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━︎━︎ IN WHICH HE APOLOGISES

Just as Edith thought she was getting paranoid she heard the footsteps again, the light sound of leafs crunching underneath the weight of the person's body becoming louder by the second as Edith stopped walking, her heart beat raising slightly.

"Boo —"

Before the person — that currently stood inches behind her — could finish their sentence, Edith had wrapped her arm around their neck and pushed them over her shoulder, resulting in them falling onto the ground in front of her.

It was only when Edith took a step closer and looked at his face did she realise who it was.

Her eyes widened as she fell onto her knees beside the boy in a fast motion.

Tewksbury grunted in pain as he clutched his stomach with one arm, trying to ease the pain that was sprinting it's way through his back as the other lay on the ground, his fingers stretching out.

"What was that for?!" He asked, air emitting heavily from his lungs as his eyes squished shut, creating wrinkles at his eyelids.

"Self defence?" Edith replied as more of an question as her hand cupped his cheek, her head tilting to the side as she softly scrunched her face up.

Tewksbury lifted his head up slightly, giving the girl a look of disbelief before crashing his head back onto the ground and shutting his eyes back close.

. . .

Minutes later, the golden sun went down fully — revealing the beauty of the night as stars splattered the inky sky as the moon shone brighter than on any other day.

The two had been walking around a field they had found near a small pond filled with lily-pads. The grass that lay on it was covered with small flowers of every colour and looked just like one of Claude Monet's nature paintings.

Edith lay on the grass, the boy beside her as she stared up at the darkness of the night, her vision focusing on all the small white dots displayed miles above her. It got her wandering if there were mystical creatures living on the other planets, completely oblivious to the facts humans existed.

"Edith?" Tewksbury said, his voice hushed down to a soft whisper. He watched the girl stare up into the midnight sky as she lay beside him on the cold grass filled with flowers.

She hummed in response, her head slowly moving to the side so she could face him but her eyes had closed.

"I — um" he started to say, looking back up into the sky, avoiding eye contact.

Edith opened her eyes, a small grin appearing on her face as she looked at the boy.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to give you something. . ." Tewksbury said, his words trailing off as he connected his eyes back with Edith's.

He started to rummage the pocket of his black blazer as he sat up. Edith sat up too, her arm brushing against his as she watched him pull something out of his pocket.

"I wasn't sure if you would like it" Tewksbury stated, looking down at his hand which held a silver necklace with a small key dangling from it.

He held it up, letting the thin chain fall down as he held the top of it with his fingers. The key spun around for a moment before Edith pulled the key towards herself, letting her eye observe the small key.

"A key?" Edith asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked back up into the boy's eyes.

"Y-yeah, it's how we met, pirate treasure". Tewksbury told her as she let out a small laugh. "Well, Do you like it?" He asked, letting go of the chain and letting Edith hold it in her hand.

"I — I love it" she stated, her eyes still focused on the key as she moved it slightly to the left, letting the moonlight reflect onto it before looking up into his honey brown eyes. "But why the need of gifting it to me?"

Tewkesbury looked up from the necklace back to Edith's eyes as he sighed "because I felt guilty".

"Guilty?"

He nodded his head, looking down to his hands were his thumb played with the other thumb as he took in a shaky breath. "That day Enola and I were abducted by that man, I yelled at you. . . and treated you like a child"

"Tewksbury, it's fine — "

"No, no it's not. I shouldn't have done that, I was angry and worried" Tewksbury said, biting his bottom lip before booking back up into her eyes, her face seemed to be inches closer than before "but that doesn't explain what I did and I wanted to apologise for actions, because they were unnecessary".

A moment of silence filled the area around them before she broke it "Apology accepted, Flower Boy" Edith said, letting a breathy chuckle out as she looked back down to the necklace.

"I love it when you call me that" he stated soft, his cheeks turning pink.

Avoiding his statement, Edith quickly looked back up into his eyes and said "so, will you help me put this on?"

Tewksbury nodded his head before Edith twisted around so that her back would face him as she handed him the necklace.

He brushed Edith's hair over one of her shoulders, the touch of his fingers causing a shiver to go up her spine. Tewksbury pulled the necklace in front of her neck and then locked it at the back, his fingers letting go of the cold chain as it slipped down her neck line.

Edith felt his warm breath tickling the side of her neck as neither of them made a move to move back into the sitting positions they were in before.

Both of their faces turned bright red as she moved her head to look at him. They were merely inches away from each other as their eyes connected.

Edith leaned in only to leave a small kiss planted on his cheek and both their stomach to erupt with that strange sensation again.

"Thank you" she whispered once she moved her face away from his and stood up, walking back to the lodging house to get a good nights rest before their plan begun.

Tewksbury stayed sat there motionlessly on the grass as his hand slowly made its way to touch the place where she had let her soft lips attach to his cheek.

In that moment Edith Ainsley had walked away with his heart, but he didn't want it back.

✨Yo✨

Idk about this chapter so here's Louis

Goodnight 💙