Alice woke up, hearing the sound of the wind rushing over her house as light rain pattered against the roof. She stirred for a moment before opening her eyes, seeing it still partially dark outside through the curtains, even though her dim fairy lights continued to pulse gently above her head. Her clock flashed the time at her in red digital numbers from her nightstand, and she hummed quietly as she closed her eyes again and shuffled where she lay to her comfortable again...

It was only then that she registered the weight across her waist, and glanced over her shoulder to see Magnus sleeping just behind her... she watched his face for a few seconds, letting the fairy lights momentarily drop them into darkness before carefully lighting up the room again... he looked so normal when he slept, with his lips slightly pouted and his eyebrows slightly furrowed. A warmth formed in her chest, and she felt her heart pulsing heavily as it seeped affectionate feelings into her bloodstream with every contraction.

She couldn't get over how handsome he was, and that he was here with her, sleeping in her bed. She smiled and looked away, knowing that if she gazed at him for much longer he'd probably sense it and wake up.

She carefully snuggled back into him, feeling the warmth of his body against her back comforted her. He hummed quietly, adjusting the position of his arm and tucked his hand under her t-shirt so his palm rested against her skin.

Alice smiled happily again but sleepily as she closed her eyes again, deciding to go back to sleep until inevitably Magnus would wake her up as he left to say goodbye a few hours later, if not less...

She drifted off quickly, falling into the darkness of unconsciousness as her body relaxed and her mind took over. Minutes seemed to tick past slowly, the ticking of the clocks filling the silence in the house, echoing around those who slept, as dreams invaded their minds, entertaining the unconscious with their subconscious thoughts.

Magnus twitched in his sleep, his eyebrows furrowing even more as his eyes moved rapidly behind his eyelids... in his mind he was running behind someone though thick bodies of trees in the forest as mist clung to the earth like a blanket...

"Alice!" He called, seeing the figure up ahead of him in a long pink dress, her soft giggles echoing towards him as she ran ahead, nimbly jumping over fallen logs as she held up her dress, her long blonde hair flowing behind her as the air passed through it. "Alice!" He called again, growing annoyed and frustrated that she was moving so quickly.

He stopped, exhaling heavily and running a hand through his hair as he saw her vanish into the distance. "Fuck." He mumbled to himself, trying to figure out another way to catch her. He wasn't entirely sure, consciously, what game they were playing... but he was participating nonetheless, for her entertainment he assumed.

A branch cracked beside him and he turned around just as a blur of blonde hair jumped at him, causing Magnus to lose his balance at the unexpected arrival of Alice. They fell back, landing on a soft bed of leaves as Magnus's gaze focussed on her face as she laughed. "You're so bad at this game." She giggled softly, "Do you want me to show you how to play properly?" She asked as he stared into her ocean blue eyes as she lay on top of him, her hands pressed gently against his chest.

He glanced over her happy expression, feeling the warmth and comfort of a familiar face that he enjoyed looking at. He nodded, willingly giving up being the leader to be the led, just for her. "Okay," Alice giggled softly, getting off him and standing up as he stood up also.

"Just don't run away from me this time." Magnus murmured, dusting off his jeans as he watched Alice carefully.

"I won't." She smiled, putting her hand out for him to take...

Magnus woke up fairly quickly after he felt their hands touch, his eyes now opening to a dimly lit room that he instantly recognised to be Alice's. He didn't like sleeping with those lights on... for the light seemed to make him feel exposed and uncomfortable when he slept. But even then, he put up with it because otherwise he knew Alice wouldn't sleep properly...

It took him a moment to register his position as he shifted to get comfortable again, and glanced down to see himself almost holding Alice to his body. He remembered his dream as he felt her closeness and the subtle comfort he felt knowing she was there, and furrowed his eyebrows a little, wondering if it really meant what he was beginning to think it meant.

Why was he so concerned about her running away from him? And even then, why did he feel better knowing that even his subconscious knew that Alice would come back and bring him along wherever she was intending on going. He lifted his head, looking down at the profile of her face as she slept quietly. Maybe it had been something to do with the threat of her almost being taken away from him... if he hadn't of been paranoid enough to give her that necklace, he would have never of found her... and she might've never made it. Especially with Summerland's extreme and fairly bipolar weather. Staying out all night without the proper attire was bound to leave even the healthiest of people with severe problems.

Magnus lay still for a few moments, thinking deeply about what he would be doing right now if things had gone very differently. He knew that if they'd never sorted their issues out or spent last week in such close contact before prom, he might've not felt much. For he was trying to let the hold Alice Murphy had on him go...

and failed, evidently. But now, things were so different. He'd said and felt things to and with Alice Murphy that he'd never uttered or even thought about saying or feeling with another human being... she was a significant part of his life now, whether it was going to be big or small between them, he didn't know. But he tensed thinking about what that kind of loss would feel like.

After a few minutes he pulled away carefully, not wanting to wake her up by moving too much and got up, now wandering into Alice's bathroom to use it. His mind whirred over his dream, his recent thoughts and how he woke up holding her like that this morning. It wasn't as if he disapproved of his subconscious behaviour, since it wasn't news to him that he liked Alice, but what he didn't realise was maybe just how much.

He cleared his throat, putting those questioning thoughts to one side and into a box in his consciousness that he rarely opened as he washed his hands then brushed his teeth, still enveloped within his own thoughts.

He didn't want to run before he learnt how to walk, since it was obvious this area of life was uncharted territory and maybe Alice was aware of that, hence his dream. He didn't want to end up in a relationship that was too much, too fast and would be over before it really began. He was graduating in four months, and wasn't sure what he was going to do after that. He used to have a clear plan, but now things in his life had changed...

He looked out the crack in the bathrooms's double doors and watched Alice sleep as he continued to brush his teeth.

Four months wasn't a long time, but Magnus didn't see it as an excuse to run wild with his new found feelings for Alice Murphy. He knew she deserved more thought than that.

He glanced at his watch as he walked back into her bedroom, seeing it just moving past six thirty. The sun would start to rise soon, and with that he knew Alice's parents would be rising too. He got dressed again, pulling on his sweater after sliding on his sneakers, his eyes glancing at Alice sleeping every now and then. He realised this was the first time they'd slept together in the same bed without having sex, and found that strangely surprising, but decided not to think much about it.

Carefully, he woke her up, murmuring that he was leaving as her eyes opened slowly. "Oh," she mumbled, sitting up a little and rubbing her eyes, her sleepy gaze landing on Magnus as he crouched next to her bed. "I'll see you tonight?" She asked.

"Not tonight," Magnus replied, his voice still quiet. "I'll see you on Monday." He continued as she nodded and lay back down, her mind calling for sleep again.

"Drive safe," She said softly, and he watched her face for a few seconds before murmuring his goodbye. He wasn't running from her by actively deciding not to sleep in her bed again, and instead was disciplining himself to take whatever it was they had and build it brick by brick, instead of dumping all the bricks on the ground and expecting it to build itself.

On the drive home on the nearly empty roads through Summerland, he stopped for breakfast, picking up a sandwich and a coffee before carrying on the drive back home. If he could speed and skip traffic lights it would've only taken him half an hour, but because of all the new traffic laws and speed limits it took him almost forty five minutes.

He was annoyed and a little sleepy when he arrived back at the mansion at eight in the morning. He knew his parents would be up, and shut the front door a little harshly to signal his arrival before he made his way to the kitchen to dump his car keys and answer the questions they would most likely have. His mother was sat at the large dining table along with his father, both of them holding up big newspapers covering their faces. "Morning," Magnus muttered, walking over to the fridge to find more food.

"Morning darling." Julia Johnson replied as she lowered her newspaper. "Home so soon?" She asked, which was her indirect way of asking where he'd been.

"I was with a friend." Magnus replied, gathering items from the fridge into his arms before he shut the door with his elbow.

"All week? We've barely seen you, son." Hans Johnson asked in his familiar, fatherly thick German accent. Magnus chuckled, knowing his parents assumed he was out painting the town literally red or worse... but this time he'd actually been doing what he said. He'd just been with Alice.

"Her name is Alice, you met her once. Long blonde hair, kinda short." Big boobs. He added in his head although he knew it wasn't appropriate to say in front of his parents. However it was something he knew was one of the feature's people first noticed when they met Alice even if they didn't mean to focus on it. He smirked, still fighting the urge to blurt it out and offend his mother as he began to make his own breakfast since the one he bought hadn't been enough to satisfy his appetite.

"Oh, the very pretty one!" Julia gasped, reaching over to tap her husbands arm excitedly. "You remember darling, the one who was here after that New Years party. Big blue eyes."

"Oh!" Hans exclaimed, "The scotch girl." He continued, remembering her face from the restaurant too.

"Scotch?" Magnus asked, raising his eyebrows.

"We sent that scotch over to her table," Hans reminded him and Magnus hummed quietly. "Remember? As a nice gesture."

"Oh yeah... that was embarrassing." Magnus muttered, remembering watching Alice reject the bottle whilst looking embarrassed herself.

"My son, embarrassed?" Julia laughed. "You must really like this girl." She smiled, looking hopeful as Magnus glanced up at his parents without lifting his head properly. "So I would assume you two are friends now?" She then asked, wanting to know more.

"Something like that." Magnus replied as he fried more bacon and looked away from his mothers intense gaze.

"I hope your being safe," Julia continued, lifting her newspaper to continue reading the business section for a few seconds before she lowered it again. "And I hope you're being nice and fair to her."

"Of course I am." Magnus muttered, confusing his parents on which statement he was replying to as he finished up making his own breakfast and gathered it onto a plate neatly.

"So when are we going to meet Alice properly?" Hans asked, watching his son carefully as he picked up his plate with one hand and used the other to drop some bacon onto the floor for the dogs who ran for it immediately, snatching up the pieces of meat in seconds before following Magnus closely.

"Uh, some time." Magnus replied, walking away and out of the kitchen to go and eat his breakfast in front of the large flat screen in one of the living rooms.

"Do you think it's something serious?" Julia asked, glancing at her husband as a twinkle danced through her eyes. The thought of Magnus having a girlfriend was something she never thought she'd be so happy to think about. The idea that someone could be there to help straighten him out, possibly guide him and put him on a more stable path almost made her lightheaded with joy.

"Who knows with Magnus," Hans replied, reading his newspaper again.

"We should invite her and her family around for dinner." Julia continued, feeling over excited. "What was her surname again?"

"I don't think he said, dear." Hans replied in a monotone voice as Julia mentally thought about what she would have their chef prepare for them.

The kitchen phone began to ring interrupting Julia's thoughts. Sarah, the house keeper, hurried to the phone and answered it, using polite greetings and short statements to let whoever was on the other side know she was listening and paying attention. "Who is it?" Julia asked loudly.

"Your sister, Miss. She's wondering if you're still available for breakfast today." Sarah said, holding the phone away from her ear.

"Oh, yes. I forgot about that." Julia murmured, standing up in her silk robe and running her hand through her light blonde hair. "She's having a horrible time hearing the news about poor... well, you know." Julia said to Hans as he looked up at her. She could only just see his bright green eyes over the newspaper.

"When's the funeral anyway?"

"He's not dead yet, Hans. Jesus." Julia muttered as she walked over to the phone and waved Sarah away from it. "Darling? Hello!" She cooed, "Yes, I'm just getting ready now." She said loudly as she walked out of the room and vanished upstairs with the phone tucked between her jaw and shoulder.

In the living room Magnus bit into his heavily stuffed breakfast sandwich, his eyes focussed on the TV as he watched a football game. His eyes intently follow the best players tactics closely as he barely blinked. He didn't watch sport for the entertainment, for he saw it as research... their actions would imprint on his mind and he would later on be able to recreate them with little to no effort.

His dogs watched him intently, licking the muzzles as they watched him eat. Their intense gaze annoyed him quietly and he glanced at them without moving his head, causing them to whine quietly and lie down next to his feet obediently.

Hours ticked by carefully, and Magnus lounged around... after eating breakfast he showered and went back to relaxing on the couch, now barely paying attention to the game and now engrossed in his phone after he'd received a message from Alice asking if he'd arrived home safe or not.

He replied, informing her that he had, then proceeded to browse her social media... wanting to know what she was up to without asking her directly. New photos of her freshly done nails popped up on his newsfeed, and he pressed the like button before he realised what he was doing. Growling quietly, he let it go.... for he was never one to actively use social media like this, but here he was, investigating pictures of her nails painted deep matte black with delicate daisies on every other one.

He waited for her response for a few minutes before he realised again what he was doing, and chucked his phone away from him so that it landed on the other large couch to his left before he looked back to his large television and searched for a movie to occupy his time...

... Deep set boredom closed in towards the evening after Magnus had eaten dinner with his parents and left the table before they could ask him at more questions about Alice. He was in his room now, his palms pressed to the floor as he lifted and lowered his body weight up and down, working out his upper body strength as he tried not to look at his phone.

His mind weaved in and out of different topics concerning Alice... everything he looked at seemed to trigger a thought and he gave in, standing up suddenly from his last push up, having barely broken a sweat even though he'd been doing it for an hour.

He snatched up his phone and called her, sitting down on the edge of his bed as he held his phone up to his ear.

If rang for a few moments, and he bounced his leg, his mind picturing what she would look like on the other end of the phone. "Hey," her smooth voice said and Magnus felt his chest warm suddenly. "I was just thinking about you,"

"Yeah?" He asked,

"Yeah!" Alice giggled, the sound making a smirk twitch at the edge of his lips. "I wanted to ask you something," she continued, sounding like she was walking.

"Where are you?" Magnus asked, standing up himself and taking a few steps forwards as his eyebrows furrowed a little.

"In my room. Where are you?" Alice asked, amusement in her voice.

"In my room." Magnus replied and he heard her laugh softly again and rubbed the back of his head as he walked over to his mirror. "So... you were thinking about me?" He asked as he stared at his own reflection...

"Mhm..." Alice hummed, as she stared at herself in the mirror of her bathroom, wondering if she was making the right choice. "And then you just called," she continued, smiling to herself as she let her body warm and her stomach flutter. "Coincidence, right?"

"Maybe." He chuckled quietly, glancing at the time and seeing it just passing ten o'clock in the evening... His mind wandered for a few seconds, knowing if he left his house within the next few minutes he could make it to Alice's before eleven... But he stopped himself, forcing himself to stay put even when he heard Alice make a soft noise as if she was frustrated. "What is it?" He asked.

"Nothing. I just broke the thing I was meant to use for the thing." She mumbled, and Magnus raised his eyebrows, wondering what she meant since she was making no sense.

"What are you doing?" Magnus asked, glancing down at his hand as he began to pace his bedroom floor slowly.

"I'm dying my hair." Alice replied, taking the phone away from her ear and putting it on the counter after placing it on speaker.

"What colour?" Magnus asked, hoping quietly it wouldn't be brunette, although he was sure Alice would look good with any hair colour.

"You'll see tomorrow." Alice teased with a smile, putting the plastic gloves on to rub in the hair dye more at her roots.

"Tomorrow?" Magnus asked, taking a few careful steps around his room before he stopped at the window to look out into his large backyard. "Just like everyone else?"