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━︎━︎ IN WHICH TWIGS CRUNCH

The door creaked as Tewksbury walked into the room, pulling something out the pocket of his blazer, quickly sitting down on the floor and unrolling the piece of parchment as Edith looked up.

"What took you so long?" Edith asked, putting down the pencil she held in her hand, abandoning the sketch of the view outside the window as she looked at the boy who had just entered.

"I- uh- just a long waiting line" he told her and without waiting for a response he changed the subject as Edith knelt beside him, a suspicious look on her face before she turned to look at the map that was displayed in front of her. "Right, so we're here" Tewksbury said, taking off the cap of the quill with the help of his teeth and circled the specific place they were currently at with the red ink he had just purchased.

"Now the important question, where is Enola?" Edith asked — mostly talking to herself —, her eyes going around the map quickly, trying to find a specific place.

"Enola had mentioned a finishing school" Tewksbury said, taking the cap out of his teeth's grip as Edith quickly took the quill from him, he gave her a short side glance, catching her biting her lip out of concentration before he grinned at looked back at the map.

"Yes, Mrs. Harrison's finishing school for girls" Edith agreed as her eyes continued roaming the map that was set in front of them on the floor. "That would be. . ." Edith trailed of as she pursed her lips into a thin line and fiddled with the quill in her hand. "Right there" she announced, circling the part of the map where the school was.

"Pirate treasure" Tewksbury said, making Edith think back to the day they met on the train and how he had assumed the girls were looking for pirate treasure instead of Eudoria Holmes.

A soft laugh traveled out of her mouth as she remembered the events of that day "pirate treasure" she said in between laughs.

Tewksbury joined in her laugh, their ribs starting to hurt from the effects of their inside joke.

"When do we plan to set out?" Tewksbury asked after the laughter in the room died down, turning his head to look at Edith who did the same in his direction, their noses accidentally brushing as they both gasped and moved their faces slightly away from the others.

"Sorry" they both said at the same time, making eye contact for a split second before going back to the conversation.

"Tomorrow at dawn" Edith said, looking back at the map. "We would need to get up early and find ourselves a carriage for our travel".

"How will we get inside?" Tewksbury asked in response as he licked his bottom lip without even realising it, his eyes observing her side profile, finding it utterly beautiful and perfect. Her skin seemed to glow like a ray of sunshine on a summers afternoon, in one word, golden.

Edith stayed silent for a moment before saying "we'll figure it out as we go"

More silence filled the room, although it wasn't awkward but comfortable. A silence neither of them wanted to leave.

Tewksbury tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, lingering his hand on the side of her face as the boy entered a trance that he knew too well, like an old friend.

Edith didn't turn her head to face his, but she kept staring at the map, trying to — with all her might — ignore the tingling feeling of his fingers gently travelling down the side of her face.

"You're red" he stated with a breathy chuckle, as her eyebrows furrowed out of confusion, finally turning to look at the boy.

"Excuse me?"

"Your face, you're really red"

Edith finally understood what he meant by red and abruptly turned her head to look back at the map with the duck of it as a wide smile displayed itself on her face, a chuckle escaping her mouth as one left his as well.

. . .

Edith walked down an alleyway in the forest, the sun was setting — creating golden sun rays sliding in between the tall trees — as air blew softly, causing a small shiver down her spine and a light whistle as the wind traveled through the nature.

She loved simply accepting the beauty of nature that was around her, she found it interesting how each string of grass could be of a slight different shade compared to the one next to it or how each flower was unique with a nonidentical shape to it.

It was weird to say that Edith had never felt more draw to nature than after she had met Flower Boy.

Edith didn't quite know how she felt about Tewksbury. She definitely knew their bond was growing by the second and she saw him as a friend by now.

But there was just something wrong with the word 'friend'.

It didn't quite fit the puzzle she was putting together and it felt like the ugly duckling of the story she was living: odd, strange and bizarre.

Maybe she just didn't feel their connection being close enough for them to be called friends,

or it was too strong to call them simply friends.

Either one of those would make sense, but Edith really did feel like their bond wasn't weak. She felt as if she had know Tewksbury for years, she felt comfortable around him, like she could say anything and he wouldn't ignore her.

Just as a sudden and absurd thought was about to enter her mind, she heard twigs crunch behind her as quiet footsteps approached her from behind.

Umm it's been a short while