gave me a small smile and returned it the best I could. Smiling felt weird to me now.

Alex wasted no time grabbing her hand and leaning down to kiss it gently.

"Ma'am, so nice to meet you."

I knew he was being just his goofy self, but that blush that crept up onto her cheeks made me move a little on my feet in a twinge of jealousy. I had to look down at my feet before I became irrational and tore the poor girls head off. After some jokes and laughs we drove over to the movies. I was beyond nervous because I had no idea how to take this. Was it a date or just a friend thing? I had no clue, but I guessed I would find out inside. So, I tried not to seem too jittery as we got up for our tickets and headed to the theater after grabbing some snacks.

"Dude, I'm so excited to see this movie!" Alex huffed in a rush which made me smile and Cale laugh right out loud. I was starting to see that Cale was a loud, wild guy which made no sense to how his date, Sarah, was, but I guess opposites attract right?

"Only you would act like a girl over something so simple."

"No, you have no idea how awesome this is! I've read these books, like, five times already!"

"That doesn't surprise me." I replied softly as we sat in the back. Alex turned to me and gave me a grin that made my stomach do flips. We settled into our seats as the trailers began to run through. The entire time I payed attention to Alex on the left of me, how Alex leaned into me to whisper what movies looked good enough to see and what ones sucked, how his closeness made me shiver slightly. This man wasn't making any moves and we were already half-way through the movie. The realization was beginning to sink in that this wasn't a date, he just asked me as a friend.

I felt beyond stupid thinking otherwise and since I had already ignored the first part of the movie, I ignored the rest of it and wallowed in my self-pity once more like a big baby. There wasn't anything to be upset about, he didn't do anything to hurt me, but I felt weird that I liked him so much, but he only saw me as a friend. A pointless, bitter friend that he would soon get tired of. When the movie ended, all of the three started happily discussing their favorite parts and what ones were stupid. I tried joining in, but I didn't even pay attention to it, so I gave up and kept quiet while we left the theater and drove home. I was quiet all the way back to our dorm, only giving Alex "Mm"s and "Huh."s when he talked, and I stayed quiet all the way to my bed where I prayed I would at least have a decent dream.

~~~~~~~

I slowly opened my eyes, relishing in the warmth under the covers. I hadn't felt this happy in so long. Where was I? Nothing seemed like it was at the dorm, everything was in different areas and the doors weren't even the same color. As I tried moving to sit up, I felt an arm pull me back and gasped loudly before feeling a pair of lips on the back of my neck. I had no idea who it was, but the feeling was so sensual and sweet that I relaxed back into their arms. As they continued their teasing against my neck, they kissed their way up until they hit my soft spot under my ear that caused me to sigh loudly. I felt them smile against my skin before licking that spot while running a soft hand up and down my leg, which now I realized were bare.

I hardly had enough time to protest when the stranger managed to get on top of me and pin me down gently. I gasped out in shock when I realized who it was. Alex.

"Alexander? What are you - " I was cut off by his lips covering mine in a slow, but demanding kiss. I was in no position to deny this because one) I was pinned down by a miniature Hulk and two) I didn't want to go anyways. I allowed myself to feel for the first time in a year and leaned into the kiss more deeply. He started pressing down on me a little more that caused me to groan in response since I felt his member rub against me slowly. We went at it like that for what seemed like years when the feel of his weight on me vanished.

I quickly sat up and looked for him in a panic.

"Alexander? Where are you? Alex!"

I heard screams coming from what sounded like the door closest to me and I darted to it as fast as I could, ripping the door open and staring at a bruised and bloody Alex at my feet. It was all I could do to not scream before kneeling down and trying to grab him to me. My hands went right through like he was some sort of ghost. Alex started calling my name in agony, trying to reach out to me and I, in a desperate attempt to bring back what was mine, tried yanking him to me only to stumble back and have my hands go right through him again.

"What the fuck!?"

I was angry, scared, and confused. Through all my struggle I somehow saw a tiny bright light make it's way to Alex and I cried out in horror when I looked back down at him, his body was half gone and the rest of him was slowly vanishing as if he didn't exist. He saw what was happening and looked at me with the most saddest, frightened eyes ever. We reached for each other again, both of us crying in hopelessness when I heard a clear voice calling out to me.

"Carla. Carla, wake up!"

I furrowed my brows in confusion, but quickly let it go when I went back to trying to reach Alex, but when I put my hand out again, everything was black. I was just sitting in a black hole, looking for my Alex, crying out in my sorrow and heartbreak. I felt like a piece of me was ripped out and for no reason at all. My Alex was taken and I couldn't have him back at all.

"Carla, honey, just wake up. I'm right here, I swear I'm right here!"

There that voice was again, it sounded like Alex and I ran all around the dark room, calling out to him. As I kept hearing him, the blackness around me slowly turned bright and I clung to that deep voice I so badly needed to hear.n

~~~~~

I yelped a little as I felt myself being shaken slightly and the feeling of someone hovering over me. When I looked up I saw Alex bent down, inches from my face with a worried crease in his forehead. He was rubbing my arm gently as he realized I was awake now and leaned back some, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"You were calling out my name in your sleep. You looked pretty scared too."

I took in a shaky breath, still trying to fully wake up and calm down. I just stared at him and I guess he seemed to still be worried because he kept rubbing my arm, watching me as I laid there in confusion. I don't know if it was the fact that I wasn't yet awake enough to understand completely, or if I just really lost my marbles, but I was laying down to sitting up and clinging to him in a matter of seconds, crying softly and burying my face in his neck. He made a surprised noise before relaxing and holding me, rubbing my back in slow, steady circles. After awhile I stopped crying and must have been falling back asleep when I felt him try to lay me back and leave when I whimpered and looked at him through half-shut eyes.

He seemed to debate on what to do, but as soon as he looked at me again, he climbed in next and pulled me to him, continuing to rub my back in slow circles and I eventually fell back asleep completely. When I woke up the next day, I was alone in my bed and looked over to see Alex on his computer, typing up a storm. The night before came back and I blushed all different shades of red before hiding my face into my pillow.

Did I really snuggle to Alex like a baby all because of a bad dream?

I heard a chuckle after I had groan and looked up to see him leaning back in his chair and smiling at me.

"Finally up before noon, I see."

"Oh, stuff it, man."

"Tsk, tsk. Such a way to talk to your protector."

I blushed at that and flipped him off before rolling on to my back.

"You're a mega douche, you know that?"

"Well, that's not how you acted last night, clinging to me like I was some teddy bear."

MY teddy bear.

"I had a bad dream and I wasn't fully awake when you tried waking me up. Sue me."

"No, no. It's okay. You just seemed really out of it and crying hardcore. I didn't mind you needing to cuddle me, sometimes people need to feel safe."

I looked over to him once more and caught him eyeing my exposed legs before snapping out of it and grinning at me before once again returning to his computer and continuing whatever it is he was doing. I don't think my blush left, it was here to stay. I sat up and stared over at him while he worked and wondered what he would have done if I had kissed him last night. The world may never know. I sighed as I ran a hand down my face, thinking how much more I could take before I fucking lost it.