Pointdexter: A Swooning Over Stan-fiction

Chapter Four

A stream of sunlight from a small high window on the wall made Alice's face twist as she slowly blinked awake. She couldn't remember her room having this kind of feature, or any hotel or motel room for that matter. She sat up, pushing the blankets off her and glancing around the room.

I'm not in a hotel... She suddenly remembered, the events of the day before crashing back onto her like a ton of bricks. She reached out, grabbing her phone that she did not remember plugging in to check the time. Being in a freak accident must have left her tired out because it was almost one in the afternoon.

Alice groaned, leaning back onto the pillows with a grunt. What a nightmare... She found herself thinking, closing her eyes, and counting to ten. She wondered what Ella was doing, even what Carson was doing, and she was tempted to try and call her eleven-year-old. That was a bad idea and she knew it.

Alice lifted herself once more, pushing herself off the air mattress and standing, stretching her arms behind her head and arching back. Her bags, still settled in the corner where she had dropped them, were packed with as much of her things as she could grab and logically drive away with. She crossed over and began to rummage, letting out a sigh as she collected what she would wear for the day.

What should she even wear in an Oregon summer? She settled on a light long sleeve and jeans, it was better than the skirts, dresses, and wool sweaters she usually wore in Connecticut. She pushed past the door and started her way through the Pines house until she got to the kitchen.

Despite having been assured the previous evening that she was free to anything in the fridge, Alice didn't want to impress herself on the Pines family. She wanted to be as polite of a guest as she possibly could be. After a bowl of very dry, very stale cereal, Alice washed her dishes in the sink, intent of going to see if there was any progress on her car. Just as she stepped through the door frame, she bumped into Ford.

"Excuse- Oh!" Ford jerked as if he had seen a ghost. "You're, yes, from yesterday. Of course."

"I guess we're going to keep crashing into each other, huh?" Alice said with a startled but hesitant laugh. She didn't want every interaction with this family to be awkward or hesitant. But for a good, solid moment, Ford regarded her in an awkward silence. It made Alice want to crawl into her skin and die, then and there.

"I believe Stanley's taking a look at your car outside," Ford said with a clear of his throat. "If you want to be out there for it."

She nodded, stepping to the side as Ford stepped into the kitchen, his arms poised behind his back. Alice was just about to make her leave when Ford spoke up again, catching her attention in the doorframe.

"And Alice?" Ford suddenly hesitated on his words as she turned to him, his hand rising to rub the back of his neck. "I'm sorry again for the accident. If I'd been smarter about- Well, let's just say it's entirely my fault and you shouldn't worry about this at all."

"Ford," She said with a smile, the nickname felt strange on her lips, but he had insisted that she call him such. "It happens. I'm sure if Stan figures out what's wrong with my car, I can get it fixed pretty quick."

"When it comes down to it, Stanley does have a knack for cars," Ford said with a smile, his hand lowering to his sides as he shoved them in his pocket. "I predict you'll be back on the road in a matter of weeks!"

He sounds much more excited about the time frame than Alice. She couldn't bother to try and keep the dismay off her face. Weeks.

"What am I going to do with weeks?" Alice said, her voice barely a whisper as her face fell. She glanced up again, noticing a small frown crossing his face but then seeming to recover at the prospect of a question he might be able to answer.