Always, Alice

Come With Me

The holidays were soon over and Alice settled back into her life with much more purpose and spirit than ever before. Scooping Fred up to cuddle him tightly before she left for work she looked at the newly framed picture on her mantlepiece. She reserved the mantle piece for people that meant the most to her, and the picture of herself, Harry, Hayley and Niall smiling brightly at New Year, fireworks exploding in a rainbow of colors behind them, was one of the most special of all.

She thought about that night again, the happiness she already felt had multiplied by a thousand when Harry had said those three little words. He loved her, and she loved him. She couldn't help but smile and spin Fred around the kitchen in a clumsy waltz.

Alice had finally landed on her feet, a boyfriend more perfect than anyone she had ever met and best friends she adored. She had reformed a relationship with her Dad, and the grief she had been struggling to deal with since the passing of her mum was finally something she was able to face. Dark clouds that had swarmed over her head were finally lifting. Luck really was finally on her side.

A knock at the door brought her back down to earth from cloud nine, Fred already knowing who it was and jumping free from her arms and running to the door. Harry's voice came from the hallway as Alice wrapped herself up in her coat and grabbed the two coffees she had made in travel mugs and made her way through.

'Good morning,' she said as she saw him standing with Fred in his arms. 'Ready for another day?'.

'Absolutely, thought we could start reading the kiddos James and the Giant Peach today, another classic,' he replied, 'You look beautiful today by the way,'.

'Only If we can watch the film version this week, I love how whacky it is,' Alice replied, smiling at her handsome boyfriend. She leaned up on her tip toes and placed a gentle kiss on Harry's cheek, he blushed slightly. Harry popped Fred down and took the coffee Alice handed to him. She then followed him out the front door, stepping out onto the frosted ground before she turned to say, 'And you don't look so bad yourself,'.

*

They were in such a routine now. Harry was fully settled and confident with the kids and the kids had never seemed happier. It was as if he'd been there forever and not just since September last year. They spent time doing the usual work with the kids like spelling, maths and reading along with extra special things thrown into the mix like reading the class novel, exploring the playground for wildlife and their PE lessons which Harry loved to make as competitive as he could. It had made Alice chuckle when another teacher had reported back to them that Harry's class were bragging to fellow pupils that they would be heading to the world cup one day because of their talents in football. Alice loved that Harry encouraged them to dream so big.

Another day was over and Harry and Alice walked out through the school playground, hand in hand in their own world, neither of them noticing Elle rushing up behind them about to destroy their perfect bliss.

'Harry - Harry sweetie.' she called. Alice knew it was her without turning around. Elle had been rather quiet since Alice had put her in her place a few weeks back, not daring to lose a verbal battle again - she didn't like being defeated. This must have been why she acted like Alice wasn't standing right there next to Harry when she began to speak, acting as though Alice were invisible. Harry turned around, never letting go of Alice's hand and not saying a word to Elle, just glaring.

'Oh hi sweetie, I thought you were ignoring me,' she giggled, making Alice's skin crawl at how fake it sounded.

'Do you need something Elle?' Harry asked bluntly. Alice could tell his teeth were clenched. She knew he couldn't stand her, especially because of the way she treated Alice yet he was too kind to totally ignore her. His heart really was too good.