Nothing New / Peaky Blinders

𝘅𝗶𝗶: the murdered

"I'd like to see you try." Charlotte commented, cheekily, as the three began the descent down the stairs of the Faye's flat building. Eleanora pulling her coat on as they did so. "D'ya think Liv's okay?"

"She always goes off the radar." Eleanora replied.

Kian frowned, "Why does she do that?" He asked, concern laced in his voice for the Shelby he saw as a friend. Yes. Kian was seriously considering Olivia Shelby his friend.

He hadn't had many of those back in Ireland.

Charlotte sighed, "It's usually only for a day or two, sometimes she just... does it. She never tells us why, just comes back two days later with a fresh smile on her face, pep in her step. Like nothing were ever wrong."

"And do ya ask her what's wrong?"

Eleanora rolled her eyes, "Getting Olivia Shelby," she sneered, "to tell you what's wrong is like getting a sealed vault to open."

Kian shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "But, a sealed vault has a way to be opened, don't it? I mean, in the books the robbers always manage ta get the money in the end. So, surely if you asked hard enough, you could get 'Livia to tell you the truth."

"I'm gonna tell you something, Kian, alright?" Eleanora let her gaze wander upon the Irish boy, "If you ever ask Olivia Shelby what's wrong, she will punch you in the face. Understand?"

Kian looked back at the girl he was kind to, the girl who had this hard exterior that he swore to break down. "I just don't think that's true." He confessed, "I think anyone will tell you the truth if they feel comfortable with you."

"So, now Olivia doesn't feel comfortable with us?" Eleanora laughed, bitterly, under her breath, "Friends for how long and she can't even trust us?"

"Sorry." Kian muttered, as they came to a stop to let a car pass, "That came out wrong, sorry. I don't think she wants to tell you the truth because she's afraid of how you'll react, scared you'll see her differently."

Charlotte frowned. Her eyes focused on the pavement beneath them as they crossed into Olivia's side of town. She wished Olivia didn't fear their reaction. Charlotte had known the Shelby girl since they were in nappies, since the age that they bathed together. They'd grown together. They were girls together. They'd seen every good and bad, and waited for more to come so that they could go through it together. It made her heart ache that Olivia, probably, couldn't see that Charlotte didn't care what she'd done, she was always going to love the girl she'd grown up with. The girl she knew was different from the rest of the Shelbys.

Eleanora scoffed, "The only way I'd ever see Olivia Shelby differently was if she'd killed someone."

...

"Watch where you're going!" Someone shouted at Charlotte, a Cockney twang to his words. Her eyes had been so focused on the pavement beneath her that she hadn't realized she'd walked straight into someone.

Straight into Jack.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to shout." Charlotte shrugged off his apology, knowing he didn't mean the apology that fell from his lips. "What are you two doing on this side of town?"

Jack eyed Kian, looking the boy up and down. "And who's this?"

Kian pointed at himself with an unsure, and uneasy look on his face, "Me? I'm... I'm Kian? We're at the same school."