It's a brand new day!

“I know,” he said softly, as a reply to the fact that she would always call him. He would definitely do the same and no matter what, he would drop anything in his hands to help her, even if he was on the other side of the earth. It wasn’t like he had experienced that much that he needed a quick call to her, but of course, he had been calling whenever he had had an argument with any of his siblings or if something had happened. Quite minor things.
It comforted him that she didn’t hesitate with interlocking their fingers again. It definitely let the butterflies swarm around in the stomach. It made him nervous like if he was a little boy doing all of these things for the first time, except he had done it plenty of times, just not with Nicole, unless it had been ironically.

Aleks couldn’t help but giggle with her as she called him a sneaky bastard. They were best friends after all, so he didn’t mind it at all. It wasn’t like this had put any new barriers up for what nicknames was allowed or not.

He could see how she looked suspiciously at him, which only made the butterflies flutter even more. But she did it and he removed the soft ice ever so gently. Her skin being ever so smooth and delicate. He succeeded on a kiss and pulled his face a little away from her. He was just about to tell her that he was sorry when he suddenly felt how she swung her free arm around the back of his head and tiptoed to reach his lips again. Aleks was surprised that she actually wanted another one and somewhat quickly rolled the napkin together in his hand, so he could wrap his arm around her and pull her closer. It almost felt magnetic. Inseparable. Of course, he bowed a little down and bent his neck so she could reach him better. The only think Aleks hadn’t really thought through was the fact that they had barely touched their ice creams and they still had the whole trip home, and he didn’t really know if this would create an awful silence – because what if she only did this out of lust? What if he only did it out if lust? Could it really be, after all of these years of friendship?
He finally, slowly let go of her lips, just about when he felt a drop of soft ice drop onto his hand. Maybe it was just him who was radiating with heat. “I hadn’t expected that,” he chuckled softly barely opening his eyes.

It was a risk. Nicole had never really been one to play with forces she didn't understand, and yet having taken this leap of faith, they had entered a place none of them perhaps had ever thought of before - or maybe they had. Nicole had once or twice in the past wondered: what if. But it had been nothing but a thought after someone had made a statement about them differently ending up together at some point. It had been a crazy statement, and they had laughed their asses off later that night because of it - out of the sudden that comment did feel more real than funny now. And has he pulled her closer towards him, it was the only sign she needed to know that they were on the same side. They were both testing the waters, which also meant they both needed to figure out what they were doing. This desire was new, consuming and perhaps a little bit dangerous. They had known each other forever.

Their lips parted again, taking a deeper breath in, still pulled away to the feeling and the thoughts that followed. His words made her chuckle a bit, a blissful bright smile was fixed upon her lips. "Yeah, me neither," she confessed in a lower tone, slowly opening her eyes again. It was strange looking at him again, not in an uncomfortable way, but suddenly seeing someone you had known forever in this way - it would be even more strange if it wasn't weird. Nicole bended her neck and placed her forehead towards his chest for a second, as she let her hand slide away from the back of her head. She laughed a little, as she removed her head once again. How stupid she felt because she had failed to realize that the person she was looking for always had been right here.

Some people said: When friendship turns into love it is the most beautiful thing in the world. Nicole had always thought it was stuff made of movies and books, stories you told to make yourself feel good. Stories that had nothing to do with reality, and yet, here she was standing looking into her best friend's eyes, and the whole world around her had suddenly just stopped. She usually knew what to say, what to do, but right now as they were standing on unknown land, she had no idea what to say or what to do. Not at first really, her mind needed to process what just had happened. Luckily for them, they knew each other. Even if this was unexplored and unknown, they knew each other better than anyone else did. Nicole took a slightly deeper breath in, letting her free hand move to his cheek for a moment, letting her thumb caress the skin, while looking into his eyes with a tender smile on her lips. Your ice cream is running away from you," she still spoke with a low yet gentle voice, giggling a bit by ice cream in his hand melting. Nicole let her hand slide down from his cheek again, using it to run a few locks of hair behind her left ear. Her ice cream was beginning to melt as well, and she quickly tried to save it by eating a bit faster, couldn't really help but laugh a bit. Everything to try preventing it from reaching her hand.

To Aleks, Nicole had always been interesting. But growing up with her and experiencing a loving feeling towards her, he thought as alarming and believed the feeling would just pass eventually. It did. But only for a while. Even when he had been with others, he often thought of her or how it would be, but what seemed like forever, he had just not wanted to risk their friendship. That hadn’t changed, but the circumstances they were in right now, just made it seem less like a friendship and it made it easier to go on a real date. He had just never imagined this – not that he didn’t like it. Whenever anyone had mentioned them as a couple or anything alike, they had always been quick to say they were just friends, even though he had often wished for more, but not that conscious.

He couldn’t help but chuckle with her as she mentioned she hadn’t expected a kiss either. He barely dared to straighten all the way up, because, what if? But when she put her forehead against his chest, he straightened up at little bit laughing a bit with her, and when she removed her head, he removed his arm from around her, even though he didn’t really want to. His arm slide alongside her arm, longing a bit more for her touch. It was so mysterious to fell such a connection without having to suppress it a lot.

She caressed his cheek and he felt like it was only the two of them in the world as they looked into each other’s eyes. He could be drowning in her eyes, without even realizing it. He was satisfied, right where he was. Suddenly told him that his ice cream was running away from him. Even though he hadn’t noticed himself, he pulled slightly away to look at his ice cream, laughing gently. He then started to lick the running drops of ice cream away from the side of the cone. How they must be looking weird; kissing and then saving their ice creams.
As soon as it seemed like he had some kind of control over his ice cream, he turned his full attention back to Nicole. His free hand found it’s way to her free hand, pulling it gently, “Should we get going?” he asked before he took a bite of his cone.

Nicole couldn't help but give a half-suppressed laugh, as he started his race with licking the running ice creams drops before it was too late, while she continued eating hers. Her eye caught for a second the man in the ice cream truck smiling at them, making her blush a bit for a second before moving her attention to Aleks and her ice cream again. Nicole loved this. Despite the change in the relation towards each other, the rest hadn't changed that much, he was still her best friend, the person who knew her the best, he had always been her person - and he still was, but now he was also something else, and she was keen on seeing where it would take them. The only fear she had screaming in the back of her head was; what if it doesn't work out? But for now she chose to push back those warning signs, because; what if it did work out? Pushed back out of her head, as his free hand found it's way to hers and she looked up at him again. She nodded a bit to his question before replying; "Yeah, let's." Nicole took a few more bits of her ice cream, she had always been rather fast at eating, so it was no surprise that she was almost done with her ice cream by now. "Where are you parked?" She asked before walking to the direction he told, with her hand in his.

Not much had changed in their way of conversating on the way home, a bit perhaps, but the talk was still the same, from what song that was on the radio if they liked it or not, and singing along to them with best ability. Nicole still felt utterly comfortable around him, even thought she could feel herself get slightly nervous on the next step in these untested waters. Then again, if she was with him, it felt like she could take on the world. As they stepped into the house it was pretty clear Bash wasn't home, his car wasn't in the garage and there was no sign of him inside. Nicole took Aleks' jacket off her shoulders, and folded it gently before placing it on the small counter in the entrance, then taking those stilettos off. "Looks like we have the place to ourselves," she breathed out turning her attention to Aleks again looking up into his eyes.

Aleks didn’t think that much about what if it didn’t work out, because he was both confident the feelings he had for her and that no matter what they wouldn’t part completely. They were too close to part in any way. They both knew too much about each other, and it wasn’t ‘safe’ for the other to walk around with secrets. (Ha ha.)
He smiled gently at her, as he agreed that they should get going. Compared to Nicole, Aleks enjoyed his ice cream and ate it quite slow, but he also liked to eat the ice cream first and the cone as late as possible. The cone was almost always his favorite piece of an ice cream – which was why he never ordered an ice cream in a cup. While chewing on a bit of cone, he pointed towards where his car was parked, and nodded in the direction, swallowing before he said, “Right over there, it’s not far from here,” The hazel eyes looked back at her shortly before his gave his ice cream some attention again.

They parked the car right next to Sebastian’s empty parking-slot in the garage and as soon as they got inside, Aleks noticed how Sebastian’s shoes weren’t were they used to be, confirming that he wasn’t home. It had been so many times that Aleks had picked up Nicole from a party or alike, and he was very used to her suddenly loose approximately five or ten centimeters of height whenever she took of her high heels. “Yeah, he works overtime – again,” he breathed out, “Or, well he might be at the Nelsons,” he shrugged and turned towards Nicole. “Movie, right?” he wondered, “I’ll get some snacks and you can put on a movie,” he suggested, before he smiled gently at her and walked towards the kitchen where they had a couple of drawers filled with snacks, like chips, cookies and what-not. He would grab a little bit of everything, even though he knew they wouldn’t open all of it, but because he wanted her to have the possibility of choosing whatever she wished to eat during whatever movie she ended up choosing. “Found anything interesting?” he wondered as he put the snacks down. He didn’t mind if it was one of the many movies they had watched before, but he certainly didn’t mind if it was anything they had seen

Movie, right? Nicole looked to him and nodded to confirm. Aleks mentioned he would get the snacks and she could find the movie, once again she nodded and she headed to the couch to turn on the tv. Nicole swung her legs up on the couch crossed them a bit, doing her best not to ruin the blue dress, at least its design made it a bit easier. Netflix being an ocean of different things to watch, he had indeed made this her hardest task right now. Her heart was still beating slightly heavy in her chest, but it had somewhat settled a bit. They were home, there was nothing about being here that was abnormal. The only thing that had changed the fact they had kissed, held hands and the overall blissful feeling that rushed up in her the second he returned to the couch, having his arms filled with different snacks. One thing was for sure, she was not going to rush whatever this thing between them were, but she also wasn't shy. The big teethy white smile blushed up on her lips as usual, before turning her eyes to the screen when he asked if she had found anything. "Only some good old ones, depending on our mood, it's been ages since I've watched anything over 43 minutes," she joked a bit while scrolling through the different movies. There was all the dance movies, from dirty dancing to work it, then the action movies, it's been a while since she had watched anything remotely like Indiana Jones, a faint memory from before she had lived with James recalled her brother Griffin had watched it one day when she had snuck into his room, and just ended up sitting there watching it with him. It was one of few fainted and fragile memories she had left. So caught in the moment she put Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark on. It was far from a romantic setting, and she wasn't going to overrush him with romantic movies, even if she had forced him to watch all her favorites once or twice before. "Is this one fine, or you not in the mood for some old school action?" She asked turning her head back to him, still with a smile on her face. Nicole wanted to make sure he was in for the movie as well.

He shrugged a bit as she mentioned what she had found. Everything sounded quite good. He opened a button or two on his shirt, just so he didn’t feel that uptight. While she scrolled, he picked up her legs and some of her dress, so he could sit down, and placed her legs across his lap. It didn’t take long before she put on a movie. Indiana Jones; interesting choice. “This is totally fine,” he said and carefully caressed her lower leg as he got comfortable. It wasn’t like they were cuddling up right now, but it had after all been somewhat difficult to sit down next to her when she had chosen to fill up the couch with her short legs. He couldn’t really leave the thought of how they were sitting and gave her calf a gentle squeeze to catch her attention if she was focused on the movie. “Are you sitting alright?” he wondered. She might not sit as well as she looked like.

It seemed to natural, and was so natural for him to do something like picking up her legs and place them across his lap. The caressing was different, making her entire body react, but she liked it. Nicole had no idea how to sit or what to do, she just took each breath she took to find out. Even as it looked like she was totally consumed by the movie, all she could think about was him. He was always on her mind one way or the other, but not like this, not taking up space like this. Not in the way that sent small shivers down her spine by the thought. The small squeeze on her calf made her turn her head to him. Him asking her if she was sitting alright, made her aware of how uncomfortable she might actually have looked, and lifted herself more up. Nicole lifted her arms a bit up to stretch them. Then she swung her legs from him only to move closer to him, placing her head on his lap, looking up at him. No, she wasn't really in the mood for watching anything, she couldn't when her focus was on him. "Who would have thought, huh," she chuckled a bit, "only everyone we have ever known," Nicole couldn't help but laugh a little by that statement. She had lost count on the amount of people who had said or thought they were or would end up being a couple.

She stretched her arms and took her legs down. He couldn’t really help but smile at her, even more as she put her head on his lap, making him look down at her, with one hand gently playing with a small strand of her hair and the other loosely over her. She didn’t look like one who wanted to watch Indiana Jones right now, which he didn’t mind at all. The smile was not able to get be washed off right now, the way she chose her words. Who would’ve though? followed by only everyone we have ever known. It made him wonder a bit. Everyone had said they would end up as a couple – so was that what they were now? It wasn’t really like they needed to date, because they had known each other for forever and knew close to everything about each other.
“Yeah, it’s kind of wild,” he chuckled and licked his lips a bit, building up courage. “So, we’re a couple now?” he wondered. He knew it was a bold question, but he just had to be sure of where she stood. He didn’t really want that insecurity, because to him there were some rules when you’re in a relationship – but only something ordinary, like don’t kiss anybody else than your family or don’t have sex with others; but of course, it also depended on the relationship. And if she didn’t feel like committing to him, that might be okay – he just needed to know

The fact they were here right now, like this, looking at each other like this - was indeed wild, and she couldn't even figure out whether it was a dream or reality. It seemed so out of this world. Too good to be true. His question popped her back into their reality making her blink a little, asking her if they were a couple now. It was important for both of them to be on the same page regarding this, that they didn't slip up or at different scenarios about where this would take them - because the last thing she wanted was to lose him or make thing weird between them. "Yeah, I guess we are," she chuckled with a soft smile on her lips, "if that is what you want?" Nicole then asked to make sure that it was what he wanted as well, because if he didn't - fine they would go back to being friends and call this a night where they just had tried something new. Not that she was sure that she could ever go back to being just friends after having gotten the first taste of him. She already felt the withdrawals from his lips against hers, just longing for them to meet again, but she waited till she was sure that was what he wanted. Nicole had always been quite committed to her relationships, not that she had many - the first and last one had been with Ryan, but that had also been something pretty great. "Do you want to be my boyfriend?" She asked softly looking up into his eyes.

It seemed like his question took her by surprise, the way she blinked, and for a short moment, he believed that he had made a mistake. But the soft chuckle she gave reassured him that it hadn’t been a stupid question and that they may be on the same page. “Yeah, I mean-” he started to reply if that was what he wanted before she asked if he wanted to be her boyfriend. A wide smile appeared on his lips. “Yes, I would love to be your boyfriend,” he replied, being quite glad of his own reply. “Do you want to be my girlfriend?” he wondered looking into her eyes. It might’ve been a mysterious question, since she herself had said that she guessed they were a couple now and asked if he wanted to be her boyfriend; but going into this they both had to be one hundred percent sure, because there was no real going back. It could also have been quite ugly if he just assumed what she wanted. But now when he knew what he wanted, he wanted to kiss her, touch her and just make her feel good and make her forget about that stupid dance partner who had not showed up at the restaurant.