Roses Aren't Always Red

Thanksgiving
Tyler's pov

"Ok so like I said, my uncle Nick and his wife Elizabeth are going to be there with my cousin Melanie and Carson. Carson is cool but just ignore Melanie, she is newly 18 and a complete Puck Bunny.. I can't stand her." Alice informs me once again as we near her parents house for Thanksgiving dinner. I was happy to be able to celebrate this holiday with her and I was glad that her parents accept me. I get along with her parent's tremendously and we have had a few dinners since the first one. I love Alice, I know that now and I would do anything to make her happy, no matter what it was. "Well here goes nothing." She says and gives my hand a light squeeze as we walk up to the front door and walk in.
"Tyler! Alice!" Brittney calls as she us walk into the living room that opens up to the kitchen. Brittney comes up and gives us both hugs and then Alice hugs Tom and I shake his hand.
"Glad you could join Tyler." He says with a nod and hands me a beer.
"Thank you both for having me over." I tell them and he mom grins at me.
"Oh Tyler! It's no trouble at all! You know we love having you around." Brittney tells me and then looks to the other family members in the living room who have now stood up.
"Tyler this is my brother Nick and his wife Elizabeth and their children Melanie and Carson." Tom introduces us and I shake their hands. The blondes hand lingers a little too long for my liking. Nick look a lot like Tom and it's obvious they are brothers. Elizabeth is a thin trophy wife type with her blonde hair and big fake boobs. Carson is a little taller than me with short light brown hair and an athletic build while his sister screams slut. She has mid length bleached blonde hair and a bit of makeup, she is the complete opposite of Alice.
"It's nice to meet you Tyler. I hear you are quite the hockey player. Great addition to the stars if you ask me." Nick says with a grin and I smile back.
"Thank you. I love being on the team." I say modestly. I didn't want to hockey today. I didn't want today to be about me. It was suppose to be about Alice and family. Not hockey.
Elizabeth went to help Brittney in the kitchen and Tom and Nick went into their own conversations while we hung around in the living room.
"So Tyler, " I didn't like the way Melanie said my name but I looked at her, "how are you liking it in Dallas?" She ask me with a huge grin and I shrug, still holding Alice's hand.
"I like it a lot. It's a lot different than Boston but I think that's a good thing."
"Have you found any good party scenes yet?" She ask and I can almost feel Alice roll her eyes.
"Uhm I'm not really into that any more. I'm trying to settle down." I say and she rolls her eyes and puts her hand on my arm for a second before pulling it away.
"Come on Tyler! You are only 21! You can't settle down yet." She says and Alice cuts in.
"Mel.. drop it alright." She says and stands up, "I'm going to go help in the kitchen." She walks away from me and I wish she didn't leave me alone. Carson picks up a conversation with me about general stuff for a few minutes before I too leave the kitchen so go outside. I needed air, the blonde was suffocating and I knew it bothered Alice. The last thing I wanted to do was upset her.
I look around at the light snow on the ground and it makes me smile. Alice told me how much she loves the fluffy white stuff. She loves the cold and everything that has to do with it.
"It's a little cold out here." I close my eyes in annoyance when I hear Melanie behind me.
"Yeah, it is." I say as she walks closer.
"So what's up with Alice?" She ask and I look at her confused.
"What do you mean?" I ask and she looks back me with a look that says I am an idiot for not knowing what she is talking about.
"The fact that she is at least 10 pounds lighter than the last time I saw her and I saw her a month ago. She has never been a "big" girl and on someone her size, ten pounds makes a huge difference." She points out and I look in through the window and see Alice smiling with her mom and aunt and I take her in, all of her. Her beautiful long curls swallow her up. I have notices the differences lately but I kept my mouth shut. I asked her once but she shut me down and changed the topic of conversation. She has lost weight and I would strongly prefer if she put it back on. I loved her how she was and the hip bones and color bones sticking out wasn't something I liked to see.
"Just leave it alone, alright? We don't need to bring it up today." I tell her and she shrugs.
"If you say so, but I think something should be done." She says rudely and walks in through the back door. What is the deal with girl? She hits on her cousin's boyfriend one minute and the next she is so worried about her? No, this girl is seeking attention or she is madly jealous of Alice, hell, she should be.
I take one more long glance at the fallen snow before turning and heading back inside.
"Alright everyone! Dinner is served!" Brittney announces and we all make our way to the large dinner table. Tom is at one end and Brittney at the other. On Tom's right is Nick and then Elizabeth and Carson. Alice is on Tom's left and I am next to her and on my other side is Melanie. We start serving ourselves and soon everyone started eating. I glance to my right and see that there isn't that much food on Alice's plate. A small piece of turkey and an equally small piece of ham and a small spoon full of sweet potatoes.
"That's all you're going to eat Alice?" I look at Melanie completely shocked. Did I not just tell her to not bring it up? But that doesn't matter because now everyone's attention was on Alice and the lack of food on her plate.
"Melanie please." Brittney says in upset tone, I think even Brittney saw her daughter's lack of weight as a problem.
"Melanie has a point." Elizabeth says and Tom clears his throat and we all look to him.
"Alice, is everything alright?" He asked her, trusting his daughters word.
"I'm fine!" She answers, rather loudly and looks around and he eyes land back on her dad. "Dad I'm fine."
"If Alice says she is fine, then she is. Now let's eat." Tom declares and we all quietly start to eat but even I have lost my appetite. I find her hand under the table and give it a light squeeze. She looks over at me and gives me a small smile.
When we are done eating Brittney and Alice collect the plates and I help because I hate the thought of Alice going out of her way for Melanie or anyone at this table. Once in the kitchen her mother hugs her.
"I'm sorry she caused drama sweet heart. Are you alright?" Britney kisses her head and Alice nods and pulls away.
"Yeah mom, I think we are gonna head out. I'm not feeling to good." Alice admits and Brittney nods.
"Ok sweet heart." She says and we walk back out to the dining room where everyone is still sitting.
"Tom, thank you for having us over. Alice isn't feeling well, we are going to take off." I say and Tom stand and shakes my hand and then hugs Alice.
"Glad you could come Tyler." Tom says then whispers to me, "I'm sorry about this.." I just nod in response.
"It was nice meeting you." I say to her other family and I help Alice into her jacket and her purse to her before taking her to my Range Rover and opening the door for her. Soon we were on the way to my house. "Are you ok?" I ask, glancing over to her quickly.
"I'm fine." She says quietly. "Tyler I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that our thanksgiving went like this. I wanted our first thanksgiving to be special."
"Alice it's ok. I'm just sorry that your bitch of a cousin did that to you."
"I hate her. I really do. I know I'm three years older and I should be the bigger person but it's just like.. come on Mel!" I pull up to my house and she gets out but doesn't follow me to the door.
"Aren't you coming in?" I ask her but she shakes her head and I instantly get upset.
"I'm just gonna head home." She says and I give her a small nod and walk over to her and pull her into my arms and she hugs me back tightly.
"I love you Alice." I tell her and she pulls away from me to look me in the eyes and again I get the change to take in her beauty.
"I love you Tyler." She back and gives me a kiss which lingers. I deepen the kiss and then I kiss her cold cheek. "I'll be here in the morning." She tells me and I nod.
"Drive safe." I say and she nods before walking away to her car. I wait until the Audi is out of sight before heading inside where a hungry Marshall greets me. "Come on bud, let's get you fed. Just me and you tonight."