•︎ •︎ •︎

━︎━︎ IN WHICH THEY CONFESS

The sun hadn't even risen yet and the two were already at the train station looking for the area where they would be able to get a carriage and travel their way to help Enola Holmes escape.

They had set out earlier than planned, neither of them being able to fall asleep, being lost in their own thoughts.

It was last night that seemed to repeat over and over again in their heads. Edith hadn't a clue as to why she had placed a kiss on Tewkesbury's cheek and he didn't either.

But the girl knew she didn't regret it and the boy knew he didn't mind if it happened again.

There was something about last night, the way the cool breeze swept through their hair or the moonlight reflecting onto the pond that felt different than on any other day.

Or maybe it was his warm breath hitching at the crook of her neck as he helped her pull on her necklace, the way her soft lips felt on his pink cheek or just the mere presence of both of them spending time together.

Any of those things would be reasonable and self-explanatory, but right now Edith wasn't worried about that. Instead she worried about the un-easing shiver down her spine, as if today wasn't going to be a good day.

It definitely wasn't going to be a good day.

"Edith?" A soft voice called from behind the girl as she snapped out of her thoughts, finding herself staring at a piece of paper fixed to the brick wall.

"Yeah?" She asked, her eyes watering as she kept her eyes locked onto the sheet paper.

Tewksbury walked to stand beside her, taking a look at the paper — recognising it as the wanted poster he had seen for the last three years plastered on walls. He sighed before slowly ripping it of the wall and scrunching the paper up in his hand, dropping it to the floor as his eyes focused on the girl as she closed her ocean eyes.

"You say I'm mentally strong, that not one thing can get to me, but nothing hurts more than being reminded that you are the cause of your brother death" Edith said, her eyes opening as her lips parted, her head moving slowly to face Tewkesbury.

The boy locked his eyes with her, seeing a tear roll down her face, wiping it away with his thumb.

"You aren't the cause of your brother's death, but it only shows that you've been strong for so long. Every piece of glass has to crack eventually — " Tewkesbury said, but was cut off by the girl.

"What if I don't want to be a piece of glass?" She asked, searching his honey brown eyes.

"We're all pieces of glass, Edith." Tewksbury said, his voice quite and soft "and we all crack sometimes. Even you, even me, Enola. It's just something we do and can't prevent."

Edith scoffed, looking to the other side "since when did you become so wise?"

He didn't reply for a moment, thinking if he should say the true reason as he stared at the side of her face. Another moment of silence passed before he said quietly "Ever since you made me believe I'm not that useless after all."

Quickly turning her face around she saw the boy plaster a shy smile onto his face whilst looking down at the floor.

"Really?" She asked, her heart speeding up as she saw him connect their eyes.

"Really, Eddie." he confirmed, tucking a piece of stray hair behind her ear.

"Eddie?" She asked, confused as to who 'Eddie' was.

"Your new nickname." He stated, a smirk replacing the shy smile before taking his hand off of her cheek and intertwining her cold fingers with his.

"I like it." Edith told him, pulling him away to carry on their search for the carriages.

. . .

Once the two were settled into a carriage and sat opposite each other on the leather seats they tried shutting their eyes to get some rest before trying to come up with a plan.

Their journey would take quite a while as the school was far away from London and unfortunately no train went by there.

Edith could hear the rain fall onto the metal roof of the carriage as the noise soothed her down, easing her way to sleep unlike Tewkesbury who kept shifting in his seat.

"I can't fall asleep." He stated, opening his eyes with an deep exhale.

"I noticed." Edith said, not opening her eyes and staying in the same position as before.

"Well that helped a lot, Eddie, thank you so much." Tewkesbury said, clear sarcasm dripping off of his words.

Edith opened her eyes, leaning her head forward so that she could look at the boy and give him a faux smile "No problem." Edith said, watching the boy fake a smile back at her.

A moment of silent went by as Edith laid her head back onto the cushion of the seat, but the young lord carried on shuffling in his seat.

"Alright!" Edith said, her eyes widening as she quickly removed her head from the seat's cushion.

Her eyes immediately landed on the boy who lay on the seat, his legs slightly pulled up and one hand resting behind his head.

Tewkesbury let a small and successful smirk onto his face as he turned his head to face her, staying in the same position as before.

"I heard you and Enola visited Basilwether in search of me." He said as Edith nodded in agreement. "And you went undercover as Miss Frances Browning?"

"Yes, is there a problem with that?" Edith asked, cocking an eyebrow upwards with confusion as to where the boy was leading the conversation.

"Isn't the last name perhaps inspired by the nickname I gave you on the day we met? Brownie, Browning." He said, a smirk making its way onto his face as he watched Edith's face turn from confusion to being red.

"Let's play a game! Confessing things." Edith suggested with over enthusiasm, changing the subject as she cleared her throat and Tewkesbury chuckled.

"Alright." Tewkesbury said as Edith laid back in her seat "ladies first."

"What a gentleman you are." She said with the roll of her eyes, looking out of the window for a second before looking back at him. "I don't know how to swim."

"Me neither. Um — I've been wearing the same socks for the last three days."

"Understandable." She said as the game continued on, nothing important coming up until Tewkesbury said —

"I've been having trouble with falling asleep ever since that day on the train." His eyes fell to the seat as he nervously played with his thumbs. "The truth is, I'm terrified of death. Whenever I think of it I get chills up my spine and want to hide in a corner to avoid it, but it seems as if it unavoidable now. Everywhere I go, someone wants to kill me or the people I care about."

Edith stared at him as she watched him sit up, resting his arms on his thighs, his hands dangling over his knees.

"You must think I'm a coward — " he started to say, but was cut by the girl for the second time today as she placed her hand on top of his, immediately catching his attention as he looked down at her hand resting on his.

"You're not a coward, Flower Boy. I'm sure that if anyone else was to go through so many near death experiences as you they would be upon a verge of breaking down." Edith assured him, giving him a small smile as he looked up to meet her eyes.

"Thank you." He said genuinely as Edith took her hand off of his before standing up and sitting beside the boy.

Edith moved closer to him, making his breath hitch, she noticed that and raised an eyebrow, looking at the boy who had his eyes slightly widened that you nearly couldn't see.

"Relax, I'm only hugging you to help you sleep." She explain, gently pushing his shoulders back so that he would lean back onto the seat.

Tewkesbury tensed up at her touch before relaxing at it in the space of a few seconds, leaning against the seat of the carriage as Edith did so too, nuzzling into his side as his arm snaked around her waist, pulling her closer to him as her head rested on his shoulder.

They both closed their eyes in order to find the sleep they had been lacking, but instead found comfort in each others arms.

But — as before — both were still oblivious to the brewing feeling in between them.

Idk what I'm writing anymore :)))))

Also did that title get y'all to think they were gonna confess their feelings? Pfft I would never on chapter 19

This book is also ending soon wtf

Also wOAH this chapter is 1500+ words long 🙀 no way I don't believe myself

Well good morning cus it's 2 am here 🤠🔫🔫

I'm not posting this chapter at 2am anyways, it probably doesn't make sense so see y'all tomorrow

yep this chapter made no sense before, hope you enjoyed it

Ily, Lennon 💕🧚‍♀️✨🦋😼