Queen of Spades (House of Cards Series 1) [Student/Teacher Relationship]

The World

A/N: Hey guys! I have a pair of REQUESTS!

1) Who would you cast for Lexi?

2) What dress should Alice wear to prom? That's sounds so GIRLY, but I am stumped on what she should wear. Who ever suggests the dress I use in hte story, I will give you a heads up on something going to happen in the story later on, you you'll be having a spoiler :D It's a good one, trust me :D

_______________________________________________________________________________

Alice left Malcolm's the morning of Christmas, dropped off as he was headed towards his family's massive get together. She stood watching his car drive off and realized that she had thoroughly enjoyed spending the weekend with him, but it was a terrible idea to get used to playing house with Malcolm like that. It made her feel too good to have those moments with him, as if they could have a life like that together and she needed to remember that as good as all this felt, it wasn't likely to last.

Shaking aside the depressing trend her thoughts were taking, Alice ran upstairs to grab her things. She decided to take the day alone to not worry about anything but playing with animals and listening to music. She'd given Salali a gift before the large Native woman had left for the weekend; a satchel of freshly cut, cognac infused tobacco leaves. Salali had given her a dog collar with a tag reading 'Monster' on it. He was officially Alice's dog now. Salali had set up dog bowls and a doggie bed in the apartment so Ace could bring him home with her Christmas day. So when Alice let Monster out of his cage, it was to collar him and welcome him into her family of one.

Monster had progressed amazingly well since Alice had started to socialize him, and now the puppy often refereed the other dogs. Monster was still puppy sized but he was starting to put on weight and fill out. The older and larger dogs obeyed the scarred puppy, and Monster was excellent at controlling the more rambunctious animals. She was worried he would miss the company of other animals, but he seemed to like following her around more than he did being social. Ace ended up eating pizza and ice cream for Christmas dinner with Monster snoring on the floor beside her. And when she woke up sobbing in terror, Monster came up on the bed and settled down beside her, small body some how squashing Alice between him and the wall. She chuckled at his audacity but snuggled down with him and actually drifted off to sleep again. It wasn't the most exciting of Christmas days, but that suited her just fine.

The morning of the 26th, Alice woke up with a stomache full of nerves and a head full of worries. Thankfully she'd set out an outfit the night before when her head had been calmer and more assured, because now she was pure flight of the bumblebees panic. Showering took longer than normal, her hair was super tangled and she couldn't find her deoderant stick for ten minutes, so she ended up scrambling into her set out clothes, thankful to her logical self last night for thinking ahead and setting out an outfit that was comfortable and appropriate. She'd grabbed the sweater that had prompted Malcolm to kiss her shoulder so long ago, and pulled it on over a soft, buttery yellow tank top and dark brown leggings. Then she pulled the sweater tight around her waist with a thin caramel leather belt so she wasn't entirely shapeless. Her practical winter boots and duster gave her protection as she waited with her gift for Malcolm as he finally pulled up.

The fire that danced in his eyes as he saw her in that sweater quickly made it her new favourite thing to wear when she was to see Malcolm. She hopped into the passenger seat and noticed a box in the back seat with her name on the card. "I've got something for your family. As a thank you and Christmas gift." she blurted out and he smiled in response.

"You're not going to tell me what it is, will you?" he asked, already knowing hte answer. Alice shrugged and they drove in a comfortable silence, radio filled with orchestral sounds as Mal drove them further and further away from the city.