The Virescent Elf smiled warmly to her friend, cheeks blushing with the warmth of the scotch (or three) she had just had. She dared not stop just yet though. Recently drained glass in hand, she leaned close to Everett, extending the glass towards him, her pale blues pleading with the boy. Her lips parted slowly, as if to speak, but only faint giggles managed to escape her.
His own haze was thick. So thick, in fact, that he allowed impulse to get the better of him. Everett reached out an inky hand, warm and tingling with the drink that coursed through him, and grazed his knuckles across her cheek. He leaned towards those pale blues, infinite, beguiling, as sweet as a summer sky.
"Thou art breathtaking. A woman for a thousand sonnets."
Virescent She, as intoxicating as the scotch, forbidden to the lonely poet, even as she sat right before him, untouchable. Yet he touched her boldly, that sweet face, maybe even that gentle heart. She had looked a little lonely to him of late, something he knew well as he spied it every time he was foolish enough to look into a mirror.
Giggles burst forth once more, light, delighted and delightful all the same. The request for drink wasn't met, but an unspoken request of something much more was. Warmth flooded her features, it filled her insides, making her look as if she could burst, an intoxication caused by much more than too high a proof than her small body could handle.
He had dared to touch her, she had dared to let him. She dared to nuzzle her face a little more against those inky knuckles. Her gaze took him in through the haze, one of admiration, one of trust, one of desire.
"Everett..."
Sober, she wasn't an eloquent girl. When she wasn't sober? It wasn't a fact that would be changed. Though perhaps he could read her, for any word unspoken seemed to be written in those ethereal blue eyes of hers, a book just waiting to be opened.
With a slow blink, he smiled softly at her, pulling that hand away for just a moment. He pressed a kiss to his thumb, then brushed that thumb against her lips, he dare not trespass. Not just yet. Everett had to be certain before he would leap, lest he be broken again. No, this was not the desperation. It was not the terrible loneliness that threatened to bury him. It was not the scotch. This was something bigger, something he saw that he had been denying. It was more than warm regard. It was more than cupcakes and visits and beautifully cut blazers.
"Thou dost care for me, I can see it so well."
It was almost painful to speak the words. Lydia was the best kind of woman, and so far out of his league that he dare not think further on that which he saw in her eyes.
Her gaze widened slightly, the faintest look of bewilderment writ across her features as his thumb grazed her lip. Beyond the bewilderment however, the warmth never seemed to fade, never turned cold. Her surroundings, room two-oh, was but a blur, and everything outside of her and Everett ceased to exist in that moment.
Hand clutching glass had fallen, had released it to the floor. Had it made a sound? Had it broken? She was unaware. Her gaze sought his, beyond the spectacles as her hands rose to encase his within them.
"I do care for you..."
Her words weren't whispered, simply quiet, soft, intoxicating as the scotch they had consumed. Lips pursed, she pressed a kiss to his thumb, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
"You care as well? for me."
Three drinks. Maybe four. Delicate beauty sat before him, and he knew, even before she answered him, that his heart and his gut did not lie. He knew that she was the reason he had crossed the seas. For the first time in months, he did not think of honeyed eyes and a laugh like a brook. He thought only of the woman before him. It could not be wrong, not in this moment, not as it seemed the very universe had conspired to drive them together and into their truth.
Everett was cautious and gentle, but never hesitant. As she squeezed his hand, he drew their hands together towards his pounding heart, and laid the flat of her clever little palm upon it, that it might feel the words as her ears heard them.
"I care for nothing in this place so well as you."
His free hand captured her jaw, urging her in that he might press his lips at last to hers.
Even as her hand was laid upon his chest, her gaze dared not travel away from his. She felt him, heard him, saw him and every emotion he had within. She was consumed by it, consumed by him in that moment. Tears pooled in her eyes, as it was overwhelming, yet at the same time, it was incredible. Had she ever felt this before? Even if she cared enough to try to recall... no.
This was different. This was...beyond fate.
Everett needed to not urge her too much, as she didn't resist or pull away from this. Away from him. Her hand clutched the fabric about his beating heart as she leaned close to him, allowed her eyes to close, allowed the tears to fall down her cheeks, allowed her lips to part to take his in.
The floodgates open and that kiss washed away any traces of his old despair. Before he could stop himself, before his foolish logic could intervene, he had nearly fallen out of his chair, fumbling nearer her to gather up the elf in his arms. He knelt beside her chair, clutching every precious element of her to him, kissing her with an unknown abandon. The sweet taste of her, the scotch on both their lips, her particular scent and the stolen moment only heightened that feeling. He felt a man in love.
They were two puzzle pieces that fit so perfectly so. Two pieces perhaps not born that way, but over the years the edges had worn and ripped, and yet by some miracle these two damaged pieces fit without force. She moved as close as she could to him, gathered him to herself in every way she could, with every sense she could, and yearned for more senses so she might experience him more. Her hands, still upon his chest, quivered faintly, as if frightened. She suddenly felt everything too much so perhaps, and parted her lips from his, slowly, hesitantly, painfully, as her eyes opened to search his out, more tears threatening to spill out from them.
"Everett...?"
"Oh god, Lydia..."
His right arm snaked about her waist, keeping her so close as he stood, bringing her along. His left hand sought hers and clutched it for dear life, and he pressed a feverish brow to hers.
"Bid me do anything, and I would do it for you."
Another reverent kiss, this one firmly pressed against her forehead before at last his earnest brown eyes sought hers. A hopeless situation. He just knew he would be jilted. He just knew that he could never hope to win the heart of such a jewel. The thought of it stung him, made the heart so elated by the most perfect kiss sink like a stone. He thought he might die if he had to release her from his needful grasp. Everett wanted all of her, every inch, every gift, every flaw.
She felt dizzy as he drew her up, felt as if she could fall these emotions had overtaken her so. She clung to him, pulled him tighter to her if possible, as if he could help her, as if he could keep her afloat, not let her sink, not let her drown as she had been doing as of late. The warmth she once felt mere moments ago burned at her now, ached her heart so. She didn't want to part from him ever. His arms, his heart, to be so close always... that's what she wanted.
"Marry me then..."
Her words finally a whisper, yet serious all the same. She wanted and needed him, now and always. If he could promise her that...
His eyes welled up immediately and he thought his heart would burst. Had his ears deceived him? The way she clung told him that he had not. Everett tore the spectacles from his face and cast them aside, so that there would be nothing in the way.
"I am yours alone, now and forever my sweet, virescent lady."
His kiss was nearly furious for all the passion behind it as at last, he allowed himself to feel the truth. His thumb pressed lightly against her jaw as lips parted hers in the mad moment, seeking deeper intimacy. Seeking her breath and her taste and her heartbeat, touching the soft hair, the curve of her neck, the elegant line of her collarbones.
Yes, he wanted her, more profoundly than he had ever wanted anything. He could feel it driving him mad, and yet, there was still a chivalry about him. He would not profane this with his baser needs. He tore his lips from hers, nearly breaking his own heart in the process, pressed his cheek against hers, that he might whisper in her ear.
"Tonight. Now. Let us not waste another moment. Be my wife. I shall want to wake with thee beside me tomorrow, and all tomorrows."
When they saw them together, everyone would forgive them. To deny those two their happiness, to not wish them well, would be to deny the sun to rise and set. It would be folly of the greatest degree.
This kiss brought a grin to her lips. She was thrilled, excited, even if all of this was a bit surreal. How lucky was she to discover such happiness as this, when she wasn't even searching for it? As he pulled away to change his shirt, she steadied herself on a nearby chair as to not topple over. She watched him change, and even dared to look over his exposed flesh a moment before turning away a brief moment, the flush of her cheeks burning vehemently.
When she turned towards him again, she saw him clad in that jacket she had made, and it touched her. That he thought so well of it that he would wear it to such an occasion. The fact he would wear it at all was already heart warming to her. She watched him more, every movement, even such simple tasks as putting on shoes fascinated her at the moment. She was thankful Everett was a better soul than she, for if he hadn't moved so quickly to usher them out to be married, she would have given in to her temptations to know him as more than she did now. The night however, was young. Grasping his hand, the future Mrs. Everett Ogden stumbled out with him, grin on her face, anticipation high.
Everett was still fumbling with his glasses even as the two of them stumbled out of the door together. He locked the door and all the way to the south side, he kept his Lydia, his light, his life, his love, tucked into the crook of his arm. Never had he done anything so foolish. Never had he done anything so completely right. There would be consequences, and he was damned ready to pay them all. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, Lydia Loran was worth every last one of them.
She belonged no where else. Felt no better, safer.. anywhere else, or with anyone else. Everett's arms were the home she never had, the home she always searched for yet never found. Not until tonight. The entire way, she had her arm around Everett as well, holding him close to her, as close as she could for now. Occasionally her mind wandered to how close they would be later. Soon. And her arm tightened around him with desire at every one of those thoughts. She cared not of consequence, she held not worry, just this rare, pure, untainted emotion. At the arrival of the destination she laughed suddenly, happily and heartily, all of those positive emotions building so much they just had to bubble out.
He stopped outside of the door and searched her eyes, the pale oceans in which he would drown. God, he could hardly wait to devour her, to know every bit of her, to give himself over to her completely. Another one of those long, slow deep kisses for his missus preceded the gentlest touch to her gentle face.
"I love you. I do. I will."
He held the door for her, and followed her into the strange little chapel on the south side, the place where he would start his life at last.
