Now, where to begin? [Holmesbury]

Chapter 8

Tewkesbury pov:

"Enola?"

"Yes?" She replied, still looking at the sky.

"I forgot to tell you, but tomorrow is my mother's birthday. So, as always, there will be a ball and  I would like you to come. I was going to send you an invitation, but I was afraid you wouldn't have time. But now you're already here, so uhm... what do you think?" I asked in one breath.

"Calm down, of course I want to come!" She said, looking at me now. "One small problem though, I don't have a dress and jewellery and all that stuff..." one corner of her mouth went down.

"Oh, don't worry about that! We have plenty, a maid will help you. Or if you like I can judge the dresses...?" I said with a smirk. (Sorry I smirk a lot I know.)

"You know what? Fine. I'm curious if you have good taste in clothes." She said and jumped up.

Together we walked through the woods, along the same paths we took to get here.

When we got back to the garden, we greeted some of the gardeners and walked to the back door. Well, one of them. We have about eight.

 

"Gotcha!" Enola suddenly yelled and I felt her ping my arm. She took off like lightning. 

"Are you serious? Are you playing tag? All right, then."

 I ran after her like a little child. I almost ran over a couple of maids who jumped backwards in fright. "Sorry!" I called after them. Enola is going faster than expected, so I change gears. With big strides, we were running through the corridors of Basilwether. Then she went up the stairs, with me right behind her. 

She walked to the right, but what she didn't know is that it's a dead end, so I could lock her in. With my arms stretched wide, I walked closer and closer to her. In one swift movement, I had my arms around her waist and was lifting her up. "Come with me, we have to go to the dressing room to choose the perfect dress for you."

Fortunately, she walked in this direction; the dressing room is not far from where we are now. We walked there and I opened the door. She followed me in, still annoyed that she hadn't outsmarted me this time.

I showed her all the racks of dresses to choose from. Enola walked beside the row, running her hand along each dress, until at one point she pulled out a red dress with a puffy skirt. "Can I try this one on?"

"Yes, of course." I replied.

... *crickets*

... *crickets*

She looked at me with a face that said  "Are you going to leave or-?"

 "Oh yes, um, privacy." I stuttered and my eyes moved from one side of the room to the other in shame.  I walked backwards and my heel hit the side of the door, which was still open, and I almost tripped. I straightened myself up, pulled my jacket tight again and and with an awkward smile I walked out the door.