Arranged

9

Cosette

Almost a week passed before I got a call from Avery while I was at work.

"Ello?"

"Cosette," she breathed, "he's absolutely in love with you."

A thousand thoughts ran through my head, and the only plausible response was for me to let out a short laugh.

"That's ridiculous. How could you have found the evidence for that statement?"

She took her time replying, presumably to build suspense. I tried to remain incredulous.

"Last night there was a gathering at Jasper's mansion-- for the lads. I'm sure it was just Henry, him, and William there. They almost never have time to get together like that, so they got raging drunk. And when he was dragged out of the door, he was saying that he loved you."

I laughed again, this time with more fervor.

"Seriously? William was probably fooled silly when he was that drunk. So what I'm in his drunk fantasies?"

"So what? Have you seen yourselves together? It's electric, absolutely, terrifyingly electric. I can't believe I have to spell this out for you. A book has less chapters than the amount of times you blushed the other night, and less pages than the amount of times I saw William contemplating whether or not to kiss you."

I stayed silent for several seconds, having an internal debate. William had wanted to kiss me? Wouldn't that have been too soon? No, admit it, you would have liked it, wouldn't you?

Ok. I would have liked it. But William is a different person now. I am a different person now. We have seperate, independent lives that wouldn't have been mixed if not for the caprice of a dying woman.

Initial attraction says nothing. Robert is terrifyingly attractive, or can be when he keeps his mouth shut. And how about when we met for tea two days before the ball, before he knew that I was Cosette Maude? I could never entangle myself with someone that horrendously rude, no matter the amount of sparks I felt with him.

Remembering that I was on the phone, I kept my tone light.

"Avery, I'm unconvinced. You're going to have to get me more solid evidence."

"Well, darling, what could be more solid than your very next interaction with him?"

---
William

-The night before-

"Henry. Jasper. It's really nice to see you both."

We crowded into a massive side hug to show our appreciation. I laughed internally because we had done this since we were fifteen and nothing had changed. We parted, all with smiles on our faces. Jasper, as per usual, was the first to speak.

"Shots, anyone?"

"Vodka."

I was only half kidding, but was praised as a genius by the lads. Everyone knew that I preferred anything but, yet even so I sat down at the bar with the usual vigor.

Soon, we were all roaring drunk, and I couldn't have seen straight if I tried.

"How's married life?"

I directed my question at Henry, who was tracing circles in the air next to me.

"I can't begin to describe it, mate. Claudia is perfect, I mean an absolute darling."

If I hadn't known better, I would have thought he had sobered. Looking at him, though, I could tell that the so-called honeymoon period had not ended after a year and that he was still getting and giving everything that he could want from her. He countered me with a question directed at Jasper.

"How's almost married life, mate?"

"Absolute purgatory. I can't even see 'er without getting absolutely perky, and to make matters worse, nothing can be done about it until we're married!"

I laughed. He was complaining, as per usual, about the royal practice of celibacy before marriage. Of course, that not only meant that only Henry was in the green but that Jasper was torturing himself with ways to satisfy himself without breaking the rules. I almost choked when the questionig was directed at me.

"You're in love with 'er, aren't you, mate?"

I kept my tone incredulous.

"Who?"

Both Jasper and Henry sat up and looked at me. From that second on, I knew I was a goner. I couldn't help but start obsessively thinking about her yet again. In my state, everything was heightened: the tantalizing way in which she licked her lips, her all-consuming eyes, the way the small of her back felt when I touched her for just a moment, how I could barely restrain myself from leaning in and devouring her, caressing the flower that I wanted so desperately to claim as my own...

The lads were getting suspicious at my silence, so I realized that I had to tell them.

"She's Maude-"

My voice broke underneath the scrutiny that I was being held under. They both sat up straighter, talking at the same time.

"Cosette is-"
"Are you serious, mate?"

I laughed nervously. Yeah, I was screwed, in more ways than one. Jasper looked at me with a sudden clarity.

"You love her, don't you."

It wasn't a question.

"I love her," I said, testing it out, "but it's not like that can make any difference. She has that bloke Rob or whomever that she's engaged to, and it's not 'tall sane to try and win her over when we don't even know each other."

I looked up, and caught Avery staring from the corner of my eye. I was thankful that I would remember none of this in the morning.

---
Hey there lovelies!

Forgive me for my year-long hiatus. I haven't been much in the mood for writing, as I've been doing so much work for class and whatnot.

Cheers,
Alice