.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.
"Morning." Oliver called as he walked into the dining room, the last of the house, it seemed, to be awoken that day as all the others who sat around the table with different levels of tiredness on the first morning of the summer.
But what Oliver noticed very quickly was that Alexandra was no where to be found.
He had not seen her since she left him sitting on that bench last night, the blanket still around his shoulders as he watched her disappear into the maze of Saltburn. Before she had been engulfed by the darkness of the house, he had noticed her look back over her shoulder and send him a soft glance that had haunted him all through the night, only sated by the fact he would be seeing her that next day.
"You sleep well, mate?" Felix questioned as he carved into the full English breakfast on the plate in front of him, pulling Oliver's eyes from the notably empty seat that was beside the Catton in question.
"Yeah." Oliver said with a small smile as he sat himself down, sending greetings to all those surrounding the table as he did so. Felix then gestured for him to get himself some breakfast to which he quickly nodded. "Oh yeah, can I get a full English breakfast too please?"
He couldn't say he was expecting all the baffled looks they sent his way but was glad when Elspbeth saved him from the humiliation.
"Breakfast is on the side, darling." She said carefully, breaking the silence. "Help yourself."
Oliver turned, noticing the banquet of a breakfast buffet behind him on a large table which seemed in similar length to the one they were all sat at anyway.
"How would you like your eggs, sir?" Duncan asked, his voice as monotone as ever as he did so.
"Oh, it's fine I can get them if you-" Oliver began but was swiftly interrupted by Farleigh.
"Not the eggs." He drawled, sending Oliver a pointed look. "The eggs are made for you."
Farleigh was truly getting on his last nerve.
"Exactly!" Elspbeth said. "Everything else is on the side."
Oliver felt as though he was in a completely country, with completely different customs at this point. As though he was some charity case they had picked up off the street. And in a way he was. But that did not mean he enjoyed the smirk Duncan seemed to send him from across the table.
"Fried? Over easy, please." Oliver said finally after receiving a look from Felix. Duncan nodded, exiting the room so very silently that he was sure the butler was a ghost of some sort.
It was during yet another awkward moment of silence that Alexandra finally appeared. She was flushed from her rush to come down to breakfast and her gold chrysanthemum head of hair was softly curled from the nights rest. And yet in her morning mess, she looked the very picture of elegance that everyone in this house seemed to be able to be at the drop of a hat.
"And sleeping beauty has finally graced us with her presence." Farleigh said, leaning his head back as she walked past and she swotted his shoulder playfully. "What kept you up? A lover? A secret tryst?"
"Oh hush." Alexandra said, rolling her eyes as she slipped into her seat beside Felix who slid her her plate which he had already filled for her. "Merely my musings."
Her and Oliver's eyes met at one point and she sent him a sly smile. Their eyes seemed always to have the most devilish affair, meeting so privately in a room so very public.
