Discovering Alice

Chapter 4

The next day, Sunday, was boring. I stayed home and did laundry all day, and checked up on Alice to feed and play with her for a little bit. I couldn’t stop thinking about Cory. And I had to keep reminding myself that I didn’t want a relationship. And it probably wouldn’t work out anyways, right?  I couldn’t help thinking about how it would be to be Cory’s girlfriend. Shaking myself out of it, I decide to go on a walk with Alice. I get up to go get Alice and put her in a thick coat we got from goodwill a few weeks ago. I need to go on a walk, and I figure I should take Alice since mom was working.

Alice didn’t really make much noise as I stuffed her into her jacket; it is dark blue and has lighter blue swirls on it. When I put her in the jacket her eyes seem to be even bluer. My mom had tried to get pregnant a few times before, of course. She had miscarried a few times before Alice. Surprisingly, my mom never said anything about how she was a miracle. It seems like my mom actually goes out of her way to avoid Alice unless she absolutely has to see her, like when she babysits her. I don’t remember much about my mom being pregnant, and I definitely don’t remember the small things morning sickness. Or how swollen her ankles supposedly got. I couldn’t remember any of it.

I hear my phone ring and answer it without looking at the screen. “Hello?”

“Iris, are you busy? I have nothing else to do and I was wondering if you’d want to hang out again.” He sounds hesitant, like he thinks I will say no.

“Wow, again? You can’t resist me, can you?” I tease him, a big smile on my face.

“Oh yes, you caught me!” I swear I can literally hear the eye roll in his voice.

“I was just going on a walk with Alice, so if you drive over here you can go with us. If you want?”  I sit down across Alice, she’s trying to put on her shoes but she put the right shoe on her left foot. I laugh at her, and put the phone down and on speaker as I bring her to my lap and fix her shoes.

“Yeah, that’ll work. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be over there.” I say bye to him before we both hang up. She’s still on my lap so I play with her hair since we have a few minutes.

“Mommy?” Alice spoke. Sometimes she would go on long rants, using words that make sense but not when together. And other times, like today, she would speak in one-word phrases.

“Mommy isn’t here.” I speak quietly. What is even more confusing than mine and Cory’s non-existent relationship is the relationship between Alice and mom. I don’t know why I spent so much time worrying about it. It’s not like I care if mom had a proper relationship with her youngest daughter. Hell, she barely has a relationship with me! Three swift knocks on the door break me from my thoughts, and I hope its Cory like I think it is when I shout come in.

“Where are you?” I hear his voice down the hall, after he shuts the door. I don’t answer, knowing he’ll find us in a couple of seconds. “Oh, there you are.”

I turn around so I’m facing Cory and smile at him “Hey, this is Alice. Alice, this is Cory.”

I lift Alice onto her feet so I can get up, and she walks over to Cory. He holds out his hand to shake hers, and she doesn’t know what else to do so she lifts her hand up. He takes her small hand in his big one and he shakes her hand gently.

“Nice to meet you, Alice.” He has a grin on his face. And I try to think through my memories. Does he have any younger siblings? He seems like he’d be a good older brother. I get up and check my outfit, jeans and boots. And layers of long sleeved shirts under a thick jacket.  I’ve been more cold than usual this winter.

“Are you ready to go?” I ask him, I check him out quickly. He was in dark washed jeans, tennis shoes, and had a dark maroon shirt on under his leather jacket. One word for how he looked, sexy. And usually I can control my blushing, but my face flushes red at my thoughts.