Alex's POV

As I leaned back against the wall, the words I'd just blurted out came back to slap me in the face. Lily just sat there with a blank stare. "What?" she managed to force out.

I shifted round to face her properly. I stared at those gorgeous big blue eyes. "I love you, Lily." I went to hold her hand but she stood up and left. I followed her to the other room.

"You don't love me..." she muttered.

I knew, telling someone you loved them could go either way, but Lily and I had been together a while now and I knew I loved her. I didn't expect this reaction at all. "What's wrong?"

"You love me?" she lowered her voice.

"Yea." I walked over.

She shook her head, eyes welled with tears. I watched them fall.

"Babe..." My heart felt like it had cracked. I wanted the ground to swallow me up. "Please..."

"Alex...you-you love me..." her voice wobbled in disbelief. I studied her as she frantically grabbed stuff from the desk, to only put them straight back down. I suddenly felt better as she glanced over, this wasn't about me. I closed the gap and wrapped my arms around her.

"No!" she began to fight her way out. I tightened my grip and whispered, it's Alex.

Lily's arms instantly flew around my waist, held on tight and just cried into my chest. We stood there for ages. Not sure how long exactly but when she pulled away my shirt was soaked.

"Talk to me," I said calmly.

Lily clutched tightly onto the back of my shirt. "Pe-Pete...told me he loved me... I-I believed him. Look where that got me..."

"It got you here with me. The person that actually does love you. Come on Lily, you know me. You can obviously trust me." I ran my fingers through her soft brown hair.

Lily glanced up, stared into my eyes. I watched as hers moved from side to side. What was she searching for? She blinked a couple of times and stepped back a bit, wiping her eyes. "I love you too, Alex." Tears erupted again.

I closed the gap again, placed my hands on the sides of her face and wiped away the tears with my thumbs. "I know," I sweetly smiled, which she returned. I did know, the long stare confirmed it for me, love filled her eyes as they sparked under the dampness.

Gently, my lips met Lily's. She deepened the kiss and rested her hands on my chest. I pulled away and quickly removed my shirt. Her eyes widened. I pulled her back into my arms, stroking her hair. "It's ok, nothing's going to happen. Babe your crying drenched my top." I smirked, to lighten the mood again. With my words she relaxed and placed her lips on mine, resting her hands back on my chest. They were cold but I didn't care. I held her tightly against me. I loved the feeling, I never wanted to let her go.

A few hours later, Sophie dragged Lily away to catch up. I was left with Rian. Jack and Zach had plans with Matt.

"I thought I was going to lose her Ri, she freaked out when I told her."

"But you didn't. To be honest it sounds pretty romantic Alex," he replied. "Both of you panicked, cried it out, declared your love and snogged," he smiled.

l smiled back. "Yea...it does and we didn't snog, wasn't that full on."

Rian began to laugh. "I think we should talk about you punching that dude in the face, we sound like teenage girls right now."

I joined in on the laughter. "Well it was satisfying."

"The kiss or the punch?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Both," I smirked, grabbing a beer out of the fridge.

"Lexy!"

Oh no...not now...I turned to find Jessica. Jack stood behind with an annoyed expression.

"It's Alex," I scoffed.

"Sorry dude," Jack piped up with a guilty look.

"Jessica, it's alright," I began, which was secretly aimed at Jack, he understood and mouthed a thank you, "to just leave now."

"Where's that school girl?"

"I don't know Jess, you tell me. You're the one that could probably find her faster."

She stepped closer. "What?"

"It's you, you're the one acting like a school girl. Not Lily."

Rian and Jack smirked, holding in their laughter as she stomped out.

"What did I see in her?" I sighed. Rian quickly walked over and patted my shoulder.

"Don't worry, that's in the past, now you've got a gorgeous girl whose totally worth it."

"I ditto that A!" Jack shouted. "Also the best friend is sexy."

Lily's POV

"You haven't been with him long," Sophie piped up as she folded a top and shoved it into her bag. "Are you sure it's not this stupid fairy tale lust that feels-"

"No!" I interrupted her obvious statement. "He's been there for me-"

"Exactly Lily. A princess will fall in love with the first prince that calls her name. That's not love."

"Alex hasn't just called my name," I sighed. "He's done a hell of a lot more than that. Been there to hold me through the nightmares. Got pissed off with this bartender job because he didn't want the same thing happening again. Wrote me a song and doesn't care if his shirt gets soaked with my tears...he just stands there and holds me..." I trailed off feeling overwhelmed by everything Alex had done for me.

Sophie plonked down, and stared into my eyes for a moment, then darted back up. "Jesus Lily! He wrote you a song?"

I giggled at her shocked tone. "Yea he did."

"That's-that's cute," she smiled and went back to packing. "Well yea you're in love. Don't really understand why, it's that instant love that's in stories which I don't get but I see it. You've both got each other wrapped round your fingers." She swung the bag over her shoulder and placed her hand near her ear with a look of concentration. "Can you hear that?"

"Depends," I jumped up to follow her. "It's Alex, he's calling out for me to take you back," she giggled, grabbed my hand and pulled me out of her room.

"What happened to Mr. Freakin' Sexy Gaskarth?" I smirked as we hopped into her car.

"He doesn't deserve that name from me anymore, now he's in love with my bestie," she smiled, starting up the car.

"I may have to steal it..." I mumbled.

She gave me a quick glance. "Wow...first time I've heard you admit that he's sexy."

"He took his shirt off and umm..." I bit my lip as heat rushed to my cheeks.

Sophie giggled. "Oh dear, does my bestie need a cold shower?"

I playfully punched her arm. "No..."

"You sure?" she winked, trying so hard to keep herself from exploding with laughter.

"His chest is hairy...but...it's-"

"I know, I've seen your boyfriend's chest before..." Her eyes widened as she registered my words. "...you-you haven't seen him topless before?"

l nodded. "He's always been wearing clothes around me."

Sophie sweetly smiled, "aww, you know that's actually really sweet, considering what happened."

"Thanks..."

"I'm glad we've come to the conclusion that you think his chest hair is sexy," she giggled.

I shook my head as we pulled up in the drive way. "I didn't say that..."

Sophie turned to me with a ridiculously huge smile. "It's totally true though. Isn't it?"

I opened my mouth to protest but she held her hand up. "Lily, I've known you since we were in the toilet training phase. You totally think his chest hair is sexy." She leaned over and planted a huge kiss on my cheek and got out the car.

l just sat back in the seat letting out a huge sigh. I loved Sophie but sometimes she can be such a handful. She wasn't wrong about what she'd said though. There was suddenly a light tap on the window. I turned, my eyes lit up at Alex's huge smile. He quickly ran round the other side and slid into the seat.

"Yea. I see it now. The view of the gutters is beautiful in here." He chuckled.

Notes

Aww glad they're all good :)