All I Want Is This

16

Mark refused to take Meredith's dare about crazy outfits for their dinner to the restaurant, so they stopped by Meredith's house first and she could change her shoes.

Alicia's cheerful chatter about her kindergarten and the kitten she had played with earlier that evening made the twenty minute ride from Meredith's house to the restaurant fly by.

"Do you know what Mrs. Kendrick told us today?" She asked them, excited to give them the news. She was so excited that she didn't even wait and see if either of them were interested to find out about it and started narrating it. "Mrs. Kendrick said we are going to have a Halloween party and we can choose whatever costume we want to."

"A Halloween party at your kindergarten?" Mark asked with satisfaction. That meant he would cancel the annual Halloween party he had promised to his daughter, a great relief for him on a first thought. A house full of crazy kids was never a sweet dream for him. "I like the idea." He muttered.

"Yeah, but she said we have to ask the permission from our mommy and daddy." Alicia explained, surprising Meredith and Mark with the easiness she mentioned the words mommy and daddy in the same sentence with. "Can I go?" She asked them. Mark looked into the rear view mirror and saw her waiting an answer from both of them. He sighed and shook his head discreetly.

Mark wasn't that surprised to find out that Alicia was including Meredith in her plans for the future, but Meredith had been caught off guard completely. She stared at Mark questioningly, but all Mark could do at that time was to shrug. He hadn't figured out yet how to resolve Alicia's wish to have Meredith as mother figure in her life and for the moment he decided to go along with the present situation. He would figure something in the meantime.

"Can I?" She asked them again still waiting for an answer.

"Sure you can go." Mark looked at Alicia through the rear-view mirror answering and then glanced again at Meredith checking for her reaction.

Meredith was still slightly confused with the way that Alicia had formed the question, but she smiled at him and decided to ignore the weird situation.

"Mrs. Kendrick said we all need costumes." Alicia added. "What costume do you want to choose, Meri?" She asked her.

Meredith looked confused at Mark, but he just continued to drive, looking as if he was paying more attention to the road than to their talk now. He hadn't commented much upon Alicia's news either, not even when Alicia seemed to ask both of them for permission. This made Meredith hesitate. As she had gotten to know him so far, Mark would have said a straight no before Alicia could have finished her sentence.

"I... um" Meredith stammered, staring at Mark, still waiting for a reaction from him. "I'm not sure if I am invited." Mark didn't show any change so Meredith looked back at Alicia. "Your teacher invited your parents only." As she said that, Meredith wished she didn't.

There was no shade of smile or excitement in Alicia's features anymore. Instead, she looked away, out her window.

The silence that followed Meredith's last statement seemed painful and hard to stand. Mark glanced discreetly at his right and Meredith was staring out her window, nervously biting her lip. He then looked to the backseats through the rear view mirror and saw a small tear sliding down on Alicia's cheek.

"I'll talk to Mrs. Kendrick and see if it's ok for you to come." Mark muttered as he drove staring out the windshield.

Meredith turned to look at him. "Are you sure?" Mark answered with a simple nod.

"We'll talk about the costume some other time, ok?" Mark suggested and looked into the rear-view to check Alicia's reaction. Though her eyes were still sad, Alicia had regained her smile.