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Perhaps angering the Peaky Blinders was not the best idea. To Elsie, it meant persistent nagging from the brothers. It was nearing Christmas, meaning that the Nutcracker was being performed twice a day. With aristocrats and children in the audience, she noticed when John or Arthur were in the audience, their flat caps and hair cuts making the difference between everyone obvious. But never once did she see Thomas.
Sure, Elsie felt bad. She hadn't even congratulated John on his wedding. Whenever either John or Arthur tried to find her behind stage, she'd disappear onto the roof. The smog filled her lungs, Birmingham not showing one star as she lay looking up at the sky.
The shows had been going great, Elsie almost as good as she used to be. The young child, Katherine, who'd been playing Clara had done brilliantly that night, and Elsie was proud of the standing applauses they had been receiving. The Sugarplum Dance was one of the hardest she'd performed.
As she thought about everything, the show, The Peaky Blinders, Tommy, her mind hadn't even processed that it had started to snow. Snow flakes drifted down into her cheeks, the cold starting to cool down her red cheeks. Shocked by the feeling, her eyes shot open and she quickly stood up. Rushing down the stairs, she ran out of the stage door.
A grin spread across her face, her white teeth matching the colour of the snow. Reaching her hand out to catch a few snow flakes she didn't even notice Arthur walking up behind her, "Angel?"
Elsie froze in her spot, "No, this is Gertrude." She faked, not facing Arthur.
She heard him let out a sigh, "Elsie, can we talk?"
"Can't, I'm cooking..." She replied, still stood outside with the snow melting in her palm.
Arthur would have laughed at her, but his anger was too strong. Elsie had been completely ignoring all of them. He hadn't spent nearly as much time around her as Tommy did, and hell, John thought of her as his best friend, the one he'd share most his thoughts to. She'd left them both. And Elsie was always the one to carry on serving Arthur when the others had stop. Probably because she had no idea what it felt like to be drunk, and when to see when people had drunk too much. "You need to speak to Tommy."
"Can't, I'm cooking..."
She heard a sigh from behind her, "Mr Shelby can come speak to me at anytime, I just haven't seen him." She replied pettily, "He truly does not care, Arthur. So I don't know why you and John keep coming back. I left you so I wouldn't get in the way. It's obvious that I am a distraction in your line of work."
Arthur shrugged, "Sometimes a little distraction is good. Tommy never had a distraction before you. I'm sure he'd love to see you in your costume too." Elsie looked down at her pink and silver tutu. Her hair was still in her two crossed braids and a small tiara was gripped in, "You look like a princess. He's always wanted to kiss a princess. Hell, I want to kiss a princess."
