Henrietta stood out for all the wrong reasons. She was constantly second to her brother, brushed aside by her father, and laughed at by the rest of the public. With many mistakes and an arranged marriage looming over her, she leaves the only home sh...
VII: IT'S FOR THE BEST Song: Dover Beach by Baby Queen
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By the time Finley had finished plotting their path to Crystalston, Henrietta had finished off her bottle. In all fairness, the bottle was less than half full when she started drinking about ten minutes ago. The auburn-haired girl wanted to polish off another bottle but debated against it only because having another drink meant having to go out of the comfort and safe space of her room. Even in her tipsy state, Henrietta was consciously avoiding Alistair and the people from her past that came back to haunt her.
Sometime in her quick drinking session, Henrietta had moved from her chair to her bed. She held the empty bottle of what was previously filled with rum by the neck and swung it around, watching how it refracted the light coming from the candle lanterns she lit minutes ago. Her green eyes followed the fractions of light caused by the bottle in fascination. To her, this moment was second-best to being in the calm of the bottom of the sea.
But like all things, Henrietta's peace did not last. Alistair came into the room and immediately stared at the empty bottle in the captain's hands. Henrietta couldn't decipher his expression with fog starting to cloud her mind. All she saw was a crease form between his eyebrows and the downturn of the corner of his mouth. Henrietta was already starting to space out, a clear sign she was close to being drunk.
Henrietta was too distracted by the bottle and the light that she didn't notice Alistair pull up her chair in front of where she sat on the bed. Looking up from her newfound toy, Henrietta silently questioned why Alistair brought the chair closer to her but didn't sit down. Instead, the blonde boy walked to a cabinet that stood next to the small dresser.
Now forgetting the bottle, Henrietta tried to look at what her friend was doing. Alistair opened the cabinet doors, but his broad back covered Henrietta's view. She was curious as to what he was up to but was still trying to keep away from him, so she just stayed silent.
When Alistair closed the cabinet doors, Henrietta pretended to be busy, holding the bottle and feigning interest. She tried her best not to look at the boy walking around the room, rather was just listening to him rustle around, opening and closing drawers and grabbing things from the bookshelves.
Henrietta's body stiffened for a second when Alistair dumped the things in his arms next to her on the bed. The captain just went back to pretending that the bottle was the most interesting thing in the room and not the boy that just sat down on the chair in front of her. Why does he have to be so close to me?
A chuckle erupted from Alistair's lips and grabbed Henrietta's attention. "How many times do I have to tell you? Etta, you cannot lie to save your life." This comment makes Henrietta smile. "How do you know I'm lying?" She asks the blue-eyed boy softly. Their eyes locked and he returned her soft smile before answering. "I just know." His voice was almost a whisper. Tipsy, Henrietta almost did not hear his response had he not been inches away from her.
