It took Emmeline everything not to fall asleep on the guy's door from before, but her eyes did flutter close..that was until the loudest curse word she had heard came from inside the cabin. She jolted upright, eyes snapping open as she pulled her thin jacket tighter around her shoulders and took a hesitant step away from the door. It didn't seem polite to hover right at his door, after all, she was getting him up in the middle of the night, just to ask something as stupid as if she could borrow some gas or of she could stay the night. Hopefully the curse wouldn't mean he was in a terrible mood.
Miles grumbled more curse words under his breath, his toe throbbing with pain. He stumbled his way to the front door, unlocked it and opened it with a grudge. It was dark and hard to see, so he just said, "Whaddaya want?!"
"My car ran out of gas a few miles down the road, and I can't get service to call anyone out here," She stammered out quickly, looking at the ground and continuing with quick words, "I was just going to ask if you had a gas can or if I could use your phone to call someone for help? Sorry for waking you." Emmeline tried her best to hide her shivering as she stood there, finally looking up nervously at the male.
Miles was a bit stunned when he recognized the woman's voice, but he didn't look like it. He stood there in silence for a bit, still suffering from his toe's pain.
An uncomfortable time passed before Miles finally turned away and went inside. Just let her in… "Come in," He grumbled and growled, barely comprehensible.
Emmeline hesitated when she finally heard him respond, though quickly shook away the nervousness and followed him in, keeping everything she had with tightly held in her arms. The last thing she needed was to borrow a phone or get some gas and then have to return and bother him again just because she forgot something. At that point she figured his annoyance with her would go through the roof. "Thank you," She said softly as she stopped right after the door, looking around at the interior of the cabin.
Miles walked over to the wall and slapped his hand to feel for the light, turning it on. He squinted so much he could barely see, but it was for his own good. He shuffled over to where the woman was standing and he towered over. "I'll ask you again," He growled, his words slurring, "What do you want?"
"I just told you," She replied quietly, taking a step back and only looking up to try to meet his eyes once, "I was just looking for a phone that had reception, or someone that would have gas that I could borrow for my car. I'll pay you back for anything, I promise." Emmeline tried her best not to look away, but it was difficult, seeing as not only was the man in front of her tall, he was also scary looking when he was looming over her like a giant.
Miles stared at her for a bit, then frowned. "If I don't even have a car myself, what makes you think I'm gonna have gas for one??"
Calm down, for Pete's sake…. He let out a sigh and wiped a lazy hand across his tired face. "But…The phone though…." Miles pointed off into a different room. "It's in there." I hope she knows how to use a rotary dial…. It's all I have…..
"I didn't know you didn't have a car," She replied, frowning as well and slowly taking off her shoes before glancing in the direction that he pointed and following in that direction. "I'll be out of your hair in a few minutes, I promise," Emmeline added as she walked, hoping beyond everything that his phone worked and she wouldn't have to walk back to her car in vain. That was going to be a cold and miserable, not to mention terrifying walk if she did have to.
Miles didn't reply as he trudged over to his couch and flopped down, letting the woman do what she needed to do. He was so tired at this point that he just hoped he could get a good night's sleep and fell asleep on the couch.
It definitely took Emmeline a minute to even figure out how to work the phone, but soon she had the hang of it, standing silently in the room with the phone pressed hopefully to her ear. No one answered, but she wasn't deterred, after all she had called her mother, who was probably asleep at this time. Next it was her oldest cousin, one of the two she was supposed to be staying with, but there was no answer from her either, and still no from her younger cousin. By the end of the few minutes she was frowning and trying to think of who else to call, with no ideas. "They didn't answer," She said quietly, either to herself or to the man sitting on the couch.
Half asleep, Miles groaned, "That's not good."
But he didn't say anything else, as he was determined to go to sleep. Well, someone better pick up….
“I don’t know who else to try to get a hold of..” She said in the same quiet tone, a frown on her face. Emmeline eventually sighed and shook her head pulling her small bag of things to her chest and glancing at the male on the couch, “I suppose I’ll just try to get back to my car..maybe someone will come by and help. Thank you for your help though.” She really didn’t want to leave the warm house, but it was clear the male could care less if she was there or not, and as long as she walked fast, the walk to her car couldn’t take more than half a hour.
Miles barely heard her as he dozed off. "Hhhcccbcbnbbnnnn…." He grumbled, tipping his head back.
(OH MY GOSH I THOUGHT I REPLIED I'M SO SO SORRY)
She went quiet again as she pulled all her things closer to her chest, glancing around and eventually saying quietly, "I'm just going to try to find my car again I suppose. Thank you for letting me borrow your phone." It was going to be a long walk, but Emmeline didn't say that, just pulled out her phone and frowned again when she saw that it was extremely close to being dead. No flashlight ontop of a long walk was like death waiting to happen.
(Honestly I was thinking about bumping it, but just thought your were busy, so. Uh… yeah.)
(But also, Miles is just gonna be sleeping because he's tired, so I don't really have much to do. So if you want Emmeline to do whatever she wants before she comes in contact with Miles again that'd be cool.)
(How do you think they should meet each other again? I'm having a brain fart but with ideas)
(I don't know. Maybe she comes back from sleeping in her car and realizes she can't really sleep in her car because it's so uncomfortable and cold? She comes back in the morning? I dunno my brain is having just as much as a brain fart as yours.)
(Sure, do you want to respond or do you want me to go again?)
(I suppose you can go again if u want)
(Sounds good)
After a long, cold and very dark walk back to her car, Emmeline was more than ready to sleep through all her frustration and worry. Sleep decided not to come though, and so, she spent the hours until morning staring out the window of her car, occasionally trying to call someone again as well as bundling into clothes to keep warm. When the sun came up though, nothing seemed to change like she hoped it would. Her car magically didn't have more gas, her phone still didn't have reception, and she was hungrier than ever, paired with the fact that she was still utterly lost, the only good side she could look to was the pretty sunrise.
The sun rose up, shining through the window with all of it's blinding glory.
Miles woke up with the sun in his eyes, and he mumbled and grumbled something under his breath. Uuughhhhg…. He sat up on his couch, curious as to how he was able to fall asleep there. Another day… He sat, but didn't get up quite yet. He rubbed his eyes with the side of his hand and sighed. Of course I'm still tired……..
Emmeline slowly got out of her car once she was sure it was light enough out, her mind pleading with itself on what to do. On one hand she wanted to go to the house from last night and see if anyone would get her call again, but she also wanted to try her hand at pushing her car towards the road back to the city, maybe try to see if someone would help her so she didn't have to bother the grumpy male from before. Food was her main priority though and eventually she relented and headed towards the man's house, several bills stuffed into her pocket so she could offer to pay in exchange for food.
Miles trudged around for a bit, scrounging around for something to eat. This kinda always ends up the same…. He opened a couple of cabinets, but there was little to nothing inside that was edible from the get-go; everything needed to be cooked into something or be cooked in the first place.
That is, until he found a half-loaf of bread sitting on the counter. Perfect…. He unwrapped it, fumbling with the package for a little before opening it up. Glorious bread….. Maybe I need to think about getting more food soon….
Her hope that the grumpy male had food at his house was the only thought echoing in her mind as she started to trudge up the road, still shivering even in her layers. Even though the walk was the same, it seemed to take less time when she wasn't terrified of walking in the dark, and soon enough she was walking up to the door. Emmeline didn't knock though. Just stood there, trying to decide if it was worth the time to even ask. She gently tugged the wrinkled bills out of her pocket when she worked up the courage to knock, and in one smooth motion did so. All she had to do was wait.
(ouch I thought I replied, sorry – also college sucks when it's all online)
Miles heard some knocking and grunted, swinging his head around. Now what…??? He grumbled lowly under his breath and trudged to the door, an uncut loaf of bread. He willingly began to eat it as he opened the door. "What?" He growled, taking another bite.
(Eating a whole loaf of bread is sorta cursed, isn't it?)
(Ouch yeah online college is terrible and it's cool. Plus..yes, very cursed lol, even just thinking about eating a whole loaf of bread…just..no)
"I'm sorry to bother you again, but I'm really hungry since I still haven't been able to do anything with my car and get it anywhere and I was hoping I could take some food? I have money to pay you back and I'll leave as soon as I'm done," Emmeline said quickly, not glancing up at the male. All she did was hold out the wrinkled bills, all in total adding up to about thirty three dollars. She hoped he wouldn't just close the door on her face, but if he did, some part of her wouldn't wonder why. After all, she had bothered him three or four times already, and he was clearly sick of it.
(Lmao cursed bread-eating)
Miles glared down at the woman, and then the money – or what looked like money – in her hand. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh so long he even thought he was going to pass out. "Keep your money," He croaked and turned around to go inside, leaving the door open for her to come in. "Grab what you want…. I don't got much, though….." Just don't take every single thing in this damn house!!!
She nodded gently, though as she stepped in, she didn't put the money away. "I won't, I just need something small. I'm going try to make my way back towards town, hopefully someone will come up this way and see me." Emmeline closed the door behind herself, then walked in, following behind the male in hopes that he was leading her to the kitchen.
Miles went and flopped down on the couch in the living room. He let out a groaning sigh as he sank in. "There's…. stuff…. in there. I dunno…." He slurred, and took another bite of his bread loaf. He glanced over at the woman.
