The Learning Curve: Chapter 84

Alice Brandon's Driveway

"I can't believe it's already over," I sighed, reluctant to leave the passenger seat of Edward's car.

Edward gave me a hard look. "It's not over. It's just...on hold for a while."

"I know," I said quickly, appeasing. "I know it's not really over, I just mean the weekend...it went so fast."

Edward nodded. "We'll have so many more weekends, though. And Sunday nights, and Mondays..."

"Yeah," I smiled, drawn into the fantasy once more.

He leaned over the center console and gave me a lingering kiss. "Don't be sad, Bella. Just remember how wonderful the weekend was. That's what I'll be doing when I'm missing you tonight."

My body warmed at the thought. "Okay."

"Thank Alice for covering for us," he said as I opened the door to get out.

"I will."

I shut the door, and Edward rolled the window down behind me. "Oh, and Bella? One more thing."

"What's that?" I asked, turning around. He was leaning across the passenger seat, looking at once sweet and mischievous.

"I love you," he said simply, and my heart swelled.

I was so overwhelmed with love for him that it was hard to get the words out. "I love you, too."

Edward backed out and drove away, and I watched until he was out of sight. Then I went into Alice's house to get my truck keys back. Her parents' car was gone, but Alice's was there, and the door was unlocked. I felt comfortable walking right in; I'd spent enough time at Alice's house to go without knocking, and besides, she'd told me her parents would be gone most of the weekend.

The house was quiet, which was unusual. When Alice was home alone, there was typically music blaring at ear-splitting volume. I found her alone in her room, lying face down on her bed. Her body shook slightly.

She was crying.

"Alice? What's wrong?"

Her head snapped up, and suddenly she was across the room, hugging me tightly. "Bella, I don't know what to do!"

I made her sit down and put my arm around her. "What's going on?"

"I had another dream," Alice sniffled, and my stomach clenched in fear. "About my parents."

I didn't ask what she'd seen. I wasn't sure I wanted to know. "Did you tell them?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. It doesn't happen until Thursday. I'm afraid, Bella. I don't think they'll believe me. They didn't last time."

"You were so young then, though," I argued. "What happened with Cynthia was so different."

Alice had told me her story about a year after we became friends. When she'd been just six years old, her little sister, only a toddler, had fallen ill suddenly and died – and Alice had seen it happen a week before in a dream. By the time the event happened, her parents had forgotten all about the dream – but Alice hadn't. She'd fixated on it so much that she'd been in a mental hospital for a while. The doctors said she had created a memory of a dream after the fact, a way of channeling her grief.

Alice had learned quickly how to give the doctors what they wanted to hear, and she was released. She hadn't told her parents about her dreams since.

"They're both so rational," Alice complained. "I think they're just going to shuffle me back to the psychiatrist. But I have to come up with some kind of plan. I saw a car accident. Maybe Charlie could have them arrested? They'd be safe in jail."

I smiled wryly. "I think he'd have to have proof of a crime first. Alice, I think you just have to talk to them. If you just tell them what you dreamed and tell them you're really scared, they might not believe it, but they might be willing to humor you."

Alice leaned her head on my shoulder. "I'll try. Promise you won't let them send me away again."

I felt like I was sitting next to a six-year-old Alice instead of the seventeen-year-old one. "I'll do everything I can."

A/N: Time for some plot. Was bound to happen eventually...