Guardian Angel | Thomas Shelby

Two

Ruby and John met up at the betting shop and walked the short distance to the pub, not shutting up once. They had a lot of catching up to do and Ruby was grateful to have her long lost friend back. They entered the pub and instead of going to the bar, went into the private room where John's brothers were already drinking whiskey and talking. When he recognised the familiar woman walk in, Arthur jumped up and hugged her, making her giggle at how excited he was to see her again. The Shelby brother's were always like her own siblings, often protecting her from the wrath Polly had to offer whenever they got into trouble. Arthur let go off her and stood next to her, beaming with pride.
„All grown up now, eh? Look at her, what a beautiful young woman. ain't she, Tom?" Arthur looked at his kid brother and Ruby looked up to see Tommy's blue eyes looking at her. She had always adored his eyes, they were a bright pale blue, like the sky when there was no cloud in sight. She smiled at him but there was no reaction back, no emotion flashing in his eyes. Ruby gulped, she didn't recognise the man at all.
Before the war, Tommy would grin like a maniac whenever she came around and always hug her tightly until she pleaded for air. They would talk and laugh over the stupidest things together, because back then he enjoyed what life had to offer. She remembered him talking about wanting to work with horses and how things always seemed alright when he was around.
Hence, why she probably had a little crush on him. She'd never got to know whether he had felt the same about her, but now Tommy was like an empty shell, his body came back from the war but his soul wasn't the same.
Ruby smiled either way, and greeted him to which he only nodded. Arthur tried to lighten up the mood by inviting her to sit next to him and poured her a glass of whiskey. When she sat, she pulled out her cigarettes and started to light one. It was strange for Tommy to see her smoke, when he had left for France she had barely turned eighteen, he had left behind a scared girl, who cried for him and his brothers and came back to a young woman at the age of 22. Surely, she was grown now, her face thinner and more mature than before, and she was dressing accordingly, with her high heels and shorter dress. And her hair was longer than when they left, she had grown it from barely reaching her shoulders to where it now reached the little of her back. Getting older had made her even more beautiful than she was before and quite frankly, Tommy was speechless when she had walked into the room with his brother. He had never expected to see her again, but there she was in all her glory and Tommy couldn't stop looking at her.
Of course he knew that before France she had a little crush on him, but he couldn't deny that he had felt the same way for her. When he came back from France and she wasn't in Birmingham anymore, he practically gave up hope for them to ever work. Part of him was glad Ruby wouldn't see how the war had changed him, he was ashamed of who he had become and knew she wouldn't like it.
Ruby, after Arthur asked why she had practically disappeared, told them that after her grandfather had died during the war, they moved out to the country to continue his horse stables. She looked at Tommy, who she was sure of, would at least smile a little of the mention of her father owning the stables now, but nothing. She could've cried right there and then and damned the war for turning him into such a monster.