A/N: I posted a question fic of what story I should write next and #2 won (the only I am writing now, this story). Uh, it's a fic where I update whenever, no given time so whether it's a four day gap or fourteen day gap. What comes in my head is what I'll share with you.
P.S I had to change the summary a bit, same plot, it's just it was over 200 characters...
Thanks for helping me choose what story to write. Here we go.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, unfortunately.
…
Summary: After his mom passes away, Edward is left to take care of his little sister Alice. They both are broken. They want to be happy. Alice loves her new teacher Miss Swan and thinks she's perfect for Edward. Now if only she could get them to meet.
(Edward POV)
I hug Alice closely to me. She's crying.
Again.
"Alice, it will be okay." I try to assure her though I know my promises mean little. She shakes her head against my chest. I swear, my eight-year-old little sister Alice is the most stubborn girl I'd ever meet. "Shush," I was trying to calm her sobs. Each one broke my heart.
"No Edward!" She cries, insistently so.
"What do you want?" I ask her begging. "What can I do?"
"Nothing!" She pushes my chest and let's me go. I frown. "I want mom. Can you give me that? Uh, no." With that she storms off to her room, slamming the door.
My mother, Esme passed away a little over a month ago and things are still very, very hard. Especially with Alice, she's not the same. I'd kill to see her smile. It's not easy on me either though. I try to act like it is, for Alice, but in all reality, my life is a hell.
I had to buy the best apartment I could get with my budget, which half my money was what I used to pay off my schooling. At least now I could get a job. 26 years old I am and I'm taking care of my eight-year-old sister. I know the snickers when people see me with her at the grocery store. They think she's my kid. I don't give a shit; people are so nosy it's not even worth telling them the truth. So I let them think what they wish.
At least now I could get a job to support us.
That's a pro right?
I walk over to the couch and plop down leaning forward and resting my face in my hands. I groan.
I hate this. So much.
Alice hates this. So much.
My mother and father were married forever or for what seemed like forever. They had me and when I was eighteen and moved out for school, they wanted another kid to raise so they had Alice. The age gap didn't matter. And Alice, well she's great. She's my little sister.
Unfortunately, my dad was a police officer, Carlisle. Four years ago he was killed while on duty. It was unexpected.
My mother was broken after that. She barely ate or slept. She did so little. She quit her job.
She got diagnosed with breast cancer almost a year ago and lost the battle a little over a month.
That wasn't completely unexpected but I know that if Dad were still alive she would have fought harder. My mother would have been healthier and slept and she would have taken care of herself. It's mean for me to say, but I'm almost pissed that she didn't. She's part of the reason she didn't make it. My mother practically killed herself.
And Alice didn't deserve that. Having lost her Dad already, she didn't need to lose more. It's almost impossible to assure her that she won't lose me. She won't listen! I persist, I do. She just refuses to listen. It's not like my mother told Alice she wouldn't lose her, because in reality she would eventually. One day Alice will lose me too. We both know that. She just doesn't get that she will be old and I will be old, she'll hopefully be married and happy…
I tug at my hair.
Time to go see Alice, I decide. I push my sorry ass off of the couch and walk slowly to her room. I make sure the wooden floor doesn't creak beneath my feet as I make my way. I press my ear to the door when I get there and I hear her breath catching and her sobs descending.
It hurts so much to see her so broken and knowing I can't fix her is worse.
Everyone tells me she needs to heal on her own. On her own time and I do as well. But no. No, no no.
Alice comes first. Always.
I knock on her door three quick times. She sniffs but doesn't speak. With a sigh, I open the door and go inside.
"Alice?" I ask her. Her face is in her pink pillow. Her room is all pink. The walls, the bed, the pillows and there is even a pink chair in the corner. Yeah, her favourite colour is pink. Easily known.
"Go away." She says into the pillow though I hear her. My chest tightens at the words. I just want to help.
I walk over and sit on the edge of her twin bed. I pat her back. "Alice, come on."
"No." She is so darn stubborn.
"I've got news for you. Do you want to hear?" I question and shake her.
"Fine. Tell me." Alice replies.
"Well first you have to roll over." I state obviously. "Let me see that pretty face of yours."
She rolls over and crosses her arms. "What is it?"
"On Monday, I enrolled you to go to school." I say and try to sound as hopeful as possible.
"I hate school." She tells me.
"It's not the same school. You'll like this school. I talked to the principal, Mr. Call. He says you'll really like it there."
"He's such a big liar!" Alice pouts and her eyebrows furrow. Just like my own when I'm upset.
"You have to go."
"No I don't."
"Yes, you do." I tell her and narrow my eyes. I'm trying to be the whole 'adult in charge', but to be honest, it's not working. I'm horrible with discipline and I've never had to be in charge before. It's… a big change, to say the least.
"Why?" She entreats and sits up, pulling her knees up under her chin and playing with her fingers.
"You need to get smart." I fluff up her short, brown hair.
Alice gasps at what I did and tries to fix it. She had bed head anyways.
"I am smart. Ten times ten is one hundred." Alice replies quickly, snarky. "And I didn't even use my fingers to find that out."
"Hey! I've been to school for like what, fifteen years? You need to go longer." I try to play off a joke. I'm using my light, somewhat happy voice.
She sighs.
I lean forward and my voice goes to a whisper. "I need to take care of you. The government will know if you don't come to school. If I don't take care of you, they'll take you away." I admit sadly. "I really do not want that to happen."
Her jaw drops a bit and her breathing becomes heavier. "T-they'll take me away?" Her eyes glisten with unshed tears.
"Don't cry." I plead. "They won't."
"Promise?" She holds out her pinkie.
"Promise." We pinkie swear.
"Promise me you'll go to school?" I ask her after we sit in silence for a while.
"I'll try it out." She nods. I give her a pointed look. "Fine, I'll go alright!"
"Thank you." I breathe. I pat her knee and stand up. "What do you want for breakfast?"
I walk to her door as she replies. "Food?"
Smart ass.
"Anything in particular?" I continue and walk out of her room and make my ways to the kitchen.
"Pancakes?" She calls out once I'm in the kitchen.
"Done. You get dressed," I call back. "We're going to go shopping today."
I search the cupboards until I find the pancake mix. When a man needs Eggo's they just aren't there.
I can't cook.
At all.
I mean I can burn water, well no, but almost.
Seriously I'm that bad.
I get out a bowl and a wisky thing. Whatever you call it. Wisk. Spoon. I follow the directions and add water to the bowl with a cup of pancake mix.
Again, Eggo's would be so wonderful right now.
I stir or whisk it until it's thick enough. I put a pan on the stovetop and turn the heat on high. Grabbing a spatula, I plop on a glob of butter and watch it sizzle and melt. I grab the bowl and very sloppily pour an odd shaped pancake on it.
How do people get pancakes so circular? I honestly can't. The right side is way bigger and all weird shaped like a damn fluff ball. Creative. It's creative. Circles aren't creative. Hah, I'm being creative. I smirk to myself at my own thought and try to flip the thing.
It folds in half and I sigh. I'll eat that one.
…
"I think it looks like a… fish?" I suggest looking at Alice's pancake.
"Pancakes are circle." She says as she covers it in maple syrup. Yum.
"Well, I'm creative." I tell her. "Not everyone can make a fish looking pancake. You should be thankful." I try to lighten the mood and wink at her. A small smile plays at her lips and I can tell it just wants to be let loose but Alice bites her lip to prevent that.
I frown. "Alice…"
"What?" She looks down at the pancake.
"When will you be happy again?" I question softly and take the first bite of my trial and error pancake.
"When I stop losing everything I love." She replies softly. My heart tore apart. I whimper inside but on the outside I remain strong.
Strong for her.
Strong for me.
For us.
She's all I have.
"Mom's in a better place. So is Dad." I try to insist.
"I want to be there too then." Alice replies.
"It's not your time. You still have a long, happy, full life ahead of you." I advise.
"So do you Edward." She looks up at me sadly.
"I know." I nod.
"Well you aren't happy either." She insists.
"It's hard when you're so sad." My voice is low. I really can't afford to choke up right now. It's supposed to be a happy morning. Together.
"It's not my fault!" She sets her fork down with force.
"I know." I sigh and pick her fork up, handing it to her. "Eat up. We've got a long day."
We both go back to eating and the atmosphere is very tense. Tension is thick, so thick, it could easily be cut.
"Edward?" Alice asks me after she's done licking her lips of any left over syrup.
"Hmm?" I look over to her. Both of our plates are empty.
"You should take your own advice." She whispers and gets up, carrying her plate and utensils to the sink and washing them off.
…
"Do you like this pink lunch box?" I ask, showing her it. There's a white flower over the pink background and I'd say it suits her.
We're at the dollar store picking out stuff for when she goes back to school on Monday. A dollar store in the middle of a mall. Lovely.
We wanted to start fresh. Alice didn't want the same stuff from her old school and stuff she bought with Mom.
She nods and I set it in the cart. "Grab anything you like." I say to her. "Really."
"Okay." She mouths to me.
We walk around the store a little bit more. She places into the cart, pencil crayons, scissors, a glue stick that goes on purple and dries clear (purple being Alice's second favourite colour), a colour book just because and a ruler. If she needs anything else we'll get it some other time. It wasn't like I was given a list or anything to go by. I went off what I remember needing in grade three. I hoped Alice as excited and I could tell that she was.
A little bit.
It's something for her to do while I looked for a job even though she has to do it. She has to go to school, I hope she understands that because if we argue, she'll find a way to win and the results will not be very good.
Alice is not impressed with what I want my job to be. It's something to do with police work, the forces, or police forces anyways. It's what I studied for. Well, I studied for police sciences. That's safe; Alice just thinks anything to do with the forces is dangerous.
She thinks I should go back and get a medical degree.
"Want to stop for a bite?" I ask and look around the mall. "There's got to be a few places to stop."
She nods and points to a coffee shop. "I want a donut."
"Yummy. I call Boston Cream." I wink and we walk over to the coffee shop. To our luck, it isn't packed and I walk up to order. "Uh, I'll have a mocha latte and a Boston Cream." I bend down to Alice's height. "What do you want?"
She looks at the lady behind the counter and smiles for a moment, politely. "I'll have a… chocolate one."
The lady taps her chin and smiles. "We have a chocolate fudge donut. Would you like that?"
"Yes please!" Alice says and I can tell she's excited. What kid doesn't like donuts?
"That will be $5.96." The lady looks at me and I pull my wallet out of my back pocket. I have the two bags with our stuff on my left arm and my wallet in my right hand. I hand her six dollars for which she quickly gives me four pennies.
Alice takes the donuts when they're on the counter and I get my coffee after shoving my wallet away. "Lets go to a table, sis. Lead the way."
Even though there are only four tables in the small shop. Alice walks over to the closest one and quickly gets her donut. She passes me across the table and I blow on my hot coffee.
"This is good. The lady picked a good one for me." Alice says with a bite full of it in her mouth still.
"Whoa there cheetah. Slow down, you'll get a tummy ache. Enjoy the donut while it lasts." I tell and take the first bite of mine. It's beyond good. "You see, I wish I could make donuts. You'd love me then, wouldn't you?"
"I already love you." Alice tells me once she swallows another bite of her chocolate donut. I grin and even let a chuckle escape as I see she has chocolate covered teeth. The lady wasn't joking when she said it was fudge. "I like your smile, Edward. It's topsy turvey."
"Crooked." I roll my eyes at myself. "I hate it."
"I don't." She reaches around for a napkin and wipes her fingers even though she still has half of her donut left. Just like mom, always keeping clean or trying to anyways.
I take a sip of my still hot coffee and let it burn my throat. "Are you excited for school?" I ask once I swallow and breath out.
She looks down at the table.
"I know you are." I reply. "Admit it."
Be happy Alice.
"But I'm leaving you back all alone." She murmurs and pokes at her donut, getting some chocolate fudge on her finger, which she quickly licks off.
"I have stuff to do. Don't worry about me." I assure her and eat the rest of my donut where there's only a bite left.
Alice licks hers to get the chocolate off the top and starts to eat the rest of hers. There are still a few bites left. She looks over to me and carefully, cautious almost, she asks me, "Edward, when are you going to get married?"
I swallow my coffee and raise my eyebrows. "Uh, wow. Was not expecting that."
"Sorry." Alice says so low it's like she's mouthing it.
"It's fine." I murmur. "Uh, hmm… I don't know. Really, I don't."
She raises her eyebrows. "Never?"
"I don't even have a girlfriend Alice, why are you asking me this?" I entreat, curiously. I wonder how such a question popped into her mind.
"You're lonely." She states. "I want to see you happy."
"You make me happy."
"Not the wife way." She persists.
"I'm only 26."
"Mom and dad we're 22 when they got married." Alice tells me.
"I know." I respond slowly. "Not everyone gets married young."
"You should be married by the time you're thirty." She pushes.
I chuckle at her. "And why is that?"
"So you can be happy longer." She replies easily.
"Alright then."
"Promise me you'll be married by thirty?" Alice questions and holds out her pinkie. I take it with my own.
"I promise… I'll try to have a girlfriend by then." I say.
She shakes her head stubbornly. "Married. Promise me. Promise me now Edward."
"Alice, I don't know the future." I whisper and lean forward on my elbows, our pinkies still interlocked.
"I know you'll be married by then." She insists. "I'll make sure you are."
I snort. "Kay."
"Okay you promised." She pulls back. "Let me eat the rest of my donut now."
I lean back and sip my coffee, just watching her.
All I want is for her to be happy.
…
A/N: Thanks for reading the first chapter. As I said, I will post whenever I find time to get the next chapter ready.
By the way, the story is called After Afterall because that's the song I have had on repeat while writing. I like it, so thanks Mr. William Fitzsimmons. (That and his other songs)
Please leave me a review?