20
Unfortunately, time does pass outside the bedroom, and soon Alice and Mirana have to leave to take out the cookies before they burn. After scrambling to get their clothes back on they race downstairs to clear the oven. Mirana quickly sets the tray on the stove to cool while Alice grabs a plate and a spatula to pile them on. She keeps glancing at Mirana over her shoulder, but as soon as their eyes nearly meet she looks away again. She doesn't know how to ask this question, but it's bothering her keeping it inside. She just doesn't know how to say it without embarrassing herself.
"Alright, Alice, what is it?" Mirana asks.
Alice eases the spatula underneath a few cookies. "What?" She transfers them to the plate and works on another set.
"You haven't said anything since we… you know. And you keep looking at me."
Alice pushes a little too hard with the spatula and nearly knocks the current row of cookies onto the counter. "I — I, um." She clears her throat, hoping that'll help a little, but it doesn't. Not really. "I — er." She takes a deep breath. She's got to spit this out. "I was just wondering how it was. For you."
There's silence for a moment. Then, Mirana starts laughing. "Oh, is that all?"
"Don't say it like it's not a big deal!" Alice protests. "I really want to know!"
"You're so red right now!"
"Well, I've never really — you're my first." Alice mumbles.
"Oh, darling." Mirana's calmed down considerably, but there's still a smile in her eyes. She leans back against the counter. "You were wonderful."
"Really?"
"Really."
Alice finishes piling the cookies onto the plate. "Well. That's good."
Mirana slips on some mitts and takes the tray to the sink. "You're adorable, you know that?" Alice turns a darker shade of red but says nothing. "Did you have anything else planned for today?"
"Well, this was a bit spur of the moment, as it seems everything else has been since we got here, so no, not really."
"Are you complaining?"
Alice pulls the tea box down from the cupboard above the stove, smiling despite herself. "Not really." she says truthfully, setting the box on the table. "What kind of tea do you like?"
"What do you have?"
Alice thumbs through the packets. "Earl grey, chamomile, peppermint, chai, green."
"Chamomile sounds lovely."
Alice removes a packet of chamomile, then a packet of green for herself. "Honey?"
Mirana turns. "Yes?"
"What — oh." Alice closes the cupboard, pot of honey in hand. She holds it up for Mirana to see. "I meant actual honey."
Mirana laughs, returning to washing the tray off. Steam rises from the still hot sheet as water hits it, a quiet sizzling sound. "Oh! Yes, please. Just a little."
Alice pulls down her favourite pale blue mug as well as a clear ceramic for Mirana and sets them with the tea things. She also grabs the glass pitcher, because God knows that she hasn't the patience for a stupid kettle, fills it with water, then closes it inside the microwave to warm up, punching it in for three minutes. This is nice, and normal. She's long stopped worrying about all hell breaking loose in a matter of minutes. For now, she can enjoy this little oasis with Mirana. She tears open each tea packet and places the bags in their respective cups, then returns the tea box to its place. The empty packets go into the rubbish, and a spoon beside Mirana's cup. Alice personally takes her tea plain, not really seeing the point in honey or lemon unless you're ill.
As the water warms up, Alice starts to try and come up with other things that they could do. She hadn't planned much further than baking, and she certainly hadn't planned for certain… other events, though continuing with that, while thoroughly pleasurable, is risky while her mother remains home. She'd had enough difficulty as it was keeping quiet the first time, but now that Mirana is quite familiar with every inch of her —
Yes, continuing with that would not be the best idea.
What do couples even do? Alice is very out of her element, the closest thing to a relationship before this she's had being with Hamish. However, Alice doesn't really count it, seeing as one, their parents had set them up, and two, he'd tried proposing to her after "dating" for only two weeks. Two weeks of awkwardly holding hands and making up excuses not to kiss him all in the name of trying to please her mother. That ridiculous ring was what gave Alice the push she needed to finally end things with him, which of course resulted in Hamish starting a smear campaign against the Kingsleigh name.
No, she'd certainly hadn't felt bad about being expelled from that school in particular after her revenge scheme went perfectly. Alice smirks to herself. Junior year, a flagpole, too much duct tape, and the perfect amount of sleeping pills. Though she'd promised her mother she'd never do something of the sort again, she doesn't regret that one bit.
The microwave goes off and Alice hurries to get the water out. Focus, Kingsleigh! What do couples do? She racks her brain for ideas as she pours the hot water directly onto the tea bags for faster steeping. She swirls the chamomile around a bit to speed that up, then dips the spoon into the honey. The golden syrup spills slowly into the cup, marbling the top as Alice's wandering eyes land on the telly. A movie, perhaps? But what kind? She replaces the jar and leaves the spoon sitting through the handle of the mug in case Mirana wants to stir that a bit more. These little things, like a favourite movie, or a song, or even a favourite colour — well, that one is fairly obvious — these are things she should know by now! She's fairly certain she doesn't even know when Mirana's birthday is. She tries to remember if Mirana's ever told her, but nothing comes up. God! She doesn't even know her birthday! What if it's already passed like hers?
Well, one thing at a time.
"Mirana, would you want to watch a movie?" she asks, handing Mirana her mug carefully.
"I wouldn't be opposed." she says with a smile, following Alice to the shelf housing their film collection.
"I'll go get a blanket." Alice says. "You can set the player up."
As Alice goes upstairs to go retrieve a blanket from the cabinet upstairs, she lets herself breathe a sigh of relief. So far, so good. This is why she should plan ahead more, but honestly the whole idea of planning sounds tiresome. She groans. She'll leave planning to Mirana next time. Why is she so awful at this?
When she returns downstairs, fluffy grey blanket under her arm, she finds Mirana already curled up on the sofa with her tea, sitting in front of the title screen.
The title screen of the film that had terrified her in her primary school days and hadn't watched since.
Misery.
Alice forces herself to put on a brave face. That was years ago. It can't be that scary now. If this is what Mirana wants to watch, then that's what they'll watch.
She settles in beside Mirana, draping the blanket over their legs and sitting her mug on her lap. She clicks "play", bracing herself mentally.
The movie is just as terrifying as she remembers, and then some, especially now that she's old enough to notice other subtleties throughout. As she watches Paul try over and over again to escape Annie, chills creep up her spine, especially as Annie grows more and more unhinged. Alice locks her jaw, trying to keep a composed expression and hide how she's gradually becoming more terrified by the second.
They finally reach the line that chills her blood every time.
"Paul, my ceramic penguin in the study always faces due south."
She hears Mirana laugh. How can she be laughing right now? Paul is as good as dead now!
"Alice."
Alice keeps her eyes trained on the screen. I'm not scared, you're scared, I'm super tough! she makes herself think. "Yeah?"
"You're terrified right now, aren't you?"
"No!"
Annie raises the hammer.
Nope, nope, nope! Alice buries her face in Mirana's shoulder. She can't, she can't do it! She cringes as she hears the bones snapping, breaking. Even being unable to see her stomach still churns, knowing exactly what Annie is doing to Paul. Ughhhhhh!
Mirana laughs harder. "Alice!" Alice can feel Mirana's body shaking, but she doesn't move from her spot. She doesn't care anymore. She feels Mirana's arm drape around her. "Okay, it's over, you can look."
Alice sits up, relieved to find that the scene is, in fact, over. She busies herself with her tea, it being warm enough for her to drink more of it. "I don't know what you're talking about." she mumbles into her cup.
Mirana turns her head and presses a kiss to Alice's forehead. "You should have told me." she says. "We don't have to finish it."
"No, I'll be fine. I don't think it gets any worse until towards the end." Alice says. "I'm not a child anymore."
"It's okay to be scared of things."
"Mmmph." Alice continues drinking her tea, letting the warm, earthy flavour distract her for a minute. It's been a while since she's had the time for a decent cup of green tea. "I didn't peg you for the psych thriller type."
Mirana threads their fingers together absentmindedly, taking a sip of her own tea. "What did you peg me for?"
"Film or neo noirs."
"I've heard of film noir, but what are neo noirs?"
"Modernized film noirs."
"I haven't seen either, actually. Do you have any?"
"No. Besides, we're already watching this."
"True, but we don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable."
Alice rolls her eyes. "I'll be fine, really."
"Whatever you say."
"Next you're going to tell me this is your favourite film."
Mirana grins. "It is."
"Why?"
"It fascinates me. The degradation of Annie's mind, the near impossibility of Paul's escape. That, and death in itself intrigues me. Death of the body, death of the mind." Mirana squeezes her hand, eyes glimmering with excitement. "It's thrilling."
It makes absolutely no sense, given everything they've both gone through, but Alice doesn't question it. Mirana is full of surprises, and it only makes Alice more curious about her and endears her to her even more.
It doesn't stop her from burying her face back into Mirana's shoulder during the final fight scene though.
The weekend ends far too soon, with Alice's mother asking them to come again any time they'd like. It's unlikely they'll be back until Thanksgiving break, what with the preparations they'll have to make for the trial and Alice serving detention.
Speaking of which, that's exactly what's waiting for Alice after she finishes her last class. She glances down at the pink slip and sighs. She really isn't looking forward to this. If her last three schools have taught her anything, it's that detention is the same everywhere — staring at a wall, nothing to do, not even sleep, and sitting still for at least thirty minutes and at most a whole hour. She's meant to deal with four weeks of this!
Mirana walks her to Professor Alden's classroom, hand in hand. Well, if one good thing has come from this, it's that Mirana's willing to be more open about their relationship at school. It had taken some coaxing, but when some random guy at the petrol station on the way back had started hitting on Alice, that had done the trick. Alice almost wishes that had happened sooner. Maybe she could've paid Bayard or Tarrant to try that. She nearly laughs out loud at the thought.
They arrive at the classroom far too soon. Alice groans.
Mirana presses a kiss to her cheek. "It won't be forever."
"But it'll feel like it." Alice grumbles.
Mirana smirks. "If you behave, I'll have something for you when you come back."
"Like what?"
Mirana grips the front of her shirt, pulling Alice up to her and kissing her hard. Before Alice can tangle her fingers in her hair and reciprocate properly, Mirana pulls back.
Alice pouts. "Tease."
"Yes, yes I am. I'll see you at home."
She turns to leave, then turns back and rubs something off Alice's lip. Lipstick. Alice smirks and nips her finger before she can pull it back. Mirana gasps, mock-surprised, before sashaying away. Alice swears she's doing it on purpose.
It takes all Alice's self-control to walk through that door and not chase after Mirana. She turns the knob and enters the Astrology classroom.
Professor Alden sits at his desk, looking perfectly pressed and proper as usual, not a hair out of place. He writes hurriedly with the ink spilling rapidly from his fountain pen. He doesn't even glance up when Alice walks in. He flicks his index finger towards a front row stool with such force and fluidity that Alice is surprised the stool doesn't rush to meet him.
"Sit." he orders.
Alice obeys, dropping her bag beside it and mentally preparing herself for a hour of boredom.
Professor Alden finishes whatever he's writing before marching over to Alice's desk. He snatches up the detention slip, looks at it, and tears it in half.
"The slip may say 'detention', Miss Kingsleigh, but that is not how we'll be spending our time over the course of these four weeks." Professor Alden says. "We'll be preparing you for your case."
Alice frowns. "I thought that was the lawyer's job."
Professor Alden gives a derisive snort. "The lawyer will be of more use to Mirana than to you. The less time he has to waste working on you, the more he can spend presenting Mirana's case. While your allegations against Dr. Bumby will serve as further ammunition, the focus will primarily be on the most recent event, as well as Mason's parentage, which he will no doubt use as leverage to gain sympathy from the jury and deny the claims. Unfortunately, given Bumby's position and his years of collecting accolades, the Underland family and he hold the exact same weight, equals in the courtroom. You are but one piece in this very elaborate, complex puzzle: Underland v. Bumby. Now," Professor Alden goes to his desk and lifts a well worn Bible from one of the drawers. "Of course, we're going to do this properly and swear you in. Raise your right hand, left on the Bible." Alice does so. "Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give at this hearing shall be the truth, and nothing but the truth, under penalty of perjury, so help you God?"
"I do."
Professor Alden scoffs. "What is this, your wedding day? Repeat after me. I swear by the Almighty God."
"I swear by the Almighty God."
"That the evidence I give."
"That the evidence I give."
"Shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
"Shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
"Now the whole thing."
"I swear by God —"
"The Almighty God."
"It's one word!" Alice says indignantly.
"One word that could ruin you." Professor Alden snarls. "We're going to go over this until you get it right, so I suggest you cooperate completely."
Alice grits her teeth.
This is going to be a long four weeks.