June 5th, 1894 — Thompsett Household

The rest, he knew, had been told yesterday. Lester had been working at the hospital all day, had come home to find Sadie Sloane asleep in his bed, and had waited awkwardly with his mother until she woke up and then he chatted with her until she went back home. He alternated between feeling like nothing had changed, and feeling like everything had changed — like his best friend was suddenly some fragile creature.

Today, he didn't have to work. He took breakfast at home and walked further north in Bartonburg until he was at the Thompsett household. He was not sure if they would be thrilled that he was here during an hour that was traditionally reserved for calling suitors, but he doubted that Sisse was in any state to see suitors. He was led into the parlor, and eventually she was brought down.

"Sisse," Lester said, still standing in her parlor because he felt awkward finding somewhere to sit. His voice was already thick. His arms were a little away from his body, at his sides, like he was a bird about to take flight — it was because he wanted to hug her.

Sisse Thompsett

  

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set by Fallin!

It had rather been a surprise to Sisse to have been told of Lester's arrival. She had finished dressing and had been attempting to write a few letters but her mind had been wandering. She couldn't quite understand her feelings, simply that she was in a state. Having seen Sloane yesterday... held her. And now Lester was here.

Now she opened the door, her eyes taking in Lester. Memories flooded over her. Grief over Sloane blooding her veins, memories of bitterness as Lester turned away from her, the comfort she had felt in his arms. Then she was reminded that Sloane was alive, that she was well. She watched his arms move at his side as she stood frozen paused in the doorway. "Lester." His name tumbled from her lips but she had no idea what else to say.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

They seemed stuck. He'd said her name, she'd said his — and now they were just looking at each other. Lester's lip wobbled. He wanted to ask if he could hug her, but he didn't know how to phrase it. Before he could manage it, he reached out to pull her into an embrace.

  

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set by Fallin!

Sisse's eyes scanned Lester's face, catching each movement, waiting in the awkward silence for him to say something. Words didn't come forth, instead Lester walked up to her. His arms were around her, and for a moment she was frozen in place, stiff and unyielding, she didn't want to get hurt again. But then she softened, her arms wrapping around him almost of their own accord. "Lester." She whispered into his coat, hers arms tightening with all the things she couldn't say. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. And She's alive! There were darker thoughts too, tumbling in the back of her brain, ones she was too scared to even put to words, to consider too harshly. So instead she hugged him, consequences be damned, as if this touch alone could explain it all. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, her corset felt uncomfortably tight, the air to her lungs both a heady relief and a torture to find. And then she looked up at him, up at eyes and she wondered (not for the first time) exactly what he was thinking.

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   Lester Hatchitt

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

That she didn't shove him away was a relief. Lester held onto her, reluctant to let go. His heart thumped. "I should have been a better friend to you," he admitted, soft. "In the last year, but — before then, too." He should not have kissed her at that party. Or — he should have kissed her, but he should have remembered it. Whatever there had been, Lester was not sure they would ever get it back.

  

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set by Fallin!

The admission had been everything Sisse had wanted to hear in the past year, her heart lurching in relief at the words, and yet.... her own guilt swarmed her. Her eyes widened in earnestness, meeting his, "I should have been." She insisted, the words tumbling forward before she could stop them. "I shouldn't have let something as silly as a kiss," Or rather her pride, but she didn't quite know how to acknowledge that, nor that kisses weren't silly - at least not her , "Get in the way." But she'd been wounded, unsure how to act, hurting and in pain. She'd lost her friend over something so foolish. Much as she'd lost Sloane, lost Cameron. How had she not learned her lesson the first time? Looking back now all she could see was the foolishness of her youth. How mature she had thought she was, how wise and old. And yet she had been nothing more than an innocent child, a babe to the world, with no experience of such things.

The following 1 user Likes Sisse Thompsett's post:1 user Likes Sisse Thompsett's post
   Lester Hatchitt

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

Lester shook his head at her; he didn't think she'd done anything wrong. Yes, he wished she had told him sooner about the kiss — but it was his original sin, wasn't it? "I wish I remembered kissing you," he said quietly, "If I hadn't been so drunk — I at least would have remembered." (Would he have still done it? Would he? He thought so, deep down.)

  

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set by Fallin!

It shouldn't have surprised her, shouldn't have filled the air around her with a heaviness that she couldn't name, and yet his words did. "Me too." She admitted, her cheeks warming as she met his eyes, suddenly all too aware of his arms around her, of the embrace they were in, so familiar to how it had been that fateful night. Her eyes dropped to his lips before she could help it and she glanced back up at his eyes before he couldn't catch the slip. Every part of her body was aware of him, of the heaviness in the air, of whatever the moment was.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

Between the heady embrace and her whispered agreement the air between them felt heady. It was almost as if they were entirely alone, instead of just &mdash alone in the parlor of her family's house, which was not really like being alone. He wished he could remember.

Their eye contact was almost unrelenting. Before he could think any better of it, because there were boundless reasons why he shouldn't, Lester leaned to kiss Sisse.

  

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set by Fallin!

Dark curls fell across his forehead, his hazel eyes searching her own, the air between them thick. And then he was moving, his face coming closer to her's. Sisse's body froze in his embrace, her mind feeling as if she'd been hit with a stunning charm. Her eyes fluttered shut as his warm lips landed against her's and she melted. All rational thoughts, all fears, they melted like the first spring thaw. Just as they had years ago.

Without realizing it Sisse leaned into him, tilting her face upwards, her lips parting in a surprised oh at the emotion and feeling thumping through her. There were a million reasons why this was wrong, a million very valid reasons why they shouldn't be doing this.... and yet in the moment, the smell of wool and grass and faint smoke that she'd come recognize as Lester's scent, the comfort of his arms, the electrifying pulse shooting down her arm... none of that mattered. It didn't matter that she knew in her subconscious she'd get hurt, it didn't matter that it likely wasn't real emotion. What mattered is he was holding her, kissing her, and in that moment she never wanted it to end. She never wanted to face what would come after. So she surrendered to the kiss, breathing his breath between her lips, and holding him close enough that the rapid beats of their hearts joined in unison as one.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

He was too focused on kissing her to think about the reasons this was a bad idea. Her lips were soft and she smelled like clean cotton and a soap that Lester associated more with Sisse than anything specific beyond its floral notes. He tried to push aside any complicated thoughts — thoughts of consequences, thoughts that he was not particularly good at this — and focus just on her.

The kiss was tender and lengthy, and when they had to pull back Lester blinked at her.

  

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set by Fallin!

Only moments ago (or was it hours ago - time truly was a strange thing at such a moment) had found the sensation of his lips on her's surprising, but now it was their very absence that seemed jarring. His arms still wrapped around her, holding her their, their breaths coming in quick puffs, hearts racing. She clung to him, unsure what to think, what to feel, now that she had to face the inevitable end.

Looking up at Lester's face her eyes sought answers, meeting his, watching him blink, eyelashes fluttering down onto his cheeks for a moment. She wanted to say something, but words couldn't form. She ought to joke, to brush this off, to scold, to apologize. But she really didn't want to end this tender truce between them. Every echoed word that ran through her mind felt like it would do just that, send a crack through their truce, and yet....

"Was it worth remembering?" Sisse asked, realizing with horror that her voice trembled with nerves, her hands, her whole body seemed to still as she waited for his answer.

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   Lester Hatchitt, Sloane Bixby

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

Her voice was trembling. It was clear that Sisse was nervous for his answer, but it was so obvious to Lester that he bit his lip to suppress a smile before he replied. "Of course it was worth remembering," he said.

He was still deliberately avoiding thinking of the potential consequences or repercussions for this, but it was worth trying to remember the time that he'd kissed her — it was worth trying to kiss her again.

The following 1 user Likes Lester Hatchitt's post:1 user Likes Lester Hatchitt's post
   Sisse Thompsett

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set by Fallin!

So many times Sisse had seen that look, that amused flair to his lips that he tried to tamp down. She didn't care to recognize where she had seen it before because she knew precisely what it meant this time and his words cemented it. Her heart soared at that admission and somehow she found her gloved fingers had become tangled with his.

Her mind was full of sensations, memories, her cheeks flushed. And for one moment Sisse hesitated, biting the inside of her lip slightly, before whispering, "Would you like me to show you how it happened?" The words were almost a whisper, imprudent, and damning, but Sisse wanted him to understand. To feel what she had felt, what she had thought he felt in that moment and in this moment as well. She might be wrong, she so often was with Lester, but she didn't want to consider that, and so she didn't. She let herself be lost to the moment.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

"Yes," Lester said quietly, and almost immediately after Sisse asked her question — he was well-aware that these moments were stolen, and that at any time one of her family members may reappear. But he was still hesitant to let this moment end early, because this was stolen, and — who knew if it would happen again?

The following 1 user Likes Lester Hatchitt's post:1 user Likes Lester Hatchitt's post
   Sisse Thompsett

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set by Fallin!

"I stumbled and you," She wrapped his arms tightly around her and then clasped her own around his back as she finished her spoken sentence, tilting her face toward him, "Hugged me - tightly." She instructed, waiting to feel his grasp tighten around her before she rested her head against his shoulder. It was overwhelming being like this again, feeling the comfort and strength and reassurance in the embrace. Her heart beat rapidly knowing what was coming next. Her cheeks flushed as she allowed herself to consider that moment in the past more fully than she ever had.

Her words came out in a whisper choked with embarrassment, "I told you....." Sisse squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment, but he had to know. Somehow she had to tell him the full depth of that moment - that it hadn't been the loss of the kiss that had broken her so thoroughly, but of what had come before it. "...that I felt like a nuisance all of you tolerated." She couldn't look at his face now so instead she looked at the curls of his black hair. She let out a shaky breathe, "It was foolish." She tried to lie, but it had been so important then. She'd been so shattered, the world around her had seemed so strange. Everything then was changing. "I tried to step away." She admitted, stepping out his embrace, but she caught up his hand in one of her own and guided it to her wrist, "You held me here." She told him, her eyes meeting his own. Oh her cheeks were warm, her heart practically flying, the memories layered around them. That one, this one, the ones between them. "You told me I wasn't." Her eyes didn't leave his. She was baring her soul again, it so many ways than just that moment in the past.

"And I," She leaned up and toward him and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, "Kissed you here." She whispered against his skin before she sank back down to her toes. "And then you," Her eyes met his lips then back to his eyes, "Kissed me." She leaned forward to allow him to do just that again.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom