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Barely two whole weeks had passed from their first encounter, Polly-Anna found Thomas Shelby insufferable.
It was as though every corner she turned, there he stood. Staring down at her with those big blue eyes. He hadn't known about the Wallace girls plans to bake his family a cake, so it wasn't as though he was there to collect an imaginary debt that was owed.
At first, she was convinced that he could read minds, see the future, do things the average Joe couldn't. Until she rationalised, realising he was nothing more than a thirteen year old with a rather large family, so he probably had to be in every corner of the earth to provide for them— just like she did. Then, she had come to the conclusion that he was just there to get on her nerves.
From her job, as a sew-girl within the small tailor shop on the corner of Garrison Street, she could see the Shelbys, including Thomas, play with an inflated bag- not quite a football, but it was close enough, and sometimes she wished she could go out and play along with them.
But one particular Tuesday was incredibly different. Not only was she late in dropping off Amber at the school, but now, sat at her work bench, she watched as two Shelbys walked through the door.
Mrs Shelby and one of her sons, this one— well, this was the one she had been actively avoiding, but failing at doing so.
"Mabel! Ah, it's lovely to see you, on time too!" The head seamstress joked, welcoming the elder Shelby into the shop.
Had Polly-Anna been the head seamstress, she would've acted with an ounce of decency, conveying a version of herself that she wished she was. Educated, poised, calm- collected. Everything that she couldn't be. She was too irrational, quick to react purely on emotion- something that she didn't witness the well educated doing, at least- not in public anyway.
Polly-Anna watched as Mabel stepped upon the pedestal in the middle of the room, three people with flexible roped measuring tape circled round her, but only she took the initiative to walk up to Thomas Shelby with a forced smile.
Somehow, she knew it wasn't just Mabel who came in for items, what teenaged son would willing walk into a predominant women's tailors with his mother if it wasn't for a selfish reason. As she began to walk towards him, his comically large brows began to furrow together. Confusion lacing his appearance, features growing curious with each step.
"Your Amber never said you'd be working today." Thomas was the first to speak.
For the love of all things holy, Polly-Anna thought, forcing her face to contort into confusion instead of irritation. Amber knew she wasn't supposed to talk too much about their lives to people who didn't know of their circumstances, and how she had stumbled upon the boy in front of her— well, she had no idea.
"I hadn't known she was such a talkative creature." She replied rather bluntly, causing one of the older women in the room to turn and glare at the boisterous blonde.
