Eddie Redmayne: Short Stories

How you met (1)

In this one I'm just imagining how Eddie and Hannah could have met when they were young. I think they're a lovely couple! Hannah is obviously sooo lucky to have Eddie as her husband, but I think she's very good for him as well! :) (feel free to imagine yourself in her place though, haha)

You saw Eddie "officially" for the first time on the catwalk. It was one of those rare occasions where your all-girls boarding school had organised an event with the nearby all-boys boarding school. You did not know what the headmasters were thinking when they decided to host a fashion show for the two oldest grades. The days before the event, you and your girlfriends couldn't stop giggling and became quite nervous to show your outfits to a group of boys. 

Ofcourse you already knew some of the boys. The headmasters might have thought that you were innocent girls and boys, but almost everyone had at least once been to a secret party in the woods that connected the two schools.  Ofcourse there was an unspoken rule that this was only for the 5th and 6th years. There would be some sort of campfire and there was always some beer, wine or other booze. One time some boys even managed to steal a bottle of rum from the headmasters office. That was the night when you saw Eddie for the first time. 

He was friends with the more popular boys but kept himself on the background. Everyone was sitting around the fire, at first the girls on one side and the boys on the other, but as the night progressed the maroon uniforms of the girls mixed with the dark blue outfits of the boys. A group of guys (with Eddie) approached your girlfriends and started talking to you about the rum. First the guys tried some, then the girls and it was hilarious to see everyones faces after they had taken a sip. You laughed and your eyes met Eddies. He had a smile as well and the fire made it look as if his eyes had golden sprinkles in them. When it was his turn to drink, he looked at you apologetically and grimaced as the alcohol burned his throat. He then handed the bottle to you. Your hands touched for a second and you noticed he had soft hands. You took a shot and managed to keep a fairly straight face for a second, but then your eyes cramped together. Eddie laughed, but it was a sweet, sympathetic laugh.

As time went on, some people were dancing (one guy had brought his guitar), others were still talking in small groups and your best friend Emily had gone into the woods with James. The two had a thing going on since the first time they saw each other at another campfire, about a year ago. This made that you were left alone, staring into the fire and drinking from your beer.

You didn't mind sitting alone, but of course it was a lot more exciting when Eddie came to sit next to you. At that point, you actually only knew his name. 

'Hi,' he said, a little awkward. You turned your face to him. Since he was a lot closer to you than earlier, it was clear that it wasn't the fire that made his eyes shine but he actually had gold bits in his eyes, surrounded by blue and green. He had that little smile again.

'You're Hannah, aren't you?' He asked.
'Yes,' you responded, 'and you're Edward, am I right?'
'Eddie,' he corrected you, 'Edward sounds so stiff.'
'I actually like the name Edward,' you said quietly. His eyes opened a little and the lips of his mouth parted, in surprise. After a moment he said: 'Well, I think your name is beautiful, Hannah.' Now it was your turn to blush a little. 

After that, the conversation continued with small talk about school, family and friends. The basics of getting to know each other, really. You found out he wanted to study arts in university, and you were very excited about that because you love arts. You talked about your favorite painters, paintings and art movements. He laughed and was sincerely interested in what you had to say, agreeing and sometimes disagreeing with one of your statements with a smile. He then tried to explain himself using lots of hand movements  and repeatedly starting over his sentence because he didn't really know how to say what he felt.