Beautiful ➳ Neil Perry.

vingt

"You ready?"

Charlie was dressed in casual clothing, yet he looked just as handsome as he did in his Welton school uniform. With one hand tucked in his pocket, he offered the other to Alice as she descended the stairs.

"Seriously?" she laughed, shaking her head, "No way, I'm not doing this."

"Why not? I thought you'd find it fun playing with Elsbeth and Stephen," he replied, cocking his head.

Alice huffed, rolling her eyes at the brunette. She'd almost forgotten about his strange antics. "It's not even just that, Charlie. Your hands are gross and clammy . . . So I'd rather not, thank you."

"Don't be such a princess."

He only releases a short exhale before taking his hand in hers, squeezing tight. Charlie grins when she mutters to herself, barely fighting her way out of it. Alice must've been on board with the fun, but refused to admit it.

"Be sure to take her home before midnight," Stephen said from the doorway, eyeing the awkward hand-holding gesture between the two, "Now you have fun."

Alice glanced back at the front door to study the look on Elsbeth's face. She'd always make it known she hadn't been the biggest fan of such displays of affection, clearly shown by her expression right now. Her eyes were widened, a forced smile on her face. She'd look uncomfortable watching the pair walk to the car, but refused to say a word in front of Charlie.

Charlie opened the car door ahead of Alice, entering the car behind her. Crawling to the seat beside the window, she takes another glance past Charlie's shoulder to watch as Elsbeth pinched the bridge of her nose. She'd never seen her so distressed before.

"What a nightmare," he said, pulling his eyes away from Alice's parents and onto her, "Hand holding gets her that shaken up?"

"If you thought that was weird, you should see what she has to say when I hug Chris."

The driver starts the car, taking off to Henley Hall. Alice looks out the window, her smile widening as excitement bubbled inside of her. She'd been counting down the hours all day at school, watching the lock tick by until it was time to go home. Never in her life had she been in such a rush to head home straight after the first bell.

"Should we try hugging, then? Next time?" he suppressed his laughter, his smile wide as Alice snapped her head back in his direction.

"You're such a creep," she grumbled, laughing as she slapped his arm.

Despite the difficulty of actually finding the time to spend with Charlie, Alice really did appreciate having such a good friend like him around. He agreed to help her leave the house tonight despite the fact that it gave him absolutely no benefit. And according to Neil, that wasn't a very common gesture coming from Charlie.

"Thank you for this, Charlie."

Alice's tone fell serious, sending Charlie a sweet smile. These were just one of those moments Alice was thankful she ever followed Jessica and Adrienne to the cave that night. Had she disagreed to join them and stayed home, she'd never meet Neil or Charlie.

He just laughs brazenly, tilting his head towards the night sky outside the window.

"Hey, don't get all weird on me now. It's nothing. Really."

* * *

Alice didn't regret trying to arrive to the venue much earlier than the start time, since the seats were already starting to fill up. There were students, teachers, parents all fighting their way to the front of the hall for the closest seats to the stage.

"Looks like it's gonna be a full house tonight."

With her eyes scanning the audience, Alice searched for any signs of Chris. Unfortunately, her friend didn't seem to have arrived just yet. Alice headed down the aisle of seats to reserve themselves the best seats possible, but felt a hand grab her by the arm to stop her from doing so. She turned to Charlie, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"What is it?"

"I think you should go see him before the performance. He still has a while before it starts."

"What? I might scare him or something. He'll be nervous as it is," Alice said, unsure of exactly what he was trying to suggest.

"He'd want to see you," he argued, "I've known him for most of my life and trust me. He'd want to see you before he gets up on that stage tonight."

Alice smiled up at him. Charlie seemed to know what he was talking about. Besides, wishing him a quick 'good luck' before the big performance wouldn't hurt.

"Alright, then. I'll see you in a bit."

"Yeah, I'll save us some seats."

Alice finds herself rushing out of the hall towards the back entrance, searching for any sign of Neil. Pushing through the large wooden door, she let out a sigh of relief when she noticed the lack of security. It wasn't an extremely big production, so this wasn't a complete surprise to anyone.

Careful not to stumble into any questioning staff members, Alice took notice of a female sitting in front of a dressing mirror, focused on perfecting her extremely dramatic up-do. There had been a number of others running around like crazy around them, so asking for directions from her seemed like less of a hassle. 

Just when Alice had been seconds away from calling for her attention, she heard a familiar voice call her name. His voice. Alice turned in one quick motion in search of him, her eyes widening as she took him in.

Neil was wearing his costume for the play already, a nervous grin plastered on his face. He looked past Alice's shoulder before grabbing her hand, leading the way to someplace else.

"Let's talk somewhere quieter," he suggested, taking Alice to a single room further away from all the chaos. Alice turned to Neil, her smile slightly faltering as he closed the door behind him. He must've been nervous enough before seeing her face to face like this.

"I'm sorry, is it alright for me to be here? We should probably talk later, I can—"

"No, stay."

Alice nodded her head, settling herself down on the desk.

"It sure looks crazy out there."

"I know," Neil breathed, "Honestly, I'm waiting for the nerves to subside somehow. I can't wait to get out there to show you what we've rehearsed all these weeks but I just feel so . . ."

He trails off, but Alice doesn't let him continue. Just like the night before, she takes him into her arms and holds onto him. And it must've been with the help of the cold wind breezing in through the cracks of the window frame, but she felt her breath hitch as Neil snaked his arms around her waist. He doesn't pull away or look away for a second as Alice looked up at him with a soft smile.

"You're going to do great, Neil. I know it. And tonight, everyone's gonna see the talented man that you are."

He shakes his head a little before his lips pull into a smile. And then, he's kissing her. His lips feel soft and warm against hers, her eyes slowly closing as she felt her heart burst out of her chest. She kisses him back eagerly, only pulling away to catch her breath.

"I love you," he said breathlessly.