𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 (𝐢𝐢𝐢) | ✔

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 𝒙. 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧
━━ 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔

Reagan couldn't sleep that night. Her previous conversation with Lucy kept running through her mind and, as hard as she tried, she could not stop thinking about it. She couldn't wrap her head around why she had not told Thomas about her previous status with Edmund. Sure, they were nothing serious but, for a time, she felt they could be. That was, of course, until they were forced to lose sight of each other for years. She had forced Edmund and Narnia out of her mind and, now, everything had returned all at once without previous warning.

She decided that she needed a cup of water to clear her head for some time so, taking up Lucy's words that she could help herself to whatever it was she needed, she descended the stairs. However, she found the kitchen light already on. For a moment, she thought about turning around and going back to bed, waiting until day came and then going to her own apartment and speaking with Thomas; but she entered the kitchen nevertheless.

"Re? Everything okay?"

"Edmund," she breathed out, her eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness, "yes, everything is fine."

"Nightmares?"

"You could say so. What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep," the boy admitted, prompting the girl to take a seat in front of him. "Do you want water, tea?"

Reagan asked for a cup of tea, seeing that Edmund had prepared some for himself, and took a seat in the chair in front of the raven-haired boy. For some time, they simply sat there, in silence. After some minutes, however, Reagan began to feel uncomfortable and she could feel Edmund growing uncomfortable too, seeing how he played with the teaspoon and twirled it around in his fingers.

"I've been meaning to ask something," Edmund broke the silence, making Reagan look at him, "does Thomas mind that you hang so much with us? We wouldn't like to be the cause for trouble. You know, because..."

"I haven't told him what we were," she blurted out. "I don't know, I just didn't. I don't like to lie but, when he asked me about how we met and all that, I simply told him we were friends. And I had no problem in lying straight to his face."

Edmund looked at her with wide-open eyes, surprised at the sudden outburst. "No, no, Re. Don't worry, that's okay," he took a seat besides her, softly caressing her back as the girl buried her face in her hands and breathed heavily. "We were young and it has been a long time since all that ended. You don't have to feel guilty."

"Yeah but why didn't I even doubt about lying? What was so bad about telling him that we sort of dated when we were kids?"

"Because your heart felt it that way in that moment and that's okay."

The boy kept running her hand up and down her back, trying to get the girl to calm down. Edmund had that power and she knew it. She had always felt safer by his side, even when they first met in her first day in Narnia; even if he had thrown her some harsh remarks and hard looks at first. And he had not lost his touch, he could always get her to come to her senses whenever she needed it, no matter how much time passed.

The room fell silent as Reagan raised her head and turned around to look at Edmund. His brown eyes, a pair of eyes that she knew so well that she could tell you the exact number of golden specks that adorned them, were already looking at her. Her eyes connected with his and no words were needed. Right there, she felt what being at home was. It had been a while since she had felt such warmth filling her body and she had not realised it until then.

Her eyes travelled to Edmund's lips. For a split second, she wondered whether he would have gained experience in kissing. Then, she beat herself up for that. To start, it was obvious that he would be a much better kisser now that they were older. And to continue, she shouldn't even be thinking about that. Not when she had Thomas's lips to kiss. Not when Edmund and her were long over. She figured it was a matter of curiosity, a question of not having been able to have closure from everything that had happened back in Narnia, and forgot it immediately.

She coughed as they broke the eye contact, suddenly coming back to a reality they didn't know they had abandoned. Their eyes began to travel all around the kitchen as Reagan finished her tea and got up from the chair, wishing Edmund goodnight and walking up the stairs again. Edmund's eyes did not leave Reagan's spot as she left but yet again, he didn't leave her thoughts that night either.