Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil.
A/N: Ok guys here is the next chapter, the title is brought to you by David Bowie. (Many of the chapters will probably end up being named after David Bowie songs, because he is just that awesome!)
A/N2: I can't promise this type of regular update all the time but someone demanded more and I felt obliged to deliver, so here it is and a very long update it is too. Enjoy, and review if you'd like.
An exhausted Claire Redfield dragged herself up the third flight of stairs in her apartment building. She had taken out her ponytail the moment she was free of the restaurant and the long red locks now fell loose down past her shoulders. Heaving a heavy sigh of relief at the glimpse of her apartment door at the end of the hallway Claire was happy to see the end of another day and was ready to fall into bed. As she retrieved her keys from the pocket of her well worn jacket she groaned at hearing loud music playing in the apartment above. It didn't seem to matter how many times she complained to the super, the people upstairs always found new ways to annoy her.
Opening the door and stepping inside, Claire shook off her jacket and hung it on the hook next to the door. Running a hand through her hair she observed the room before her. Her apartment was small yet practical and she loved coming home to it every night after long days at the diner. She stood in the reasonably sized area that had been simultaneously designated kitchen, dinning room, and living room. Upon glancing around it immediately became apparent that something was not right. That morning she had left the apartment in complete disarray; dishes had littered virtually every surface of the kitchen while clothing and other assorted items had been collecting in the living room over the past week. But currently there was no signs of the aforementioned mess and Claire knew there could only be one person responsible.
"K-Mart!" She called out and only had to wait a moment before a door attached to the living room opened and out popped the blonde head of her little sister.
K-Mart was had just turned fifteen and was almost the polar opposite of her older sister. Where Claire was reserved and practical, K-Mart was loud and unpredictable. The young blonde often said the reason they got along so well was because they were so different and Claire had no reason to disagree. The two sisters had lived alone together for the past three years, ever since their parents had been killed in a car accident and the barely twenty-one year redhead had been forced to take on the responsibility as her sister's full time guardian. It had been tough at first, but the pair found a way to make things work. Their older brother Chris was in the military and was currently serving a tour of duty overseas and they were lucky to see him a couple of times a year. So on most days it was just the two of them but that never bothered the redhead; she wouldn't trade K-Mart for anything in the world, even if the kid could occasionally be a pain in the ass.
K-Mart peered tentatively out from her bedroom and upon seeing Claire joined the redhead in the living room. "Hey Claire, how was work?"
"The same." Claire answered dismissively then gestured around the apartment. "You cleaned." She observed.
"Yes?"
"Why?"
"It was dirty. Do I need another reason?" Claire merely stared at the blonde teenager in response and it wasn't long before K-Mart broke all pretenses. "Ok, fine! Just promise you won't be mad."
"Mad about what?" Claire's voice began rising.
K-Mart motioned for her sister to stay put as she ducked back into her bedroom, reappearing a moment later with a piece of paper in hand. "Before you look at it, I just want you to know that I'm really trying to do my best." Then she handed over the paper to the redhead.
Claire looked down at the sheet in hand, it was K-Mart's midterm report card. Her eyes quickly scanned over the numbers and she glanced up at the blonde before reading the comments left by the teachers. When she finished Claire dropped the sheet down on the coffee table and began to pace.
"You're failing." Claire began, trying to keep her voice calm. If there was one important thing Claire had learned the last three years it was that yelling never solved anything and usually made the blonde cry.
K-Mart was quick to defend herself. "I'm only failing history, it's not that big of a deal. There's still enough time left in the year for me to pass."
"How are you going to do that? I can't afford to hire you a tutor." Claire frowned, it was her responsibility to help K-Mart and try and fix this mess, but she was at a loss on what to do. She suddenly felt twice as exhausted than when she'd come in the door and rubbed small circles around her temples as she tried to figure things out.
"I don't know Claire but I've really been trying, honest."
Claire sighed, dropped her hands, and stopped pacing. "I know you have." Every night she made sure the teen finished all her homework and helped the blonde study for tests. However it didn't come as a complete surprise to hear K-Mart was failing, history had always been her weakest subject; and no matter how many times Claire tried to help her, she just couldn't explain things in a way that K-Mart could remember. Picking up the report card again she waved it in front of her younger sibling. "This is why you cleaned? You were afraid I would be upset?"
"Mostly." The blonde admitted, not looking her sister in the eye.
"Well what's the other reason?" Claire was almost afraid to ask, she didn't think she could take anymore bad news in one night.
"I was hoping we could go somewhere tonight. It's for school." The teen added quickly, knowing the redhead was immediately going to say no.
"Explain."
K-Mart pulled a flyer out of the back pocket of her blue jeans. "My art teacher assigned an extra credit project..."
"Your art teacher, he's the one you think is creepy right?" Claire interjected, K-Mart talked a lot and it was sometimes hard to keep up on everything she said about her friends and teachers.
The blonde nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, there's an exhibit tonight of work by local artists. He wants us to pick one of the pieces and write about it."
"Write what?"
"How it makes us feel, what we think the piece is trying to convey, stuff like that." She passed Claire the flyer and waited patiently for an answer. "He's showing a bunch of his paintings in the exhibit and I think the project is just an excuse to have more people see it, but this extra credit could really help with bumping up my average."
Claire's eyes moved back and forth between the two pieces of paper, flyer in one hand and report card in the other. Her exhausted body was telling her to stay home, but in reality it was an easy decision. If K-Mart was finally taking some academic initiative there was no way Claire was going to stand in the way. "Ok, we'll go to the art show, just give me an hour to get ready."
K-Mart nodded happily, bouncing on her heels with excitement. "Thanks Claire!" And with that she disappeared back into her bedroom.
A small smile worked across Claire's face at the blonde's enthusiasm and she found it a little easier to pick up her feet and head towards the bathroom door, looking forward to the long hot shower that waited on the other side.
Alice was bored out of her mind. She stood at the back of the large, open room filled with various styles of art and the odd assortment of people who had shown up to view it. She sighed at how these art shows were always the same. A few times a year when the gallery held these exhibits Alice would submit a few pieces in the hopes of selling them to make a few extra bucks. Looking around she noticed that several works from other artists were the same pieces they had used for the previous show, with the exception of a man named Albert Wesker whose art seemed to be getting more sadistic and graphic with each exhibit. A shiver ran down her spine at seeing him standing proudly in front of his series of paintings that depicted what appeared to be dogs with their heads split in half and tentacles coming out of their mouths. She had avoided going anywhere near him for most of the night, knowing if she got stuck in a conversation with him she could count on discovering, in sordid detail, what had inspired him to paint such a thing and that was something she could gladly live without.
"Alice." Carlos said getting her attention and handing her a glass of whatever cheap nonalcoholic knock off the gallery had supplied for the evening. "You look bored." He observed.
She shrugged. "It's just that these shows are always the same; the same artists, the same people." Then she smiled. "I shouldn't complain though, it's been a pretty good night for me. I only have one painting left unsold and Wesker over there is scaring people away with his fucked up dogs."
Carlos looked across the room, "What's his deal anyway? His stuff is always so...disturbing."
"If I knew what inspired him I don't think I would ever be able to sleep again." She answered, shuddering at the thought.
Carlos' eyes scanned the room as Alice sipped from her glass. There weren't as many people around as there had been an hour ago but the gallery was still fairly crowded. His gaze stopped at the spot where Alice's paintings were hanging on the far side of the room. "Looks like you have a new fan." He said pointing at something behind her head.
Alice followed his line of sight and saw a short, young blonde standing in front of one of her paintings looking up at it intently. It was the largest of her paintings with the rectangular canvas measuring five feet long and three feet wide. The abstract design and bright colours had been the result of one particularly enjoyable day, though Alice honestly could no longer remember what it was that had put her in such a good mood at the time she had created it. It was the one painting that hadn't been sold and coincidentally Alice's favourite of the series. "I didn't know they let children in here." She said but Carlos didn't reply.
Her best friend was already distracted with something else across the room but Alice couldn't see what had caught his attention. "Hey," he said, still staring in the opposite direction. "I have something to go do, I'll catch up with you later." And then he disappeared into the crowd leaving Alice alone again.
Alice made a mental note to find out what was so interesting later and dropped her empty glass on a nearby table as she made her way over to the small blonde who was still gazing at her painting.
She stood behind the girl for a minute before speaking. "No matter how long you stare at it, it's going to look the same."
The startled girl jumped, turning around to face Alice. "I know, but I just can't stop looking at it." She said, glancing back at it once again.
Alice took a step forward so she was standing next to the teenager in front of her painting. "You like it?"
"I love it!" The blonde replied, sounding almost in awe.
"Can I ask you why?" Alice was very curious to hear what the teen thought. Normally when she sold a painting she didn't ask the buyer why they wanted it, but she'd never seen anyone stare at her work like this kid was doing.
"I have no idea." She answered, eyebrows scrunching in concentration. "Maybe it's the colours? Or how it's the most abstract one of the series? I really don't know. I just look at it and feel this weird connection. I get this calming vibe but at the same time I feel sort of happy, you know?" She glanced at Alice and smiled embarrassingly. "I'm not making any sense, am I?"
Alice smiled reassuringly. "We're talking about art, there is no wrong answer."
The blonde nodded and turned back to the painting. "Do you know the artist?"
Alice's smirk was missed by the teen. "Yeah I do, and she's a total nightmare, believe me. She's broody and sarcastic, she hates everyone and doesn't care about anything. Trust me, you don't want to meet her."
"Oh? I never would have thought that based on the art. It's a little hard to believe that someone so... emotionally detached could paint something so beautiful." The teen looked disappointed and Alice, feeling a little guilty, was about to come clean when a voice spoke up behind them.
"Miss Redfield, I'm glad to see you decided to take up the offer of an extra credit assignment."
Both women turned around to find Albert Wesker standing behind them. Alice wondered how the young blonde could know this creep, but held out her hand with a fake friendly smile. "Hey Albert, nice to see you again. Carlos and I were talking about your paintings earlier, they're really, uh intense."
Wesker shook her hand in greeting, taking her comment as a compliment. "Yes, I really do think I've outdone myself this time." His cocky demeanor made Alice want to vomit. He turned back to the teen. "Maybe you'll want to use one of mine as the source for your report."
Alice was slowly fitting the pieces the together and realized what was going on. "You're an art teacher?"
"Yes, and I've assigned an extra credit project for my students to write a paper on a piece of art by a local artist." He smiled as if it was the most brilliant idea he'd ever heard, though Alice thought it was pretty lame.
Alice looked passed Wesker to see the teen looking across the room warily at the paintings of the tentacle-dogs with trepidation. "Well if you're her teacher I don't think she should write about one of your paintings do you? It wouldn't be very objective."
Wesker frowned while the teen looked relieved and gave Alice a grateful smile.
"I suppose you're right." He turned back to the blonde. "I gather you've had some time to look around, have you selected a piece you'd like to write about?"
She nodded and pointed to the painting the three stood before. "I like this one."
He frowned again and glared at Alice. "I see your work is popular tonight, four out of five paintings sold."
Alice smiled, happy to see him so angry. "Actually I sold this one too, a few minutes before you came over." She pulled a small placard reading 'sold' out of her pocket and stuck it on the wall next to the painting.
His eyes flashed red. "Congratulations." He spat then turned on his heels to return to his own paintings.
Still smiling, Alice returned her attention back to the teen who seemed to be stuck halfway between a scowl and smile.
"You tricked me! You're the one who painted these!"
"Guilty."
"Thanks for bailing me out just now. I did not want to write about one of his paintings, I think I'll have nightmares just from looking at them." She stuck out her hand. "I'm K-Mart by the way."
Alice didn't question the strangeness of the name and shook the offered hand as she introduced herself. "Alice Abernathy."
K-Mart gestured to the wall. "Congratulations on selling all your paintings, they're really great."
"Thanks, but that was a tangled web of lies I'm afraid." She pointed to the one K-Mart had become so enthralled with. "Technically I didn't sell that one."
"You just said that to piss off Mr. Wesker?"
"Partially, but I'd already decided before he came over that I wanted you to have it. If you want."
"Are you serious?" K-Mart asked with wide eyes and Alice nodded. "Are you sure? I can't just take it from you."
"I'm positive. This one was my favourite of the bunch and I know if I give it to you it will be appreciated."
"Thank you so much Alice. I can't wait to tell Claire!"
"Claire?" Alice asked and immediately the image of the waitress from the tacky diner she and Carlos had visited that morning came to mind.
"My older sister." K-Mart clarified as she looked around the gallery for said sibling. "She brought me here tonight but I lost track of her when I saw this across the room and had to come get a closer look." She pointed somewhere behind Alice. "That's her over there, with the red hair." She giggled. "It looks like she's about to go postal on that guy talking to her."
Alice had a sneaking suspicion of what she was going to find when she turned around and sure enough, not too far away she spotted the redhead from this morning having her ear talked off by Carlos. She almost laughed aloud at how clueless her best friend could be as he clearly could not tell that Claire was not interested in a thing he was saying. Alice grinned at the younger blonde. "Unfortunately that's my friend Carlos. I think we should go rescue your sister from him before she goes crazy."
K-Mart led the way with Alice following close behind. "Hey Claire!" the blonde greeted when they arrived next to their respective siblings.
"K-Mart! There you are, did you pick a painting? Cause we should probably go soon, it's a school night after all." She looked eager for an excuse to separate herself from Carlos and she not so subtly inched herself slowly away from him.
"Yes, I found an amazing painting." The teen spoke animatedly. "It's the best one here; the colours and contrast, and you can tell there's so much emotion put into it..."
As the teen gushed about her work Alice felt a slight burning sensation on her cheeks. This was exactly why she never asked anyone but Carlos if they liked her art, the only thing she hated more than criticism was compliments. Her gaze moved back and forth between the Redfield siblings and Alice found great amusement at seeing how confused Claire was looking at her sister, clearly not having any idea what she was talking about. Alice also glanced over at Carlos to see him still staring dreamily at the redhead who was now firmly ignoring his presence altogether. Alice discreetly kicked his leg to break him from the daydream and was rewarded by the scowl he threw in her direction. She gave him an innocent smile but found her attention drawn back to the sisters when she heard her name mentioned.
"And the best part is that Alice said I could have the painting!" K-Mart finished, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
It seemed to take Claire a moment to catch up with everything the blonde had said, then she turned to Alice. "You're the great artist K-Mart's been telling me about?"
"I think she's exaggerating a bit, but yes. I'm Alice Abernathy." The two women shook hands, both trying to ignore the slight tingles that shot up their arm upon contact. Alice quickly pulled her hand away and clapped Carlos on the back. "And I see you've had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting my friend Carlos Olivera."
"Wait," Claire looked confused. "This morning you said he was your brother."
"This morning?" K-Mart asked, also looking confused.
"He is, but it's complicated." Was all Alice offered in explanation and Carlos didn't comment at all. She turned to K-Mart, "So, the show's almost over, I'll go clear things with the curator so you can take that painting home without having to worry about picking it up later." She grabbed Carlos by the back of his collar and pulled him away from the redhead.
Carlos wiggled himself out of her grasp as they walked. "You gave away the painting?"
Alice shrugged. "The kid really liked it, and it's for a school project. Oh and get this, that creep Wesker is her art teacher."
"Gross."
"I know right? What kind of sick school board would let that man teach? Or be around children at all?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Speaking of creeps," she looked at her best friend disbelievingly. "I told you this morning not to bother with that woman, she's never going to go out with you."
"You also said that if something was meant to be the universe would provide me with a sign. Don't you think seeing her twice in one day is a sign?"
"More like a coincidence. I mean what are the odds that the waitress from this morning is the sister of the kid I give a painting to who is the student of one of my least favourite people on earth?" Alice felt a headache forming just by thinking about it.
"Those odds are too enormous to be a meaningless coincidence." Carlos argued.
"Well coincidence or not, that doesn't change the fact that Claire is never going to go out with you so cut the poor woman some slack and leave her alone."
"What makes you so certain she'll turn me down? I asked her and she said she doesn't have a boyfriend."
Alice stopped walking and laid a sympathetic hand on Carlos' shoulder, this was the part she had wanted to avoid that morning. "Exactly. Why do you think a woman that hot doesn't have a boyfriend?"
"There could be lots of reasons Alice, how could I possibly know?"
"Carlos I want you to really think about this ok? I'm pretty sure she doesn't have one because she doesn't want one." She spoke very slowly, making sure he heard every word but when Carlos remained clueless Alice clarified her statement. "For the same reasons I don't want a boyfriend."
His eyes widened in understanding then he frowned. "Are you sure? Because I never got that vibe from her." He looked back across the room where Claire was still talking with K-Mart. "Are you sure she's gay?"
She resented the fact that he was questioning her excellent gaydar but pushed it aside in favour of the issue at hand. "Carlos," Alice sighed. "Am I ever wrong?" He shook his head and Alice smiled, patting him gently on the arm. "Don't worry too much about it, there are plenty of straight girls out there who would love to go out with you, I'm sure of it."
Carlos still looked a little sad but slowly nodded and the pair continued to make their way through the gallery to find the curator.
"Here it is, you're all set." Alice stated once she and Carlos had detached the painting from the wall and wrapped the canvas in brown paper for the teen to take home. "Do you want us to put it in your car?"
Claire shook her head. "We walked here, we only live a few blocks away."
"How many is a few?" Alice questioned.
"Seven." K-Mart was the one who answered when Claire looked hesitant.
Alice and Carlos exchanged a look, a silent conversation happening between them. It was something they had perfected in their twenty-one years of friendship, knowing the other well enough to come to the same agreement without speaking a word. They both nodded at the same time and Carlos picked up the painting. "Lead the way." Alice said.
"What?" The sisters exclaimed at the same time.
Alice lightly chuckled at their confused expressions. "Well, we're not going to make you carry this thing seven blocks and unfortunately there's not enough room in my truck for us to drive you home so we'll walk you and Carlos will carry it." She explained.
"You don't have to..." Claire started to say but was interrupted by the teenager who was now sporting a massive grin.
"Great! Let's go!" K-Mart proceeded to push her sister towards the exit.
Once outside Carlos again tried to engage the redhead in conversation as they walked up the street and in annoyance Claire picked up her pace but even carrying the cumbersome canvas Carlos was able to keep up. Alice and K-Mart hung back a little, walking at a more leisurely pace.
Alice sighed at her brother's behaviour. "How much more do you think it will take before she stops being polite and tells him to back off?" She asked the younger blonde lowering her voice so they wouldn't be overheard.
K-Mart seemed to be thinking it over. "Hmm, I'm not sure. I think the better question is, why can't he take a hint?"
"I have no idea. I told him at the diner this morning to forget it and again at the gallery but he never listens. I think she's going to have to say something before he finally lets it go." K-Mart nodded. "So, what's the deal with the project? Do you really need the marks or are you one of those overachiever types?"
"I need the marks. Art is one of my better classes so I need to do as well in it as I can to help average out my marks that aren't so good."
"I see."
"It's the only reason Claire let me come tonight. She really wants me to do well and I try as hard as I can but it's just not working."
"Well what are you having trouble with?"
"History," the teen made a face "it's so boring and I can't keep the dates straight. It's just... ugh!"
Alice chuckled softly. "I get what your saying, only I disagree about the history part, my problems were always in math. History was actually my favourite, I majored in it in college."
"Why didn't you take art? You're so good at it!"
"I've never taken an art class, even in highschool I took music to count for my art credit." Alice struggled to find a way to explain it to the blonde. "I just, I don't want someone to tell me how my art should look, you know?" She smiled at the teen. "I know Wesker is a stickler for terminology and technical details with his art but for me it's never been about that. I only paint when I feel like it, I've never dreamed about using my art for a career. When I started, my art was just for me, it's the actual painting part that's therapeutic for me. I don't need to keep them to look at over and over anymore."
"I guess that makes sense." K-Mart looked to be considering Alice's words when suddenly her eyes widened in realization. "Wait! You majored in history?" When Alice nodded she became excited. "I know it's a lot to ask, but I was wondering if maybe you could do something for me?"
Alice sensed a trap. "Something like what?"
"Tutor me? Please? If I can't get my marks up soon I'm going to fail." K-Mart sounded desperate. "Do you know how embarrassing it will be if I have to take ninth grade American history in summer school or repeat it again next year?" The teen gave the older blonde puppy dog eyes and a small pout. "You wouldn't want me to go through that would you Alice?"
Alice's first reaction was to avert her gaze, she could already feel herself falling victim to the teen's begging but forced herself to shake her head. "I don't know if that's a good idea. I've never tutored someone before and it's quite possible I'd mess you up worse than before."
But K-Mart was quick to reply. "Trust me, it can't get any worse. Please Alice?"
Alice still hesitated though she was finding it hard to resist the pleading look the teen was giving her. She looked ahead to see that a rather large gap had formed between herself and K-Mart and their siblings. She noticed that every once in a while Claire looked back at them, presumably to ensure that K-Mart had not fallen out of sight. "If it's alright with your sister than I guess we could try it."
A wide grin spread across K-Mart's face and she grabbed Alice's arm and pulled her along as she ran to catch up to the redhead. "Claire!" She called and the redhead stopped to look at the blonde curiously. "Claire, I've found the solution to my academic problems!"
"Ok," Claire said patiently. "And what would the solution be?"
"Alice. She's going to tutor me until my history marks are up."
Carlos looked at Alice perplexedly. "You are?" She just shrugged in response.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea K, I'm sure Alice has better things to do with her afternoons .."
"She doesn't." Carlos interjected and smirked when Alice glared at him.
Claire gave Alice an apologetic smile. "It's not that I don't appreciate the offer but I'm not really comfortable leaving my sister alone with someone we just met."
K-Mart immediately sprung into action, pushing her sister towards Alice. "You two talk, get to know each other." She instructed before whispering to the redhead, though not quiet enough that Alice couldn't hear. "I really need this Claire, I don't want to have to take this class again." She then started ushering Carlos to begin walking again. He didn't look pleased with the new arrangement but followed the teen anyway.
Alice and Claire stood awkwardly for a moment before slowly following along as well.
"She's very assertive." Alice stated.
"That's just a nice way of saying bossy." Claire laughed.
"There's nothing wrong with knowing what you want." Alice said more to herself than to the redhead.
"Are we still talking about K-Mart?"
Alice pretended not to hear the question and opted to change the subject. "So, I just have to know, is K-Mart her real name?"
Claire laughed again. "No, but that's what we've always called her."
"Yeah, but why?"
"She was born in a Kmart." At Alice's look of disbelief Claire explained further. "I was there actually. Mom was
almost at nine months and we went to the store to get cereal or something and she started to get these really bad cramps. Someone called 911 but they didn't get there in time and the next thing I know she's giving birth to my little sister in between the Cheerios and Frosted Flakes. It was crazy."
"In that case I guess the nickname makes perfect sense."
They walked in comfortable silence for several minutes before Claire turned serious. "Listen Alice, I know K can be kind of hard to refuse when she brings out that pout but you really don't have to do all this for her, the painting is more than enough, we can figure something else out about school."
"It's not a big deal, Carlos was right about me not having anything important to do in the afternoons. I'd like to help if I can but I told K-Mart it was your decision."
Claire nodded absently and they exchanged idle chit chat for the remainder of the walk and soon joined K-Mart and Carlos in front of the Redfield's apartment building.
K-Mart looked at the pair expectantly. "So what do you think Claire? Can Alice tutor me?"
"I don't know K..." She trailed off, still not comfortable with the idea of letting a stranger into their house to spend hours with her little sister.
"What time do you get out of school K-Mart?" Alice asked, a plan forming in her mind.
"2:40."
"Ok, well I'm going to be at the diner at 3:15 so if we were to happen to run into each other, I would not be opposed to us having a discussion about various historical events. What do you think?"
"That sounds good." K-Mart beamed.
Alice nodded. "Good. Plus, that way big sis can keep an eye on us, make sure I don't murder you or something." She winked at the redhead.
Claire blushed. "It's not that I thought you would hurt her..."
Alice waved it off. "It's fine." She took the painting from Carlos and passed it to the teen. "Enjoy the painting K-Mart, and I'll see you both tomorrow." She then grabbed Carlos by the arm before he had a chance to say goodnight and the pair made their way back down the street.
"Dude, what the fuck?" Carlos hissed, looking over his shoulder to make sure Claire and K-Mart had gone inside and couldn't hear them. "What's up with you tonight?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You gave away your painting and now you've agreed to help that kid with school, those aren't things you normally do."
"When you say it like that it sounds like normally I'm a horribly selfish and uncaring person." She huffed, crossing her arms.
"I didn't mean it like that." He apologized. "I just don't get why you're doing this."
Alice shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure myself. They're nice people and K-Mart sounded desperate when she asked me for help, what was I suppose to say?"
"I don't know." He sighed. "You are doing this for the kid right?"
"Yes? What other reason would there be?"
"Helping out her little sister could give you a good in with Claire." He stated, a thoughtful expression filling his face.
But Alice just rolled her eyes. "Well that probably would be more effective then following her around. But I'll have you know I gave K-Mart the painting before I even knew she had a sister."
Carlos nodded slowly but didn't speak again.
When they got back to the gallery Alice's pick up was the only vehicle left in the lot. As she drove home she kept glancing over at Carlos who had not said a word in almost ten minutes. The silence continued the whole way home until Alice pulled into the driveway of the modest single level home they had been renting for the past two years.
Even after Alice had shut off the ignition Carlos made no effort to leave the truck. He appeared to be lost in thought and didn't notice Alice staring at him intently, waiting for him to come back to earth. After several long minutes she grew tired of waiting and jumped out of the truck, making sure to slam her door closed noisily. It had the desired effect, upon hearing the noise Carlos looked around frantically, realized they were home and hastily moved to join Alice who was almost at the front door.
"I've changed my mind." He said from behind Alice as she unlocked the door and entered the house.
She threw her keys in the dish by the door. "Changed your mind about what?"
"Claire. You were right about her not being right for me. She's not my soul mate." His tone was confident and he had that cocky look in his eyes. "She's yours."
Alice stood with her back to Carlos, frozen. She'd taken off her jacket and was halfway to hanging it up when his words reached her ears. Her immobility only lasted for a moment though, and once her coat was in place she turned around to face her brother. "Carlos I think you need to go get some sleep, you've had a long day." She joked then moved her way into the kitchen, but Carlos was hot on her heels.
"Don't you see? It makes perfect sense! Me spotting her on the street this morning, the diner, the art show, Wesker, K-Mart, the painting! Those are all signs from the universe. You were suppose to meet Claire today."
Alice was hidden behind the opened refrigerator door, she reemerged with various ingredients and moved over to the counter, kicking the fridge closed behind her. She didn't speak as she went about making a sandwich of epic proportions and Carlos grew annoyed at her silence.
"Alice, did you hear anything I just said?"
"Yes." She replied, cutting the sandwich in half and offering part of it to Carlos who declined. She shrugged and started eating.
Carlos was growing impatient. "Well? What do you think?"
Alice's eyes hardened. "You know what I think about this soul mate nonsense and you know I don't do the whole 'dating' thing. Besides, it was only less than an hour ago that you were hellbent on getting with her, and now what? You're passing her on to me? Thanks but no thanks."
"No Alice, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry, and I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before. When I was walking with the kid she told me to quit wasting my time, that Claire doesn't play for my team. You were right about her. And it got me thinking, if these aren't signs from the universe for me than they must be for you." He sighed as he dropped himself into the nearest chair at the kitchen table. "But I knew you would never see it that way, which is why I'm telling you this. I just worry about you sometimes."
Her sandwich now forgotten, Alice sat across from Carlos at the table. "What are you so worried about?"
"I don't want you to be alone forever Alice. I want you to be able to share your life with someone other than me, someone who can give you the things I can't. I know that after...last time," Alice looked away "that you don't want to get hurt again and that's why you don't date but it's been four years, it's time for you to put yourself back out there."
She stood up from the table. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine. I like my life the way it is."
"That's because you don't know what you're missing out on. If not with Claire than someone else." He paused for a moment and a small smile began to work back across his face. "Though I think Claire is a good place to start. You said so yourself that she was hot, and you like the kid sister, it's like a perfect fit. Just please promise me you'll think about it. "
"I'm not promising anything Carlos." She then glanced at the clock on the wall. "I've got to go, I need to get to the hospital, my shift starts in half an hour." And without another word she left the house, climbed back into her truck and drove away.
