Chapter 10.5, I suppose!
Here's my "after" chapter for the WCMI writing challenge. It directly follows the events of the spring dance. I do wish I'd started it earlier, as I'm not entirely sure I'm 100% happy with it, but here it is! I now totally understand why it takes so long to write new segments. :)
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Alice shut the door behind her as she entered her house, his voice getting only slightly softer as a piece of wood was placed between them. I’ll leave the front door unlocked! he’d called to her, and while his door may be susceptible to random strangers entering his home, Alice knew hers most definitely would not be. She swiftly clicked her door locked and paused there for a moment, her mind working a mile a minute to try and comprehend what had just happened to her. She placed her little hand on the door and let her forehead fall onto it as well, almost sensing Reginald leaving, wondering, is he gone yet? She heard the cab pull away and knew he must have finally made his departure. The blonde spun herself around and slid down the door, sitting up against it, resting herself on her knees.
Honestly, though, what just happened? she asked herself, and attempted to go over the evening in her head. She’d done her best to avoid him, that was definitely true, and she’d allowed herself to be swept along by other interested parties, as it were - anything to keep her away from Reg for any length of time. There were many more interested parties than she thought there’d be…if there was one thing Alice had learned from the evening it was that she was apparently more attractive than she had ever realized. However, her attempts to avoid him had been unsuccessful, as was her attempt to tire him out so that he would no longer wish to dance. Somehow these endeavors had all backfired on her, and Alice had accidentally found out how wonderfully warm he was, and how good he smelled, and -
“I need some tea.”
Alice picked herself up from the floor, smoothing out her dress once she was finally standing and slipped off her shoes, leaving them near the foot of the stairs. She trotted briskly to the kitchen and put the kettle on, opening her cupboard to find just the tea she was looking for to make her feel comfortable. She selected Lady Grey, one of her very favorites. She picked out a teacup that made her feel pretty from a different cupboard, and waited for the water to boil. Alice leaned against her counter and hugged herself, still trying and failing to understand what had happened to her that evening, or, more accurately, how she felt about it. She stood there in a bit of a daze for longer than she’d realized, as the kettle’s whistle began to rudely interrupt her stillness. “Yes, alright, I’m coming!” she said in reply, removing the kettle from the stovetop and pouring some of its water into her cup. She used a tea bag instead of leaves as she may have preferred, simply because it was faster and she was quite tired, and more than ready to start drinking the loving, warm liquid that was sure to make her feel more comfortable. Alice added a bit of milk and sugar, stirred it up, and left the bag in so that the tea flavor could become even stronger as she drank it.
Alice sat herself down at her kitchen table, spreading her dress out over the sides of her chair. She ran her thumb over the side of her teacup, still carefully considering how she felt about the whole affair at the dance. If she hadn’t known it before, she definitely realized now how much Reginald liked her and was apparently very serious about her, possibly even more so after he’d actually managed to escort her to the dance in question. Then she also thought back to what Aurora had mentioned to her, and knew she was right in her efforts to stay as far away from the hatter as possible. Or was she? Alice mentally kicked herself for having this thought at all. Of course I’m right. I’m giving myself some good advice, and this time I’m going to follow it straight to the end. But she’d already begun to not follow said advice. Alice had allowed herself to be swept away into his arms on the dance floor and almost…well, thank goodness for Captain Sparrow, at any rate. I’m just tired, she thought. I have to blame it on being tired. I never would have behaved in such a way if I were fully awake. Another little part of her brain then asked her, Are you sure about that? Didn’t you want to be closer to him? You said it yourself it would give him the wrong idea, and you indeed wondered if the idea was really wrong…
Of course the idea was wrong. She wanted nothing to do with him.
Her tea was half gone by this point, and Alice was beginning to get drowsy. She scooped up her teacup and ascended the stairs to her bedroom, grabbing her shoes on her way. She distracted herself with her nighttime routine (brushing her teeth and that sort of thing), but the force of her dilemma hit her square in the face again as she got into bed. Her brain was telling her one thing, while the rest of her was speaking incredibly differently. A part of her couldn’t stop thinking about how he smelled, how warm he was, and for a moment, she knew, she actually wanted his lips on hers, to take in his scent more fully, to become a part of it. When these thoughts surfaced inside of her, the logical part of Alice’s mind immediately argued, but as she became drowsier and drowsier, the logical part of her mind slowed its speech, and the rest of her thoughts were made to surface. She tried to remember how specific events had made her feel. Memories of nervousness, exhilaration, and a feeling as though her dinner was going to come back up the way it had gone down (but in a good way, somehow), came to her. She allowed her mind to wander off, and the logical part of her mind would have been very ashamed to know what the rest of Alice was thinking about. As reality shifted into the world of unconsciousness, Alice asked herself one question.
Did she want to see him again?
Yes, was her reply, as her eyes got heavier and heavier, and she finally allowed them to close.
In the morning, a bird outside her window stirred the logical part of Alice, and she deftly changed the answer to that question.
No. Absolutely not.
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Alice shut the door behind her as she entered her house, his voice getting only slightly softer as a piece of wood was placed between them. I’ll leave the front door unlocked! he’d called to her, and while his door may be susceptible to random strangers entering his home, Alice knew hers most definitely would not be. She swiftly clicked her door locked and paused there for a moment, her mind working a mile a minute to try and comprehend what had just happened to her. She placed her little hand on the door and let her forehead fall onto it as well, almost sensing Reginald leaving, wondering, is he gone yet? She heard the cab pull away and knew he must have finally made his departure. The blonde spun herself around and slid down the door, sitting up against it, resting herself on her knees.
Honestly, though, what just happened? she asked herself, and attempted to go over the evening in her head. She’d done her best to avoid him, that was definitely true, and she’d allowed herself to be swept along by other interested parties, as it were - anything to keep her away from Reg for any length of time. There were many more interested parties than she thought there’d be…if there was one thing Alice had learned from the evening it was that she was apparently more attractive than she had ever realized. However, her attempts to avoid him had been unsuccessful, as was her attempt to tire him out so that he would no longer wish to dance. Somehow these endeavors had all backfired on her, and Alice had accidentally found out how wonderfully warm he was, and how good he smelled, and -
“I need some tea.”
Alice picked herself up from the floor, smoothing out her dress once she was finally standing and slipped off her shoes, leaving them near the foot of the stairs. She trotted briskly to the kitchen and put the kettle on, opening her cupboard to find just the tea she was looking for to make her feel comfortable. She selected Lady Grey, one of her very favorites. She picked out a teacup that made her feel pretty from a different cupboard, and waited for the water to boil. Alice leaned against her counter and hugged herself, still trying and failing to understand what had happened to her that evening, or, more accurately, how she felt about it. She stood there in a bit of a daze for longer than she’d realized, as the kettle’s whistle began to rudely interrupt her stillness. “Yes, alright, I’m coming!” she said in reply, removing the kettle from the stovetop and pouring some of its water into her cup. She used a tea bag instead of leaves as she may have preferred, simply because it was faster and she was quite tired, and more than ready to start drinking the loving, warm liquid that was sure to make her feel more comfortable. Alice added a bit of milk and sugar, stirred it up, and left the bag in so that the tea flavor could become even stronger as she drank it.
Alice sat herself down at her kitchen table, spreading her dress out over the sides of her chair. She ran her thumb over the side of her teacup, still carefully considering how she felt about the whole affair at the dance. If she hadn’t known it before, she definitely realized now how much Reginald liked her and was apparently very serious about her, possibly even more so after he’d actually managed to escort her to the dance in question. Then she also thought back to what Aurora had mentioned to her, and knew she was right in her efforts to stay as far away from the hatter as possible. Or was she? Alice mentally kicked herself for having this thought at all. Of course I’m right. I’m giving myself some good advice, and this time I’m going to follow it straight to the end. But she’d already begun to not follow said advice. Alice had allowed herself to be swept away into his arms on the dance floor and almost…well, thank goodness for Captain Sparrow, at any rate. I’m just tired, she thought. I have to blame it on being tired. I never would have behaved in such a way if I were fully awake. Another little part of her brain then asked her, Are you sure about that? Didn’t you want to be closer to him? You said it yourself it would give him the wrong idea, and you indeed wondered if the idea was really wrong…
Of course the idea was wrong. She wanted nothing to do with him.
Her tea was half gone by this point, and Alice was beginning to get drowsy. She scooped up her teacup and ascended the stairs to her bedroom, grabbing her shoes on her way. She distracted herself with her nighttime routine (brushing her teeth and that sort of thing), but the force of her dilemma hit her square in the face again as she got into bed. Her brain was telling her one thing, while the rest of her was speaking incredibly differently. A part of her couldn’t stop thinking about how he smelled, how warm he was, and for a moment, she knew, she actually wanted his lips on hers, to take in his scent more fully, to become a part of it. When these thoughts surfaced inside of her, the logical part of Alice’s mind immediately argued, but as she became drowsier and drowsier, the logical part of her mind slowed its speech, and the rest of her thoughts were made to surface. She tried to remember how specific events had made her feel. Memories of nervousness, exhilaration, and a feeling as though her dinner was going to come back up the way it had gone down (but in a good way, somehow), came to her. She allowed her mind to wander off, and the logical part of her mind would have been very ashamed to know what the rest of Alice was thinking about. As reality shifted into the world of unconsciousness, Alice asked herself one question.
Did she want to see him again?
Yes, was her reply, as her eyes got heavier and heavier, and she finally allowed them to close.
In the morning, a bird outside her window stirred the logical part of Alice, and she deftly changed the answer to that question.
No. Absolutely not.