demons don't snitch (it 2017) (stand by me)

05. bike master stan

Hester went home after the supermarket run and left all of the things she'd bought where they were meant to be. She was alone in the house, and went up to her room, waiting at the window sill with her elbows upon it as she looked outside, watching the day pass by, and the dust filter through her screen. Her face was pressed up against her hands, and she pouted as she waited for Stanley to come by.

They'd never set a specific time, and she wasn't sure if she was actually going to come at all. But she'd keep waiting, and waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Until the waiting was too much to bear.

She frowned after about an hour of looking out the window just waiting for him, and sulked over to her bed. She should've known she wouldn't have been able to make friends so easily. He was probably going to come until he realized how weird she was. Or maybe he got caught up with other friends. At that point it was looking like she'd have to teach herself how to ride a bike.

She found herself drifting into a deep nap above the covers, the fan on the ceiling blowing air onto her skin, drifting the flimsy covers underneath her. And she dreamed, or, she hoped she did. She never dreamed, just another symptom of her so called sickness. But, boy, could she sleep. She slept so long and so hard and so intensely that she didn't even hear her sister calling her name from below, on the first floor.

It was only when Star practically screamed Hester's name that she even stirred, and even then it took her a while to wake up fully.

"What is it?" she called back down.

"Hester, will you get your butt back down here! There's some guy named Stanley waiting for you, says he met you at the fair yesterday and he's gonna hang out with you today. Would you come down already, you've been asleep for like an hour!" Star shouted.

Hester's eyes widened and she found herself fully awake, like she'd just chugged down a cup of ice cold coffee. She jumped off of the bed and stuffed her feet into her untied sneakers as she ran down the stairs, her fingers just barely grazing the banister. When she got downstairs she made a screeching turn to the left past the kitchen and towards the front door where Star was waiting, standing awkwardly with Stanley. She probably looked a mess, especially after sleeping for so long and so hard. Her hair looked like a wild, frizzy lion's mane, but she didn't care.

"Hi!" she exclaimed, smiling.

"Hey," he said, waving, giving her a more forced smile.

Her sister was slightly intimidating, and waiting for Hester for almost five minutes while Star screamed and shouted didn't make her any less intimidating. But Hester obviously didn't pick up on that, and she slicked her hair back with her hand and nodded, swallowing loudly.

"Great, you're here. So, uh, let's go."

"Thanks," Stanley nodded to Star as Hester zoomed past him out of the house and down the driveway, onto the concrete streets that awaited them.

He walked his bike down the driveway and followed Hester, who was far ahead of him because she was running. When he got down, she was waiting for him, sitting on the curb with her hands in her lap.

       "Hey," she said again, turning to face him.

Her skin glimmered in the sunlight and her hair fanned out in various curl patterns against her. She was smiling, crinkles around her eyes and her nose scrunched up in an adorable way. She looked beautiful, Stanley realized, and he couldn't help but blush as he tried to restrain the big goofy grin he felt coming on.

      "Hey."

She pressed her hands against her lap to push herself up off the ground and dusted off her hands on her shorts.