Florence - (G.B.)/(B.A.)

Chapter 29

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Same Page

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Florence sat quietly at her sofa, now in the comfort of her own home. With a good novel in hand ⸺ Pride and Prejudice ⸺ one could say that at that moment, she was the epitome of calm.

Ever since her tragic accident on set a couple of days ago, she was instructed by the directors of the play that she should take it easy for a little while and rest at home until her full recovery. She was invited to watch the play, however, which was scheduled for later that evening.

Moving her hand to turn the page, she didn't pay attention to her surroundings and accidentally lost balance of the book, watching with exasperation as it fell to the ground with a loud thump.

Sighing, she leaned down from the sofa to grab the book, but had completely forgotten about her sustained injury and shrieked a little as she accidentally moved her broken arm.

Turns out, Florence's suspicions on the day of the accident had come true. She had been rushed to the nearest doctor after her fall and the doctor concluded that she had broken a bone in her arm. There was now a tight cast around the area and she was instructed to let it heal for a few weeks.

Looking down at the still fallen book, she decided that it was best where it was and that she was far too lazy to grab it.

Just then, loud footsteps were heard from the floor as if someone was running, and she was slightly confused when both of her grandparents came into sight across from her. Their gazes immediately landed on their granddaughter, looking over her with worry.

"Something wrong?" Florence asked as they visibly calmed down.

"We heard a thump from the kitchen," Elizabeth explained, catching her breath, "We thought you'd fallen or something."

Oh, they must've heard the book fall, Florence thought.

"No, I'm fine," Florence assured with a smile, gesturing to her fallen novel. "My book just fell and it made a very loud sound. The terrible thing about hardcovers, I must say."

Edgar sighed and took a seat, pinching his nose with distress. "You're not fine, dear. You broke your arm . . . I can't believe I allowed this to happen."

Florence frowned, watching as her grandfather rubbed his forehead. Elizabeth went over to him and patted his shoulder comfortingly. "There's nothing you could've done to stop it from happening, Ed."

Edgar stood up at once. "When John and Lillian passed away and we took Florence in, I had made myself a promise and that was to never let Florence get hurt." Edgar pointed to his granddaughter and her injury. "And look now. God, what would they think?"

"They would understand that you both are doing a wonderful job," Florence answered. She carefully stood up from her seat and made her way over to the elderly couple. "Grandmother's right. There is nothing you could've done to prevent this, Grandfather. It's only a broken arm; a pretty common occurrence among children my age. It's my opposite arm, too, so I can still go to school and attend classes as normal."

Plus, the kids were currently on their Christmas holidays, so there was always that small chance that her arm would be all healed by the time she'd have to return for the Winter semester.

Edgar crossed his arms, looking a little irritated. "Don't even think about returning to school with that arm of yours." Florence parted her lips to retort, but was cut off by him adding, "You'll be homeschooled until it's healed, and that's final."

Florence knew that it would be no use trying to reason with him, so she left that subject at a standstill for the time being. She would bring it up again once the holidays were over, and she hoped that he would be more reasonable then.

Mustering up her best puppy-dog eyes, she suggested, "The play is premiering in an hour. I really want to go since I wasn't able to work on the remaining tasks. Can we?"

Edgar contemplated the request for a moment, glancing at his wife beside him who was insistently nodding at him. Having made up his mind, he sighed and smiled with agreement at Florence, and the girl was so excited that she rushed away to find her coat.

Edgar and Elizabeth shared a meaningful look with each other.

***

While her grandparents had joined the rest of the audience to their seats, Florence had decided to check up on everyone that was working backstage last minute. All of the theatre actors and the backstage hands were running around in various states of anxiousness. To say they were worried would be an understatement; they were terribly troubled.

After hanging her coat over the coathanger, she joined Anne at the costume design table. When Anne noticed the Robinson girl's presence, she immediately disregarded what she was working on and rushed up to the girl. "Florence, you've made it! I hope you're doing okay, I haven't seen you since that utterly tragic accident on the ladder a few days ago."

Florence laughed lightheartedly. "I'm doing alright. I came to help."

"But your arm . . ." Anne frowned sadly at the cast around her friend's arm.

Florence smirked. "Since when has anything stopped me? A broken arm is only a minor setback, I'm sure I'll manage."

"Oh, I know. I'm aware of how strong my friend is." Anne grinned, returning her attention to the sewing that she completed on one of the costumes. "I'm just about done with my work though, as the show starts soon. I do remember that Moody was requiring some help earlier with the vases, so you could possibly head on over to where he is?"

Florence thanked the redhead and muttered out a short good luck to her before walking away to find the said boy. It didn't take her long to find Moody, and she internally face-palmed herself as she realized just what Moody needed help with earlier.

He was leaning down, attempting to piece the broken vase together. Although some people did turn their heads to watch the boy clean up his mess, they didn't really care and continued with their tasks.

Florence sighed, walking over to her friend. "I should've expected this."

At this, Moody looked up from the ground and met her eyes with silent apologies.

"I'm so sorry, Flo. I didn't mean to do it," Moody apologized with a sorrowful expression. He noted her quietness. "It's all my fault."

"It's fine, Moody," she responded after a moment. "Why are you picking up the glass shards with your bare hands? Go grab some rags to soak up the water . . . and a broom."

Moody only nodded and hurried away to fetch the supplies.

Florence bent down by the broken vase and carefully used her non-broken arm to pick up the larger pieces and drop them into the trash can beside her.

Gilbert bent down beside her. She hadn't even noticed when he came. "Here, let me help you."

"It's quite alright," she murmured.

"But your arm is broken."

"And the other is still in working order," she added as if it wasn't already obvious.

Gilbert bit the inside of his cheek, watching closely as Florence picked up the pieces with her free arm, seemingly unconcerned. He immediately sprang up and began sweeping up the smaller bits with the broom that Moody had just brought in.

Florence glanced up from her crouched position as he smiled smugly at her. "Kind of need both arms to sweep, so I'll happily take up this task."