The Angel in Hell

C O L D

How- demo by Clario<3

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'Darling, how's your steak?' Elsbeth cooed to her husband as he ripped into the thick meat with a sharp knife.

'Delightful. Your fish?'

'Splendid.'

The meal had been easy going so far. Chatter amongst the family was still fairly limited but softening every day. Venetia had finally started speaking to Felix again and they chatted secretly from across the table about what they were going to buy their parents for christmas. Farleigh and Delilah stayed quiet, letting the siblings rekindle, but listened closely.

'I know mum wants some new bath products so we can go halves on something like that for her.' Venetia said, shovelling a spoonful of over-priced mashed potatoes into her mouth.

'Alright, and for dad?' Felix replied.

'You know him better than i do.'

'He mentioned wanting to go clay pigeon shooting in the Lake District the other day.' Farleigh interjected.

'Perfect!' Venetia snapped, smiling at her cousin. 'You should go just you and him.' She suggested to Felix.

He looked down at his plate of food, unresponsive, pushing the vegetables around his plate. 'I'm not sure he'd want that, V.' He finally replied.

Delilah saw an all too familiar gloom appear on Felix's face, his eyes losing their shine once more. She felt almost desperate to resurrect the situation, desperate to hold onto the old version of him for a moment longer. 'Yes. He will.' She replied firmly, almost demandingly.

Felix looked up at her, sadness written all over his face. 'Really?'

'Definitely.'

'I don't think he's forgiven me yet.' Felix was being honest, too tired of hiding anymore.

'But he will.'

'You don't know that.'

'The people who have loved you will always forgive you.' Delilah reassured.

She was being honest as well, tired of hiding how she felt just as much as he did. Her words meant more than she knew to Felix. He could see her walls softening for him, he could see her letting him in again. He could see her on the way to forgiving him and that was all he needed at that moment.

'Okay then, I'll sort it tomorrow.'

'Brill.' Venetia replied, smiling and unaware of the silent exchange between her brother and her best friend.

By the time James had signed for the check and ordered a taxi everyone except for Delilah was pissed. She watched them in their drunken haze, slurring slightly but finding comfort in the forgetting of reality. Felix was actually engaging in conversation, as slurred as it was, with his family for the first time in months. They were laughing together while waiting in the cold and neon-lit street of Copenhagen, something about the summer of 2003 but Delilah couldn't quite understand what was going on. All she could focus on was the harsh cold wind of the nordic air lapping against her skin. She felt stupid for dressing up so fancy, for not even thinking to bring a coat with her. Delilah wanted to say it was baby brain but deep down she knew it was because she had been preoccupied with boy stood in her doorway, the boy's touch around her neck made her melt.

'Oh brilliant' Elsbeth cheerily exclaimed as a Bentley pulled up the curb, the driver giving a nod to the front of house at the restaurant as he opened the automatic doors to his car.

'How many of you?' He asked bluntly.

'6.' James hiccuped into the front window of the car.

'I can only fit 4.'

'Oh bloody hell Elsbeth, they've booked the wrong car for us.'

'Oh no, darling. How annoying.' She laughed to herself, swinging the flowing fabric of her dress by her ankles.

Delilah watched the chaos of the drunken adults unfold, getting colder by the second as her entire body began to shake. She felt a pang of exhaustion fall over her, suddenly the heels were too painful and her knees felt like they would give way. Shaking, nearly falling, Delilah lurched for the first thing she could grab on to. Her cold hand was met with the bristly fabric of Felix's dinner jacket that clung to the contours of his arm.

'Woah- what's wrong? Are you okay?' He said hurriedly, suddenly snapping out of his drunken haze and bringings his hands to Delilah's waist in support.

'I'm s-so cold.' Delilah replied, not caring how pathetic she may have looked as she clung to him like some damsel in distress.

Felix said nothing but came to Delilah's side, draping his jacket over her shoulders and gently pressing his hand to her side forcing her to lean all of her weight onto him. He practically shoved his father to the side and muttered something through the front window of the fancy car. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small fortune, handing it to the man in the driver's seat before ushering Delilah into the back of the car.

Once she was comfortably sitting, still shaking, Felix reached across Delilah and grabbed the seatbelt beside her. He pulled it across her body, adjusting the material over her bump. His actions slowed for a moment as he stroked his palm gently across her stomach, half over the seatbelt to make sure it was secure but mostly over the fabric of her dress. He lingered there, looking intently down at the red dress concealing Delilah's enlarged stomach. She watched him as he watched her, there was something going on behind his eyes. A driving force of something Delilah couldn't quite put her finger on as she sat shaking.

The moment ended with the click of the seat belt and Felix left the car briefly, telling the others he would send another car for them. They weren't sober enough to feel the cold and hardly had a clue what was going on anyway, so they agreed to wait a while longer. Felix got in the car, shutting the door as it sped away from the rest of the family.

'You alright?' He asked, worried written across his eyes.

'I don't know what happened, really- I'm just so cold.' Delilah replied, looking nervously down into her lap as she felt her body warm to the heat of his.

'We'll be home soon.'