Until You Can't Be Anymore

AN: A one-shot of Mitchie and Alex goodness. The idea came to me and wouldn't leave me alone until I had it written (hence why I'm posting it at 5:30 in the morning). Anyways, I don't own these two lovely ladies, or any of the other characters that make appearances in this story, but I did borrow them for a little bit. Now onto the story...enjoy.

There she was, sitting under our tree with her nose buried in her songbook. Good God, I thought she was perfect. Slightly dazed, I allowed myself a few more brief seconds to take in her beauty before joining her under the shady leaves.

"Hey Mitch," I said as I dropped my bag in the grass before gracefully flinging myself down next to the dark haired girl beside me.

Mitchie looked up at me, her face splitting into a wide grin. "Alex," she said happily. "About time you got here; I was beginning to think you were gonna ditch me." She nudged my shoulder jokingly before tenderly tucking her songbook away in her schoolbag. "How was school?"

I shrugged, rolling my head back to look towards the sky. "It was okay, I guess. Gigi didn't bother me for once, and I didn't spend the day with Mr. Laritate either." Both of these things were a normal occurrence for me, but recently I had been trying to behave a little better, for Mitchie. I knew she loved me unconditionally, but that didn't stop me from wanting to be a better person around her. Mitchie just had that kind of influence on me.

She flashed that face-eating grin in my direction again, and I felt my heart zoom into overdrive. Knock it off, I told myself firmly. She's your best friend. Only your best friend, nothing more.

"That must be a once-in-a-lifetime thing," she joked, still smiling.

"Oh, haha," I said sarcastically. "You know Gigi goes out of her way to mess with me, and I don't take that kind of crap lying down."

Her face fell slightly. "Of course I know, Alex," she said in a more subdued voice. "She used to bully me all the time too." As she said this I felt an overwhelming urge to both hunt Gigi down and punch her in the face, and to slap myself for being so forgetful. Gigi had bullied Mitchie so much that she ended up leaving public school after middle school. Now she was in a private school on an academic scholarship.

"I'm sorry," I said softly, taking her hand in mine and interlacing our fingers. "I didn't mean to bring up old memories."

She squeezed my hand lightly. "It's okay, Alex. I've been doing a lot better since leaving that place. You know that," she said, giving me another smile.

I laughed internally. Here she was, trying to make me feel better for making her feel bad in the first place. "I know," I replied, before adding darkly, "but that doesn't make it okay. I hate her for hurting you so much."

She gripped her wrist tightly at my words, causing me to glance down at our still intertwined hands. I disconnected them and trailed my fingertips lightly over her wrist, feeling the slightly raised skin from where she had cut herself all throughout middle school. I remembered how confused I was the first time I had noticed them. Mitchie was perfect in my eyes, and at the time I couldn't begin to understand why such a beautiful, smart, funny, and caring girl would be willingly harming herself. However, I never treated her differently because of it. She told me it was her way of taking the pain and shame she felt every day and giving it a physical outlet. I continued to trace the pale scars, lost in thoughts.

"Alex," she said gently, brushing my bangs out of my eyes. "I'm better now. You know that now. I come to you every time I feel overwhelmed now."

I forced a smile on my face. "I know, Mitch," I said in as normal a voice as I could manage. "And I'm so proud of you for coming this far. You know that, right?"

She chuckled. "I know," she said simply, looking off in the distance.

"No more depressing talk," I said, standing and pulling her up with me. "Did you hear about the Gray's party tonight?" I questioned, checking my phone for the time. Jason, Shane, and Nate were all friends of ours. They lived a couple streets away from our neighborhood and were famous for their Friday night parties.

"Of course," she chuckled, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "I was thinking about heading over that way around 8. Are you going too?"

"Duh," I winked at her. "What else is there to do on a Friday night?"

We started to walk towards our neighborhood. "Do you want to just go over together? It would make more sense," I asked as we walked.

"Definitely," she said, beaming at me and causing my heart to once again feel like it would burst. She continued to speak, unaware of what her words were doing to me internally. "I'll come by around 7:50 and we can walk over together. Sound good?"

It's not a date, I told myself firmly. Stop thinking like that. "Sounds good," I echoed instead.

"What's up ladies?" Shane Gray asked excitedly as we walked into his house. Mitchie and I both laughed at his enthusiasm. He was clearly already well on his way to becoming wasted. "Mitch, come over here with me," he said, seizing her wrist and hauling her towards the kitchen. She threw me an apologetic look before disappearing in the crowd.

I turned to look for a familiar face that I would actually enjoy talking to and grinned as I saw Nate next to the sound system. I pushed my way through the crowd as quickly as I could and tapped him hard on the shoulder when I finally reached him.

"Alex," he yelled over the music and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. "Mitchie here with you?" he questioned loudly.

"Duh," I exclaimed, just as loud as he was and winking.

He led me away from the sound system and into a more secluded corner of the house. "So," he said, facing me with a more serious look on his face. "Have you talked to her about your feelings yet?"

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes at him. Nate was the only one who knew of my feelings toward Mitchie, and liked to nudge me into telling her on occasion. "No," I responded. "I don't know how she'd react, and we've been friends since we were little kids. I don't want to mess that up and lose her friendship."

He rolled his eyes, clearly not showing the same restraint I had just demonstrated with great difficulty. "Please, Alex," he said half-exasperatedly, half-amused. "Pretty much the only people who don't know how you two feel about each other are you and Mitchie."

"That's so not true," I shot back. "Or if it is, it hasn't stopped Shane from trying to get Mitchie to go out with him."

Nate laughed. "Shane knows, Lex. He just likes pulling her away like that to see if it'll make you jealous."

My eyes widened. "Seriously? That jerk!" I exclaimed, more amused than anything else. I knew Mitchie wouldn't go out with him to begin with, because he simply wasn't her type, but this information was new to me. Then I spotted him coming out of the kitchen with an aggravated look on his face. His eyes found mine and he quickly made his way over to where his brother and I stood.

"Hey Alex, Mitchie needs you," he said as he came up. His voice was low and he was scowling. "Some blonde bimbo was insulting her pretty badly when we were getting drinks and she looked pretty upset about it."

I frowned. "Blonde bimbo?" I questioned. "Did you happen to catch her name?"

Shane scratched the back of his head, guiding me towards the stairs leading up to his room with Nate trailing behind us. "I think Mitch said the girl's name was Gigi."

"Gigi?" I asked furiously, rage starting to boil in my veins. My hands curled into fists.

"Yeah, prissy sounding name, isn't it?" he replied, completely unaware of what this meant.

"Shane, you dumbass," I hissed. "Gigi is the reason Mitchie left public school way back in middle school."

I felt him stiffen and heard Nate swear loudly behind us. "We'll take care of her, Alex," Nate said as calmly as he could. "You just take care of Mitchie."

Both boys moved back downstairs, leaving me in front of Shane's bedroom door. "Mitch?" I called softly, stepping into the room.

I noticed her curled up on her side in the middle of Shane's bed. "Oh Mitchie," I whispered, moving to her side and pulling her into my lap.

"Alex," she sniffled, burying her head in the crook of my neck. I felt her tears begin to pool in the fabric of my shirt, and tightened my grip on her small frame. Next time I see Gigi at school I'm going to punch her in her stupid nose job, I thought savagely.

"What happened, Mitch?" I asked, moving my hand in soothing circles on her back.

"The usual," she said bitterly. "She told me I was worthless, fat, and ugly. She said no one could ever possibly love a hideous thing like me." She pulled back to look at me, her eyes full of tears. "And she's right, you know," she whispered brokenly. "Who could ever love something like me?"

I gripped the sides of her face as hard as I could without hurting her. "You listen to me, Michelle Torres," I said fiercely. "She is NOT right. She is a bitter, pathetic excuse of a human being who takes pleasure in tearing down the people around her. And besides," I said, taking a deep breath. "I love you."

She gave me a wry smile. "You're my best friend," she said softly. "You're kind of required to say that."

I shook my head. "You don't understand, Mitch. I don't love you like a best friend. I love you like you're the person I can't stop thinking about, the person I want to be better for and get better with. I want you in my life forever and always. I don't just love you…I'm in love with you."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Alex…" she breathed.

I placed a finger over her lips, effectively silencing her. "I'm going to kiss you now," I told her gently. "If you want me to stop, if you don't want this, just tell me, and I swear I'll stop." I looked into her deep brown eyes, willing her to understand what it was I was telling her. She nodded, and I lent in slowly, giving her plenty of time to back out if she wanted to.

Our lips met in what I can only describe as the most perfect moment of my life. Her lips were soft and tender on mine, and gently I deepened the kiss without turning the moment into a lust-filled one. When we finally broke apart, I looked at Mitchie, half-afraid she'd tell me to get out and never speak to her again.

"Alex," she whispered shakily, placing her forehead against mine. "You're my best friend," she continued, causing me to pull back abruptly. Tenderly she looped her arms around the back of my neck. "You're my best friend," she repeated. "You've been here for me since we were seven years old and I had just moved here. I've told you so many things that I would never be able to share with anyone else. You've been here for me at the darkest time of my life. I never thought in a million years you could possibly feel the same way about me. I didn't want to even hope it because all I've ever been able to see myself as is something hideous. You don't make me feel that way. You make me feel beautiful," she said, stroking my cheek softly. "You're my best friend," she repeated yet again, "until you can't be anymore. I don't want you to be just my best friend anymore. It has to be more, or I might not be able to take it anymore," she finished softly.

I ran my fingers through her hair, relishing in the softness of it and the proximity of our bodies. "You're beautiful," I said simply. "I can't really find the words to explain how much I love you, MItchie. And I want to be your best friend, but so much more than that. I want to be your partner, your lover, your protector. I guess what I'm trying to say is…Mitchie Torres, will you be my girlfriend?"

My heart nearly exploded in my chest as her face broke out into that wide, dazzling grin I loved so much. She leaned in and kissed me, soft and sweet. "Of course I will," she murmured against my lips after we broke apart again.

I wrapped my arms around her tightly, not being able to stop the large smile that was forming on my face as well. We spent the rest of the night in each other's arms, still the best of friends, but now so much more.

AN: Well I hope you guys liked it. Pretty please review, and if you deem it worthy, favorite or whatnot. Please and thank you