May 30th, 1895 — Thompsett Household

And I wondered, oh my god, did I get lost?
Am I young enough to just move on?
Lester had to wonder — had his mother dragged him to a stop at the Thompsett household because she was genuinely delivering baked goods to Mr. Thompsett, or had she dragged him to a stop at the Thompsett household because she wanted him to talk about Sloane's absence with one of his friends? He suspected it was a mix of the two, and likely would have put up a fight had he not genuinely wanted an opportunity to talk to Sisse.

They arrived during calling hours, a basket under Beatrice's arm. Beatrice talked Matthew (senior — Lester was privately a bit relieved that he hadn't seen junior today) through the contents of the basket, and eventually looked at Sisse and Lester. "Miss Sisse, will you take him for a turn around your gardens? With an O in Herbology he ought to take over planning mine," she said, and Lester was used to not arguing with his mother, and found himself in the small backyard of the Thompsett household.

"She's a menace," Lester said, without any real bite, "Did you enjoy the Coming Out Ball? Is your cousin settling in alright?"

They got to actually talk so infrequently that it was like he thirsted for conversation with her; the questions spilled out of his mouth rapidly. He hadn't gotten to see her at the Coming Out Ball, but that had not felt too bizarre — it was awfully crowded.

Sisse Thompsett

  

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set by Bee!

A call from the Hatchitts only two weeks earlier would have elicited a very different reaction from Sisse. Oh her stomach still leapt when Lester and his mother had been announced into the drawing room, but now it was layered with so many other emotions. She truly didn't wish to visit them on such a beautiful moment as this so she sat demurely as she watched Mrs. Hatchitt discussing baked goods with her father. She didn't try to slip away or engage in any additional conversation, indeed, she rather thought she was poised as she masked her feelings, trying to bury them down. She had felt she knew precisely what to do and now ... faced with Lester she truly wasn't sure.

What once would have been excitement turned to dread in her stomach at Mrs. Hatchitt's suggestion. But it had to be done. "Certainly Mrs. Hatchitt." Sisse gave her a charming smile and stood gracefully up from the couch. Her rose colored skirts swept around her as she led them outside to the privacy of their garden.

Her mother had loved roses and while the garden was small it was tastefully decorated in the fashion of a British rose garden. Sisse had tended to it since she had returned from school, caring for several new rose bushes near the arbor where her favorite bench sat. She led Lester toward her favorite corner now as he spoke to her, making sure not to speed down the stone path to the nook. It was out of site of the first floor windows of the house and indeed her room was the only one on the second floor that could see the beautiful tree with the bench leading to it and the rose cover arbor leading toward them. It was surrounded in the hedges that marked the border of their property and it was Sisse's most favorite part of the garden. With Mrs. Potts' and Calla's help she'd even begun to introduce other flowers along the paths by the bench as well. What had been a project from her mother had become something wholly her own in this shaded corner of the garden.

Lester's questions pulled Sisse's attention away as she walked with him, so many that she laughed, there was a nervous edge to it, but still there was something in his inquiry, the true earnestness in his questions - in his curiosity. It was a something that shifted the ground under her feet in an unsettling way that she truly ought not to look any deeper at. "Miss Chattaway has settled in well, I am nervous she doesn't like it here, but at least she and Matthew are not arguing." And her father had been around more frequently in an effort to help the young woman settle in as well which was a welcome surprise for Sisse.

"I enjoyed the ball." Truthfully she had not. She had tried to. She'd danced and laughed and done all the right things - for all the wrong reasons. And she'd completely avoided Lester, accepting every dance and never allowing herself to be caught alone by anyone. They were not quite far enough away from the house for such an admission, but looking at the earnest gaze of Lester's she found she didn't want to pretend with him. A sigh escaped her lips. "Truthfully? It was weird." She looked down at the path before them as she confessed. A blush crept onto her cheeks, "I felt as if I'd been passed over, as if I ought not to have been there." She should have been settled by now. She ought not to still be attending balls as a debutante but instead as a married woman. But she'd lost sight of that in the last year, holding on to hopes and dreams that were unrealistic and had only served her hurt her in the end. She had wasted her season and she was all too keenly aware of it.

  

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Not arguing with Matthew was a good sign — Sisse's older brother made Lester nervous, and he was sure that he wasn't the only one, given how Matthew sometimes looked at the eligible men who looked at Sisse at events. (Lester tried not to look any type of way at this men, but — he saw them.) But maybe Matthew would be less intense if he had another young lady to worry about, rather than just Sisse.

His train of thought was derailed by Sisse's assessment of the Coming Out Ball, and he pressed his lips together with sympathy. He hated seeing her look like that, with the blush on her cheeks and the way she was looking at the ground — she looked more than anything to be disappointed, and Lester had to resist an impulse to lay his hand supportively on her elbow.

"I know it would be hard for me to entirely understand, given that things are — different, for men," Lester said quietly. It was strange to be talking about Seasons with the girl you were secretly kissing, the girl you had a complicated bunch of feelings for, the girl you liked. But it was Sisse, who was his friend more than anything else, and he wanted to try. His tone was earnest as he added, "But I'm sorry you felt that way. I can — imagine how difficult it is, to be back like that, with the Seventh Years leaving."

  

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set by Bee!

His words surprised her and her blue eyes glanced up to search his. There were so many truths bubbling behind her lips, so many ones she wanted to tell him, but her heart was too sore, her courage too faltering. So instead she found herself admitting her other truths, the one's she had barely even admitted to Sloane and the other girls. She had let them think she was just a bit more debutante obsessed than them, but it was more than that. "I was supposed to be a success - the success last season. And I failed." Her voice cracked. She looked away from him, her gaze landing on the arbor, they were only steps away from it now. "And what do I have to show for it?" Her hand spread out to gesture the futility of her season. "Nothing. No prospects, no marriage. Just a season where I'm nothing more than passed over goods." Her cheeks were warm and her eyes were watering from frustration but also from anger and pain. She couldn't look at Lester, couldn't admit that he was part of the reason - not all of it - but a large part of why she still had no proposals.

  

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It was hard to hear Sisse talk like that, like she was an irrevocable failure. Lester reached a hand out with the intention of touching her elbow, but thought better of it and let it fall away. Was she unmarried because of him?

"Sisse," he started, quietly — he had to say something, because she was looking so fragile, and he didn't know how to fix it. I'm sorry, someone will choose you, it's not the end?

Instead, what he said was, "I love you."

The following 3 users Like Lester Hatchitt's post:3 users Like Lester Hatchitt's post
   Rosalie Hunniford, Sisse Thompsett, Sloane Bixby

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set by Bee!

It was only the sound of his voice that brought her gaze back to his face, he didnt look repulsed. But there was a furrow to his brow as if he were considering something.

And there it was. The irreversible something that should never have been uttered between them. Words were out of her mouth before she could even think of what he'd said. "You're can't." Hushed surprise layered the words between them and had she considered it she would have realized she hadn't guarded her face (or her emotions) well at all.

  

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The expression on her face looked more shocked than excited, which was unsurprising — Lester knew that this realization, that the feelings he felt for her were love, wasn't convenient. They'd never talked about an outcome like that; they had hardly talked about outcomes at all.

"Yeah," Lester said, "I'm sorry."

  

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set by Bee!

Growing up Sisse had always dreamed of a love match. Her parents had been one and the stories of love were always so beautiful. She had believed she would dare anything for love. As she'd grown older she'd envisioned balls in her first season where she would be swept off her feet by a handsome (appropriate) gentleman and whisked away to marry at the end of the summer. But those things hadn't happened. She'd thought she knew what love was, thought she'd felt it for Alvin. What she felt for Lester was different. It was heady, beating deep within her veins. It wasn't layered with sadness, but rather with years of friendship. She could admit she had been attracted to Alvin through her pain, but Lester? He was her friend. He was the one she had wanted to tell everything too, the one who scared her, but the one who was always there for her. He had taken her first kiss, taken her heart first. The realization ached in her chest, her heart thumping in her chest much too fast as she finally took in what he'd said - and as she felt it echo in herself. She loved him. The truth of it rung clearer to her than anything else, and looking at him she could see it echoed in his face - even as it clouded over.

She hated that look, hated the words that came next. Instead she reached out, her fingers grasping his. This wasn't supposed to be how it happened and she honestly didn't know what to do. Every move was the wrong one, every move hurt her, hurt him.

Gently Sisse tugged him under the bower, away from any prying eyes that might be lingering at windows. With the shade encompassing them Sisse stepped toward him, chest to chest, her skirts brushing into his legs, her eyes meeting his own. "I love you too Lester." The words felt like twisting vines climbing through her chest, aching, hurting, but promising beauty or pain. But... "What do we do?" Her voice broke as she searched his eyes.

The following 2 users Like Sisse Thompsett's post:2 users Like Sisse Thompsett's post
   Rosalie Hunniford, Sloane Bixby

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