Queen of Spades (House of Car...

Alice stared at the time on the clock, absolutely disgusted to see that it was already 7 am. Sunlight was streaming in the window, dustmotes dancing in it's rays. Okay, that's a lie. It's Canada, at 7 am, November 29th which meant that it'd be gloomy for another hour or so, then it'd be a bighter murky overcast and then there'd be snow.

She hadn't gotten a single blink of sleep. On the one side it was because her nightmare had had its a** kicked by that kiss. On the flip side that kiss had knocked every chance of sleep right out of her head. Why had he kissed her? Did that mean he liked her? It couldn't mean he liked her, he was saying good bye to go back to his girlfriend. But then why had he kissed her? The questions tumbled around inside her head and Alice stared up at the ceiling with no answers to any of them. Just because he kissed her didn't mean he liked her. She was young but no longer naive; she knew that he was angry and most guys need to do something that made them feel in control when they were angry. When the person you're mad at is female, there are a couple of easy ways to do that. He'd physically overpowered her, even if he'd never hurt her, and then he'd stated his dominance by kissing her. She'd read enough on behavioural psychology to get that this was pretty standard, but cold facts did absolutely nothing to settle the hot tingles she had pounding from toes to hair when she thought about that kiss.

She rolled over onto her stomache and grabbed her cell phone. Maybe the collective mind would be better at figuring this out?

Need your opinions: fighting w/ male friend about his g/f. Were angry but then he kissed me. Then walked out wtf?

She sent the mass text to her friends, figuring that between Kim, Justine, Sammy, Theresa and Butch there should be at least some kind of clue. And some well rounded perspective. Kim was outgoing and a risk taker, Justine was a gossip but she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders, Theresa was reserved and cautious, Sammy was shy but romantic and Butch was... well Butch. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but he was honest to a fault. And a guy, so his opinion might make the most sense. And she was still worrying about it! Gah! She couldn't get that kiss off her mind.

Alice flung the blankets aside and quietly slipped into the washroom. Salali's apartment was a top loft in a six 온라인카지노게임 building. Meant that it had more space than most two bedroom apartments, but got hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Right now the tiles of the bathroom floor were stingingly cold as her bare feet shuffled over it. She turned up the hot water and waited until it would be pleasant before she stepped under the spray. Like always, the drumming of water against her skull, neck and back helped her body relax. There was just something so theraputic to a good shower, when she was not in a rush and could just enjoy the pummel of water massaging the aching muscles caused by dancing and silence the turmoil in her head and heart. Alice was getting angry with herself now, so everytime her mind started to wander back to Malcolm and his troublesome mouth, she jerked her thoughts away and focused on counting backwards from 999. Like always she'd feel the calm cocoon her thoughts and for a brief while she'd be relaxed and without worry.

Her enforced calm held while she scrubbed, shaved, shampooed and generally soaked in the shower and even lasted while she toweled off. But when she cleared the steam from the mirror, it all came flooding right back. Ace was looking at her reflection, hair wet and tangled, eyes wide with surprise, lips a little flush from the shower. Her tattoos were partially exposed, the one down her arm bare to the world, and the towel around her torso concealing most of the dragon down her back. She stared through the tattoos to the scars beneath, memory more than capable of finding the edges of the scar tissue. The tattoo artist she'd found had viewed covering her burn scars as the ultimate challenge. He'd been great about it, telling her the difficulties in tattooing the scar tissue, how it could keloid, the ink might not take etc... So he'd started on her arm where the scarring was lightest and played with the technique and type of ink until he found one that covered the scar tissue almost flawlessly. And a neat side effect was that the slightly metallic ink he'd ended up having to use made her tattoos always look wet and fresh, tricking the mind into thinking that these were fake tattoos.

Alice ran soft fingertips over the raised bumps of her burn scars, remembering the one time she'd tried to date after she'd run away. The guy had been a bouncer for one of the clubs she'd worked as DJ Mask. He was sweet and polite, but when he felt her scars it had repulsed him. He tried not to hurt her, but it was obvious that he found them distasteful, even if he had no clue why they'd happened. When she'd danced in front of her class in the tank top and shorts, they'd seen some of the tattoos but no one had asked her about them yet. The only one who knew was Mal. And he was... complicated. She was sure that he didn't mind the tattoos, but he hadn't touched the scar tissue they concealed yet. Though he actually knew why she had them, Alice was also aware that the very feel of them was repugnant. The skin was thick and a little rubbery feeling, the smooth parts weren't too bad but there were a few pitted sections that just felt like hippopotamus skin.

"You're just full of cheer and pep today aren't you?" Ace asked her reflection. In return her reflection presented a bright, cheery, absolutely fake smile. "He doesn't like you. Most of the school hates you. You're going to fail. Smile you silly b****." she said through the toothy grin. It was an alteration of the mantra she used to use to psyche up before going on stage. She'd heard nobody likes you, everybody hates you. You're gonig to fail. Smile you bast***, in a movie somewhere and then made it her own. {A/N: Brownie points to anyone who knows what movie the real mantra is from}

She heard a thump and frowned, not knowing if it were someone at the door or Salali falling off her bed in her sleep. Alice left the bathroom and looked around, not hearing a repeat of the sound. Just as she was about to step back inside the washroom though, there was another knock at the door. She frowned and slipped into her room to quickly pull on jeans and a tshirt so she wasn't answering the door in a towel. There was a third knock before she made it back, and she opened the door to see a happily curious looking Shawna. As soon as Shawna saw Alice though, the smile fell off her face.

"You're the friend he came to see last night?" she demanded, looking less pretty and more peeved.

Lightbulb moment. "Oh, no. Not me. I'm just staying in the guest bedroom for a few months. Salali is the one he came to help last night. She found out yesterday that someone she was very closed to died." Alice explained. Shawna was trying to peer past Alice's shoulder to see the inside, and it occured to Alice that maybe the girlfriend was a little worried. She pushed the door open more. "Come in, by all means. But if you can keep it quiet, I think Salali spent most of the night crying and she needs her rest."

Shawna eagerly stepped inside, looking around as if she were trying to find evidence that Alice was lying. Chewing the inside of her lip, Ace wasn't sure if Shawna was motivated by insecurity or avarice, but tried to act as if she wasn't being silently accused of homewrecking. Though technically she was even if it'd been Mal that had kissed her. This time. Eeesh she really was a slut. Alice tried not to let any of her rambling inner critique reflect on her face, instead smiling pleasantly.

"May I use your bathroom?" Shawna asked, eyeing Alice a little cautiously.

"By all means, it's the first door on the left. My bedroom's past it and Salal's is the only room to the right. I think we may even have instant coffee, would you like a mug?" she asked. Shawna blinked at her, surprised at the courtesy and nodded.

The beautiful redhead disappeared and Alice tried to ignore the fact that Shawna had sneaked past the bathroom to peek inside Alice's bedroom. Which was when she finally realized that Shawna was looking to see if Malcolm had stayed the night with her. Which logically would suggest that maybe he hadn't gone home last night. A little worm of worry wiggled into her and she squashed it, knowing that Malcolm had been in a street gang as a youth and was more than capable handeling himself. Shawna reappeared as the hot water indicated it had boiled and Alice poured two mugs out. There was no milk in the fridge, nor sugar, so both were stuck drinking it black.

"I'm sorry to just barge over like this." Shawna finally confessed, breaking quickly under the quiet. Alice just raised an eyebrow and smiled. It was hard not to like Shawna, she was just so.... delicate. Like rose petals with little drops of dew.

"It's alright. I'm sure you have a reason." Alice nodded, already having deduced it.

"Well... Mally left so quickly last night. I didn't want him to go but he said a friend needed him and he wasn't sure when he'd be back." Shawna started to explain, fiddeling with the mug handle. Mally? Alice tried not to laugh at the immasculating nic name. If they were still friends she really had to use that against him sometime. Shawna already looked close to tears and Alice felt a little bad.

"He came over after hearing that Salali needed help. I know he was so excited to see you though and didn't want to leave. But I haven't known Salali for long and I had no clue how to help her." Alice tried to console the teary eyed Shawna. A little voice in the back of her mind was raging on, calling her all kinds of stupid for being nice to the woman that was in the way. She heroically managed to ignore just what exactly she thoguht Shawna was in the way of.

Shawna nodded, her red hair bobbing with the movement. "He didn't know I was awake this morning, but I caught him looking at me while he thought I was sleeping, then he turned around and left. I haven't seen him since and he isn't answering his phone." Shawna gave a little, girly sob of distress.

Alice froze for a moment, then on autopilot grabbed the tissues and handed Shawna one. The red head dabbed daintily with it, but the careful makeup was already starting to drip off as she kept crying. After a moment the small red head threw herself into Alice's arms and started to sob against the other woman. This was terribly awkward for Alice and she patted the emotional redhead's shoulder and passed her another tissue. After a brief moment of quiet sobbing, Shawna finally pulled herself together and then fluttered to the bathroom to redo her makeup. Alice used the chance to grab her cell phone from the bedroom. Surprisingly she had a couple of texts back from her friends but she skipped past them for now.

Your girlfriend is freaking out and crying her makeup into my tshirt. I'm going to take her to Eggspectations so she doesn't wake Sal.

She sent to Malcolm and wondered if he'd read it or just delete it. With a mental shrug she realized she was just too tired to care. And her day was just getting started. When Shawna came out of the bathroom with perfect makeup once more, Alice told her the plan to go grab some breakfast. "I just need to chance. You caught me as I was getting out of the shower." she explained and then ducked into her bedroom.

"You're crazy." she said softly to herself. "You're about to take Malcolm's girlfriend out to breakfast to help her calm down because he was being weird. This is the same woman that last night you were telling him was no good for him. And yet here you are trying to help her. You're too stupid to insult." she muttered to herself. She pulled on warm socks, the same jeans as before, whatever bra was clean and a new shirt. The t-shirt Shawna had cried into has mascara smudges on it now, so Alice pulled on a black and purple button down instead. She laced up her boots and grabbed her new jacket.

Something occured to her as she headed back out to see Shawna carefully peering at the movie rack. "I have a question for you." she caught the redhead's attention. "How did you know to come here?" she asked, curious.

"Oh, I've seen him run in here a few times and figured that it was the best place to start looking for him." Shawna explained, not realizing that she inadvertently admitted that she had thoguht the worst of her boyfriend. It made Alice fight to keep the frown off of her face. It seemed that sweet little Shawna had a possessive streak.

The two women headed out into the cold and Alice was surprised to see that Shawna's car was a sleek little Mini. "How in the name of god do you afford this?" Alice demanded, amazed at how expensive the interior looked.

"Oh I guess you don't watch tv. I'm an actress." Shawna giggled as she said it. Alice suppressed a twitch, she had no patience for false modesty. "I am one of the recurring female leads in My Family Secrets." She explained.

Of course, a soap opera. Alice thought with a condescending smirk. "Sounds lovely. Do you enjoy your work?" she asked, knowing that it would probably be safest if she kept Shawna talking about herself. That way nothing incriminating could slip out of her mouth. It worked like a charm. The two of them sat at a booth table and Alice listened to Shawna blather on about her characters emotional development while she learned that her husband had multiple personalities and she was falling in love with her husbands alter ego who was also cheting on her with her best friend. Ace tried not to roll her eyes or look terribly bored by it all. She felt her phone vibrate and nerves twanged as she wondered if it was Mal or just her friends. Her palm itched with the need to check it, but she couldn't figure out how to without Shawna wanting to look at what the message said.

By the time breakfast had finished, Alice realized that Malcolm wasn't coming and there was no point in dawdling more. She excused herself to use the washroom and with nervous fingers opened her phone.

Stay away from her Was all it read. Alice stared at the message, blinking back tears and holding down anger at the same time.

Go f*** yourself. She came here looking for you. she sent back and snapped her phone shut. She wahsed her hands mechanically and took a deep breath, forcing a smile back to her face before she stepped out.

Shawna waved at her from the doorway, as if Alice might have forgotten whom she was here with, and Ace wandered over to the red head. For some reason Shawna linked her arm through Alice's and walked side by side with her to the Mini as if they were bestest friends. Not wanting to be rude, Ace endured it and greatfully shucked the clingy woman to climb into the passenger seat.

"Thank you for helping me. You're so sweet." Shawna gushed at Alice. It made Ace feel a littel bit like a heel for all the nasty thoughts that ran through her head about the other woman.

"It's alright. I can understand why you were upset." Alice cooed, having already discovered that Shawna was not a fan of harsh language, crude terminology or any reference to violence. She was, without a doubt, the most sheltered soap opera star Alice had ever thought could exist. Shawna dropped Alice off outside the apartment complex and waved goodbye, saying that they should have a girls day out sometime.

Ace watched the car pull away and she wondered that if they'd met with different circumstances if she'd like Shawna more. She was sweet and innocent, traits that Alice could normally endure, but somehow just drove her around the bend this time. Was her irritation real or a side effect of the fact that she had a reluctant crush on Mal? Great more questions. She scolded herself, and looked at her phone. She was checking the texts from her friends while heading to the apartment, though it was a moot point now. Malcolm's text left no doubt in her mind that he detested her now.

He needs angry sex, TAP that. was Kim's simple statement.

What guy wouldn't want to kiss you? was Butch's confused question. It made Alice smile because as often as he complimented her, and flirted, he never once made any real advances and she suspected it might be because he liked another girl in the group.

What guy friend? Was it Butch?was Sammy's response and Alice grinned. She let Sam know that no, it wasn't Butch. It was an older guy friend she met as a stripper.

Theresa wanted to know more details about the arguement in question and Justine suggested that maybe he was too confused to understand what he was doing. With a sigh Alice deleted them all though and sent out another text.

Nevermind. His way of saying goodbye, get out of my life. she didnt want to have to answer questions about it.

Alice was rubbing her face when she pushed open the door and it should have occured to her that she'd locked it on the way out, but it was unlocked now. When her hand dropped she realized who was glaring at her from the kitchen and froze on the spot. Ace looked up at the ceiling and demanded, "Can't I get just one f***ing day where my life isn't a steaming pile of DRAMA?!"

Looking at the Social Service Agent sitting on the couch next to Officer Bradely, Alice felt like crying. The one looked smug and the other looked uncomfortable and Ace just knew that her bad day was about to get worse.