Chapter Text
ELOISE BRIDGERTON WAS the last person he had been expecting to see after the way they had left things off amidst the last season.
And yet, she had come back like a hurricane, pounding on the door late that evening and demanding to be let in.
The girl had been heaving deep breaths and… fuming, it seemed— And yet, he was not able to comprehend what had warranted her to seem so frustrated.
He wonders if perhaps it was due to another one of those soirées she loathed with a burning passion. Or perhaps, one of her siblings managed to gain her ire. Or —a small part of him couldn’t help but hope— she must have read something so incredibly absurd that she could not bear to keep her mouth shut about and she had come running to him because he had always been the one person she could freely talk about such things with.
But then, among all of those many excuses, he was perfectly aware none of them should cause her to run to him of all people, considering the way she had so hastily ended her friendship with him.
Right.
How could he forget?
Boys like Theo Sharpe did not have the luxury to pine over someone like Eloise Bridgerton of all people.
He must be delusional —absolutely mad— to even think of such.
It’s probably the sleep deprivation catered due to all his late hours spent in the shop, he defends.
Nevertheless, none of his arduous thoughts were able to prevent the urge to engrave those blue eyes into his mind, for despite her disheveled appearance, Eloise Bridgerton is even prettier than he had remembered.
And then, like the fool he was, her name escapes his lips before he even manages to catch himself.
“Miss Bridgerton.”
He immediately whips his head around, trying to keep an eye out for rumormongers, only to catch sight of nothing but the light of the familiar carriage and her familiar entourage, seeming so misplaced on this particular street.
She was from Mayfair— from a glittery golden world full of ignorance, idle gossip, and misplaced priorities. And yet, whenever he sees her in the shabby old printer shop, he can’t help but want to ask her to stay.
‘Don’t be a fool, Theo.’
‘A lady like Miss Bridgerton is not supposed to be here.’
Before he manages to open his mouth for a second time, the next thing he knows, Eloise pushes him back and slips past him, shutting the door behind her as soon as they’re inside the print shop.
Eloise Bridgerton was by no means prepared to face Theo Sharpe, but somehow, after months since her falling out with Penelope, and after even more time since she had last seen the boy in front of her, she finds herself seeking him out.
Now, before you jump to any conclusions, Eloise would like to believe that she is a rather intelligent person. Sure, she often acts out of pure and utter impulsiveness but it has never been without reason; that she can assure you.
It’s precisely why she beats Theo into speaking, fully aware of what he might say after those last days they had spent together.
Most especially, she knows herself enough not to be oblivious to the way that his mere presence would cause certain emotions that would undoubtedly leave her tongue-tied before she even gathers herself— And that was saying something because Eloise Bridgerton had always prided herself to be articulate.
Words had often been her choice of weapon and it would be foolish of her to lose the ability to wield such.
Thus why she had immediately opened her mouth.
“Do not chastise me right now. I am already fully aware that I will be getting another earful from my mother for the repercussions of this incredibly foolish decision,” Eloise had prattled on. “However, I have come here in a haste during the reception of my brother’s nuptials under the excuse that I am in my room retiring early. I must ask of you to at least grant me a moment to gather all my thoughts so that we may have the least bit of a civil conversation.”
Theo can’t decide whether or not he wants to cry in joy or pull his hair out in aggravation because she had once again come waltzing into his life, only to make a mess out of it when she decides to walk out on him for a second time.
However, instead of admitting all that, he decides to settle for a stone-faced look as if to present a pretense of indifference.
It’s a complete ruse but she doesn’t need to know that.
“Miss Bridgerton I sincerely hope you're not making a habit of coming to meet me every time your brother is caught in another wedding ceremony.”
“Oh, thank you for being so concerned but I assure you, my brother had actually decided to push through with this matrimony. Knowing his wife, I believe there will be no other weddings of his to follow after this,” Eloise counters his words with a pointed expression, her tone laced with venom as if to berate the way he had completely ignored her recent request.
“It is late,” he remains just as obstinate as she was. “It is not safe for a lady such as yourself to be out in these dreary streets at this time of the evening.”
“You know what, Theo?” Eloise huffed. “I have met you constantly in your so-called ‘dreary streets’— I have constantly been admonished by many for doing what I do and yet men can parade anywhere all day every day, can they not?”
“Surely you are wise enough to be aware that that is not my intention behind such a statement. I am merely concerned about your safety.”
They had fallen back into banter just as they had often done before and something about it both struck an equal amount of nostalgia and regret.
It is then that Eloise had decided to bite the bullet.
She looks him in the eye, demanding the truth behind such words, “Are you perhaps implying that you still care for me?”
Cunning as he was, Theo opted to avert the subject, aware that there will be no good to come out of such a conversation.
“Miss Bridgerton, what have you truly come here for?”
Her eyebrows knit together at his evasion, and the fire in her ever so beautiful blue eyes seemed to have flared.
“You!” the maiden had snapped. “I came here to correct you because you cannot be more wrong about whatever nonsense it was you said that day, Mister Sharpe.”
He attempted to open his mouth to speak, and yet ever so frank, the Bridgerton maiden only seemed to ramble on. “And surely all that had occurred truly did cause me pain at first, but now, it’s rather infuriating to remember it all.”
And somehow Eloise Bridgerton seemed to believe that it was wiser to fight fire with fire for she goes as far as to say—
“How dare you make all those assumptions about me.”
Theo heaves a deep and shaky breath before stating his defense, “Were you not the one who chose to draw the line as soon as things got difficult? Were you not who ran off back to your well-off family, and decided to call our relationship absurd—”
“Were you not the one who told me that I am but a lady who has never experienced any real difficulties in my life? That you do not have the protection you claim that I have,” she spat back defiantly.
He chuckled dryly, “Miss Bridgerton, I can assure you—”
“I am fully aware that you merely said such things to keep Whistledown off our backs because you believed that she would write cruelly of me. But I am not any different from you, Theo.”
The way she calls him by his name so familiarly causes a pang in his chest. Even more so as she cried out, “And perhaps… Perhaps you were right about my naivety. I’m privileged but I did not seek any of this and they surely do not change the fact that I care!”
“And to say all that is just unfair— I have told you so many times that I do not mind what becomes of me but I refuse to be another burden for you to carry. And instead, you walked away as I called you— What must I do for you to believe in my words?”
His hazelnut orbs meet her sapphire eyes once again, catching sight of that glassy sheen that had often been present amidst all their last few meetings. It seemed that he had a knack for merely causing her such agony.
And then, he laughs mirthlessly, trying to hide the way that he actually felt like crying.
Theo swallows the lodge in his throat in an attempt to prevent his voice from breaking as he spoke hoarsely, “May I request your consent to allow me to come closer?”
Eloise blinks twice, expecting any other response but that.
It’s only when she sucks in a breath that she recognizes the wet warmth trailing her cheeks. She musters a curt nod, emitting a pathetic sniff— such a vulnerable display of weakness that her future self would surely berate her for.
Theo, despite his rough callused hands, treats her with great care, gently wiping away the tears that stained her face as soon as he was granted permission to come closer.
With his eyes staring at her so intently, memorizing the details of her face, she sniffles once again and Eloise groans mentally, preparing to slap some sense into herself once he’s finally out of sight— But then again, it would be unbecoming of a lady. (Then again, since when had she cared for such trivial frivolities?)
Before she deals with the internal debate in her mind, Theo had broken the silence, speaking ever so sincerely, “I, admittedly, was rather foolish.”
“I should have heeded your words and perceived them rationally. I’m afraid I have been too wrapped up in my own insecurities and jumped to conclusions,” he spoke calmly despite feeling anything but. “I owe you another apology, Miss Bridgerton. I suppose I have been doing that so often, have I not?”
“Eloise,” she requested. “Call me Eloise, please. I wish to abolish such unnecessary formalities.”
Before he begins to protest, a glance at her azure eyes makes him concede to her too easily.
He heaves a sigh and yet speaks of her name so dearly that it manages to make her heart stop.
“Eloise.”
“Theo,” she smiles, seeming to have regained her composure after their heated… Er, argument, was it?
“We certainly have a lot to catch up on, don’t we?”
“Certainly,” he mirrors the affectionate expression on her face and nods, “Would you like to do the honors?”
And so, on that particular evening, they get lost in another one of their intimate discussions as she found herself sharing everything in her mind like a broken faucet.
She seemed to be deprived of a listener after all these months and so he does precisely that.
She speaks of Lady Whistledown’s identity, of her numerous epiphanies, and of all the recent books she had immersed herself with.
She speaks of him.
She speaks of the thought of them together.
By the end of the night, she manages to return home with a bright expression on her face— the most jovial she had been in months.
Her mother supposes it was merely because she was happy for dear Anthony and Kate, fond of her new sister-in-law who seemed to be as enlightened as she was.
Eloise takes advantage of such an assumption, finding it almost miraculous that no one in her family caught wind of her absence.
Not that it mattered to her any further. It had been long since she had been the subject of one of Lady Whistledown’s scandals, and at a certain point, after weeks of agonizing and months of thinking, she decides—
To hell with everything else.
She had meant every single word when she had claimed that she does not care about what the Ton may see her as.
She cares about Theo.
She cares about her family but she cares about Theo.
She cares about her ambitions but she cares just as much for Theo.
And ever since her last exchange with Penelope Featherington, Eloise had developed a resolve to take matters into her own hands— to do exactly what the girl had claimed she never had the courage to because Eloise Bridgerton always yearned to prove people wrong.
So that’s exactly what she does because she is not going to ruin one of the best things in her life this second time around.
Society be damned.