Pointdexter: A Swooning Over Stan-fiction

Chapter Two

Alice glanced up at the words of Ford, her tearing eyes focusing him on a moment, confusion plastered across her face. She reached up, wiping at the tears that had not fallen yet.

"What?" She managed to choke out as the other, nameless still, twin snapped his fingers and smirked at his brother.

"You're right-" He chuckled. "It is cheaper to tow it yourself. Sixer, get that magnet gun out again."

"No!" She cried out just as Ford raised his hand, far calmer than she had.

"Not, Stanley," He muttered, shaking his head. "I'm going to fix this."

"What? Ha!" The other twin, Stanley, laughed aloud, pointing at his brother. "You, fix this mess?"

"I've figured out few alien vehicles in my time-" Ford muttered resentfully, reaching his hand up to tug at the collar of his red sweater.

Alien vehicles? Alice found herself wondering, no, they had to be crazy. There was no such thing as aliens or whatever technology they had. She leaned against her car, hand pressing hard against the warm metal frame.

"Nah, you kiddin' me?" Stan snorted, his brow raised. "It'd take some sorta miracle worker to bring this puppy back to life, and this miracle worker is on vacation."

"Stanley," Ford said, far more seriously than his brother. It suddenly hit Alice that Ford was the serious one, the clever one, and perhaps, the most logical person she had ever met. The other brother, Stanley, was a joker, the kind of man who shamelessly flirted and laughed whatever made him laugh, no matter if anyone else was laughing along. No two people could have been more different than these two men, who happened to be twins. "A moment?"

The two brothers turned away from her, their heads together and quietly muttering to each other. Alice was suddenly left with her thoughts.

Alice glanced down at her feet, still slightly dazed and baffled, and whatever other word came to her mind. Who could even think about worrying about an accident like this in the middle of an emotion-filled spree drive to get away from her life? Maybe she should have expected it. She took good care of her car, making sure that she had all her tuneups, hell, she even made sure to get new tires before the trip even started.

What was she going to do?

She had driven to escape and now her means of escape was being crushed by a giant red 's'. There had to be buses out here, right? She could a bus out of here and then- And then what? Everything she had was in that car... What was she supposed to do?

Ford suddenly cleared his throat, shifting in place as he and Stanley turned back to her, his brother's hands shoved in his pockets. They obviously finished their talk... Alice thought to herself, pressing her lips hard together.

"So there are a few options..." Ford said, his hands fidgeting in front of him before he waved at his brother. "My brother, Stanley, here could drive you out to town to find a place to stay for the night, or... You could stay the night here."

Alice's jaw dropped, her eyes narrowing at the two men. The sudden entrance of frustration bursting in her chest dulled the mortifying self-pity that had been there. She crossed her arms over her chest, her hip cocking out the side as she glared between them.

"And why would I do that?" She asked. These men were strangers, for all she knew, they could be plotting to murder her and bury her bones in their garden as fertilizer or something.

"We have some maps and information you can look at in the gift shop," Ford continued, raising his hand as if to say 'hear me out'. "And in the morning we can help you with your car. What do you say?"

Just as she was about to snap out an answer that, no, she was not going to stay in the middle of the woods for the night, a high-pitched voice sounded from inside the house..

"Grunkle sta! Picture this: a whole week of- OH MY GOSH!"

A little girl, no older than twelve or thirteen ran out of the house, a smile on her face before she jerked to a stop, staring at her car. She didn't look much older than Ella, with her big eyes and flushed cheeks, a tangle of long brown hair running down her back.

"Grunkle Ford?" The girl asked, drawing out the name of her uncle as she turned to look between him and Alice. Alice felt herself straighten, following the girl's big-eyed, worried gaze to Ford.

"Why is it that everyone automatically thinks I am at fault?" Ford shouted in exasperation, throwing his hands into the air. Before he calmed himself and straightened his collar and coat. "Well... This time it is my fault. But I've invited Miss Alice to stay with us for the night if she'd like. I'm sure I can fix this... I just have to figure out how."

Stanley let out a sigh, pressing his hand to his forehead and pressing his large rectangular glasses up his nose, "I can take a look."

Alice stared at him, her face twisted in confusion and frustration. Stanley seemed to notice the expression on her face and smiled at her.

"En, being on vacation's pretty boring and the old Stanmobile hasn't needed a tune-up yet, so it wouldn't be too bad to work on somethin' in the meantime."

"Thank you, Stanley," Ford suddenly sighed, relaxing and shoving his hands into his pockets. "I'm sure I can put something together from the gadgets I have lying around if you need any specialized tools to help you with the job."

Alice was about to speak up before the little girl stepped forward, brushing glitter off each of her long-sleeved sweaters. She noticed that there was a lot of glitter on the girl, in the shape of two heart-shaped arrows across the front of the pale yellow sweater. That was... Interesting.

"And let ME introduce myself-" The girl started, far more confident than Alice had ever heard a little girl speak. "I'm Mable! You can ask me anything. I preeetty much know everything there is to know about this place."

"W-wait, hold on," Alice suddenly interjected, taking a step back and bumping against her car. "I haven't even said anything yet! I appreciate your offer to let me stay but-"

"And to repair your car," Ford interrupted her, smiling slightly.

"Yeah," Stanley grinned, gesturing to the front of her car and then over her shoulder. "It'll be good as new in my hands. I mean, look at my Stanmoblie, she's been through the wringer who knows how many times and she's still a beaut."

Alice glanced at where he was pointing, catching the shape of a red car out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't see how 'beautiful' it was at that distance, but he sounded confident. And confidence always sold, nobody knew that better than her.

Well, this is... Suspicious.

Free repairs? Free Lodging? What was this? The set up to a murder podcast episode, Alice could imagine the title now: "Unsuspecting Divorcee Dies Mysterious Death in Backwater Town". How imaginative and creative. What a beautiful summary of her life. But the jury was still out on these people, the cost of auto repair anywhere else would have shown her no mercy, and Alice didn't have the luxury of spending that much on repairs.

"Well..." She said, hesitation lacing her voice. "I... Accept. Thanks for the help?"

It came out far more like a question than she wanted it to. Ford let out a relieved sigh, and Alice almost took back her words, until he let out a strained chuckle.

"And my apologies again!" His hesitant smile turned into an almost pained expression as he ran his hand over the back of his neck. "What an embarrassment, I must have made such an elementary mistake."

Mable cried out in excitement, Alice had no idea that a little girl could shriek so loud, and she dashed into the house. The twins chuckled and shook their heads, sharing a knowing look before starting into the house. Stan glanced over his shoulder at her, his brow raised.

"You comin'?" He asked, and she started. Alice turned back to her car, grabbing her bags from the back seat and slinging them over her shoulder. If she was going to be stuck there, then she was going to have her things.