A/N: I am back! With a brand new chapter! I can never fully apologize for the extended gap between this and the last chapter but I am very sorry to have left everyone hanging. This chapter is fairly lengthy I think, so I hope that helps you to forgive me. I promise I will not abandon this story, I am fully committed to seeing it through to the end, although I do not know yet how long it will take us to get there.
A/N2: Chapter song title is from Matt Nathanson.
A/N3: Sorry again for the long wait, and thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story!
Claire groaned groggily as she roused from sleep. It was hot. Way too hot in the room for her liking. Her weak attempt to kick off the warm blankets covering her body were futile as it became obvious to her that she couldn't move. Opening her eyes, Claire found herself lying on her side in bed facing her bedroom window, the closed blinds effectively keeping out the early morning sunlight. The second thing she noticed was that she was naked under the blankets. Memories of the previous night flooded her mind as she recalled just exactly how she ended up in this position. The massive grin on her face a tell tale sign of how good those memories were.
Her grin broadened as she realized that the reason she couldn't move was due to Alice's body trapping her to the bed. The blonde had one arm possessively wrapped around her middle and their legs tangled together. Alice was pressed tightly into her back and despite the heat under the covers Claire shivered at the feeling of impossibly soft skin against her own.
With some minor difficulty, Claire managed to raise the slumbering blonde's arm high enough for her to roll over. With slightly more space now between them, Alice shifted in her sleep looking for the lost warmth of the redhead's body. Alice's brow furrowed and subconsciously she reached out for Claire. Gently brushing away the dark blonde locks from the sleeping woman's face, Claire wondered if it was possible for Alice to be any more adorable. The touch appeared to ease Alice as she sighed contentedly, ceasing all movement.
Claire breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want Alice to awake just yet. She was enjoying this free, unguarded side of Alice that she had just started seeing glimpses of last night. Claire's heart fluttered as she thought of everything that had happened over the last twelve hours. The blonde was starting to open up about herself and even more so, her feelings for the redhead. Alice may have had trouble explaining it the night before but Claire had no difficulty in deciphering her words. Alice had feelings for her. Strong ones too. Stronger than she suspected the blonde even realized. Claire had tried to play it off with her teasing, but her insides had been squirming with excitement as Alice had admitted she wanted more than just sex from the redhead.
Claire allowed herself a moment of vanity as she stared at her sleeping lover, wondering how she had lucked out. Alice Abernathy was gorgeous and she was all hers. Her eyes glazed over as images of that fit body hovering over her and writhing underneath her flashed across her mind. Last night had been incredible. Claire rarely found someone who could keep up with her and yet Alice challenged her stamina to the point where Claire wondered if she would be able to satisfy the blonde. But Alice seemed to be satisfied now as she slept peacefully in the redhead's bed.
Claire let her gaze linger, never once feeling the urge to leave the bed and disrupt the peaceful cocoon her room was providing them. Knowing that eventually they would have to get up was enough to cause a frown to form but the redhead forced those thoughts away for the time being.
She didn't know exactly how long she laid there, watching the blonde before Alice started to stir again. The sleeping woman's mouth opening in a soft yawn and her legs stretched, pulling at the blankets covering their warm bodies. Claire felt the hand laying on her hip slowly slid up a bit and simultaneously watched Alice's eyebrows knit together in confusion. The hand began to wander along her skin. It tickled and Claire let out a low hum. At the sound, green eyes shot open. Squinting against the early morning daylight, Alice nevertheless grinned upon seeing the redhead lying close beside her.
"Hey," she greeted through a sigh, her voice still thick with sleep.
"Morning." Claire replied, not even caring that she'd pretty much been caught staring at the blonde as she slept.
"How long have you been up?"
"Not long." Claire kept her voice low, still hyper aware of their close proximity. Alice had yet to remove her hand from Claire's waist. In fact the woman had started rubbing small circles on the skin beneath her fingertips which Claire found delightfully distracting and was disappointed when the movement eventually stopped.
Alice rolled onto her back, dragging her hand off the redhead and rubbing her eyes as she attempted to suppress a yawn. "You really wore me out last night." The blonde's grin was equal parts amusement and mischief as she took in Claire's blush at her words.
Despite her flushed cheeks, Claire smirked. "I try."
"Well, if you don't mind a little morning breath do you think I could persuade you to try again?"
"Do you always wake up horny? Because that is something I should be aware of for the future of our relationship."
Alice shrugged. "Not always," she said seriously. "But I don't always wake up next to you."
Claire didn't respond as she rolled on top of the blonde. With knees on either side of Alice's hips Claire ran her hands down the blonde's arms until she reached the skilled hands she'd become acquainted with a few short hours ago. Threading their fingers together Claire picked up their joined hands, using them for balance as she leaned down. Hovering just inches above Alice's waiting lips her red hair fell around them, almost blocking out the rest of the world.
She was surprised when the normally patient Alice raised her head up from the pillow to connect their lips. Claire's response was immediate. There was no way Alice was going to show her up when they were in her bed.
"Mmm." She felt more than heard the blonde moan against her lips. Claire followed as Alice's head fell back to the pillow and dragged their joined hands up, pinning them just below the headboard. She ended the kiss in favour of gliding her lips along the blonde's jaw line and up to her ear. Just as she was about to speak the sound of a door slamming caught her attention.
"I'm home!" K-Mart announced loudly from outside the door and Claire was quickly scrambling off the bed.
Her feet got tangled up in the sheets in her haste as she leapt toward the bedroom door and flicked the lock a mere second before the doorknob jiggled. The redhead breathed a sigh of relief at her success in preventing her sister from barging into what undoubtedly would have been the most awkward moment of their lives.
"What the hell Claire? You never lock the door. What's going on?" K-Mart called as she banged on the door.
"You can't come in K." Claire replied, crossing the room to her dresser and pulling out a pair of sweat pants and t-shirt. She grabbed a second set of clothes, tossing them to Alice, giving her an apologetic look.
"Fine." K-Mart's annoyed huff was heard before the teenager's footsteps indicated her retreat from the door.
Now that her heart didn't feel like it was going to burst out of her chest, Claire huffed in annoyance as she pulled on her set of clothes. Her sister was notorious for having the worst timing and Claire could not be more frustrated at the moment. It was unusual for K-Mart to return from a sleep over at Angie's this early, usually Claire had to call or her sister would forget to come home at all. So of course it was today of all days, just when she and Alice were really starting to get serious that K-Mart would return early.
Once dressed, Claire took the opportunity to watch the blonde get dressed. Even worse than almost getting caught was not finishing what they had barely started. She frowned, hoping Alice wouldn't be too disappointed in the sudden turn of events.
"Sorry," the redhead apologized. "K-Mart doesn't usually come home this early."
"It's okay." Alice replied, completely unfazed. "Do you need me to sneak out the fire escape?" Her voice was muffled as she pulled the t-shirt over her head and Claire wasn't sure if she was kidding.
"What? No!" Claire stood by the door waiting for Alice to finish getting dressed. "I'm not going to just throw you out Alice...at least not without giving you breakfast first."
"That's very generous of you." Alice played along before turning serious. "Are you sure about this? K-Mart is going to take one look at us and figure it out."
"I think she can handle it." Claire reached for the lock but Alice caught her wrist. She looked at the other woman with a confused grin. "What is it?"
"I uh..." the blonde stammered. "I feel like as soon as we leave the room our date will officially be over and there was something I wanted to ask you."
Claire adjusted the blonde's grip on her so they were holding hands instead and offered an encouraging smile. "Okay."
"Will you be my girlfriend?" Alice blurted without preamble. "I like you a lot and I probably should have asked you last night before we..." she trailed off but Claire understood. "But will you?"
Claire was hoping Alice would ask her that, but still hadn't expected it so soon. Still, she tried to play it cool. "I must be better in bed than I thought."
The blonde didn't even crack a smile at her attempted joke. "I'm being serious Claire."
"Sorry." Claire apologized. She took in the other woman's nervous stance and wanted to put her at ease, but first she had to make sure that what she wanted and what Alice wanted were the same thing. "So you want us to be exclusive?"
Alice nodded. "I don't know about you Claire, but since we met I haven't even looked at anyone else."
"Me either." She reassured. "Just you."
Smiling, Alice leaned in to kiss the redhead deeply before speaking again. "If you don't want to put a label on this, it's fine."
"No, I do." She kissed Alice again. "I want to be your girlfriend and I want you to be mine." The blonde grinned at her confession and the image was so endearing that Claire had to remind herself of the teenager in the other room to prevent herself from dragging her new girlfriend back to the bed to celebrate their coupledom. Girlfriend. Alice Abernathy was her girlfriend. The thought spun through her mind several thousand times in just the few short seconds since it had occurred and it made Claire almost giddy with joy. She pulled Alice back in for another deep kiss that she only reluctantly relinquished after several minutes. She then led them out of her bedroom, hand in hand, and into the adjoining living room.
K-Mart was sprawled out on the chesterfield, lying on her back as she flipped through the channels with the T.V on mute. She looked up at the sound of her sister's approaching footsteps and her eyes went wide at seeing the older blonde being tugged along. It didn't take long for her surprise to turn into a loud, excited squeal.
"Oh my god! Are you two like together now? Like officially?"
"Yeah K," Claire replied. Her own grin faltered a little at seeing the teen's excitement. "But I must say, it's kind of off putting how happy you are about this."
"Are you kidding? I love Alice, she's awesome!" K-Mart's words caused a hint of a blush to work across Alice's cheeks. "She's like the coolest girlfriend you've ever had. I mean, she could probably do better than you Claire–"
"Hey!" The redhead's protest went ignored by her sister.
"–but I'm not going to complain about having her around more."
"Uh, thanks K-Mart." Alice said and squeezed Claire's hand affectionately, soothing the redhead's annoyance. "Claire is amazing. I'm the one who is lucky to have her."
K-Mart shrugged. "If you say so." The teenager than burrowed herself further into the couch and resumed her channel surfing.
"What are you even doing back so early K?" Claire asked. "Not that I don't love seeing your happy face this early in the morning." She added, her overly sweet smile revealing her sarcasm.
"Angie had a dentist appointment this morning so they dropped me off early." She looked up at her sister and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry for almost barging in on you before."
"No harm done. Just uh, knock from now on, okay?" She waited to see K-Mart nod her agreement then moved to the counter to brew her morning pot of coffee.
"But can you both at least admit I was right about you two." K-Mart was quick to turn cocky. "I said you guys would be perfect for each other and neither one of you believed me."
"Oh my god you're right." Alice exclaimed with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. "We should be thanking you K. Where is my phone? I need to call everyone I know and tell them K-Mart was right. Claire, you start printing out flyers and I will alert all major media sources. Everyone needs to be aware that we have a perfect matchmaker in our midst!"
The redhead burst out laughing and almost doubled over at seeing the stupefied look on her sister's face. Had those clearly sarcastic comments come from anyone else they would have sounded mean but it was the perfect comeback against the teenager's gloating.
"Wow" K-Mart finally found her voice. "I didn't know you could be so cold Alice." Claire could tell K-Mart's pout was really a facade.
"Well what you do you expect from us K? Throw you a parade or something?" Claire said.
The young blonde huffed. "A simple 'thank you' would have sufficed."
Claire watched as Alice plopped herself down on the couch beside her sister. "Thank you K-Mart," the blonde said softly. "It means a lot to me that you approve."
K-Mart grinned. "Even if I had just met you today I would approve. Claire has been obnoxiously happy lately and I can only assume it is all your fault."
The redhead flushed from her place in the kitchen. She hadn't realized her feelings had been so obvious but as Alice winked at her from across the room, she honestly couldn't care less how transparent she was being.
A week later Claire was stirred from her sleep by the sound of laughter. She rolled onto her back and stretched, yawning as she moved. The laughing from the other room continued and Claire wondered what on earth her sister was doing. The redhead glanced at the clock and realized it was almost eleven. She hadn't slept in this late in years but it wasn't an unwelcomed occurrence. She kicked off the blankets and rolled off the bed. Her feet dragged as she walked and Claire reached blindly for the door knob, eyes not yet accustomed to the daylight. Fumbling for a moment she was able to yank the door open and exited her bedroom. Claire paused after only taking a few steps. She stood with arms crossed, still missing the warmth of her bed, as she surveyed the room. The laughter was much louder now and blue eyes squinted to see what was going on.
K-Mart was doubled over in a giggling fit, sitting on the couch with her head lost somewhere between her knees as she shook uncontrollably. And she wasn't alone. Alice was sitting on the opposite side of the couch, watching the teen with a confused smile.
"It wasn't that funny K," the older blonde insisted.
But K-Mart continued to giggle. "Okay, it's my turn to pick." The teenager craned her neck, looking around the room as if searching for something. It was than that she noticed the redhead had come out of her room. "Claire! You're finally awake!"
Claire crossed the room and stood behind the couch where they were sitting. "Yeah, how is someone suppose to sleep when there is all this giggling going on in the next room?" She said teasingly and was unsurprised when her sister scoffed. The redhead then turned her focus to Alice and smiled. "Hey," she greeted softly and leaned down over the back of the couch to kiss her girlfriend. Claire hadn't seen Alice much during the week because the blonde had been roped into working a couple of double shifts after one of the regular day custodians had been fired for stealing morphine from the hospital. And even though they had talked on the phone whenever they could, Claire couldn't believe how much she had missed Alice after only a few days apart.
Alice ended the kiss after K-Mart started making some obnoxious gagging noises but the girl quickly stopped when Claire glared in her direction.
"So, what's going on here?" The redhead asked, getting back to what had woken her up in the first place.
"Well I sent you a text to see if you were awake," Alice began.
"You left your phone on the table," K-Mart continued, pointing to the device on the small piece of furniture in front of the couch. "I may have...er, read it" she admitted and Claire quirked an eyebrow before nodding at her to continue the story. "So I called Alice and told her to just come over."
"How long have you been here?"
"An hour maybe?"
"I didn't think you would sleep in this late." K-Mart supplied. "Alice didn't think we should wake you so we started playing a game!" The younger blonde shifted to see the redhead better, leaning her back against the arm of the couch and pulling her knees into her chest. "Except Alice is super lame so we were playing '20 Questions' but American history style," she rolled her eyes dramatically. "You have to pick a person or event of historical significance."
Claire didn't think that sounded very fun at all. "Who's winning?"
"K-Mart actually." Alice gave the teenager a proud smile, obviously glad to see her tutoring was paying off.
"I don't think this was a game K. It looks to me like Alice tricked you into studying."
K-Mart frowned for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. But Alice interrupted before the teenager could protest.
"An educational game is still a game." Alice pointed out. "We were having fun right K?" The teen nodded her agreement. "Exactly. Claire's just trying to bug you because we woke her up."
"Yes. You did, but I guess it was about time for me to get my lazy ass out of bed anyway."
"Yeah Claire, it's practically noon." The younger blonde admonished playfully as she rose to her feet. "I'm going to have a shower." She stated, padding over to the bathroom door. "Try to behave while I'm gone," she added before quickly disappearing from sight as the door shut.
Claire stared at the closed door for a moment, ever mystified at her sister's strange tendency to shift between topics without warning. But the thought abruptly vanished as she felt herself yawning. It was strong enough to make her eyes water slightly and to her embarrassment a load groan followed the action. Without looking at her girlfriend Claire turned to the kitchen. "Coffee," she spoke aloud. "I need coffee."
But as she turned to the kitchen counter it wasn't difficult to see there was something different about the room. Perched in between a stack of bills and the bowl of apples that K-Mart refused to touch, was a small arrangement of purple orchids. The flowers had been in placed in a tall glass, acting as a makeshift vase. She guessed K-Mart had been responsible for their placement, but there wasn't a doubt in her mind on who had brought them.
"Where did these come from?" Claire asked unnecessarily, as she ran a fingertip over the closest bloom. The only other time Claire could ever recall getting flowers was at her highschool graduation, and she liked to think that didn't really count so she was enjoying this unsuspected thoughtfulness of her girlfriend. She didn't question Alice's desire to try and figure out her favourite flower but she would happily accept every plant on this earth as long as it was from her girlfriend.
"I got them for you." Alice explained, a hint of a blush tinging her cheeks. "Do you like them?"
Claire did. Very much actually. Orchids weren't her favourite but the colour was perfect. Most people didn't expect the redhead to like purple, but there was something whimsically delicate about the colour she just could not ignore. She nodded and smiled at the blonde. "Yes, thank you. You're getting closer." Alice seemed to be enthused by her answer and beamed back at the redhead.
Alice removed herself from the couch and joined Claire by the counter, wrapping the redhead in her arms. "Good," she murmured before kissing Claire deeply. When she pulled away Claire was enthralled to see that lazy grin spread across her girlfriend's face. "I hope it's okay I came over. I wanted to see you for a bit before you meet my mother and she completely scares you off."
Claire laughed. "Do you really think that's a possibility?"
"Yes! The woman is crazy." Alice stated with total seriousness. "Remember how uncomfortable Carlos made you feel when you first met him? Well multiply that by about a million and that's my mother."
Claire shook her head and suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Isn't this backwards? Aren't I suppose to be the one freaking out about meeting her and you're suppose to reassure me?"
The blonde scoffed. "You don't have to worry about her liking you. She is going to love you and K-Mart. In fact," Alice looked her girlfriend up and down with her arms still loosely ensnaring the redhead, "she's going to want to know how I managed to snag you up."
Claire was about to protest but her words were swallowed as Alice quickly captured her lips. She sighed into the slightly parted lips of the blonde and gripped possessively at Alice's neck in a futile attempt to pull her girlfriend impossibly closer. Her own tongue barely had to graze Alice's bottom lip to gain instant access to the blonde's eager mouth.
The redhead felt the arms that had been gently wrapped around her tighten their grip as she was simultaneously pushed up against the kitchen counter, their hips grinding together in the process providing the most delirious friction and Claire moaned loudly into the kiss that was only growing sloppier by the second.
When a wandering hand snuck up the back of her t-shirt, Claire was immediately pulled from the haze of hormones. It wasn't yet lost on her that they wouldn't be alone for much longer. And knowing that being interrupted by K-Mart would make her both cranky for the rest of the day as well as extremely uncomfortable, Claire forced herself, albeit reluctantly to pull her lips away. She gave the blonde several quick pecks before resting her forehead against Alice's and tried to get her breathing to return to normal. She slid her hands down Alice's arms until they caught her wrists and slowly led the blonde's wandering hands back out from beneath her shirt but left them to rest on her hips.
"Sorry," she apologized, moving her head back just far enough to look into darkened green eyes. Claire loved how they were almost the same height, the blonde being barely an inch taller when she stood up straight, which was a rare occurrence. She'd never understood the whole staring into someone's eyes thing, but something about Alice's gaze always managed to trap her. "We can't uh... get carried away." Claire stuttered, voice thick with lust as she tried not to succumb to Alice's burning gaze.
Half of the blonde's mouth tightened in a smirk, and she stared at Claire for a few seconds longer before finally blinking and tearing her eyes away from the redhead. "You're right. K-Mart will be out soon and we don't want to scar her for life with a free show." Alice took a half step back, effectively separating their bodies but kept her hands in place on Claire's waist as she gave her girlfriend a reassuring smile.
It was then that K-Mart reemerged from the bathroom. The teenager smirked knowingly at the couple, seeing them standing close together near the counter before retreating to her bedroom. But she returned less than five minutes later, fully dressed and ready for the day. K-Mart rolled her eyes when she noticed the women hadn't moved from their spot near the counter and tried to usher her sister into movement.
"That's enough you two. I'm not putting up with this all day."
It felt like bats were flying around her stomach as she and K-Mart climbed out of Alice's truck in front of her girlfriend's childhood home. Despite Alice's reassurances, Claire had become nervous to be meeting the blonde's mother. The entire drive over, a million terrible scenarios and thoughts flew through her head. What if the woman didn't like her? Just a few weeks ago she had been a waitress but would Alice's mother think a mechanic was any better? Claire mostly focussed on life one day at a time and didn't really have much of a future planned out for herself. And would Mrs. Olivera think that a girlfriend with a teenage dependent was too much baggage for Alice?
With these doubts suddenly plaguing her mind, Claire made no effort to move any closer to the house in front of them. She wrung her hands together and realized they were empty. She was about to meet her girlfriend's mother and hadn't even thought to bring the woman anything. Her anxiety rose tenfold and she froze completely.
"Claire?" Alice prompted when she noticed her girlfriend had become rooted in place. "Claire are you okay?" The blonde spoke gently. She stood in front of the redhead until Claire made eye contact. "It's okay Claire. If you don't want to do this I understand. I know it's kind of soon for you to meet her," Alice's voice dropped off a bit as she spoke. "So you don't have to go through with it, I know she kind of pressured you into agreeing..."
Claire completely snapped out of her haze as Alice rambled. The blonde had it all wrong. "Alice, I do want to meet her. She's one of the most important people in your life. I'm just worried. Alice, what if she hates me?"
K-Mart rolled her eyes but didn't speak. Alice gave the redhead a reassuring smile, visibly relieved that the redhead still wanted to go through with it. "Claire it's not possible. I know it's cliche but just be yourself."
Claire nodded slowly and tried to smile. It wasn't that she worried about Mrs. Olivera liking her as a person, but what if the woman didn't like her as Alice's girlfriend? What if Alice's mother thought she wasn't good enough? Would something she said be enough to sway Alice's opinion of her?
After a long moment, Claire forced herself to move and took Alice's hand for support as they headed up the path to the blonde's childhood home. They reached the top step of the porch when the front door was flung open, causing Claire to jump at the unexpected action.
Elizabeth Olivera stood in the doorway for approximately three seconds, just staring at Claire before her hands clapped together excitedly.
"Oh, Alice! She's absolutely gorgeous!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she grabbed hold of Claire's wrist, pulling her into the house. Claire had no choice but to allow herself to be dragged along behind the older woman. When Elizabeth reached the living room, Claire was unceremoniously pulled down next to her on the couch. "So, tell me about yourself."
Claire panicked as Alice's mother looked at her expectantly.
"Uh, my name is Claire." The redhead immediately wanted to slap herself for her stupidity. Her name was probably the only thing the woman did know about her. She spotted her sister and Alice enter the room and breathed a sigh of relief. "That is my younger sister K-Mart."
Elizabeth was off the couch in a heartbeat and crossed the room to engulf K-Mart in a hug. "I'm so glad you both could come. Alice has told me virtually nothing about you." She said as she released the teenager and ushered her into a chair before retaking her seat next to Claire on the sofa. "I've been dying to meet you for weeks!"
Claire flushed bright red. "It's nice to meet you as well. Thank you for having us over."
"I know I kind of pressured you into it on the phone, but if I had left it up to Alice it could have been months before I got to meet the woman who's been making her so happy!"
Claire's cheeks continued to burn. She'd only thought about how Alice had brought positive changes to her and K-Mart's lives, she'd never actually considered that she had the same effect on the blonde's life too. It was kind of crazy to think about how much things had changed so quickly. A month ago if someone had told Claire she'd be sitting on the couch with her girlfriend's mother she would have laughed in their face. But Alice had stumbled into her life and Claire could not be more grateful. And with that thought in mind, she was finally able to relax.
The four women were distracted at hearing the front door open and someone enter the house. Carlos soon appeared in the entrance of the living room.
"Hey ladies, Mom." He greeted brightly.
"What are you doing here?" Alice asked, her eyes narrowed.
"You didn't think I would miss this did you?" He laughed. "Mom meeting Claire, I actually didn't think you would go through with it."
"I don't see what's so funny about this Carlos," Elizabeth spoke. "But as long as you're here you better go set a place for yourself at the table. I actually need to go check on dinner, you can help me." She gave Claire a wide smile and then proceeded to pull her son from the room.
"I can't believe that little prick." Alice mumbled as she took the empty spot on the couch. "I specifically told him he was not invited."
The redhead found the man much easier to like now that he no longer stared at her and knowing that he thought she and Alice were good together and had encouraged their relationship. "That's what siblings are for, to do the very opposite of what we tell them." Claire said. She grinned at the scowl K-Mart threw her way in response. "Him showing up can't be so bad though, what's the worst he could do?"
It turned out the worst Carlos could do was his absolute best to embarrass his sister as much as possible. But it was no easy task seeing as Alice remained pretty much unfazed by his every attempt. He had just finished the story of how Alice had played Tinkerbell in their seventh grade production of Peter Pan. K-Mart snickered when he described how happy Alice had been on getting the part and spent weeks rehearsing by prancing around, pretending to fly.
Claire was enjoying the whole thing immensely. Her and Alice were sitting side by side with K-Mart opposite while Carlos and Elizabeth occupied the two ends of the table. It was like a tennis match, with her girlfriend's family telling stories that she would probably never had heard from Alice.
"Carlos you were just jealous because you didn't get the part you wanted."
"I was born to play Peter Pan!" The man insisted indignantly, obviously still bitter.
"Maybe," Alice admitted. "But you couldn't play the boy who wouldn't grow up when you already had a full beard by twelve!"
"It was barely some peach fuzz!"
"That's enough you two." Elizabeth interfered, putting a halt to their banter. She turned her attention to the redhead, who had been snickering at their interaction. "So Claire, how did you and Alice meet?"
"Well, officially we met at Alice's last art show but we had already kind of met earlier that day at a diner I use to work at."
Claire was surprised to see Elizabeth frown at her answer, but the reason became apparent when she rounded on Alice. "There was a show and you didn't tell me about it?"
"It's not a big deal Mom, you've been to those shows a dozen times."
"I don't care how many I've been too. Every one of your shows is important! You may not care, but I certainly do. Seeing other people appreciate your art, it makes me so proud Alice. Please don't take that away from me."
Alice looked at her mother with wide eyes. "I'm sorry. I had no idea you felt that way." The blonde reached across the table to pick up the older woman's hand. "The next show isn't for another few months, but when it comes up, I'll make sure you're the first to know."
Elizabeth smiled gratefully at her daughter and a moment later everyone had returned to their meals.
When diner was finished, Elizabeth rose to clear the table. "Let me help Mrs. Olivera." Claire offered, rising from the table.
"Thank you dear. And please, call me Elizabeth."
Alice also rose to help but her mother quickly shooed her away. "Claire and I can handle it. Plus it will give us a chance to talk privately."
Claire gulped at hearing that. But when Alice merely rolled her eyes at the older woman, she figured it couldn't be a bad thing if her girlfriend wasn't worried. She watched as Alice tugged on Carlos' arm and motioned for K-Mart to follow her and soon Claire found herself alone with Elizabeth.
"Relax Claire, I promise I won't bite."
The redhead laughed, a lot of her tension falling away. "Is it really that obvious how nervous I am?"
"I'm afraid so." Elizabeth smiled. "But you shouldn't worry so much. "I only have one criteria for the people my children date. The only thing I care about is if that person makes them happy. And you surpassed all my expectations when it comes to that requirement." Elizabeth took the plates from Claire's hands, setting them on the counter and motioned for the redhead to sit at the kitchen table. As she sat opposite Claire, a thoughtful expression passed her face. "Alice is special in a lot of ways as I'm sure you've noticed. She easily becomes complacent with the world around her. She accepts what she's given and what she's earned but never drives for more. I've always wished that she would want more for herself because she deserves everything great life has to offer."
Claire thought over what she heard carefully. She had an idea of what Elizabeth was talking about; Alice's job, and the fact that Claire had been the one to make the first move in their relationship stuck out in her mind. "Do you think there's a reason why Alice is like that?"
Elizabeth smiled sadly. "The more you have the more there is to lose."
That was all the woman said and the redhead nodded her agreement.
"I know that I've made it sound like a bad thing, but that's not my intention. I just want you to have a better understanding of Alice. She's a lot more complicated than she lets on." Elizabeth sighed. "She's my special snowflake, but she has a really hard time letting people in. Trust doesn't come easily with her and I'm just asking you to be patient and understanding if she doesn't want to open up right away."
The redhead was pretty sure she understood what Elizabeth was saying. "I get it. And don't worry, you haven't made me change my mind about her." Claire blushed bright red. "I care about her a lot."
"I can tell. And I know Alice cares about you quite a bit too, she just has trouble saying it out loud."
Claire thought back with a smile to their last date, the flowers sitting on her kitchen counter and how Alice had stopped her from freaking out when they'd first arrived at the house and she had been nervous to meet the blonde's mother. "That's okay. I'm getting pretty good at reading between the lines."
