— a different destination —
December 1st, 1937
GISELLE FELT THE tree call to her the second she sat down at Hester's table for dinner. She sighed as she bit into a roasted potato, her body urging her to jump up and out of her chair and run to the woods.
She eventually followed through with the urge after scarfing down the rest of her dinner and slipping on a simple dress and a long, gray pea coat and heels to brave the frosty forest.
The journey to the tree was uneventful, just her clambering through the cold, dark woods with her suitcase in hand, the snow from the morning's small blizzard crunching under the heels she soon regretted wearing.
The odd-behaving nature that swarmed the tree was there to greet her when she slapped her hand to the bark and let the world slip around and morph into something else.
When she opened her eyes after her journey, something was different. She was staring up at a clear sky sandwiched in between the side of two buildings instead of the branches of her tree.
Cigarette smoke hung in the air. Feet struck pavement. People chattered. Automobiles beeped and whirred down the busy street.
Yes, something was very, very different.
Giselle sprung up, her mind spinning when she found herself alone in an alleyway. There was a sidewalk at the mouth of the alley, people passing by in their furry winter coats and evening wear without batting an eyelash in her direction.
Where am I? The question was on repeat in her head.
She turned to look for the tree, but felt her knees nearly buckle when she couldn't locate anything but three brick walls around her.
I need to find a phone.
The cold wind bit at her as she lifted her suitcase and stepped out onto the teeming sidewalk. She followed the steady flow of bodies north, not even trying to blend in as she looked around frantically for anything that might make this nightmare end.
How could the tree bring me here? Selene said it would only bring me to that exact spot in the woods every time!
Before long, scary thoughts started to swarm around in her head like angry wasps. She started to think of all the horrible things that could happen to her if she couldn't find a phone and get back to Dare Manor. She had no money, no direction, and the beginnings of a panic attack.
That's when someone grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing here?" Will nearly barked at her, but she didn't care. It was Will.
Giselle yelled out in delight as he tugged her away from the throngs of city-goers and underneath the awning of a closed shoe store.
"Oh my gosh," Giselle breathed out, "I didn't know what I was going to do." She was quick to throw her arms around his middle.
She clung to him like he was a tree during a hurricane, and he was, in a way. Solid and dependable.
Soon, she felt his arm settle at her waist. "What are you doing here?" he asked again, this time, gentler.
"Who is this fine lady?" someone asked before Giselle could answer.
Will and Giselle pulled back a little too quickly. Two men were standing off to their right, each with their own lit cigarette in hand. Both were dressed similarly to Will. Three piece suits with slick, black shoes. One wore glasses and the other had dark eyes that matched his dark hair.
The dark haired one took a step closer, extending a hand. "Abe Martin," he greeted Giselle.
Giselle went to shake his hand, but was surprised when he brought her knuckles up to his lips and planted a kiss on her skin.
She froze, looking over to Will to see if that was appropriate behavior for the time. It didn't seem to be from the way Will scowled at Abe.
The other man saw Will's scowl and didn't bother with touching her, just nodded at her. "Simon Martin," he said.
"These are my cousins. Mother's side," Will informed before motioning with his head for the two to move along. "I guess this is the end of our night. It was good seeing you."
The two men exchanged pleasantries with their cousin and Giselle before leaving. Once they were gone, Will turned to Giselle. "I'll ask again; what are you doing here?"
"The tree brought me," she said. "I woke up in an alleyway by myself. No tree in sight."
"An alleyway?" He closed his eyes, shaking his head and frowning. "Damnit, Giselle. You could've been—" he stopped himself suddenly, opening his eyes and looking back at her. "You're okay? You're not hurt?"
"I'm fine," she told him. "Nothing's happened—I've only been here for five minutes, but, um, where exactly is here?"
"London."
"'London?!'" she nearly yelled through chattering teeth. "Why would that stupid tree bring me here? That's like hours away from the manor!"
"We'll have to ask Selene," Will said. "But for now, let's get you inside. It's too cold out." He shrugged off his jacket as he spoke, draping it over Giselle before plucking her suitcase from her grasp.
Giselle happily slipped her arms into the sleeves and savored the warmth as Will reached out and pressed his hand to her lower back.
"Let's go."
"Where are we going?"
"A hotel," Will said, keeping his hand on her as they joined the flow of people heading north. "I planned to stay for the night, so we'll have to get you a room."
Giselle's eyebrows shot up in interest. "Will Dare is on an overnight trip?" She narrowed her eyes. "Is this for fun or for business?"
"Business. I have priorities to take care of in the morning."
She breathed out a laugh. "I could've guessed that. You don't do anything for fun." When he doesn't refute, she kept talking. "So, what is there to do in 1937 London?"
"I wouldn't know."
"There's the Big Ben," Giselle remembered, "and the Buckingham Palace. I could visit . . . ah, what's his name?"
"King George VI," Will supplied. "And you won't be going anywhere."
She shot him a glare. "I'll go wherever I want." His hand dropped away from her back then, and she wished she could retract her words to reverse his action.
"Not by yourself, you're not," he said firmly. "I'm not letting you go around a city you barely know in a time you barely know by yourself."
"You act like I'm a child," she frowned. "I'll be fine. I'm not as ignorant and helpless as you think me to be."
"Giselle," Will sighed, "you know I don't think of you as either of those things. It's just that I don't want you getting hurt."
His gentle voice and the thoughtful gleam in his eyes softened her heart more than she wanted it to. "Alright," she began, "I guess I'll just have to wait for you to get done with all of your business priorities in the morning so that you can take me to go sightseeing."
"What? No, I don't have time to do all of that," he protested. "I plan to leave here immediately after I'm finished."
A man in a fancy red uniform opened the front door of the hotel, ushering them inside. Giselle gave him a thankful smile before turning to Will with a displeased frown.
"Then I'll stick with my earlier plan of going by myself," she said defiantly.
"Giselle—"
"You're not talking me out of it," she declared.
He watched her for a long time before sighing and placing his hand back on the dip of her spine. "We'll talk about this in the morning. Let's go get you a room."
They waited in the long line at the front desk, eventually getting Giselle a room just down the hall from Will's. He handed her the room key as they began their journey towards room 143.
Giselle opened the door when they reached it, sauntering in and flipping on the lights. It was an elegant, yet simple room. The curtains were a red velvet, and paired well with the dark red duvet draped across the small bed in the center of the room.
Will followed after her, setting her bag down at the foot of the bed.
Giselle took off his coat and handed it back to him. "Thanks for letting me wear it," she told him. "Oh, and thanks for the room. I'll have to pay you back the next time I travel here."
He made a face. "I don't want you paying me back. I don't see this as a debt."
"I feel like I should. I mean, all I've done since I popped into your life is eat your food, use your necessities, and bother you. I think I owe you something."
"You don't owe me anything," Will said softly. "Especially not money."
"Well, I'll have to pay you back with something that isn't money, then," Giselle said.
Will's eyes widened a fraction before a smirk settled on his face. "You shouldn't say things like that," he told her, "it can cause a man to think unsavory things."
Giselle frowned in confusion, before understanding shaped her lips into a scowl. An amused scowl. "You've such a dirty mind, William Dare."
"I'm a man," he replied, "it comes natural."
She matched his smirk, deciding to play his game. She always seemed to have too much fun when he shed his brooding demeanor and let loose his playful side.
"So, what do you want as payment then?" Giselle asked, taking slow steps toward him. She stopped when there was a foot of space between them, looking up at him through her lashes.
His smirk slowly fell away, as did hers. The playful moment started to shift, becoming charged and losing its lightheartedness to make way for something meaningful and serious.
Giselle pressed her palm to Will's cheek then, something that surprised them both. It felt natural to do, like it was the hundredth time she had done it, which was why it had breached the propriety filter in her mind and became an action.
Giselle, holding Will's face in such an endearing way, went beyond the realm of the strange relationship they had. She knew she should pull away, but she didn't. It was like a balm to her soul. It warmed her. It felt like there was an electrical current humming beneath her palm, spreading to every corner of her body and keeping it frozen before him.
That's what it did, the skin-to-skin contact.
And she could tell he liked it, too. He leaned into her touch. So slight, yet it made something pleasant happen in her chest. Something she'd never felt much before.
Their eyes were locked on each other's. They hadn't moved in an amount of time that made this thing between them evolve further. It began to take on shape and meaning that Giselle knew neither of them would ever express out loud.
Will's hand twitched at his side, something she saw out of the corner of her eye.
Somehow, she knew what he wanted to do with it. He wanted to bring it up to the back of her hand, pressing it closer to his skin because he just couldn't get enough of her.
He would then turn his head to kiss her palm before removing it from his cheek to place it on the back of his neck. Her other hand will soon follow it on its own accord, and then they would be closer than they had ever been. She would crane her head up and wait as he ducked his. Then, they would meet in the middle with their lips and show each other just how much this unspoken thing affected them.
But, of course, they would never do that. They were Will and Giselle. Giselle time traveled. Anything past the borders of friendship was messy. And Will Dare did not do 'messy,' no matter how much Giselle Saunders would jump right into it.
So, when he did bring his hand up to hers, it was to pull it away from his cheek. But he didn't let go of it quite yet. He looked down at it in his grasp, debating something that Giselle couldn't know about.
She pulled away before he had the chance to drop her hand and harm her with his rejection.
Will cleared his throat, as if that would get rid of any of the tension in the room. "Um, I'm going to depart now," he said formally.
Giselle nodded in acknowledgment.
Will turned around to leave, but stopped in the doorway. "Make sure to lock this door," he told her, "right after I shut it. I'll wait in the hallway until I hear it lock."
Giselle smiled. So protective.
He shut the door and she locked it immediately, but she didn't hear him take any steps to leave afterwards.
"I locked it," she said, though she knew very well that he had heard the lock turn.
"I know," he said back, voice muffled by the door. After a few moments, Giselle eventually heard his footsteps retreating from her room.
Then, she was all alone.
She spun around in delight, smiling wide at the ceiling as she came off of the high that Will's touch had given her.
He likes me, she grinned to herself. William Joseph Dare likes me.
The thirteen year old Giselle that remained tucked away in her mind couldn't be more happy. She just might get her kiss after all.
• — • — •
A harsh pounding at her door had Giselle jumping out of bed before she truly was awake enough to do so.
She scrambled to the door to cease the loud noise, the morning sun illuminating the room through the cracks in the curtains. She fumbled with the lock several times before eventually turning it and opening the door.
On the other side stood a grumpy Will, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at her. "You didn't even ask who it was at the door!" he exclaimed, pushing past her to enter her room.
She yawned, shutting the door and leaning against it to watch him angrily brood at her. "Well, good morning to you too, Will."
"Have you just woken?"
Giselle nodded, pushing off the door to curl up back in bed. "Why were you beating up my door so early?"
"It's not early. It's half-past 08:00!"
"Well that's early for me!" Giselle shot back, pulling the duvet up to her chin.
"I've finished all that I needed to take care of," Will told her. She felt his weight settle at the foot of the bed next to her feet.
"Oh, are we going to head back now?"
"You don't want to go see the King like you had planned?"
That woke Giselle up, her head lifting to meet his eyes. "You'll take me sightseeing?"
Will smirked. "If you get dressed in a reasonable amount of time, then yes, Giselle, I'll take you sightseeing."
"Oh, get out, then!" she yelled, leaping out of bed to get to her suitcase. "I'll get dressed right now."
Will laughed his way to the door. "You've got twenty minutes until my offer expires."
As soon as he left, Giselle got to work. She put on light makeup, shimmied into a long-sleeve navy dress and tried to wrangle her straight hair into something close to resembling an era-appropriate 'do, but ended up wearing it up with a navy hat when that didn't necessarily happen.
She was just finished curling the hairs framing her face when an impatient Will began to knock on the door.
"Are you finished? You must be, I gave you five minutes extra, after all."
Giselle unplugged her curling iron and went to the door. "All done," she said to him, motioning at her outfit. "When do we check out?"
"At 11:00. We have almost two hours to sightsee."
"Great!" Giselle looped her arm through Will's, pulling him away from her door and down the hall after locking up. "What should we do first? Oh! I bet everything is all decorated for Christmas, isn't it?"
"Some stores have Christmas displays, yes," Will replied. He looked at her. "You seem to be excited about that."
"I love Christmas. December is my favorite month of the year for a reason." She narrowed her eyes at Will. "Let me guess—you could care less for Christmas."
"Bah humbug," he deadpanned.
Giselle smiled. "Have Selene and the kids started decorating the house yet?"
"For what? Christmas? No, Selene doesn't care for Christmas either. We never decorate."
Giselle stopped in her tracks. "What? But, why?"
Will shrugged, tugging at her arm to make her continue walking. "There's no need to. We don't need a bunch of lights and a tree to give each other presents."
"You don't have a tree?" Giselle questioned. Will shook his head.
"No," Will scoffed. "Why would I want s tree in my house? That only adds an extra chore."
"Because it's Christmas. You can't properly celebrate Christmas without a Christmas tree."
"A tree is pointless and messy."
"But it's so much fun, though. Some of my best memories are of decorating my Christmas tree with my family."
"Decorating a pointless, messy tree for it to only stay up for a few measly weeks doesn't sound like fun," Will said offhandedly.
Giselle shot him a glare out of the corner of her eye. "You really are a Scrooge, aren't you?"
Will flashed a grin. "Like I said earlier; 'bah humbug!'"
The conversation flew from there, becoming surprisingly fun and effortless as they made their way to London's biggest tourist destinations, but Giselle was beginning to realize that she didn't really care about sightseeing as much as she had the night prior.
She realized that she would be much more content with sitting down in a quiet area to keep her and Will's conversation going than she could ever be staring up at the Big Ben or looking on at Buckingham Palace.
And from the way Will was catching her eye each time she looked over at him, she could speculate that he felt the same.
Though, she knew he would never admit that to her.
• • • • • • • • • • •
Word count: 3,071 words.
Question: Have your ever tried a pumpkin spice latte?
I recently tried a pumpkin spice latte after years of avoiding them because I didn't want to come off as "basic" or "stereotypical white girl," and I really hate that I LOVE pumpkin spice lattes. I get the obsession and the hype and everything and I HATE that I do!
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT TO MAKE ME SMILE!!!