Chapter Seven: Distance Makes the Heart...
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Monday 18th March, 2019
9:56am

Alice exhaled, staring at the white wall of the waiting room, the soft airy music playing almost fading into the background. "Alice Murphy?" A woman called, dressed in a white blouse and a beige skirt.

"Yep," Alice replied, standing up and smoothing her palm over her hair.

"First door on your left," the woman smiled, motioning for Alice to walk past her and down the long, pale hallway behind. Alice smiled, thanking her quietly and walked ahead until she got to the correct door and knocked.

"Come in," a voice called, allowing Alice to open the door a few moments later. "Take a seat Miss Murphy," the female doctor said kindly, typing away at her computer whilst Alice glanced around the room, seeing some of the posters about health care and healthy eating on the walls. She sat down quietly, her movements barely inaudible as she waited for her doctor to be done. "So," the doctor finally smiled, turning to look at the long haired teenager who looked very calm and focussed. "What can I do for you?"

"I want to get on the pill," Alice replied in a calm voice, looking into the eyes of her doctor and holding eye contact.

"Okay," the doctor said lightly and turned to her computer, typing in Alice's name on the system and checking her records. "Have you been on the pill before?"

"No," Alice replied simply, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket.

"Okay, and are you going to be using it for contraception?" The doctor asked, glancing over at her as her fingers hovered above the keyboard. Alice nodded, licking her lips and trying to ignore the urge to find embarrassment in admitting to her sexual activity. "And are you aware of your other options for contraception too? Like the implant, the coil etcetera?"

"Yeah, I did my research." Alice lied, since she knew she didn't want something as invasive as the implant or coil.

"Alright. Well I'll just take your blood pressure, do a quick physical exam, then I'll write your prescription, okay?" the doctor smiled and Alice nodded, now rolling up her right hand sleeve to expose her arm...

No more than seven minutes later Alice left the doctors office with her prescription tucked away into her purse, she met her mother outside in the parking lot where the mid morning weather was still continuing its bright but chilly spell.

"Did you get everything you need?" Sophie asked after Alice shut the door to her mother's blue beetle.

"Yeah, we just need to pick up some things from town then I'll be done." Alice replied, glancing down at the list she'd written of things she needed to get in time for her flight to Quebec that afternoon. The radio played quietly, and Alice glanced down at her phone, replying to a message she'd received from Magnus telling her him and his parents had just landed in France. She smiled to herself, replying to ask about how the flight was, and informed him that she'd be flying from Vancouver that afternoon too for a six hour flight to Quebec City.

"Is That Magnus?" Sophie asked, having attempted to stop herself from asking but she after seeing the smile on Alice's face, she couldn't help herself. It baffled her how someone so unpleasant to her, could make her daughter so happy.

"Yeah," Alice replied quietly, sending her message then locking her phone and glancing over at her mother. "He just landed in France,"

"Oh," Sophie replied, "Where about's?" She asked, hearing the lightness in Alice's voice.

"Monaco, in this hotel called the Hôtel de Paris. He said he'd send me pictures of the sea from his suite later." Alice smiled, feeling her phone vibrate in her hands.

"Wow, how fancy." Sophie smiled, but Alice didn't look at her to notice the tightness of it. "So you two talk often?"

"Talk often?" Alice laughed, "He's my boyfriend, mom, of course we talk often." She continued, glancing down at her phone and seeing another message from Magnus.

"Boyfriend? Oh? When did that happen?" Sophie asked, feeling her heart clench and her stomach tighten. She couldn't shake, even for a second, how much she didn't like Magnus Johnson, even when she saw how much Alice was beaming just talking about him. She could even admit to herself that she hated him, she hated her daughter's boyfriend because of what he knew, and she couldn't put it to one side to feel happy for her eldest.

"Literally less than a week ago..." Alice replied, glancing down to read what Magnus had texted. He'd asked her when her flight was, and she replied with a simple number before locking her phone again. "Mom...? Is everything okay?" Alice asked, seeing Sophie gripping the steering wheel now after she'd noticed her mother drive through a red light.

"Yes sweetheart, everything is fine." Sophie replied as they drove further into town and turned left into a parking lot. Alice decided to let it go, aware that her parents didn't like Magnus, she just didn't realise just how much. The two carried on with their brief shopping trip, stopping to pick up some more essentials for Alice's journey in various stores before grabbing her snacks from the grocery store.

"Oh, I forgot to get something - I'll be back." Alice suddenly mentioned, although she'd planned the moment exactly as her and her mother browsed the aisles to gather up food.

"Okay?" Sophie replied, seeing Alice hurry off without waiting for an answer. Alice left the grocery store and walked quickly down the road to the local pharmacy, purse in hand, and a determined look on her face. She walked in, hearing the bell chime as the door opened and closed behind her. Alice exhaled deeply, tucking some of her hair behind her ear and glancing at her watch, she had five minutes or so before she'd have to rush back, and walked with determination to the aisle she needed to first.

There was barely a soul in the store but Alice and another elderly woman staring at the shampoo, wondering which brand to buy as she noticed a petite blond stop a little further down the aisle. She glanced up out of curiosity, only to see the teen picking up a box of condoms confidently. She gasped under her breath, but Alice heard, and decided to smile sweetly as she walked past and towards the counter to pay.

She thumped the box of Magnum condoms down on the counter's surface and produced her prescription from her purse, the cashier glanced from the condoms to the prescription slip and cleared their throat, carefully taking the paper and walking to the back to get her birth control pills.

A few moments passed by as Alice waited, tapping her pointy black nails on the counter as she glanced at her watch again. "Okay," the cashier sighed as they returned, "Will that be all?" They asked as they put the prescription paper bag down in front of Alice and scanned the condom box.

"Yeah," she replied, handing over her debit card and continuing to tap her nails.

"In a hurry?" The cashier asked, swiping Alice's card and glancing up at her.

"I have a flight to catch." Alice replied, running her hand through her hair and putting her hand out for her card as the cashier waited for the receipt to print.

"Well... have a safe trip." The cashier mumbled as Alice took her prescription and stuffed the condom box into it as well. She furrowed her eyebrows, but decided not to reply since she didn't have time or the patience in that moment. She was back with her mother within a few minutes, having found her walking back to the car with a few grocery bags and hurried up beside her, tactfully hiding her prescription with the condoms inside the bag behind her leg.

Once at home, after having managed to avoid revealing what she'd bought from the pharmacy, Alice hurried upstairs to finish packing for her flight. Within the hour she'd showered and changed into Magnus's oversized red hoodie and her Adidas leggings, packed her bags into the car, and said goodbye to her younger sister and mother since her father was now driving her to the airport.

It felt strange for Alice to start this journey, knowing she was going to be doing it on her own and it was the first time doing so. She knew all she had to do was fly from A to B and her grandparents would be on the other side waiting for her, but she felt strange... as if she was being sent away rather than sent on vacation. "So you have everything you need? Everyone's numbers, right?" Richard asked and Alice nodded, holding her passport and boarding pass tightly as they stood by security. "You'll be okay to wait in the waiting room?" He asked, knowing he had a four hour journey back to Summerland.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Alice replied, knowing it would only be an hour till her flight would be called.

"Okay. Alright." Her father sighed, feeling bad for rushing off but he had work the next day and some projects he hadn't finished. "Call me if you need anything, I'll turn right back."

"Dad, it's fine. You can go," Alice laughed, the chatter of the airport and busy noise blurring into background ambience as the two hugged and said final goodbyes, one being more reluctant to leave than the other... Richard watched and waited as Alice went through security, waving one last goodbye before she vanished through some large double doors, briefly waving before carrying on through...

Richard stood there for a moment and sighed, feeling guilty for sending Alice away to her grandparents, knowing his wife believed it might give her the time to think about her choices... He didn't like Magnus, that was true, but his problem with his daughter's love interest didn't seem to fester as deep as Sophie's. He knew something was up, and he knew sending Alice out of the province for two weeks seemed like a dramatic solution in comparison to the reality, but his wife has insisted... and a part of him did hope that his eldest daughter would come back as the daughter he knew six months ago, whereas another part of him hoped the next two weeks might give light to why he felt there was an skeleton in the closet of every room of the Murphy household...

Alice sat down and exhaled quietly, her large weekend bag with her since her other luggage had been checked in already. She adjusted her newest handbag, the Longchamp one that had been previously filled with clothes Magnus had given her, and held it protectively to her body as she glanced around the airport lounge she was now waiting in...

Her phone chimed from inside her handbag, and she opened it excitedly, seeing a message from Magnus containing several pictures. She smiled before she'd even seen them, moving some hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear as she opened the chat.

The pictures he'd sent her made her sigh with a gentle jealousy. He was six hours ahead of her, and couldn't take any photos of the view since it was nearly eight thirty at night for him, but instead he'd taken some of his hotel suite, with its lavish living room, flat screen tv larger than her bed at home, a bedroom with an extra wide bed that could probably fit five people comfortably and unnecessarily large bathroom and marble tub...

"Alice?" A Male voice asked, causing her to gasp quietly with surprise and look up, only for her gaze to land on Charlie Newman.

"Oh my god, hi," she laughed softly, smiling warmly as she glanced over him, seeing him dressed for travelling and rolling small suitcase next to him. "Where are you going?" She asked as he decided to sit down next to her, even though the waiting lounge was almost empty, excusing a few business men and women dotted around the place.

"Toronto," Charlie replied, adjusting his grey beanie, causing more brown hair to messily flop out from underneath it. "I'm meeting some friends there before flying to Florida," he explained,

"Oh so you're doing spring break properly then," Alice smiled and Charlie nodded with a cheeky grin.

"Where are you going then? Off to France?" He asked, knowing Magnus was abroad so he simply put two and two together.

"Oh no, I'm going to stay with my grandparents in Quebec," Alice replied, feeling a little sad that she wasn't jetting off to Monaco to go spend some time in the sun and luxury with her boyfriend. "Much different."

"Well you all speak French so how different is it?" Charlie joked and Alice let out a quick laugh and glanced down at her phone to reply words of praise to Magnus. "So you guys still going strong?" Charlie asked, glancing at her phone and seeing who she was messaging.

"It's been like... six days." Alice replied, glancing up after mentioning to Magnus she'd bumped into Charlie at the airport too.

"Six days? Since what? I swear you guys have been dating since like... mid January." Charlie replied, causing Alice to raise her eyebrows.

"January?" She asked, "is that what he told you?" She wondered, her heart clenching excitedly in her chest.

"No, we all just assumed. Until the Jasper thing." He chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck as Alice rubbed her lips together and looked away. "But- he barely glanced at another chick in like... four months so we all just thought you cracked the whip." Charlie spoke up again, now seeing Alice turn to look at him again with excitement in her expression. "I just exposed him, didn't I?" He asked and Alice nodded happily. "Don't tell him I said anything."

"I won't," Alice giggled, "So... he hasn't been with anyone else since I've been around?" She asked, since she liked to believe he hadn't but she was also aware he was gorgeous, and knew it. And most guys she knew of who had such knowledge weren't exactly the most faithful.

"No, not that I'm aware of anyway." Charlie shrugged, seeing Alice begin to beam even more as she looked away from Charlie and sighed happily. Charlie watched Alice for a moment, finding it a little strange how out of character this all was for Magnus. He could see the messages popping up on Alice's phone, and from what he could see, most of them were in full sentences. He let out a quiet chuckle, which caused Alice to look up at him again.

"What?" She asked, feeling light inside her chest as she thought excitedly about how she would see Magnus in a week.

"Nothing." Charlie chuckled, feeling his own phone vibrate and he took it, exposing who the message he'd just received was from. Alice's happy expression faltered a little as she saw Candice's name, but she kept the sweet smile on her face as Charlie looked up at her. "Magnus told you, didn't he?" He asked, locking his phone without reading the message.

"Yeah," Alice smiled, confusing Charlie since he couldn't tell if she was pissed off or happy.

"I don't want you to think this is me picking sides," Charlie then said, aware that he was now speaking to the girlfriend of Magnus Johnson, and not just Alice.

"I don't think that." Alice replied, even though she did. "I just think it's a weird match." She continued, "She- I shouldn't say, sorry. It's not my place." Alice murmured, looking away and unlocking her phone again to begin scrolling through social media.

"Say... what?" Charlie urged, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I don't want to be that girl," Alice grimaced, "because you and I both know me and her aren't friends right now so it would just sound like I'm being mean about her on purpose." She continued,

"Did she say something about me?" Charlie asked, his eyebrows still tightly furrowed.

"Charlie." Alice sighed and he narrowed his eyes, showing her he wasn't going to ask again, "Don't tell her I told you." She said sharply, "or I'll tell Magnus you told me he was being soft,"

"Deal." Charlie muttered bluntly.

"She talked shit about you a lot after the ski trip... and kept implying you were some STD ridden druggie." Alice lied as she stared into Charlie's eyes, wondering if what she was saying was pinching some nerves like she wanted to as Charlie's expression hardened. "She made really mean jokes about you and the whole... situation. I think she was being nasty about you to make herself feel better, to be honest. I'm sure she didn't mean them. But still, even then it was... a lot."

"What the fuck..." Charlie murmured, looking away and leaning back in his seat. He looked hurt, but mainly pissed off as he glared at a space on the floor... it made the edge of Alice's lips twitch with a smile but she fought it off and reached out to place her hand on Charlie's shoulder as a gesture of comfort. "God, what a bitch." Charlie muttered, surprising Alice since she didn't fully expect him to believe her, at all. "She's been so shitty with me the last couple of days because I went to Fei's party. Like, what was I meant to do? Sit at home and talk to her? It's not me that picked a fight with all my friends, don't know why I should have to make sacrifices for a girl that doesn't even want people to know we're talking."

"Oh-" Alice replied lightly.

"She acts like I'm meant to be this loyal puppy dog to her when she doesn't even want to talk to me in public or jumps every time she hears a branch snap when we're together. She's ashamed to be seen with me." Charlie spat, now more obviously pissed off.

"Wow, really?" Alice asked and raised her eyebrows, discreetly tilting her head as she lifted her hand to her mouth to hide her small smile. She wasn't aware that they'd been meeting up, and felt herself asking before she could stop herself. "So you guys have been meeting? Like... where?" She asked,

"Just... it doesn't matter." Charlie sighed, "Honestly I thought she would be more like how you are with Magnus... more forgiving or at least open minded. I thought this would be fun, but she's just been a low key bitch from the start as if she thinks it's a turn on. Maybe having a girlfriend isn't worth it the drama." Charlie spat angrily and Alice sighed and licked her lips.

"Having a partner is fun, you just have to find the right person..." Alice replied, then a lightbulb went off in her head and she smiled suddenly again. "You know you should try getting to know Fei," she smiled, "She's really laid back, smart, funny, pretty and nice."

Charlie sat there in silence for a few moments, glancing from the space he'd been staring at to Alice. He wondered if she was trying to manipulate him into not speaking to Candice and moving on to one of her other friends, but he looked at her subtle but excited smile and sighed. Manipulation or not, she has a persuasive and trustworthy smile. "I mean... she is hot," Charlie replied, as if he was agreeing to give it a try.

"She is. And if it all goes well we could go on double dates!" Alice smiled excitedly, hearing a flight attendant call the number of her flight and seat to start boarding. "Oh, that's me. I should go, but ask her out soon, I'm sure she'll say yes." She then said before they could discuss it further. She stood up, tucking her phone away in her pocket after turning it onto flight mode and collected her things together.

"Bye Alice," Charlie smiled a little half heartedly and Alice smiled back.

"Bye, have a great spring break!" she said kindly before turning away and taking her bags with her to board her flight... 

* * *

Alice had been in the air for just over five and a half hours, flying across Canada towards the province of Quebec. She watched movies on her laptop with the hood of Magnus's hoodie pulled up over her hair