Best Friends and True Love

A Romantic Night Until it was Ruined!

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I'm happy to be back and that I got such nice reviews. Thanks. One more chapter after this, so please read it! Here's the chapter.

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Ed had totally spaced out the moment he saw me. I remembered the look on his face and I blushed. Did I make that much of an impression on him?

He looked so great! But I'm going to describe how he looked in the simplest way. He had his hair back in a ponytail instead of the usual braid. He was wearing a red shirt that revealed some of his chest since the first few buttons were left forgotten.

He was wearing jeans, my favorite pair which had lots of pockets with buttons and zippers here and there. He was hot, hotter than usual, and I thought I might start to sweat.

I was really enjoying myself. Ed had gone off to talk to one of our classmates, so I was dancing with Alphonse. He'd been almost as shocked as Ed had been when he saw me.

The song ended and I laughed as he spun me around one last time before he hugged me tightly. I saw Rose standing nearby as the next song started.

"Hey I see Ed coming back," I told him quickly. "Why don't you go dance with Rose?"

He turned around and spotted her before blushing, smiling, and hurrying in her direction. Rose looked so happy even though she was obviously a little shy. I heard her laugh as Al swept her off her feet. That Al could be a real charmer.

I'd lied to him. Ed wasn't coming back yet. I'd just told him that so that I could get him to go dance with Rose. Speaking of Ed, he had been gone for a little while now. I still didn't see him.

I felt somebody tap on my shoulder and I turned around and saw Ed.

"Hey," he said as I looked at him. "Did you and Al have fun?"

I nodded, "Yep. And now he's over there having a good time with Rose."

Ed turned his head and looked at his brother as he danced. Both of them could tell that there was definitely some potential and chemistry there.

"They'd make a nice couple," Ed said. "Though it sucks that my own little brother has had more dates than I have…"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. Okay, so maybe the fact that he hadn't had many dates was partly my fault…

After all, I'd secretly sabotaged a couple of the few dates he'd been on. Besides, he hadn't really looked like he was actually interested in any of them anyway, so…I was just saving him from potential disaster…

"Come on," I said as I grabbed his arm. "I want to dance. And since I sent my previous dance partner away, I'll have to settle for you!"

"Hey!" he said in response, but still let me have my way.

We'd danced to a couple of songs before we decided to walk through the crowds of people who had gathered.

There were a few rides set up, including a ferris wheel which he somehow convinced me to go on. The view of the water from the top was beautiful, but for some reason I had a feeling that the water wasn't what he was looking at since he kept glancing at me.

I fought back a blush and looked down yet again at the ring that he had given me. I smiled.

Later he had won me a little yellow teddy bear with golden eyes. He'd won it by shooting a few basketballs successfully into the baskets.

"I think I'll name him Edward," I said as I hugged the little bear.

He gave me a curious and amused look. "Oh really? That's weird."

"What's so weird about it? It has yellow hair, just like you do, and it even has your golden eyes!"

"Okay, now you're making it sound as if it's my kid."

I laughed at that.

"Maybe it is. You never know…" I said teasingly as I put my hand on his shoulder.

It was his turn to laugh.

We were just walking along, minding our own business when all of a sudden, the principal of our school just happened to show up.

"Edward. Nice to see you," Principal Mustang said as he spotted us. "And who is this young lady? Won't Winry get mad when she finds out?"

I looked from Mustang to Ed and then back again. Ed had an amused look on his face and coughed into his hand to hide a laugh.

"Um…Principal Mustang…I am Winry," I told him as I took another look at Ed.

He looked at me in disbelief for a second before his expression changed to shock, amusement, and then to some strangely awed look.

I heard an impressed whistle come from behind us and I saw that vice principal Hughes there, too."

"Winry," he said as he reached Mustang's side, his wife and daughter with him. "You look nice."

"Geez, at least somebody recognized me," I said in a pouting tone.

"Daddy," Elicia said as she looked up at Hughes. "Will I look that pretty someday?"

Gracia laughed and Hughes nodded. "Maybe even prettier!"

"Ed, let's go before I pull out my wrench."

"You brought that thing?"

"Of course," I said, holding it up. "I take it everywhere."

He looked at me like I was crazy and I could tell he was wondering where I'd been hiding it all this time. Well, he'd have to keep wondering.

"Okay, I think that's enough of you having fun at Ms. Rockbell's expense," Riza Hawkeye, Mustang's secretary, said as she appeared with some cotton candy.

"You're here, too, Ms. Riza?"

"She's here with me," Mustang said as he put his arm around her."

"Oh, I see. It's a date," Edward teased.

Hawkeye blushed and Mustang grinned.

"Well, maybe I could say the same thing to you," Mustang said.

We both blushed.

"Anyway, we have to go. See you around shorty," Mustang said with a wave before him and his entourage departed.

"Who are you calling a runt so tiny that he can't reach the doorknob?! I'll show you!" Ed said as he began to hurry after Mustang.

I grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

"Oh come on Ed," I said quickly. "You're not short anymore so you have nothing to worry about."

He glared at me.

"Not short anymore?! Are you saying that I was short?"

I shook my head in frustration.

"Just get over it," I said as I grabbed his hand and led him through the crowd, my teddy bear still in my other arm.

We were sitting down on a bench when I saw somebody selling shaved ice. I was a bit thirsty now that I thought about it.

"Edward," I said as I bumped his arm to get his attention.

"Hmm?" he asked.

I pointed towards the shaved ice.

"Thirsty?"

I nodded.

He shrugged before getting up and going over there. He came back with green apple for me, which is my favorite. He'd gotten strawberry.

He loved strawberry. It was his favorite fruit and his favorite flavor for everything. It was even his favorite milk. He hated milk and the only milk he didn't refuse to drink was strawberry.

It was good. I loved anything and everything green apple, especially candy. I didn't even have to tell him what kind I wanted. He just knew, exactly like I knew what he'd get himself.

I guess it was a best friend thing or something. Whatever it was, it had become second nature to us both, something that unconsciously functioned, I suppose.

"Here," I said as I held it up to his face. "Taste mine."

He shrugged before he took it. In the meantime, he handed me his. Don't get me wrong now. I liked strawberry, too. It was just that I loved green apple.

When we got finished we had started walking again when he suddenly remembered that we'd seen some delicious looking cotton candy in Riza's hand and wondered where she got it from.

We found the place easily enough and we shared some cotton candy. I was so happy. I was having a great time. I always had a great time when I was with Ed. It didn't matter if we were sitting around doing absolutely nothing, it'd still be great.

"Here," he said as he stuck some cotton candy in my mouth. It dissolved quickly and I stuck my tongue out at him.

We spent a bit more time dancing. Alphonse, I noticed, was still hanging out with Rose. Rose, the lucky girl, looked as if she was having the time of her life. I'd spotted Sheska easily. She was dancing with another one of our classmates, Falman.

He was a nice guy, though he could be a bit too uptight sometimes. But all in all, I still liked him.

"Hey," I said as we joined Al and Rose. "Having fun?"

Rose looked at me like she wanted to nod until her head flew off. But with Alphonse there, she didn't want to look so eager.

I gave her a thumbs up and put my arm across Al's shoulder in a nonchalant way.

"We've been walking around for what feels like forever," Ed said as Al put his arm across my shoulder, too.

"We weren't walking that long," I told him. "Besides, just be happy that I'm not having you take me shopping again."

Ed sighed in a frustrated fashion.

Al and rose had wanted to dance again, so we left them alone and went to dance ourselves.

After about one dance, he decided that he wanted to sit out on the dock.

The sun was beginning to set so it wouldn't be too long before they started the fireworks.

I took off my shoes and let my feet linger in the water. I sat them down on the other side of me. I sighed. It really had been a great day.

I looked over at Ed and he was watching the sunset. I looked at it, too. It was so beautiful, so calming. It made me feel pretty peaceful.

"Hey, Ed," I said as I leaned my head on his shoulder. "Do you ever wonder what's going to happen? I mean, after we graduate?"

He looked down at me for the briefest of seconds before looking back at the sky. "I think about it every day. If I should go to college, what college I should go to, what I should major in…I'm always thinking about that."

I was just as confused as he was. We both had to make some decisions and make them soon. I sighed. I didn't want to ask my next question, but I just had to. So here it goes…

"And…what about you and me?"

"Huh?" he asked, looking at me with a confused expression.

"We've been best friends for so long Ed. I don't want to lose that after high school. I don't want to lose you."

He sighed was he leaned his head on my head. "You won't Winry, trust me. Look, maybe we could go to the same college, huh?"

I shrugged before nodding, despite the added weight on my head. "I guess so. Then we could work in the same town…"

Oh, what was I saying? I didn't want to "lose" him? How pathetic was that?! What was I thinking?

We sat there for a while, lost in our own thoughts.

"Come on," he said after a while of sitting as he stood up and helped me to my feet. "I want to dance again."

I smiled before I put my shoes back on.

"Okay, lets go," I said as I began to walk away. But he grabbed my arm.

"No," he said as he put his hands on my shoulders. "We can hear the music just fine where we are. Why don't we dance right here?"

It seemed like a nice, yet very romantic idea to me. Me and him dancing in the darkness on the dock as the moon began to rise and cast it's light across the water and the stars began to shine….Yep, nice and romantic.

And yet I wouldn't have it any other way.

A nice, slow song had just started. As we wrapped our arms around each other and began to move to the music, I recognized it as an old Mariah Carey song, "My All".

I'd always thought it was a very pretty song, yet sometimes it made me sad. But right now, Ed was enough to keep me from that sadness and make me happy.

'I'd give my all to have just one more night with you.
I'd risk my life to feel your body next to mine!
And I can't go on living in the memory of last night…'

I stopped listening to the song when I saw a flash of light. Ed and I looked up at the sky and saw that the fireworks had started.

They were beautiful, lighting the night sky one after another. I sighed in content and we stood there for a bit, just watching the fireworks.

And then we began to dance again since the song was still going. We were dancing on the dock in the darkness with the moon reflecting across the water, the stars shining, and the fireworks lighting the heavens above us.

I didn't want this moment to end, I wanted it to last forever, yet all good things must eventually come to an end. And that was a pill that I definitely wasn't willing to swallow.

"Listen, Winry," Ed said, looking at me seriously, more seriously than I'd ever seen him look before. "What you said earlier, about what's going to happen to us….It got me to thinking and there's something I've been wanting to tell you…"

My heart began to beat faster, harder, and I felt nervous. But with this nervousness came excitement, hope. The look in his eyes at that moment, as more fireworks sprang to life in the sky and lit his face…It was magical, and it made me feel at that moment that maybe, just maybe, he might have loved me, too.

"What is it?" I asked, looking deep into his eyes, those beautiful golden orbs that I could easily get lost in.

"Winry…um…I…I love," he began.

"Ed!" we both turned our heads to see Al calling and waving. "Ed, come here quick."

"But…" he said as he looked from Al to me and back again.

I sighed. "Go ahead. This shouldn't take long," I told him.

He sighed, too. "Okay. I'll finish telling you when I come back, I promise."

I was alone, yet I didn't feel alone. My heart was racing inside of my chest, my body felt warm and light, and I knew what he was about to say.

After all of the things that had happened between us all of these years…And especially the most recent events like him giving me that beautiful ring or him staying the night with me on that couch or even bringing me here having fun and especially dancing with me on the dock…

When I added it all up in my head and finished his sentence for him, I just knew he was going to say the words I'd been waiting for. I knew he was going to say, "I love you, Winry!"

And that was when I'd finally be able to say, "Ed, I love you too!"
The grand finale for the fireworks was beginning and I wanted to watch it with him, yet he was nowhere in sight.

I looked towards the crowd, waiting for him to come back. I was ready to see him again. I was ready to hear him tell me how he felt, to tell me the absolute truth.

Yet as I looked at the crowd, as people moved out of my line of vision and gave me a clearer view, I saw it. I saw what made my body go icy cold and made my heart stop beating.

There in the middle of the crowd, was Ed and Noah…and they were kissing. I didn't know what to say, what to do. All I knew was how I felt: heartbroken.

Tears began to run down my face and fall to the surface in front of my feet. As the fireworks ended and the area around me got dark again, I felt so very alone.

I dropped the bear Ed had won me without a second thought…and I ran. Because even though I was sad and angry and I wanted to take out my wrench and beat him and to finally tear down that tramp, Noah, I knew that my resolve would weaken and I'd cry harder if I faced him now.

So I ran, as fast as I could. Because right now, this was the last place that I wanted to be.