Only The Brave ⟨⟨ʟᴏᴜɪs ᴛᴏᴍʟɪɴsᴏɴ⟩⟩

⟨⟨ sᴛɪʟʟ ⟩⟩

His steps inside the home were uncertain yet his eyes analysed everything within sight and she had never felt more exposed in her life. This was the place where she had grown up, the entirety of her childhood and puberty and studies were spent within these walls. It felt like such a private aspect of her human structure but she reasoned that it was fitting he saw it, all things considered.
Her family had never really been one for a multitude of family photos lining the walls but the few artistic shots they had taken in her older years drew his attention. The flicker of a smile upturned his lips as he looked at the picture her dad had taken from a distance of Thomas and her on the beach, Elora skipping ahead while the wind blew their clothes and hair back. His attention moved to black and white photo of all three siblings, they had been doing an impromptu photo shoot in the park but you couldn't see their surroundings, only their regal posture highlighted amongst a sea of black. Of course, Elora Rayne would have such stylistic family photos.

The click of the kettle resonated throughout the expanse of silence between them, Elora watching anxiously as Louis looked into the physical representation of her foundation.
"Uhm," she cleared her throat, "I was making tea, would you like some?"
"Yes please," he murmured back, looking at her briefly before returning his attention to the bookshelf.
Relieved to have an excuse to step away from their tension, she moved back to the kitchen and spoke up, "Unfortunately Yorkshire tea doesn't exist here so the closest I can get you is English Breakfast."
His affirmative hum was soft but the anxiety thrumming in her body heightened her senses to every move he made.

Staring at the two mugs as the tea brewed helped Elora centre herself as she came to terms with her situation. Louis told her he loved her. She ran away. They didn't speak for days. Louis arrived at her doorstep. Louis was currently standing in her childhood home on the complete opposite end of the globe. It was all well and fine.

When she couldn't put it off anymore and she was certain Louis knew the details of her house better than she did, she moved their mugs and sat at the dining table. Louis would have called it a kitchen table but it didn't seem like the thing he'd focus on at that moment.
The extended exhale she released was a well-developed preamble towards their conversation but eventually, she spoke, "I'm sorry."
He looked up from his staring contest with the steam dancing above his mug, the furrow in his eyebrows belying his confusion but he had the decency to wait for her explanation.
"I'm sorry that I've been so unfair to you in this situation. I shouldn't have run away and I definitely shouldn't have completely disregarded what you were saying, it was incredibly rude of me. I should've done better."

The lines on his forehead deepened as he listened to her, tilting his head to the side slightly as he squinted his eyes.
"I don't care about that, Elora," he spoke up properly for the first time, "Okay, no, I do but that's not what I'm here for. I'm not here to make you feel bad for running away; I'm here because I want to know why you felt the need to."
He leaned forward, purposefully connecting with the swirling brown in her eyes and trying to read her emotions.
"I don't know whether you don't love me or if you just don't think we should be together but I know for sure that what we have is special and I refuse to let it slip away without fighting for it, I don't know how else to do that than by being honest."

The sudden expression of very many emotions left her floundering slightly as she blinked rapidly to process, "What do you mean?"
This time Louis exhaled as he leaned back, closing his eyes and rolling his shoulders before he explained.
"I began 2016 with a confession of being deeply in love with you whilst drunken partygoers screamed around me - all I could focus on, however, was the fact that I had just listened to you talk to Ed about how much you would miss England when you left. It was crushing to realise that I had wasted those two months of falling for you and that I could do nothing about these suffocating feelings that were constantly on the cusp of spilling over at the worst times. I tried so hard to enjoy our time together but the pressure of your departure weighed so heavy on me and I'm well aware that you know how shattered I was when you left. You can probably guess, but the majority of my grief afterwards was because I had fallen so helplessly for you and didn't do anything about it.