Alice managed to eat a majority of the breakfast during the drive back, not just the bacon. But, by the end she just couldn't eat anymore without making herself feel even worse, so she just silently closed the Styrofoam container and placed it on her knees, sitting ramrod straight with her anxious gaze darting around at random.
Chris noticed her change in posture in the rear view mirror and spoke up.
"Do you need me to pull over?"
"No, no..." Alice shook her head as she took a moment to ground herself. "I... um..." She paused, collecting her chaotic thoughts. "I... just want to lay down."
"We're almost there, think you can hold off for another couple of minutes?" Chris asked, his voice full of concern.
"Y-yes... I can do that." Alice took a moment to assess herself before concluding with confidence that she could handle it.
"If you do fall asleep, I can carry you inside, Princess." Chris smiled at Alice's embarrassment. Princess was his and Claire's nickname for her, and Alice didn't exactly see herself as one, so she felt very self conscious whenever they called her that.
She did. All of the stress and her anxiety had been draining her the whole drive back from the diner. The only thing that had been keeping her awake was the dutiful way she'd been eating her breakfast. But now that she'd stopped, she was asleep with her head against the side window.
"Grab her bag, I did promise." Chris pulled the car to a halt in the driveway. He carefully extracted his slumbering girlfriend in a princess carry and followed Claire into their house.
"Considering all the shit she has and still goes through, I'm surprised she doesn't drink herself stupid, do drugs, or even tried to kill herself." Claire spoke up as Chris carried her to Claire's bed and carefully put her down.
"That's because she's got us." Chris replied. "Unlike the rest of the people in her life, we actually listen to her. She has a voice, but her mother's always trying to silence her into being a slave."
"There's been so many times that I've wanted to punch that woman..." Claire frowned as Alice stirred slightly in her sleep before rolling over with a content sigh.
"Judging by the bruises on her knuckles, I think she beat you to that privilege." Chris indicated the marks on Alice's left hand, which were easily identifiable as evidence of her defiance towards her mother.
"Better have been worth it." Claire frowned as she sat in her desk chair and leaned back to lovingly gaze at her sleeping polyamorous lover.
Alice was bisexual. But, she was dating both of the Redfields at the same time in a polyamorous relationship. She was both of their girlfriend. However, neither of the Redfields were interested in incest, so they shared Alice, that was it. What one did with her wasn't the other's business. That being said, they did occasionally have a threesome with her, whenever she was feeling up for it... or when there was enough alcohol involved. They were all of legal drinking age, of course.
"Somehow... I don't think it was, in the long run." Chris couldn't shake the feeling that something was stirring on the horizon.
Alice slowly opened her eyes, the only sound she could hear was a chirping songbird coming from somewhere outside and the sound of someone else's breathing behind her back. She blearily turned her head to see that Claire had fallen asleep with her, spooning her back with one arm loosely draped over her thigh while the other supported her own head.
Alice couldn't quite get her thoughts in a straight line, but she assumed that she fell asleep in the car and Chris carried her into their house. Claire probably joined her after an unknown interval of time.
After a few minutes of mentally collecting herself, Alice slowly sat up, which woke up Claire with a groan.
"Yo." Claire regarded her girlfriend with a goofy smile. "How you feeling?"
"Better, thanks." Alice propped herself up on one elbow to regard the redhead beside her. "What time is it?"
"Well, I fell asleep pretty much right away when I join you... and that was like... ten thirty?" Claire looked around to find her phone, but Chris passed the open bedroom and provided the time.
"It's two fifteen."
"Hooray for lazy days." Alice smiled as she lovingly pulled Claire closer to her by the waist. "And for sexy girlfriends."
Claire kissed her collarbone with a glint in her eye. "You didn't share any porn with me last night."
"It was all shit." Alice replied. "I fell asleep before I found anything worth watching."
"Shame." Claire trailed several small kisses up the side of Alice's rather warm neck, then along her jawline before finally reaching her destination of Alice's lips.
Alice's phone rang from her jacket pocket while she was stroking Claire's hair during their afterglow. She glanced over at it, worried, but then realized it was her normal ringtone. It wasn't the Dragon.
However, before she could do much else, Chris leaned into the door and extracted the phone, glancing at the number with a raised eyebrow.
"Telemarketer. He called here a few days ago." Chris declined the call before gently tossing Alice her phone and leaving them alone.
"Well they can fuck off, I'm busy right now." Alice rolled onto her other side, now facing Claire on the bed with the light blankets covering themselves.
"How are you feeling, my Princess?" Claire planted a gentle kiss onto Alice's forehead.
"Much better, I've been really stressed, what with school, the Dragon, and all my anxiety and shit." Alice took stock of herself for a moment. "But just being with the two of you really helps me stay calm."
"That's good." Claire nuzzled against Alice's warm neck again. "You're so warm, feels really good."
"I've always had a high body temperature." Alice admitted. "Really helps counteract living underground."
"Are you saying that as a joke, or as a fact?" Claire spoke into Alice's collarbone, her eyes half closed. She was so comfortable after their sex session that she was beginning to nod off.
"Fact. Living in a basement means that it's a few degrees colder than above ground. It's physics. Heat rises, cold sinks." Alice explained, in a surprising display of literary intelligence. Alice was more of an art smart than a science smart.
"No wonder you're taller than me." Claire pouted, her eyes now completely closed. "You should get the fuck down here some times and get on my level."
Alice's eyes glinted with a sudden idea at Claire's witty comment. She smiled as she suddenly disappeared under the blanket, faster than Claire's sleepy brain could process what was happening until Claire's eyes snapped open and she yelped in surprise as she felt Alice's ironically cold tongue caressing her inner thighs.
"Alice!?" Claire tried to grasp the obstructive blanket, but her hands were shaking too much for much success. Her breathing picked up as Alice continued to tease her, adding her hands after a few moments. She wasn't prepared for the strange conflicting temperatures of Alice's cold tongue and hot fingers.
Alice's mother hung up the phone with a rare warm smile on her face. Sherry immediately noticed the smile and spoke up.
"What did the retard do this time?"
"Nothing that I'm aware of. Anyway, Sherry dear, I have some lovely news for you."
Sherry said nothing, waiting for her mother to continue speaking.
"I've got a date this evening, his name's Calvin and he's very nice." She was clearly excited about her date, but Sherry's raised eyebrow and sudden question made her smile falter slightly.
"What's the retard gonna think of this?"
"She has no say in the matter." Her mother smirked, her expression oddly dark.
Later in the evening, Alice felt confident enough to walk home from the Redfield's house - which wasn't very far, about a five minute walk - only to come home to an unfamiliar car sitting in the driveway.
Alice had half a mind to head back to her partners, but she was so confident when she left, she didn't want to disappoint them with such a rapid return.
So, walking into the front door, she was immediately greeted by a very unwelcome sight sitting at her feet; There was a pair of work boots that clearly didn't belong to any of her family.
Next was the sound of her mother's laugh, followed by the sound of a gravelly British man speaking.
Her mother brought a man home...
Alice's heart began hammering in her chest. She was not comfortable with this, and her instincts were telling her to run. This was clearly all orchestrated by her mother, trying to get back at Alice for the incident that morning.
Alice must have made some sort of involuntary sound, because the laughter suddenly stopped and her mother instantly called out. "I know you're there, get in here. Now."
Alice couldn't breathe very well as she slowly came around the entrance of the living room to find her sitting with a rough shaven man, which included his head and facial hair.
"Hey there, love. Who might you be?" The man asked, sounding politely curious.
"Alice." She spoke quietly, unable to speak due to her heart beating somewhere in her throat from anxiety and fear.
"Didn't catch that, could you say again?" The man genuinely didn't hear her speak, so she repeated her name a bit louder. "Lovely to meet you, Alice. My name's Calvin." He stood up suddenly and held out his hand, which caused Alice to take an equally sudden step back, her expression full of fear.
"She's not very social." Her mother commented as she took a sip of her martini.
Alice's recoil had put her up against the opposite wall, and she was beginning to look around in panic.
"Well, my bad love. Didn't mean to scare ya." Calvin lowered his hand and sat back down with a strange glint in his eye.
"Leave." Her mother glared at her daughter, who didn't even roll her eyes, darting down the basement stairs as fast as she could and hurrying into her personal sanctuary, locking the heavy door behind her before sliding her back down the inner surface with a huge gasp for breath before she started crying.