𝐁𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐞 ✔️

Chapter 8 - The Bridgerton Ball

{Content warning}
SA attempts.

The just-risen sun shined softly on the country estate, bringing with it a flurry of early-morning activities. Staff sauntered the halls, most with decorations in hand, going in and out of doors. Far down the corridor was the only quiet room, evading all the commotion. Birds chirped near the windowsills of the home while both families chatted in the drawing-room.

"It is a beautiful day, is it not?" Emma asked, sitting in between Daphne and Eloise. An idea formed in Daphne's mind as she smirked.

"The perfect day for pall mall." Daphne stated, the devilish grin growing comfortable on her face.  The Bridgerton siblings exchanged confused glances across the room as they waited for assurance.

"You heard right, I challenge you all to a game of pall mall." Daphne repeated. A confused young lady coughed on the side of her. "Oh, where are my manners. Do you three know what pall mall is?" Daphne asked. The Harrington siblings slightly shook their heads side to side, waiting for an explanation.

"All you have to do is strike your ball through one of the iron hoops and the player to get their ball through it in the fewest shots, wins." Benedict summarized. Jenny clapped in excitement while Luke loosened his black cravat, indicating that he was preparing for the competition.

"Sister, do we even have time for such things?" Colin wondered, setting down his newspaper. Anthony agreed and checked his pocket watch for the hour. They were worried for there was so much to do, but Lady Harrington and Lady Bridgerton were already setting up for the ball, and with all the ton coming it had to be perfect. So none of the children were allowed to bother them.

"It seems to me like you gentlemen are..well scared, us women will possibly manage to beat you." Emma taunted.

"You're on." Luke responded with no sportsmanship and then left the room while the other men followed. The girls exchanged looks and then burst out into laughter. Eloise minced over to Jenny and reached out her arm. Jenny gladly accepted and pranced with Eloise out the door.

"Have you noticed our sisters are getting quite close?" Daphne mentioned connecting arms with Emma. She thought about the constant visits from the brunette and how Jenny started to disappear
more often than usual.

"Sort of, but I think of it as a rather good thing, do you not?" Emma questioned.

"Of course, that gives us more time to spend together." Daphne replied with a smile.

Everyone was at the field, waiting for Emma to join them before starting the game. She was stopped by their mothers, who had a question about which set of flowers would accompany the ballroom better than the other. Emma briefly told them which she preferred when suddenly Judith pitched in and asked another question about what instruments should be performed at the ball, to which she choose a violin and harpsichord. Once the mothers were done getting their answers, Emma joined the group outside.

Her feet ambled down the concrete steps and onto the field. She fixed her eyes on the game that was set up in the green grass, the others surrounded a wooden bucket attached to a post that held mallets inside. Benedict counted down to three before all hell broke loose. Everybody quickly grabbed their favorite mallet and pranced, no, more like barged through to be the one to go first. Emma strutted to the bucket where one mallet sat, it was a decent size, quite dull, and the color pink. She caught glimpse of the players she was to go against and saw Anthony with a large, more durable, black mallet.