The room was quiet. Sun shone in through baby blue curtains onto the walls which were covered in wallpaper of birds, with bookshelves full of books.
The room did not fit the darkness that seemed to lurk throughout the house, but instead it brought a light, airy spirit to anybody who were to come in.
"Wow..." Octavia sighed happily, running her fingers across the old books as her green eyes explored the room. The old velvet armchairs that sat in the corner of the room were imperfectly perfect, with obvious restorations throughout the years that they sat there.
"Do you like it?" Miles asked upon seeing the look of pure joy on Octavias face.
"Oh, of course! How could one not fall in love with such a place?" She spun happily, turning to him with a smile and a curtsy.
"Oh so we're dancing now." Miles chuckled and began to attempt a spin on his tippy toes.
"If I could stay in one place forever, it would be here." Octavia sighed in glee, reaching for a book on a higher shelf. Miles walked to her and picked it up for her, handing it over. The book has been restored at least twice, with an earthy green hard cover and golden letters on the side.
"Hansel and Gretel." She spoke softly, opening the page and sitting on the red velvet chair. Miles took a seat on the royal blue one and looked at Octavia as she stared at him helplessly.
"You can read it." He told her, becoming uncomfortable for a second.
The girl nodded and looked down at the now open book. Some words escaped her lips softly where others made her face change into different expressions.
The coy pond was beautiful. The green tinted water carried lively yellow, white, and orange fish. They shone as they swam by happily.
"They're beautiful aren't they? It was all Floras idea, the pond." Miles passed Octavia a pebble of food to toss into the water.
"Miles, your house is magnificent; however, I'm not sure I quite like Quint." The girl looked at her feet shyly at her confession. It wasn't like Octavia to say something that could be controversial.
"I know, I know. He's a bad influence, I get it! I've gotten this talk too many times from almost everybody who knows both him and I." Miles rolled his eyes, fixing his hair uncomfortably. The girl could tell he was trying not to get mad.
"I just get a bad feeling from him. Maybe he isn't quite as good as you thought?" She suggested, only peeking up to see the sad expression on miles' face.
"Um, never mind." Octavia became uncomfortable as well.
"You talk about him like he tried to kill someone. He took me and I got drunk. The blame is on me. Blame me." Miles began to look upset and increasingly uncomfortable with the topic.
"I'm sorry. Please, we should go back to the house. Maybe we could play tennis at the court. I'm quite good at it if I do say so myself." Octavia changed the subject, hoping to take miles' mind off of whatever was bothering him about Quint.
Miles and Octavia were setting up at the tennis court. Miles wore his normal clothes, but Octavia insisted she change into a proper tennis uniform. The girl didn't play sports often, but she was very good at this particular sport.
"Are we ready to go?" Octavia asked Miles, who gave her a fake determined nod. The girl lifted her racket and threw the ball, hitting it as hard as she could. The sudden amount of force that the petite girl gave off shocked Miles, causing him to miss the ball by a few centimetres.
"Yay!" The girl squealed as the ball hit the ground, making the score 1 - 0.
He picked up a new ball and swatted it over to her side, where she effortlessly hit it back to him.
Miles, who was not as good as hitting the ball, opted to dodged it. However, it also seemed that he was not very good at dodging either. The ball came down right onto his cheek, cutting it open slightly.
"Miles! I'm so sorry!" Octavia dropped her racket and ran to the boy who was now kneeling on the floor of the court.
"Is it bad?" He looked up at the girl who almost burst into tears at the small amount of blood on his face.
"I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" She cried, covering her mouth and trying not to let tears slip from her eyes.
"Hey, hey. I'm okay. Just a cut, no big deal." Miles reassured her.
Octavia rushed to Miles' side as soon as Mrs. Grose said that he was all fixed up.
"I cannot express how deeply sorry I am." She sighed softly, trying to avoid his warm eyes.
"Hey, don't be sorry. Seriously, it was a cut. I've gotten worse." He chuckled, hopping from the bathroom counter that Mrs. Grose had made him sit on while she had cleaned him up.
"Let's go look at my grandmas old antique dolls. I think you'd like them. I find them kinda creepy, but you would admire their beauty, I know that." Miles stuck out a hand for the girl to take. She looked into his brown eyes as if asking for permission that he'd already given.
The boy smiled softly and took her hand, making a blush appear across her pale cheeks.
It was now very late in the night, but Octavia couldn't seem to get any sleep. In the morning they'd be leaving for school, so Octavia knew she needed to get some rest. The girl tip-toed to Miles' doorway and pushed it open. The frame let out a soft squeak, but it was enough for Miles to sit up in his bed abruptly.
"Octavia?" Miles asked, panic dying down quickly as he saw her face.
"I'm so sorry. I couldn't seem to fall asleep." She whispered, getting ready to walk out of his room.
"No, come here. I can sleep on the floor if you'd like to sleep in my bed." He suggested. Octavias green eyes found Miles' "bed".
"Is it comfortable?" She asked, doubt laced in her soft voice.
"Yes! Much more comfortable than any of the mattresses my parents picked out." He reassured her, waving her over. The girl quietly got to him.
"Octavia," Miles began as she sat on his bed beside him.
"I think we are good for each other."
