Alex and Tracey have been best friends since 7th grade. After she gets engaged things begin to change. She isn't as carefree and let her dreams go. Things have changed for Alex too, but his happiness circles around the one person he can't have.

Disclaimer: I only own Tracey and David.

Alex's POV

"Alex!" I turned around to see the most beautiful woman I had ever seen walking up to me. I smiled as she got closer.

"Hey beautiful," I said as I hugged her tight.

"Alex…" she said pushing away from me. "I can't do this."

"Yes you can, just trust me."

"I've always trusted you Alex."

"Good…" I said leaning in to kiss her

"Damnit!" I yelled as my alarm went off. It happened every time I had this dream. I always tried falling back asleep, but the dream was gone and never came back. I rolled over and set my feet on the floor.

"Have that dream again?" I jumped at the sound of the voice.

"Shit Ashley! What the hell are you doing here?" I looked at her and realized I had said something wrong…disappointing actually.

"You said we could go out for breakfast today and talk. We haven't sat down and talked in a while." I glanced at the alarm clock. It was beginning to make sense why I had turned my alarm clock was on early Sunday morning. I ran my hand through my hair.

"Give me 20 minutes." I said as I got off the bed. I walked over to her and kissed her cheek as I passed on my way to the bathroom. "I've missed you too little sister." I saw the smile reappear on her face as I shut the bathroom door. I turned on the shower, but kept it on the cooler side. The dream always got me and the closest I ever got to her was the hug.

I showered quickly and walked back to my room. I could hear the TV in the living room on and knew Ashley wasn't worried about how long I would be. If she was in a hurry she'd have been waiting in my room or sitting quietly in the kitchen. It had been the same way every time she came home from college for the past 2 years. I threw on jeans and a t-shirt and went out to the living room.

"You're wearing that?" I looked down not sure what was wrong with my choice of clothing. My sister wore the latest fashions, but she never told me how to dress. Not that it would really matter what she thought. "I'm just asking because it's already about a billion degrees outside and that is without humidity.

"I think I'll be okay. The place we're going has AC if it is so unbearably hot outside." I said smiling. Ashley had a way of exaggerating the truth. It was never a lie, but always an almost unbelievable truth. I grabbed my car keys and opened the door. As soon as the door opened I understood my sister's exaggeration. It was only 9:00 and it had to be close to 90 degrees plus humidity.

"See, I told you." Ashley said scooting around me and out to the car. I locked the door behind me as I rolled my eyes at her.

Fishbones

"What can I get for you two?" The waitress asked as she set our orange juices on the table. I could see my sister looking at me and then the waitress.

"I'll have scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon." She said nodding towards me and smiling.

"Excuse me?" She asked clearly confused at Ashley's nod. "Is she ordering for you?" She asked me.

"No, I think she's having neck spasms. I'll have the Belgium waffle plate with wheat toast and a side of fruit." The waitress smiled and walked away jotting down the order.

"What the hell was that Patrick? A neck spasm? I thought she was your type?" I looked behind me to see her at another table. Ashley was right. She was my type. She wasn't your average blonde, skinny girl. She had an ass and dyed hair that hung down her back.

"I do think she's hot, but there's someone else."

"Who? And if you say Tracey I might have to punch you in the jugular."

"That isn't very nice Ashley. You know, maybe you should work on that."

"Quit dodging the question. Is it Tracey?" I looked down knowing that I wouldn't be able to lie to my sister. She was too smart about those things.

"Yea, it's Tracey."

"So you did have that dream again." It wasn't a question. Ashley knew all about the dream. "Where did it take place?"

"Outside an art studio."

"Did you get the kiss in?"

"Nope, the damn alarm went off."

"Pat, this isn't good." I knew why this dream wasn't good, but it always felt right. "You can't have Tracey. You need to move on." I looked down as the waitress brought out our food. I waited for her to leave before I continued the conversation.

"I know you're right Ash." I wasn't lying to her. I knew I couldn't have Tracey. Not only had we been best friends since 7th grade and never anything more, but she had just gotten engaged to this guy she met at work. I thought he was a douche, but Tracey seemed happy…some of the time.

"You're doing it again. You say I'm right, but you still sit there and think about her. She is marrying David. She's happy. Why can't you just move on?"

"I don't think she's as happy as she puts on." I saw her pinch the bridge of her nose. It was the same thing our mom did when she was trying to force back a headache.

"Pat, you know I love you and it would be awesome to have Tracey as part of the family, but it is only a dream. Reality needs to sink in." I couldn't believe my 19-year old sister was giving me advice. She wasn't one to stay with any guy for more than 2 months.

"Can we just change the subject Ash? I'm not in the mood to talk about it."

"Yea," she paused as she thought about the topic. "How about we talk about the boy that just asked me out?"

"Really…" now that was better. It was much easier to talk about my sister's love life than it was to even think about my own. Don't get me wrong I had my share of good healthy relationships and a few bad ones, but I had blown the only chance I had to be more than friends with Tracey. She had told me she liked me as more than a friend a few years ago, but I was more interested in wrestling and the groupies that I had. So I told her she was like my best friend…almost a sister and I couldn't lose that. By the time I realized I was in love with her and just scared of a girl like her being in love with me, it was too late. She had found someone else and now (2 years later) they were engaged.

"Don't hate me Pat, but what were you so scared about?" I looked over at Ashley and realized that I hadn't heard a word she had said about this new guy in her life.

"Not sure what…"

"Don't lie to me Patrick Martin!" She whispered the words, but her eyes told me it was best if I didn't lie to her. "You know what I am talking about, but just so you are crystal clear about the subject matter…I am talking about Tracey." She stopped talking and I knew it was my turn. I looked out the window and took a deep breath.

"She told me how she really felt about me 4 years ago. I was scared that a girl like her would realize how much better she deserved. So I told her I only thought of her as a friend. She never brought it up again. It wasn't until it was too late that I figured out that I was in love with her."

"I don't get why you were scared of her loving you. She has been your best friend since 7th grade."

"I know it doesn't make sense now, but at the time it felt right. She wasn't the type of girl that anyone saw me with…including myself. But she was always there no matter what stupid thing our friends did. I was dumb Ashley. That's all there is to the story."

"Why didn't you tell her how you felt after you woke up and realized she was perfect for you?"

"I was going to, but when I went over to her house she was there with him." I knew Ashley knew who I meant. "She told me they had been seeing each other for 3 months and they were happy."

"Yea, I heard all that then too, but she was still in love with you. In fact, her eyes still light up when she talks about you."

"And how do you know that? You've been in Wisconsin since Christmas."

"It's called Skype. You should try it sometime."

"I don't need to talk to Tracey on the computer. I see her almost every week."

"I was totally talking about getting Skype to chat with me, but whatever." She paused before commenting on my last statement. "You see her almost every week and you still won't say anything to her. You are both dumb."

"I really don't want to talk about this anymore. So let's drop the subject completely." I said really not wanting to feel like shit the entire day. It was bad enough that I thought about her constantly without my sister's help.

"Fine, I'm done eating anyway. Can we go?" I could tell she was a little upset with me, but I didn't need relationship advice from anyone.

"Yea," I motioned for the waitress. I paid the check and stepped back out into the blistering heat. Ashley was already on the phone making plans with one of her old high school friends, but I wasn't listening to a word she was saying. My mind was still on the conversation we had during breakfast.

Tracey's POV

"Hey Alex, how's it going?" I asked as he climbed into my car for the first time in 3 months. It had been hard going to Chicago for art school the past 3 months, but I was home now and getting to see my best friend more often.

"Hey Trace, it's going well. How've you been?"

"I'm glad to be back now. School was starting to get annoying again. I'm still not sure why I decided to go and try art school."

"It was a good idea and you know it. Oh, and you are welcome."

"Yea, thanks for the idea. So how is wrestling going?"

"It's going well. Chris and I are finally getting the chance at being a tag team in TNA."

"Really? That's exciting! I love watching you two wrestle together."

"It should be fun."

"Good…" I was really excited for him and Chris, but there was something else bothering me. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Isn't that what we are doing Trace?"

"That isn't what I meant Patrick and you know it." I only usually called him Patrick when he was in trouble. "I meant that I have to tell you something."

"Well then you should have just said that." I rolled my eyes at my best friend as I turned to face him.

"I've been thinking a lot lately and I just need you to know something." I took a deep breath before I continued. "I really like you…as more than a friend. I've liked you for a long time. I just couldn't hold it in anymore." It took him a minute to say anything, but when he did he was much more serious than before.

"I really like you too Tracey." I felt my heart skip a beat when I heard those words, but as soon as it happened the joy fell. "I've always thought of you as my little sister/best friend. I couldn't lose you as a best friend…ever."

KNOCK! KNOCK! The sound scared me from the memory. I looked down to see a big line in the middle of the drawing on my lap.

"Come in!" I yelled as I grabbed an eraser and started removing the unwanted line.

"Hi," I looked up to see my fiancée walk into the room.

"Hey, how are you?" I asked as I finished erasing the line.

"What the hell is that?" David asked grabbing the picture from my lap.

"It's a picture for an application that I am doing for an illustrator position."

"Are you still dreaming about that? It is a stupid job. Soon they won't need illustrators for anything because of computers."

"I can use computers, but I prefer the challenge and feeling of an actual drawing with paper and pencil." I took back the picture and set it down on the table.

"Well with shitty work like that you might as well stop dreaming. You'll never be anything more than a hobby drawer." He turned to the door. "Let's go, we're gonna be late for brunch." I set my pencils next to the drawing and followed David out of the apartment.

"Crap, I forgot my cell phone…be right back." I heard David's sigh as I ran back up the stairs. I walked back to the couch and picked up my phone. I started turning back when the drawing caught my eye. I picked it up and studied it for a second. David was right. I would never be anything more than a mediocre artist. It could never be more than just a hobby for me." I crumpled the paper and threw it in the garbage. It bounced off the wall and fell to the floor. I heard the car horn and knew better than to make David too mad about anything. I decided to pick it up when I came home and bolted down the stairs to the waiting car. He took off before I was even all the way in.