Summer of Like // Farleigh Start x OC

20: But When We Wake Up in the Morning, It'll All Be Over

Someone is shouting in the hallway.

I wake up slowly - so it takes me a while to place what's happening. The voices are distant, drifting through the walls of the house and finding my ears. Distant, but not quiet - someone is very angry - maybe two people. It's hard to tell.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I slip out of bed and put on a little more clothing - a big tee shirt that Venetia stole from Felix that somehow ended up in my bedroom, and my easiest shoes. I open my door quietly, and step out into the hall. Venetia's door hangs open - she's already up, no doubt roused by the noise too. I follow it down the hall, trying to get the words to catch in my ears.

At the end of the hall, Felix and Venetia are stood at the top of the stairs, looking down the spiral at the commotion. The voices are much clearer out here, but it still takes me a moment to recognize Elspeth - I've never heard her yell before.

I sidle up to Venetia, and make room for Oliver as he comes out of his room as well, squeezing between me and Felix.

I peer down the spiral to see Elspeth and Duncan marching Farleigh down the stairs. He's obviously distraught, taking the stairs slowly so that he can keep turning around to face Elspeth. His voice is strained - angry and anxious at the same time - and a pang echoes in my chest when he speaks. "But why would I do this?" He pleads, turning to look at Elspeth again.

Tipping my head towards Venetia, I whisper. "What's going on?"

"Farleigh tried to nick something." She says, sounding more excited than sympathetic.

Tried to steal what? Why? Well - I guess I could understand why, he did seem tired of asking for everything, but to just outright steal something is dumb. Too dumb for Farleigh to even consider as an option. He's not stupid - I know that he's not stupid, I've seen it for myself. And it's only been maybe six hours since he left my room - surely that's not enough time for anyone to realize something is missing. These people have so many things, there's no way they keep track of everything.

It must have been something important then. But that sounds like Farleigh even less - if he was going to steal something, it would be something small, but still something he could sell. He would never take something big enough to be noticeable.

"What are you talking about?" Felix whispers, leaning over the banister to look over at us.

"He's a fucking idiot." Venetia says, almost laughing, angry.

But he's not. He isn't an idiot, which is why none of this makes sense. I don't think he would steal something - but I've also only known him for the roughly two months that I've been here. I don't think he would steal something - but I can't really know.

Next to me, Oliver looks at Felix. "What was it?"

Felix just shrugs, his gaze fixed on Farleigh below us.

Farleigh's fully turned around now, stumbling down the stairs backwards, sounding more and more distressed the more steps he takes. "Please, please, Elspeth-"

Duncan just grips his shoulder as they reach the bottom of the spiral, forcing him around. "Move."

I watch as they disappear from view. It isn't until Venetia tugs my arm that I realize that Elspeth's turned her gaze towards us. We all scurry away from the railing, pretending that we weren't looking.

Felix pushes his hair away from his forehead with a sigh. "Fuck."

Oliver chimes in again. "What'd he take?"

"Dunno." Felix says, looking to Venetia.

"I'll figure it out." She says, taking a few steps away from the banister. "I'm going to get dressed for breakfast." She pads back down the hall, towards her room. "Evie?"

"Yeah." I say, retreating after her. I feel dazed - a combination of the sleep still lingering in the corners of my mind and the impossibility of making sense of everything that just happened. I keep turning it over in my mind, trying to fit this new piece into the puzzle of Farleigh that I've been constructing. But it just doesn't fit.

Venetia lingers in the door to her room, an unreadable expression on her face. "I can't believe him." She says.

I stop in the door of my room. "Me neither." I say. I get the feeling that we mean it in different ways.

She sighs, leaning against the doorframe. "Will you braid my hair?"

"'Course." I say. "Just lemme get dressed first."

"Cool." She grins.

I close the door of my room, and go through the motions of getting dressed, exchanging my pajamas for the clothes of the day. I put on my bikini first, using it as underwear under my day-wear - something I picked up from Venetia, given how often we sunbathe and swim. It's easier than having to run back to the house and change every time.

I have no idea what happened last night. I do, of course, of course I do - my lips are still tingling from the kiss - but at the same time I don't. There's a chunk of time where anything could have happened, and I'd have no idea. And I'm not able to ask him, because he's gone - one thing I've learned about the Cattons is that underneath their kindness, they are unforgiving. I doubt I will ever see Farleigh again.

How silly I was to wait. But at least I got to kiss him goodbye.