Heart of Gold | B. Gold ✓

07 | Caught Me

For the first time in weeks, Fawnie felt as though she was enjoying herself. The gin in her glass was nearly empty and the buzz in her brain made everything so absolutely hilarious. She met Isiah's brown eyes and promptly burst out laughing for no reason at all. He shook his head at her and whispered something into Finn's ear, her twin chortled loudly and this piqued Fawn's interest.

"What did you say about me!?" She shouted over the singing men in the Garrison, even though she truly didn't need to be that loud. When Isiah and Finn just kept drinking, she scooted around the booth and invaded the boys' personal space. Her drunk brain didn't stop her from doing so, so one moment she's across the table and the next, she's struggling to look at them clearly.

She wouldn't lie, she's been drunk since her first shot and Fawn has no idea how many she had by then. Isiah tried to push Fawn away but she pouted like a child getting their toys taken away, "You're so mean, 'Siah..." Fawnie laid her head on the cold tabletop and burped lightly before laughing to herself. 

Finn sighed, "I ought to take her home... she's wrecked."

His sister jolted at the statement, she shook her head no, "Nope, uh uh... I am–" Her eyelids feel closed as she tried to speak clearly, suddenly she began giggling under her breath. A drunken smile on her flushed face. "Finn..." She wheezed, unable to explain the situation. Something happened to Finn's hair because when he turned his head a large bald spot was present. 

The young man raised his hands in question, "Well, what is it?" Even Isiah was having trouble stifling his laughter, after all, he was the one who did it.

Fawnie and Isiah met each other's eyes before howling noisily, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as they leaned into one another. "Oh– my god, his! Hahaha, Finny you might want to look in the mirror!" She could hardly articulate without stopping to giggle as she pointed up at Finn's head.

Finn felt his hair and turned bright red when he felt the missing patch of hair, "Isiah! I'm going to kill you!" Isiah managed to sidestep Finn and ran out of the pub, leaving Fawn by herself. She picked an olive from the bowl on the table and threw it toward the bar, trying to land it in the vase of flowers. 

The first five or so olives landed on the ground, but the last one she threw went down the back of a tall, burly man's shirt. Fawn's eyes widened before the sight of him squirming threw her into another fit of laughter. She chortled as he stalked over to her booth and hauled the girl up by her shoulders, "THE FUCK DID YOU THROW AT ME?"

Her nose burned at the smell saturating the air around him, Fawn wrinkled her nose but kept on laughing, right in his face. He shook her but it didn't put any sense in the young girl, "I threw nothing–" Fawn lied, hardly remembering picking up an olive in the first place. 

"Then why the fuck did they tell me you did?" 

Fawnie shrugged and the man's nostrils flared, she poked his face and cracked up at his angry expression. When his hold on her shoulders transferred to her neck, she gasped loudly but didn't register the pain. Just as quickly as the man had grabbed ahold of her– she was free –and a sickening crack sounded as Fawnie fell into the booth, unable to catch herself.

A familiar figure loomed over the man, punching him over and over and over again until he was pulled off of him. The young man walked over to Fawn and despite his bloodied fists, cradled her face lightly, "You alright, Ms. Shelby?" 

"Ms. Shelby? Don't call me that... makes me feel old..." Fawn felt weary as her head drifted forward, only for the boy to catch her.

"It's me, Bonnie, come on. We've got to get out of here." 

The Shelby girl just nodded, "Uh-huh, my... my purse," She pointed over her shoulder and Bonnie helped her lean against the booth before letting her go, he retrieved her purse and slung it on his shoulder. "What're you doing?" Fawnie hiccuped.

Bonnie's eyes were full of concern, "Can you walk?"

Fawnie scoffed at Bonnie and pushed herself up quickly– too quickly –her vision dotted with black spots, and still, she nodded. "Uh, yea!" Bonnie stepped back so Fawn could try walking and she tripped after the first step, Bonnie, of course, caught her and held her up by her forearms. "Ha, you caught me falling for you." 

His cheeks turned a satisfying shade of crimson and Fawn felt the urge to touch the blush... and so she did. She looked at Bonnie with a half-lidded, intoxicated gaze. "Alright, let's go." 

"What're you–" Fawnie tried to protest as Bonnie hauled her up into his arms but the drowsiness made her yawn loudly.

Bonnie had to shout for the men to get out of the way, when they noticed the girl in his arms was a Shelby, they all moved out of the way rapidly. Fawnie let her head rest on Bonnie's shoulder as he began carrying her home, "Where do you live?"

She had to think about it for a moment, "6, Watery Lane?" Bonnie heard the confusion and just hoped Fawn was sober enough to remember where she lived. "I don't fuckin' know... it's somewhere 'round there." Once again, she relaxed her neck and shoulders and closed her eyes, allowing Bonnie to carry her home in silence. 

━━━━

Fawnie's dream had taken a different turn than usual, it was dark then, and voices were screaming at one another, "Fuck! I lost her, I don't know how–" They sounded scared and panicked as Fawn only kind of listened to the exchange.

 A door slammed loudly, "You fuckin' lost your sister!?" Both voices were familiar as shuffling sounded, the completely black dream confused the Shelby girl but she just unwound in her bed. Footfalls made their way toward Fawnie and soon... she couldn't deny just how real they seemed– too bad Thomas Shelby shoved her door open before she could register that she was no longer dreaming.

Light flooded the pitch-black room and two sighs sounded before Tom turned around, "Finn, you're an idiot." Fawnie covered her eyes and groaned in pain. Thomas rushed into the room and turned the lamp beside her bed on, he was quick to remove his gloves as he checked on her, "What's happened? Are you hurt?"

"She had a couple of drinks as the Garrison." 

"How many is a couple, Finn?" Thomas demanded, staring at Fawn with worry.

The eighteen-year-old shrugged, "I dunno, I'm not her mum." 

A headache was fastly approaching, she could feel it in her temples. "Get out..." Fawnie mumbled and pushed away Tom's hands, "Get out... please just let me be."

Thomas shook his head no, "Are you alright, Fawn?" 

Fawn nodded, "I will be if you leave me the fuck alone." Now fully awake, she's just wanting to go back to sleep. Before she turned her back to Tom, she saw the misery in the depths of his blue eyes. "Get out." She ordered one last time. Tom actually listened, he and Finn left her in the dark, and Fawnie could make out some more voices.

"I told you that Bonnie boy brought her back home, said she pissed off some bloke and that Finn was nowhere to be found," Polly explained before Fawn tuned them out and fell back asleep.