His house was only a couple of houses away from my own, which surprised me since I was sure I hadn't seen him around before. I looked up at the house as he fumbled with the keys. It was a pleasant red brick house with a tall chimney towering over the roof and dark wooden beams visible on the top front of the house which supported its prism-shaped roof. There was a small balcony that was tucked neatly into the side of the house, sheltered by the overhang of the upper part of the building. His front garden, although dimmed by the grey light of the sky, still held its charm and fitted neatly with the rest of the house. All in all, I was very impressed by how well kept and attractive it all looked and I could hardly wait to see what was hidden on the inside. The front door was of a large, wooden, medieval style with slight modern touches so as to not overuse the old fashioned look. A red brick arch framed it and as the door swung open, I was greeted with warmth.
He let me go in first while he shook the droplets off his black umbrella. 'What a gentleman.' I smiled to myself as I stepped inside. A faint smell of earl grey drifted through the air and the neatly arranged interior was just as charming as the exterior. The doorway was a comfortable size with a side table touching the left wall carrying two lamps (opposite sides of the table) and a mirror on the wall in-between. A shoe cupboard was to the side along with an umbrella rack, and a red doormat with the words 'Welcome', which sat comfortably on the floor. "Just leave your shoes to one side, Love, and I'll go and fetch you some clothes," The man walked past me, after putting his shoes and umbrella away, and headed down the hall. I propped my backpack against the wall, putting it to one side, and slowly walked in the same direction, admiring the interior design as I went. The doorway opened into a large hallway which had several open doors leading out of it. I was surprised by how light the house was, considering how dull and grey it was outside. The walls were a pleasant cream colour which had been ornamented with pictures, paintings and one or two mirrors, all hung neatly on the walls. The flooring was wooden with one large red patterned mat in the middle of the hall. Wide carpeted stairs with dark wooden railings led upstairs and I heard a distant padding of feet as the man walked about on the second floor. I couldn't help but look at the various pictures and paintings; one of the largest was a portrait of the man himself. It was a very attractive picture of him and I couldn't help but admire how enchanting he looked. "A friend of mine painted that picture." I jumped when he spoke, turning around to see him standing at the top of the stairs smiling down at me and carrying some clot-'Wait, are those women's clothes?' I thought in confusion, although part me wasn't surprised, after all, he was a very attractive man, why on earth would he be single? "If you follow me, there's a spare room that you can get changed in." He beckoned me to follow him, handing me the clothes as I walked up the stairs. "Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude in any way but why you have women's clothes in your house?" I asked as politely as I could, realising that he might find it a personal question. He laughed in embarrassment, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Oh right, well, er, that's a funny story actually..." He trailed off.
"How about we both tell each other our stories over tea? It'll be fun and a good way to pass the time while my clothes dry." I said cheerfully as we approached the spare room.
"Alright, Love. I'll be downstairs if you need anything, the bathroom is down the hall, second door to your right and if you can bring your wet clothes downstairs when you're done, I'll wash them. Do you need anything else, Love?" He smiled and I shook my head, thanking him.
"I'm [Name] by the way, I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself earlier," I laughed in embarrassment. 'How could you forget to introduce yourself!?' Seems that I wasn't the only one. "A-Arthur! My name is Arthur Kirkland, bloody hell, how could I forget to introduce myself?! I'm so sorry Miss [Name]; I don't know what came over me." He bowed in apology and I giggled at the fact that we'd both forgotten. "Please, just call me [Name]." I thanked him again for the clothes and walked into the room shutting the door behind me, breathing out slowly as I felt the warmth of my cheeks. 'That was so funny but so embarrassing.' I lightly slapped my cheeks to compose myself and then got changed.
Arthur's POV:
I watched her walk into the room and then face palmed. 'Idiot! You always manage to embarrass yourself.' I walked back downstairs and made my way to the kitchen. I couldn't help but check myself in the mirror beforehand and saw a slight pink glow on my cheeks from the previous incident. 'Compose yourself, Arthur. It was just a small mistake. Stiff-upper-lip, that's the key.' I walked into the kitchen and went to put the kettle on.
Your POV:
Fortunately, the clothes were my size as well as being comfortable to move in; t-shirt and jeans. I quickly texted [F/N] to let her know that I wouldn't be going to college today because I was feeling ill; being in cold, wet clothes for so long had altered my temperature by quite a considerable amount, but I tried not to let it bother me. As I stepped out of the room I couldn't help but admire every aspect of Arthur's house. The four-poster beds that were in each room, all decorated differently; the various ornaments on the walls and shelves. It was all so...British. It was almost as if Arthur had taken every time period of England and had designed his house to hold aspects of each time. I quickly went to the bathroom to check myself in the mirror and noticed that my hair was still a complete mess. 'Well...Let's look on the bright side; he's seen me at my worst so it's only upward from here.' I tried to think positively but a part of me just wanted to curl up in a ball, never to be looked at again. I saw a hair brush on of the bathroom shelves and quickly sorted out my messy look. 'I probably should have asked...damn it [Name], where's your manners!?' I face palmed again. Pulling out the hair from the brush, I placed it back where I found it, hoping that Arthur wouldn't be angry if he found out I'd used it. I walked downstairs and followed the distant sound of humming. 'He has such a nice voice. Wait! What am I thinking? I don't even know the guy! Gah! What if he's a creep?!' My brain panicked as I slowly forced myself to enter the kitchen. 'Well, I have pepper spray in my bag...I'm sure I'll be fine...' I told myself with uncertainty. "H-Hi, Arthur, um, where would you like me to put my dirty clothes?" I asked, trying to block my previous thoughts.
"Give them here and I'll go and put them in the wash." He replied, taking my clothes and walking into the next room. "Feel free to sit down and help yourself to tea," Arthur called, to which I happily obliged. Just when I had sat down with the warm drink, I sneezed loudly. "Ugh, that was horrible," I spoke with a groggy voice and my nose felt numb. A box of tissues sat in the middle of the kitchen table and I quickly grabbed one to stop my nose from running. "Are you alright, [Name]? Your eyes are watering." Arthur came over and put his hand on my forehead. I felt myself blush as his facial expression changed into a frown. "Your temperature is quite low and you look rather pale; I'll be right back." He walked out of the room and came back in with a blanket which he then wrapped around me. "Woah, it's heated!" I exclaimed with surprise and I felt my body instantly begin to warm up. "I don't know how to thank you, Arthur. You've been non-stop generous since we met." I spoke gratefully and snuggled into the blanket he had given me, sipping the bitter but comforting tea. "That's quite alright, Love." He beamed as he sat down. 'There it is again: Love. Is he just saying that?' "I suppose to pay me back you could tell me exactly what you were doing out in the rain?" He spoke with concern mixed with curiosity. He almost looked as if he was bracing himself for some awful story. I laughed a little and told him about my 'adventure' this morning. By the end of it, we were both laughing at how badly the morning had gone, saying 'at least there's the afternoon to improve'. "I'm actually kinda glad that this all happened, otherwise, I'd have probably never met you," I said happily. Arthur smiled warmly at me and I felt our friendship getting better by the second. "So Arthur, tell me how you managed to get hold of women's clothes." I raised an eyebrow and smirked, feeling as though this was going to be an interesting tale. "Ah, yes. Well, about 2 weeks ago my brother, Alfred, came to visit and he had brought his wife along with him. I still can't believe that nincompoop got married," He muttered the last part to himself but I still heard it, chuckling at his words. He smiled when I laughed. His way of speaking was so charming and I loved the way he used a sarcastic and matter-of-fact tone when telling a story. Though his eyes betrayed what annoyance he held in his voice as fondness shone in his emerald hues. He cleared his throat to continue. "Anyway, he came to visit and I showed them around the town, let them go sightseeing, you know how Americans are. Now they were both staying in the spare bedroom that you were in and a few days before they were scheduled to leave, Alfred thought it would be a grand idea to buy a dog while he was here." I stared, shocked at what Arthur had said. "Wait, a dog? Even though he could get one in America?" He nodded.
"Yes, a dog. That bloody idiot has never had any sense. So he brought this dog to my house and, of course, I was livid. I mean, that thing left fur everywhere, it wasn't disciplined and managed to get paw prints all over the kitchen floor. I've only just managed to clean it all up. Now, because this dog was highly undisciplined-"
"What was his wife's reaction?" I blurted out. "Sorry, I-I didn't mean to interrupt..." I looked down at my now empty cup. "No, no, it's quite alright." He chuckled at my interest in his story. "It's been a while since I've had such an eager audience," I smiled at his words as he proceeded with the rest of the story. "At first, she was as shocked as I was. But then, being the enthusiast that she is, she immediately took a shine to it and they both treated it like it was some sort of baby. I was not impressed. The dog kept on stealing people's clothes." You nodded, finally understanding what he was getting at.
"So the dog hid some of her clothes?"
"That thing hid everyone's clothes. I'm still looking for some of mine. But yes, that is how those clothes managed to get here. I was just going to wait until I saw them again to return them. Posting clothes to America is rather expensive." We both chuckled and silence began to settle between the two of us. I rubbed my thumb over the rim of my cup, trying to think of something to say. Although I didn't mind silence, I was really enjoying getting to know Arthur. There was something about him that sparked an interest and it was as though we both clicked. I looked at my watch (which somehow managed to survive the rain) and noticed it was coming up to about 12:30. "I don't suppose you want to stay for lunch, [Name]?" I looked up at Arthur, who had stood up and was picking up the empty cups. I smiled gratefully and replied, "I'd love to."
Hope you enjoyed, will try to update soon but can't make any promises.
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