A/N: Ah, my loves! Chapter seven already? O.o Any concrit for our chapters? Let us knowww! We want to fix things to make it better! -shiny eyes-
Thanks to - Fire and Ice (Stop floundering, even if it is a cool word. ;)) and chocolvr69 (Brent's exactly like Lex's dad, to be honest. .)
Disclaimer: We don't own... oh shuddup. You already know it's not ours. Read onnn. -bursts into an Aerosmith re-enactment- "Dream onnn!"
It wasn't long before Alice left her sister's house for the week. She hugged and kissed her family goodbye. "Alice, I expect to hear every single detail about your date tomorrow night!" her sister called.
"It's not a date, Charlotte!" she called back before mumbling, "Well, at least I don't think it is..."
Alice made it home late that night. She stopped by at Ivy's only long enough to pick up Staccato and to tell Ivy to stop calling her sister. She then went to bed snuggled up to Staccato and fell into a deep sleep.
That next morning, Alice awoke around eight, giving herself an hour to get ready. Not knowing when Roy was coming that day, and not knowing what they were going to be doing, she decided to go for a classic look: a black, knee-length dress with black shoes and a bright-colored scarf just below her bust. Alice decided to leave her hair down. This was mostly because she was running late and still needed to eat breakfast.
Alice had just managed to choke down a piece of bread and feed Staccato before there was a knock on her door. She sighed before opening the door. Fridays were the worst. This was when she took her least accomplished students...So basically, she taught the five year olds that day. She opened the door to a mother and her two little girls. Two hours with two little girls and their mother. Fantastic.
Alice had nothing against beginners...it was just painful at times. Like when they decided to use their fists to pound out the melody... Or when they forgot that the F was sharp...
"No, Willa, that's an F sharp," Alice hit the note to show the little girl.
"Miss A, I don't understand what pointy letters have to do with piano!"
Alice had to fight the urge to drop her head into her hands. "Willa, dear, the black keys are referred to as sharps and flats... Remember? We covered this on the first few weeks that we were together." She found herself praying that Roy would come to the door; in fact, she didn't even want him there. Alice just wanted a distraction to pull her away from Willa's horrendous playing for a moment.
He didn't, though, and that was far from surprising. Roy had to work, and, unlike the shy pianist, he couldn't do so from home. Therefore, Alice suffered through Willa's lesson alone, without even an interruption from Ivy. The woman was actually a little irritable, which was highly out of character for Alice; Willa was, thankfully, a far from sensitive student, and therefore willing to take Alice's slightly more snarky attitude for the day, shooting back when she felt necessary.
The woman took a few breaths, trying to calm herself. Her rising irritation was due to the fact that she was nervous; it was the first time that they'd actually made a real commitment to do anything, and frankly, she was worried it wouldn't go well. If she were him, she would have gotten bored of Alice Ackerman quite quickly, she thought.
When Willa left (and she thanked the heavens the moment that the girl walked out her front door), Alice got a few moments of respite before her next student, a boy named Thomas came. She played with Staccato for a bit, marveling at the kitten's ability to amuse himself no matter the situation. Having had only a piece of bread for breakfast, she stepped back into the kitchen treating herself to another slice before Thomas showed up.
The day wore on. She made it through two more painful piano lessons before there was a knock at her door. Alice sighed and got off the couch. She half-expected another student to be at her door, but she was mistaken. Roy smiled as the exhausted woman opened the door. "Hello, Roy," she said quietly, looking at the floor. She knew that if she didn't avert her eyes, they'd be glued to the finely dressed man before her.
"Hello, Alice. Are you ready to go?"
Alice looked Roy over. He wore a crisp white shirt, slacks, dress shoes, and a black suit jacket. "Um, uh...Where are we going exactly?" she questioned nervously.
"Does that really matter?" he replied with a smirk.
"I suppose not..." she brought a hand up to her lips, "Should I change clothes?"
Roy smirked again. "Your carriage awaits, m'lady." He gestured to the car and offered his arm to Alice.
"Well, um, uh, okay..." she reluctantly took his arm after turning off all the lights and locking the door. He opened the car door and helped her inside before going to the driver's seat. Roy Mustang didn't generally drive, but... Havoc had refused to drive his "sister" and his superior officer to a date.
And, well, to be frank, he certainly wasn't going to ask Riza to drive. That would just have been awkward.
Alice fidgeted awkwardly, fiddling with her dress and twiddling her thumbs. All of a sudden, she was genuinely wishing she had worn dressier clothes; compared to what he was wearing, she probably looked like a shmuck. "You look fine, sweetheart," Roy said, startling the woman, "and besides, sitting that stiffly can't be comfortable." He turned, looking briefly towards her, giving a smirk and chuckling.
The woman blushed. "S-sorry. It's just, as you know, I'm not all that great socially."
Roy half-smiled again, one-arming the wheel. "Hey, the least we can do is try to fix that, yeah?"
Alice looked out the window quietly, and said, "Yes. I suppose so." Shaking her head, she tried to get out of the damn funk that she had seemed to fall into. It was because she was nervous, but that was no reason to act even more awkward than usual!
"Here we are." Roy pulled the car into a parking lot and got out. He opened Alice's car door and once again offered his arm, which she took with a bit more confidence.
"Where is here exactly?" she asked quietly.
Roy gave a smirk and a wink before leading her to the front of the restaurant. Alice let a gasp escape her lips. She had never been to such a place and had never dreamed of ever going. It may not have been a five star restaurant, but it was nicer than any other place that Alice had ever been to. "Shall we?" Roy's question brought the pianist back to earth. She nodded silently. "Mustang, party of two," he said coolly to the greeter. They were lead to a table where two wine glasses and a candle were set up. Alice quickly blew out the candle as Roy busied himself with pulling out her chair for her.
Roy noticed this once he sat down. "Hmm. It seems our candle has gone out," he almost reached for his gloves, but remembered the bet. "Let me fix that." He began to raise his hand to call over the waiter, but Alice grabbed hold of it before anyone else could notice. "Well, well, well...That was mighty forward of you," he teased gently.
She blushed before saying quickly, "We don't need to bother them with lighting a candle. I think that it's better without. It, uh, adds to the ambiance!"
Roy raised an eyebrow and shrugged, letting the matter go. Alice mentally sighed in relief. Then she realized that she and Roy's hands were still entwined upon the table. Roy couldn't help but smirk inwardly at the woman's awkwardness. He decided that she must really not like candles in order to be so forward as to grab his hand. Either that, or she just wanted to hold his hand really badly... Roy decided that either way, he was starting to get the socially awkward pianist to open up a bit.
"U-uh..." Alice was certain her fingers were twitching, which was a nervous trait in her family. It was funny; she thought she had cured that quirk a long time ago. The woman continued to keep one eye on the smoke that was still flaring out from the wick of the candle that she had blown out. Her other eye was trained on her own hand, which was still fidgeting awkwardly.
Alice had begun to loosen her grip on the man's fingers, and continued to do so until she managed to slip her hand away. "So, um..."
Roy lifted the hand that she had let go of to his chin. "So? I usually do all the talking; do you have anything to say tonight?"
"Not really... I don't lead a very interesting life."
The whole 'anomaly' bit was starting to puzzle the military man. There really was no reason for her to be so secretive, he thought. "Havoc can't shut up about your friend Ivy. Apparently he thinks she was sent down from heaven for him, and him alone."
Alice had to chuckle at the thought. Ivy, sent down from heaven? That was about as likely as, as... as her being on a date with an attractive man. Well, that logic was flawed. "Really? It's funny; Ivy usually drops men after the first date unless they're redheads. She has a serious thing for gingers."
"To be fair, they might have only been out once. Havoc gets infatuated quite easily."
A silence ensued for a small while, although it was far from awkward compared to Alice's prior experiences. The waiter came, taking their order for drinks, and after, Alice actually managed to open a line of conversation.
"I went to see my sister yesterday. She's hell-bent on meeting you, although I assured her we weren't dating or anything." Immediately after the words came out of Alice's mouth, she couldn't believe she had said them. Charlotte's antics were the absolute last thing she wanted to talk about...
Roy cocked an eyebrow and smirked slightly. "Did you now? I wasn't aware that you had a sister. Any other siblings that you're keeping secret?"
"No, there's just Charlotte." She smiled slightly before adding, "And of course, my big brother, Jean."
Roy couldn't help but smile at the small woman. "So your sister wants to meet your lover, huh?" He slowly encased her hand in his and looked deeply into her eyes.
Alice's eyes widened in confusion. "Wh-what?"
Roy could only hold that face for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. He released her hand and leaned back in his chair. "You should have seen the look on your face," he said once his laughter died down and only a smirk remained. "Sorry about that, Alice. I just couldn't resist..." Alice let out a slight giggle once she understood what had happened.
"Don't do that again," she scolded with a grin on her face.
Roy let out another chuckle. "I can't promise anything."
Alice's body temperature had jumped about twelve degrees at Roy's absolutely ridiculous teasing, and her face began to cool down just as the waiter came again to take their order. Dinner progressed nicely, as far as Alice could tell; she thought, at least, that she laughed at all the correct times, and listened intently when she was supposed to. The last thing the woman wanted to do was make a mistake...
Alice served as a very nice distraction, Roy had decided; her quiet and shy demeanor made for a nice contrast, when taken in stride with all his military colleagues' personalities. Ivy must not have been too very bright; any person of average intelligence would be able to tell, from looks, personality, and mannerisms that Alice and Havoc weren't related.
The look on her face when Roy said he was her lover was priceless; that alone made this night entirely worth it.
"So... is there a story about your stove? Did it do something to make you hate it?"
Alice's eyes darkened instinctively, and she looked to the table briefly before lightheartedly saying, "Oh, um, that's not important. Staccato's doing well, by the way." It wasn't a very deft change of subject, but it would have to do...
It wasn't long before the two were back at Alice's doorstep. "Well, thank you, Roy. I had a lovely time," Alice smiled shyly.
Roy smiled politely. "So did I. Well, I suppose that I should get going. Good night, Alice." He gave her a gentlemanly kiss on the hand before retreating to his car.
Alice couldn't help but smile as she closed the door. "Well, Staccato," she said to the kitten who was circling her feet, "I survived my first date with Colonel Roy Mustang..." The kitten hissed at the mention of the man's name. "And you know what, Staccato? I think that I'd be willing to survive a few more..."