ALICE Ch 15

The Woodcock sisters look annoyed as Alice gives them an apologetic wave and turns away.

She knocks gently on Faye’s door. Long moments go by. The idea here is to check on Faye, not harass her. Alice isn’t even particularly looking forward to it, so if Faye doesn’t hear, that works.

The door opens.

Faye wears a fluffy robe covered in Baby Yodas, which she holds shut self-consciously. She’s not as stacked as her mother, but there’s still a lot of pale cleavage on display. Her hair is wild and her glasses are slightly askew.

“You got a minute?” Alice asks.

Faye looks her up and down, turning a little pink. Her eyes dark to her right and she hesitates, perhaps about to refuse. This girl is a mess.

Alice steps past her into the room to make up her mind for her. She’s not here to bother Faye, just to make sure that she’s not having a meltdown.

“Tough race today,” Alice says with a yawn, moving into the main bedroom area. Faye hurries after her. Alice intends to go on; she’d probably say something about how you hear about big crashes and stuff, but you don’t expect that to happen on your very first race. Maybe she would remind Faye of all the embarrassing things that have happened to other drivers who go on to do quite well, like Max. Just general stuff to make her feel better.

But none of that gets said. Alice stops and stares at Faye’s bed. There’s a black duffel open on the floor and a sheet over the bed with at least a dozen small, strange lumps in it.

“What the hell?” Alice steps forward and Faye grabs her arm, but Alice isn’t paying attention. She shakes her off and looks down into the open bag. Vibes. Dildos. Stuff that Alice doesn’t even recognize. Beads.

She turns to the bed and whips the sheet off. More toys, laid out in a tidy grid.

“Oh, Jesus,” Alice says.

And then, all the bizarre stuff clicks into place.

“Oh, shit. I’m so sorry,” she says, turning to the mortified, fire-engine red Faye, who is quivering with anxiety and humiliation. “You were like about to host a party or something. I’m sorry. I’m way out of line. I’ll get out of here,” Alice says quickly. She knows that she shouldn’t have moved the sheet or even barged into the room, but she’d acted without thinking.

Faye grabs her arm again.

Alice pauses. Is she wrong?

Faye can’t seem to form words. Is she not about to have a party? Alice blinks several times. Of course she isn’t. Alice doesn’t have to know Faye well to be able to spot a virgin. Faye’s never gotten her clothes off with another person, let alone done anything properly spicy.

But that means… Alice’s eyebrows rise until they can’t rise anymore. She turns to look down at the bed. “This is all for you?”