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𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇, 𝟏𝟗𝟏𝟖 ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND IT, ELEANOR. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELF?"
Eleanor sighed through a puff of smoke, her brown eyes rolling back in her head at the all too familiar line of questioning. "Evie,"
The blonde woman stubbed her cigarette out, shaking her head exasperatedly. "Charles is a perfectly fine man! There's no true reason for you to continue turning him down, especially when you've never given him a real chance!"
"I don't need a real reason to turn him down, Evie, I simply don't want to marry the man."
Silently, Evie sits back against the rickety chair in her home and looks at her close friend. Eleanor Price was everything one could want in a friend, and in a woman in general. She was independent, as much as a woman could be in these times, she was strong-willed and rarely bent to meet others' expectations of her, and she worked with the infamous Shelby family, which guaranteed protection for just about anyone she trusted.
She was rather small in overall size, but her attitude made up for every bit of height she lacked and those that had underestimated her in the past had always come to regret it. Her brown hair was rarely up, rather sitting on her shoulders and she was constantly pushing her bangs off of her face instead of just getting them trimmed. There wasn't an unattractive thing about her, truly.
Yet, despite Evie's countless attempts, she remained alone. Though Eleanor constantly reassured her that she was never lonely, and she preferred the alone time she did get when she wasn't at work, or wasn't with a friend, Evie could sense the longing in the woman's gaze whenever she saw the rare happy couple out and about.
Despite Evie's family, and her appearance, she was anything but ignorant, and it didn't exactly take a genius to see the main reason as to why Eleanor refused the men that pursued her. It was a simple reason, albeit infuriating; none of them were Thomas Shelby.
Eleanor and Tommy grew up together, attending school together, and practically living together at one point in their adolescence when Eleanor's father ran off to London and left her in Small Heath.
It was almost inevitable that Eleanor would grow to love him, but it was painful to watch her grow so oblivious to just how much she felt for him. At one point, Evie supported the possible future the two had, but as she grew up and became closer with Eleanor because of Tommy's relationship with her big brother, Freddie, she learned that Tommy was not the man she once thought he was.
Since then, she'd done nothing to hide her disdain for the man, even when he and her brother were shipped off to war along with every other Shelby man. And Evie had done everything in her power to make Eleanor see that there was a world outside of Tommy Shelby's bubble of crime and chaos.
"I'm just saying," Evie resists the urge to grab another cigarette, knowing Eleanor hated when she chain-smoked. "Charles is a fine man, he'd treat you nice, you'd get married, pop out a few kids and be better off."
"In what way would I be better off?" Eleanor frowned, looking at her friend in slight shock. "I've never wanted children, let alone with Charles Grant. He's a wanker if I've ever seen one."
Evie's dark brows fell flat as she glared at her friend. "What are you going to do when you wake up in ten years and realize you've done nothing but be Tommy Shelby's lap dog? What sort of life is that, Eleanor?"
Briefly, Eleanor forgot that her friend was somehow oblivious to her work with the Peaky Blinders, and just how essential she was to their business with or without Tommy around, and she held her tongue as she formed a calm response.
"Would you forget about Freddie?" Eleanor's question raises a brow in response. "When Freddie gets home, will you leave him behind? Will you drop over twenty years of life with him just to marry a man and have a superficial life?"
"He's my brother, Eleanor. It's not the same."
"Tommy is my best friend, he's always been my friend. I will never leave him behind."
Evie sighs, resigned. "What happens when he comes home and he's not the same man you grew up with? War changes people, Eleanor."
The girl shrugs, like the answer is so simple. "Then I'll learn to love every bit of him like I do now."
"That's a sad life, doing nothing but loving Thomas Shelby."
Eleanor smiles at her frustrated friend. "Life is a sad thing, Evie. Tommy just so happens to make it a little less sad."
Evie heaves a sigh, far too used to this conversation ending in the same way. Eleanor Price was doomed to love Thomas Shelby, and it would kill her.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
author's note; hello here I am again with an impulsive story, fueled by joey aka my favorite person (LUSTMINAJ) ily thank u for constantly supporting me
