Ok, so here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Yes, I do realise No One Like You wasn't out around the same time as the other two songs from Chapt. 1. Deal with it. It was on the other day and all I could picture was Falice so...
Alice drove home, perhaps a little faster than was strictly legal. Her head was in pieces. She could not believe what had just happened. She was disappointed in herself for being so weak. Her judgement and actions around FP had never been logical. Even now. She thought now she was a grown woman, she'd be able to have a clear head around him. For years, she'd waged a war against him and the Southside Serpents. She let herself grow to hate him, or at least she thought she had. It was easy to tell herself that anyway. Until their damn kids had gone and fallen in love. Now, they seemed to be thrown together all the damn time.
Pulling into her driveway, she noticed the upstairs guest bedroom's curtain twitch. Hal. Wondering where she was.
All we ever do is fight. What happened to us? She thought sadly.
Alice, suddenly felt mentally and physically exhausted; it had already been a long day before the argument and then this FP business. Walking back into her house meant round two. In her current state, she couldn't guarantee the outcome. Not to mention the fact she no doubt reeked of smoke and another man. Not just any other man: one who had always been a sore point for Hal.
Resting her head against the steering wheel, she took a moment to gather her thoughts. Trying not to think how her lips felt swollen and warm from his kisses.
He probably knew I'd tiptoe right up to the line of being a tramp but not cross it completely, she thought maliciously.
What a mess…
As expected, Hal was waiting for her.
"Alice, where the hell have you been?".
"Honestly Hal, I had to get away from you. Screaming matches tend to have that affect", she replied, trying hard not to raise her voice.
"I don't want to fight-".
"Whatever, Hal".
Brushing past him, she went upstairs. What happened at Pop's had distracted her somewhat from what she was running from; all their problems. The way he could be so cold and controlling at times. Their issues with the kids, the adoption, all of it. It had been spiralling out of control since Betty published her shady past for the whole town to see.
Because our marriage was perfect before that…. from the outside, perhaps, she thought bitterly.
Slipping out of her shoes, she sat on the bed, trying to sift through the events of the night.
That goddamn song! That man…
It took her years to rebrand herself and distance herself from her Southside past but two seconds with him and she was back to being a sixteen year old Serpent who couldn't get enough of the bad boy. She should have known bad boys only ever broke your heart.
She began her bedtime routine, noting as she did how her clothes smelt. She closed her eyes, remembering he smelt the same as he had when they were young. Albeit, with just a hint of diner chucked in.
Climbing into bed, she thought back to how it all began. That first night she knew she wanted him to be hers. It had been just another night at The Whyte Wyrm; drinks were flowing, the newbie girlfriends were doing their Serpent Dance. All their friends had disappeared out the back for a smoke. FP was sitting at a table, similarly alone. Alice spotted him from her position at the bar. He was gorgeous; subconsciously she was acutely aware of his position in the room. Tonight, his attention was focused on the raven haired hanger-on taking her turn on the pole. Her brow had furrowed when it became clear the girl was smiling rather suggestively at him. A sudden wave of possessiveness and jealously had washed over her. Sure, her and FP had this chemistry, but nothing ever happened. She had no claims on him. It was in that moment she knew she wanted to change that. She threw back her shot and had marched over there.
She could still recall which song had been playing; No One Like You by Scorpion.
Fuelled by adrenaline, the shot of vodka and instinct, she had marched straight over, making sure to blank the girl by standing with her back to her. He had looked her up and down, tipping his chin at her, looking curious.
"Alice".
She never did forget the look on his face as she sat on his lap. His eyes had darkened (those goddamn eyes) right before she leaned in to whisper in his ear: "I can do better than that", gesturing at the girl.
"Serpents don't do the dance", his voice was husky and she had been pleased to see the girl on stage was now forgotten and he now was looking at her that way.
"Oh, I wouldn't be putting on a show for everyone…just you", biting her lip, she recalls how she had ever so suggestively run her fingers down his chest.
That was the affect he had on her; she hadn't known a lot about men (she was no angel but she was still a virgin), but sitting there, on his lap, her mind set, she felt incredibly sexy and confident.
She smiled, remembering how sweet he'd been when they were alone afterwards. He said they didn't have to go too fast. She'd felt relieved but also satisfied; he was hers now. From that moment on, it was always intense. The highs were amazing and the lows….crushing. She'd been arrested for fighting another Serpent girl who was always a bit too friendly with him. FP had even been thrown out of the Whyte Wyrm few times for similar reasons. At the time, the possessiveness was so hot.
Until it all went to shit.
Alice would remind herself of this whenever she began to dwell on her memories. On the past. On the way her heart had been broken.
Rolling onto her side, she tried to convince herself that she was imaging the sore spots on her hips; where he'd held her so tight. She told herself she was glad she'd brushed her teeth and her mouth no longer tasted of smoke…and of him.
No longer had she thought this when cold cruel reality barged it's way into her thoughts; if Hal had come closer tonight, he would have smelt the smoke and the smell of a man who wasn't him. He would have known. Known what I've done.
Oh God, what have I done?