Evicted!
Carol slipped into the elevator of her apartment building, shutting her eyes and resting her head against the back wall. It had been a long day and she just wanted to get home and relax. If she was lucky, Alice might already have dinner fixed for them.
Carol thought about Alice and the difference in her this last month. Ever since her accident at the warehouse and the addition of David Temple in her life, she'd changed quite a bit. It hadn't happened slowly either, it was like a switch had been flipped in her daughter's brain.
Once, Alice had been a goal orientated, serious, and untrusting young girl. One bump to the head later and she was laughing and smiling and acting like a teenager in love. Her daughter said that it was time to move on and put the past and her father behind her. The hours she once spent trolling the Internet and people finder websites were now spent on dates with David.
David was a drastic change, in both their lives. For so long it had been just the two of them. Alice only dated lightly in high school and had gone out with a small handful of young men in recent years. Fewer still ever made it into their home, and to put it frankly, none had lasted past that point. Alice wasn't difficult or ill-mannered in anyway, she simply had a problem letting men get close to her. Carol blamed herself for that. If she had handled things differently after Robert disappeared, maybe Alice wouldn't have had such a hard time trusting people.
David seemed to be the exception to the rule. Ever since he and Alice had met, or reunited as Alice put it, not a day had gone by that the young man hadn't been with her daughter. She'd been shocked when Alice had thrown herself, literally, at David, who Carol had assumed was a stranger to them both. They'd fed her a story about how they had dated before and split on friendly terms only to realize they still had feelings for each other.
It was a lie and she knew it. She'd tried several time to learn the truth, getting one or the other alone and grilling them about the facts of their prior relationship but nether had slipped up yet. In fact, there were a number of things she knew they were lying about but it seemed that whenever one came up with a lie, the other seamlessly followed it. They gave her no proof, but her motherly instincts told her to be suspicious.
She didn't mind David being around all the time. He was a polite and well-mannered young man and he treated Alice like she was a princess. Strangely, Alice seemed to have no problem with how fast their relationship was moving.
A week ago, Alice told her that David asked her to move in with him. Carol almost spit her coffee across the table. They hadn't even been dating a month and he already wanted to live together?
After Carol recovered from her shock, she questioned Alice. "What did he say when you told him no?"
Alice just took another bight of her lunch before answering. "I didn't tell him no, I just said I had to think about it."
Think about it? Really? Maybe Alice had hit her head harder than the doctors' thought. Her daughter had once dumped a boy for asking her to go out of state with him for a weekend, claiming it was too soon for that kind of thing. Another boyfriend had been cast aside for wanting to keep his things in the same locker at the dojo. Yet she was thinking about living with David? The whole thing made no sense.
As strange as the situation was, the two just seemed to fit together. Sometimes she found their conversations weird and their inside jokes even stranger. They made references to oysters a lot, and talked about tea and even more bizarrely, talked about emotions like they had flavor. David made the comment frequently that Alice's kisses tasted like bliss. Maybe it was just a British thing. That was where he said he was from right?
She exited the elevator and dug her keys from her pocket. Alice had the day off today which likely meant David did also. They'd been timing their days off from work lately. While Alice normally would have spent the day at his apartment, she had asked her to stay home so someone would be here to sign for a package.
She was sure to make plenty of noise unlocking the door, just in case the two were 'cuddling'. Alice was an adult and she wasn't about to tell her what she should and shouldn't do in her own home. She just didn't want to see or hear what the two of them did on their own time.
Normally Alice wouldn't even bring a boy home, let alone allow him spend the night. In fact, as far as she knew, that had never happened before. The first morning she'd woken up to find the two of them having breakfast was an absolute shock. Somehow, as she listened to the conversation they were having about what they were going to do that day, she got the feeling she was the only one who found the situation awkward.
She'd asked Alice about it the next day. Her daughter just shrugged.
"Sorry mom. If you don't want him to spend the night I can always just sleep at Hatter's."
She'd told Alice she didn't mind as long as she was comfortable, it was her apartment too after all. 'Hatter', already wanted her to move in with him and she didn't want to give Alice any reason to feel that moving out was her only option.
That was another thing, Alice rarely called David by his name, preferring instead to call him by his nickname. It was just another inside joke that she was on the outside of.
Carol opened the door and hung her keys on the little teapot hook. David's coat hung on the coat rack next to Alice's purse. The two were obviously home despite the quiet of the apartment. Immediately, Carol knew something was up. She gave the living room a quick scan and found nothing out of place.
The package she'd been waiting for sat on the couch. Her new couch, she reminded herself. The old one had fallen victim to what Alice and David insisted was an accident. He'd apologized, saying that he'd sat on the arm of the couch and that was why it had broken off. David was a slight man and she didn't believe for a moment he weighed enough to break the arm himself. But then again, it was an old sofa so maybe there was some truth to that story. Regardless, he'd offered to buy her a brand new couch and she hadn't argued.
However, the next week when the coffee table suffered a similar accident, she no longer bought his excuse of clumsiness. Hindsight being what it was, she now regretted pressing Alice so hard for the truth. An embarrassed Alice explained to her that both items had been broken as a result of their 'cuddling'. Alice had explained that they'd gotten frisky on the couch and sometime during that, she'd lost her balance and fallen backwards, breaking the coffee table. She hadn't asked any questions after that, having heard enough of her daughters sex life.
The following week when the shower door somehow got knocked off its hinge and also needed fixing, she'd kidded David about how clumsy he was and that she knew he'd fix it for her.
She looked down the hall at Alice's closed door. Hopefully they were both just napping. She'd had a very rough day at work and just wanted some peace and quite. A nice cold glass of wine sounded wonderful. She'd slip into something comfy and put her new DVD in and just unwind the rest of the night. She took her package and went to the kitchen to get get a knife to open the box, and stopped dead in her tracks.
It looked like a flour bomb had exploded and taken the rest of the food in the fridge with it. Mixing bowls and spoons were scattered on the counter. Eggs sat out next to a smashed stick of butter, one lonely little egg left unharmed in the carton. A half gallon of milk was left tipped over on the kitchen table, milk still dripping slowly from the plastic container. Her mixer, her brand new mixer that she hadn't even used herself yet, was propped open, dough caked on is shiny mettle beaters.
Carol backed out of the room slowly, fearing if she made any sudden movements the mess before her would somehow come to life and attack her. She took great pride in keeping her kitchen clean and tidy. This was the last straw, broken furniture aside she was not going to tolerate a mess of this magnitude.
The sound of her heals echoed off the walls as she marched down the hall toward her daughter's room. The giggling that leaked out from under the door was quickly silenced as she pounder her fist against the smooth wood.
"Get dressed and get out here... NOW!"
She turned on her heals, not waiting for a reply. She stormed back into the kitchen and pulled two chairs next to each other and stood waiting in front of them. She hadn't had to use this tactic since Alice was six and gave the neighbor's purebred thousand dollar show dog a hair cut.
She heard the shuffle of feat approaching and turned to see Alice and David walk into the kitchen. If she hadn't been so angry, she might have laughed out loud. They stood before her, their clothing rumpled and covered in flour. David's hair was more messy than usual and he was missing the hat she was so used to seeing him in. The green button-up shirt he wore was missing a few buttons and a few dried pieces of dough clung to his pants. Alice looked no better. The tank top she had on was ripped at one shoulder and aside from the flour, there were smudges of chocolate on her neck and chest.
Alice was staring at her fingers, picking at her nails nervously. David had his hands tucked in his pockets, his gaze fixed on the floor.
"Sit." she ordered. The pair shuffled past her and each took a seat before her.
Carol crossed her arms and stared down at the childish adults before her. "Well, I'm waiting. Explain this to me."
David was the first to answer. "We were making cookies."
He didn't say anything more, as if that simple statement would answer her question. "Ok, and how did everything end up like... this?" she said, waving her hand at the mess before her.
David looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. "They um... the food, it rebelled."
That did make her laugh. The ridiculousness of that statement was only furthered by Alice.
"The milk and the eggs ganged up on us. We were out numbered." She spoke the lie in a completely deadpan, serious way.
Carol pinched the bridge of her noes. This was it, she couldn't take it anymore. These two were going to drive her crazy and she only knew one way to save her sanity.
She looked down at her daughter who was staring up at her like a scolded child waiting for her punishment. "I'm going to tell you two what is going to happen now. Then you both are going to get up and clean this kitchen spotless, understand?"
They both nodded and she continued. "The two of you have been romping around this apartment for four weeks now, acting like horny rabbits. You've broken my furniture and disturbed my sleep. While I'm happy for you both that you've stumbled into..." she gestured between them. "Whatever this is. I'm going to draw the line at the destruction of my kitchen."
The pair was silent and she glared down at David. "You want her to come live with you?"
David nodded. "Yes ma'am."
"Good," She said, nodding in approval. "Because Alice is going to need some place to stay when I kick her out."
"Mom?" Alice said, her brows furrowed in confusion.
"It's for your own good, and mine. You're obviously in love with this man and you've never done anything the easy way. If you need a swift kick in the right direction then I'll be happy to give it to you."
"Really?" David was looking up at her like a kid on Christmas.
Carol reached out and plucked a bit of egg shell out of his hair. "Yes David, you can have her."
"Mom, I'm a person, not a thing. You can't just give me away."
Carol bent down and kissed Alice on the forehead. "Sweetie, when the baby bird grows up and starts shitting all over the nest, it's time for the mama bird too kick her out and let her fly."
David looked at Alice casting her a dimpled grin. Alice just huffed and rolled her eyes. "Don't look so smug."
David stood and crooked a finger in Alice's direction. "Come along little birdy. We have to clean our mess before we can start packing your things."
"And do it quietly. Suddenly, I have a splitting headache." Carol turned and walked out, hoping that somehow, they would actually do what they were supposed to. She went to the bathroom to get some aspirin and she could still hear them arguing.
"Well I hope you're happy, this is all your fault."
"I am happy. I've gotten everything I wanted today. Well, aside from fresh baked cookies."
"Yep, and you're never going to get them either. God, I can't believe you got me kicked out of my own home."
"I know a bloke you can stay with. Real nice guy, hansom too. Of course, he does expect his usual cut, if you know what I mean."
She heard the sound of the spray nozzle being pulled from the sink.
"Damn, Alice, that water is hot!"
"I know. You're a dirty boy, you need to be cleaned."
Carol quickly swallowed the aspirin and retreated to the safety of her room. She'd be lucky if she had a kitchen left tomorrow.