- Created By rachainu
Best Friends and True Love 8
Best Friends and True Love
Preparations
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Finally, I'm back! Ha! I'm so sorry I was unable to update sooner. It was because of my computer. This story is almost over anyway. Anyway, thanks for the reviews! I'm so happy. Unfortunately, my spell checker is messed up, so I hope there aren't any mistakes! Here's the chapter.
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I woke up that morning to a familiar feeling. I was warm, comfortable, and most of all, I knew I was safe. As I heard a heart beating beneath my ear, I realized that I definitely wasn't in my bed.
I felt arms wrapped around me and I remembered that I'd fallen asleep while Edward was holding me. I opened my eyes and I saw that Ed was still asleep. Had he slept as good as I did? I couldn't help but wondering that.
After I'd fallen asleep, he must've laid down and taken me with him. He'd stayed there with me the whole night, making sure that I was okay. Ed wasn't perfect, nobody is, but I knew that he was the perfect person for me.
He looked so peaceful, so carefree, like I probably did when I was asleep. But he was the only person I knew who could make me feel that way when I was awake, especially during the times I felt so horrible.
I smiled as I continued to look at him and then I remembered the ring around my finger. It was so beautiful as the sunlight hit it. He'd always known Easter was my favorite holiday and this ring was perfect for me. Sure, my best girl friend, Sheska, had given me jewelry for birthdays and Christmas before, but this ring was different.
Ed had never given me anything like this before. So that ring was more special to me at that moment than anything anybody had given me in my life. I kissed the ring and smiled even more. I settled back against him and closed my eyes once more.
I expected to drift back off to sleep, to spend even longer being held in his arms. But what I hadn't expected was what Ed did.
"Winry," he whispered so softly that I could barely hear it. He said it in a whimsical, gentle way, as if at that moment, it was the only name in the world.
I opened my eyes and looked up at him. He was still asleep. Was he dreaming about me? I got shivers just thinking about the way he said my name. Nobody had ever said it like that before. It wasn't just whimsical or gentle; it brought many more descriptions to mind.
I guess that the only way to describe it all put together was just one word: beautiful. He said my name in a beautiful way, as if my name was beautiful, and that made me feel beautiful.
Raising my hand, I reached towards his sleeping face, bringing it down over his cheek. It was warm, just like the rest of him, and soft.
He raised his own hand and caught mine, holding his over it and cradling his cheek. He opened his eyes and looked at me with his amazing golden eyes, the eyes that I always had loved. They were more golden and bright than the sun itself sometimes. I loved that. I loved him.
"Hey there," he said, looking straight into my eyes, gold meeting blue.
"Good morning," I said, my heart suddenly beating faster for some reason.
I hadn't really wanted him to wake up. Him waking up meant that I would have to get up and I was very reluctant to leave the warmth of his embrace.
He yawned and wiped his eyes before blinking a couple of times and looking at me again. He smiled that brilliant smile of his and brought my hand to his lips before kissing it gently.
"Do you feel better?" he asked me, concern in his eyes, written on his face.
I smiled back weakly. It wasn't week because of my previous upset or because he'd brought it back up. Nope, it was weak because he kissed my hand. The feelings that overwhelmed me from that sensational kiss was what made me weak. I was weak in the knees, too, and I was sure I'd be falling to the ground right now if I were standing.
It was at that moment that I wondered if his lips would feel just as warm and soft if they were on my own lips instead of my hand.
"Yeah, I do feel better. Thank you…You could've been home with your family but you stayed here with me…and then you slept with me on this lumpy couch all night.…"
"Well, what are best friends for, after all? Besides, I think you'd do the same for me," he said faintly, as if there was something else he wanted to say but was holding back.
Friends….Best friends…that's all we were. I wished with all of my heart that we were more than that, more than just friends. And he was right. I'd do the same thing for him in a heartbeat.
I raised my hand and looked at the ring yet again. The little jewel in the middle of the cracked egg caught the sunlight and shone bright.
I smiled at him again. I felt so warm, fuzzy, comfortable, and safe all at the same time. If I could wake up to this every morning, wake up with him every morning…I'd be truly happy.
If only I had enough nerve to kiss him. Now would be the perfect opportunity, too. But I just didn't have it in me to do it. After all, I was afraid of rejection. And more than that, I was afraid that rejection would ruin our friendship.
"What time is it?" I asked quietly as I looked away from his golden orbs.
He raised his wrist and looked at his watch. "Almost ten thirty," he replied. "I guess I should get home. My mom will want to know where I was all night and my dad probably has some disturbing ideas in his head…"
"Wait, what disturbing ideas?" I asked curiously.
He blushed and looked away. "Nothing, nothing. Just…stuff. Anyway, I have to go. But I'll be back later, so you should be ready by then."
I stifled a yawn before I asked him, "Read for what?"
He smiled. "You honestly forgot about what's going on down by the pier? They're having games and a party, not to mention food and fireworks when it gets dark. You were so excited about it last week that you wouldn't shut up about it."
My eyes widened as I remembered. I had talked nonstop about how he just had to take me and about how fun it would be.
"Yay!" I said happily. "That is today, isn't it?"
He released me from his embrace and sat up on the couch. I stood up and stretched before watching him do the same thing. I didn't want him to go. I wanted him to stay there with me and hold me a little longer. But I knew that if he did hold me longer I'd be even more reluctant to see him go.
Besides, the sooner he left, the sooner he'd come back and take me to that party, right?
I'd almost forgotten all about it. In fact, I had made plans to go to the mall with Sheska and Rose so that I could look for a good dress to wear to it.
As a matter of fact, I should have been getting ready to meet up with them right now! I didn't want to hurry Ed out the door, but…
"Okay you should go then!" I said as I rushed him to the door. "Bye now!"
I closed the door in his face and hurried up to my room to go take a shower and get dressed.
I looked out of my window and saw Ed making the short journey to his house. It was going to be a great night, I just knew it. Ed was taking me to a party. It was kind of like a date…I blushed at that thought.
By the time I was done getting ready Sheska had pulled up in the car and Rose was already with her.
"Hey," I said as I opened the door and climbed into the back seat before closing it behind myself. "Right on time."
As we drove by Ed's house, I saw him standing on the front porch saying something to Al. They both waved at me and I waved back, of course. Whatever they were talking about seemed to be pretty important since Ed was slightly nibbling on his bottom like he normally did whenever he was really thinking about something.
"Ed's a great guy," Rose said from her seat as she peered out the window. "You're really lucky to have him."
I smiled.
"I guess I am. I don't know what I'd do without him. He's always there for me, no matter what…" I trailed off and thought about how much Ed had done for me. He was my rock, I guess, something I could always lean on.
They both exchanged meaningful looks that I didn't understand. It was like they knew something that I didn't but as if they were unwilling to tell me.
I shrugged before looking out the window and watching the world quickly go by. My parents were doctors. They had to work a lot, but they'd always managed to find time for me. But it seemed these days that they grew more and more distant.
They'd take trips often, yet not together and when they weren't gone on a trip, they were working. And that left me home alone, unless of course, I decided to go over to the Elric's house and bother them.
Sometimes it felt to me as if Trisha and Hohenheim were more like a mother and father to me than my own parents were.
I sighed. I'd spent all of my teenage years so far with Ed and Al, growing up with them. They'd been like brothers to me. But somewhere along the line, Ed became something much more.
I thought back to the way he said my name, to the way he kissed my hand, to the way he held me in his arms even after I fell asleep. And the way he looked at me with those brilliant golden eyes…How did Edward feel about me?
He couldn't love me back, could he? I shook my head. I didn't dare to dream something so wonderful.
We arrived at the mall quickly and we began to shop. I had to find the perfect dress. I wanted to look my best. I wanted to make an impression on Ed. I wanted to look the same way hearing my name floating from his lips made me feel: beautiful.
"Come on Winry," Sheska said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me into a store behind her.
I didn't find anything I liked there. It was the same when we went to the next store.
"Here," I said as I handed Rose a simple, yet beautiful white dress. "This will look great on you!"
"You think so?" she asked as she pulled it up in front of herself and looked into the nearby mirror.
Sheska had found an outfit for herself and was heading to the dressing rooms.
"Just give it a try. You know, Alphonse always has liked seeing white on girls…" I said with a wink.
She blushed before she nodded and hurried to the dressing rooms, too.
Rose really liked Al. I thought they'd make a cute couple so I was silently cheering her on.
The problem was that Al had a crush on Noah, which I was deeply opposed to. Al deserved better. That was my opinion and I was sticking to it.
I grabbed a few random dresses and followed them to the dressing rooms. I closed the door behind me and I quickly undressed.
I picked up the first dress and put it on. It was an orange dress. It showed way too much cleavage and it was really short. Plus, I looked just like a basketball in it.
The next on was pale pink. T was pretty and I liked it, but the sleeves were too big and it was a bit too long.
The last one was a purple so I immediately rejected that one. The other two hadn't turned out so well so I didn't really plan on giving this one a try. Add that to the fact that I'd look like a big grape if I walked around in that dress and you have yourself a good example of fashion disaster.
I sighed out of frustration as I left the dressing room. I saw Sheska and Rose paying for their clothes and that was when I saw it.
On display behind the glass of the store right across from us was the perfect dress!
I pulled out of the garage and drove the short distance to Winry's driveway. The flutter of her curtains drew my attention, but I didn't see her. I merely shrugged before going to the door. It wasn't locked so I let myself in.
"Hey Win," I called as I closed the door. "Are you ready yet?"
It took her a minute to answer me. "Almost."
I leaned against the back of the door, my arms crossed over my chest. I wasn't in a hurry so I just waited for a while. I got thirsty and I was about to go to the kitchen and get a soda when she came walking down the stairs.
It was so shocked that my mouth was wide open. It was a good thing I didn't get that soda because however much of it would've been in my mouth would now have been on the floor in front of my feet and probably even down the front of my shirt.
"Wow" was the only word that came to mind.
She was wearing a red dress, my favorite color, that barely reached her knees. The straps of the dress were thin and cradled her slender shoulders. It hugged her body for the most part, yet it fluffed out towards the bottom.
Like I said, it was red, but different shades. The top of it started out a bright red and it ended up very dark by the time it reached the bottom.
Se was wearing red hoop earrings and her hair was loose and wavy. She was even wearing red heels and I noticed she'd even painted her finger nails and toe nails. And if that wasn't enough, she was even wearing a little makeup.
She reached the bottom of the stairs and looked at me in a confused way, as if she had no idea why I was looking at her the way I was.
"Ed, are you okay?" she asked as she put her hand under my chin and closed my mouth for me since I seemed to be incapable of doing it my self.
"Yeah…" I said faintly. "I'm okay…I'm better than okay…"
She smiled shyly.
"So…how do I look?" she asked as she spun around quickly.
"G…great," I chocked out. "Great!"
Great? Great? Now I sounded like Tony the Frosted Flakes tiger. Great…why did I say that when I knew she looked much better than great?
She smiled at me again and I smiled back weakly.
"Shall we?"
I offered her my arm and she took it gladly before we hurried out of the house.
Best Friends and True Love 7
Best Friends and True Love
The One Who Cares
OoOoOoOoOoO
"Oh come on," I said as I read the note on the counter. "I leave the house for a couple of hours and they decide to run off for a week?"
I was pretty disappointed since my parents had been gone more and more lately. And they usually were gone to different places. It was like they didn't care where they were just as long as they weren't near each other.
"I guess that means I'll be alone for Easter," I said to myself as I walked to the refrigerator.
I realized I wasn't really hungry so I left the room, heading to the living room instead.
After grabbing the remote I sat on the couch and turned on the television. My favorite soap opera was on, and I saw Brenda confessing her love to Ben.
"Ben, we've been best friends for so long," Brenda said. "You know me better than anybody and you complete me. Ed, I love you!"
"Oh, she finally went for it! Wait, did she just call him Ed?"
Before I knew it, Ben turned into Ed and Brenda turned into me!
"Winry," Ed said. "You're my best friend and I care about you, but Noah is the one I love."
Just then, Noah appearance next to Ed and took his arm.
I grabbed the pillow next to me and hit the TV. When I looked, Ben was Ben again and Brenda was Brenda. Ben finally admitted that he loved Brenda, too.
I heard a knock at the door, so I put the pillow back and went to see who was there.
"Ed," I said as I opened the door. "What are you doing here?"
He came inside and went to the kitchen.
"I came her to help you dye some eggs since it's Easter," he said as he sat half a dozen of eggs on the table. "Besides, who'll help you if I don't?"
I smiled. He was right. Easter was my favorite holiday, yet my parents didn't seem to care.
"But you hate eggs," I said as I watched him take some food coloring out of a cabinet.
"I do," he said to me before turning around, "but you don't."
He was selfless. He always did things for me, even if it was something he didn't like. Like when I was fourteen. It was our second summer knowing each other. I was trying to hone my mechanical skills and he actually let me experiment on his brand new bike.
Of course I put it back together perfectly, but for all he knew, I could have really messed it up! He believed in me and my abilities like nobody else ever had.
That was one of the things that made him Ed and it was also one of the things that made me love him.
@!@!@!@
How could her parents abandon her on her favorite holiday?
She loved Easter. I never understood why she loved it so much since I think there are far better holidays out there. But since it meant so much to her, I loved Easter, too.
Besides, it always was funny to see her go up to her room and come running back down the stairs wearing a pair of pink bunny ears on top of her head.
She kept to the tradition and I laughed as she came down the stairs with the ears. That I expected. What I didn't expect, however, was the fact that she put them on my head instead.
"What the…!" I said as she stepped back and raised the camera she had been hiding behind her back.
Before I knew it, I saw the camera flash and I heard her laugh.
"Very funny," I said sarcastically as I reached for the camera.
She switched the camera to her other hand and held it out of my reach.
"Oh come on Ed," she said as she took another picture. "It was a cute picture. You look so cute with bunny ears!"
I reached for the camera again. "Cute? I'm not trying to be cute!"
She rolled her eyes.
"Ed, you don't have to try to be cute. You just are.
I blushed. Did she just call me cute…again?! I didn't give up on the camera. I grabbed one of her arms to make her hold still, but she stuck it in her back pocket.
"Give up now," she said confidently. "We both know you won't reach into my back pocket to get it."
I growled out of frustration. She was right, and after that dream I had before, I wasn't going anywhere near it. I sighed in defeat.
She just looked so happy about it. I didn't want to do anything that would make her feel otherwise. So even if I had to wear those damn bunny ears, I'd do it to see that smile on her face.
As far as I was concerned, it was worth it.
@!@!@!@!
"Done," I said as I took the last egg out of its cup.
It was a nice shade of red, his favorite color. It had been so much fun playing around with Ed and dying the eggs. it helped me to take my mind off of my parents.
I saw Ed's nose twitching slightly before he narrowed his eyes. It was weird, but he always did that when he saw something he didn't like. In fact, that was the way he always looked whenever he saw Russell Tringham. And it was also the way he was looking at that egg. I just didn't understand why he didn't like eggs.
The bunny ears were on my head. Though they'd looked a thousand times better on Ed, I took mercy on him and let him take them off.
I did, however, keep my camera safe and sound since he might try to destroy it the first chance he could get.
I grabbed me a soda and went to the living room before sitting on the couch and turning on the TV. He sat down next to me and I saw him stick a piece of candy into his mouth out of the corner of my eyes.
"Hey!" I said as I forced his mouth open to survey the piece of chocolate. "You're holding out on me! You have candy, don't you?"
He grinned mischievously before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handful of chocolates and jelly beans!
"The chocolate's mine," he told me teasingly.
I frowned. He knew that I hated jelly beans. "Oh, come on Ed, just give me some chocolate!"
"Nope," he told me quickly as he stuck out his tongue, which had turned brown from the delicious chocolate he was eating.
"Pretty please?"
He shook his head. I glared at him.
"I'll be your best friend!" I tried again, reaching for the chocolate which he held right under my nose before pulling away.
"Ha! You already are my best friend. Nice try," he told me as he put more chocolate into his mouth and looked as if he were really enjoying it.
I crossed my arms over my chest and looked straight into his eyes. I had found the opening that I needed. "Okay Ed, if I really were your best friend, if you were my best friend, too, then you would give me some chocolate, right? That's what real friends do…"
His eyes widened in shock! He had just been defeated and he knew it. Then he laughed and dumped some chocolate into my hand.
"Yay!" I said as I unwrapped a piece and stuck it in my mouth. It was creamy and had peanut butter, too. "Yum!"
"You are so easily pleased," he said as he took the remote and changed the channel.
I reached for the remote, but he held it out of my reach.
"Hey!" I said as I tried to get it again.
"Come on now Winry. You got chocolate and I got the remote. Equivalent exchange, right?"
"Forget equality!" I said as I grabbed the remote finally. "Besides, it's my house!"
I was about to change the channel when I realized what was on. It was my favorite movie.
"Oh," I said as I dropped the remote and turned to look at him. And that was when I realized that the soda I'd brought back with me from the kitchen was now in his hands and going down his throat!
"Hey!" I said as I snatched the soda away. "This is mine! Get your own!"
"Nope," he said as he grabbed my hand and forced the soda to his lips again. "I don't think that I will.
"Bad Edward, bad!" I said as I treated him as if he were a dog who had been caught drinking out of the toilet.
"I'm not a dog, you know," he said as he released my hand.
I took a drink of the soda and sat it down on the coffee table. "In your opinion. I beg to differ, however…"
It was a romantic movie, yet also very tragic. Two young people met and fell in love on a ship that was fated to end up at the bottom of the ocean. If you haven't figured it out already, the movie was Titanic.
I always cried whenever Jack died. Ed, the cold and heartless guy, always laughed at me for it. And then at then very end I always cried tears of joy as the two lovers were reunited.
As the ending credits began and the beautiful song at the end started, I began to cry even harder than before.
"Oh come on!" Ed said with a laugh. "It's just a movie Winry. Calm down."
"You jerk!" I said as I hit his shoulder. "It may be a movie, but it was so sad. Why did he have to die? Why did they end up being torn apart?"
"Because," he said as he closed his eyes. "That's just how it was meant to be."
"Really?" I said as I began to wipe my eyes. "What would you do if you fell deeply in love with some woman and then you lost her?"
He didn't answer me as he took the remote again and found something else to watch.
I was deeply in love myself. I was in love with Ed. And if I ever lost him, then what would my life be like after that?
I didn't want to think about it. I shook my head quickly before laying it on his shoulder.
He'd found a nice, safe comedy that was guaranteed not to make me break out into tears.
Of course I did end up crying, but that was only because I'd been laughing so hard.
When the movie ended, I stood up and stretched before going to the kitchen and cracking one of the eggs before grabbing the salt and pepper.
I was really hungry, after all.
Ed sent me a disapproving look before he grabbed the phone.
"What are you doing?" I asked as he began to dial a number.
"What does it look like? I'm ordering a pizza," he told me before he began to talk to the person on the other line.
I shrugged before finishing the egg and going to my room to my computer. I had wanted to check my email.
I loved computers, or rather, I loved taking them apart. It was all pretty fascinating to me how I could completely dismantle such a complex piece of machinery and then be able to put it back together perfectly.
I logged off of my account and went to my window. I saw a car pull up to the house and a man go to the door carrying a pizza.
My stomach growled and I was glad Ed didn't hear it. He'd probably have a great time teasing me over it. He always did, after all.
We had just got done eating our pizza when the phone rang. I went to pick it up. "Hello?"
"Winry," I heard my mother say. "Look, I was asked to do a surgery in Central and your father's still in Dublith. We'll be back in about two weeks. You'll be alright until then."
"But…Two weeks?! That's so long," I said.
"It can't be helped. We're doctors. Things like this happen."
"But…" I began.
"No buts about it. I have to go now. I'll call you in a couple of days."
"But…" I tried again. I was too late. She'd already hung up.
"But…" I said quietly, the dial tone my only answer. "Today's my birthday…"
I turned off the phone and leaned against the wall, my tears beginning to fall.
It was my birthday. That was yet another reason I loved Easter so much. While so many people, myself included, were eating candy and decorating eggs and celebrating the holiday, I was being celebrated, too.
Yet right now I felt as if there was nothing worth celebrating. My parents had been gone a whole month before that. In fact, they'd only been home for a few weeks before they hurried off again.
The only reason I'd had to sneak back into my house before was because they were actually there for once.
Last year they had almost forgotten my birthday completely and this year they had finally succeeded.
"What's wrong?" Ed said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.
I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest. We stood there for a while until I finally calmed down and told him what was wrong.
"Am I really not important?" I asked him as we went back to the living room. "I don't care if I get cake or presents or anything else. Material things don't really matter as long as somebody is there caring about me."
"You're the one who told me not to get you a cake today," he said. "But that didn't stop me from getting this."
He pulled something else out of his pocket, the same pocket he'd had the candy in. It was a plastic egg.
"What?" I said, confused.
"Open it," he told me as he placed it in my hand.
As I opened it up, I saw a beautiful gold ring. It had a large, but very pretty Easter egg which was cracked. Coming out of the center of the egg was a beautiful white gem.
"Wow…" I said as I looked at the ring. "Ed…I don't know what to say…um…thank you."
"Happy birthday," he said before he slipped it onto my finger. It was a perfect fit.
I was happy, really happy, even though I was still very sad.
"You're not alone, Winry," he said as he tilted my chin upwards and looked into my eyes. "And as long as I'm here, you should know that you are cared about."
"Ed…" I said softly as my eyes began to get teary again.
"Hey, come here," he said as he sat onto the couch and took my hand, pulling me into his lap.
He pulled me up against his chest, my head so near his heart. His strong arms wrapped around me, embraced me, and I began to feel so much better.
He was warm, so very warm, and he made me feel warm, too. He sat there for a long time holding me, erasing as much of my upset as possible.
As I finally began to drift into a deep sleep I realized something. I realized that Edward could've been at home with his family and eating happily while enjoying what was left of the holiday, yet he was in my house holding me, dispelling all of my pain and my fears.
I loved him. And even if he didn't love me the same way, I knew then that he was my very best friend, and that he truly did care.
End
