Chapter Text
"No."
"Uh-uh."
"Too much."
Edwina groaned, throwing yet another dress back into her wardrobe, "You are not helping, Didi!"
"I am!" Kate defended, "All of those are too formal. And you will look beautiful in any of them! Daphne will not mind, nor will Eloise. Just be confident."
"But I'm not like you. I can't just turn up in nothing but a trench coat like you do with Anthony." Edwina pouted.
"How do you-" Kate spluttered and stopped when she saw her sister smirking. She didn't want to know how her sister knew.
"I just... I want to look perfect. El and I are different now, so I want to look perfect." Edwina said. She always put so much pressure on herself to look and be perfect.
Kate stood and gently held her sister's shoulders, "I think Eloise will not even care what you wear. She likes you for your mind, not just the dresses you wear." She gently stroked her cheek before thinking and going over to the wardrobe, stepping over clothes and searching until she found what she was looking for.
She pulled out a lilac midi dress with puffed sleeves. Simple but perfect.
"This one." Kate ordered, "And keep your hair down. You can borrow one of my necklaces as long as I can have your green lengha?" She had an outfit in mind for a date she would be going on in a few weeks.
"Deal!" Edwina grinned and hugged her sister.
"I hate this."
"You look beautiful."
"I look like a doll."
"You are wearing my dress!"
"Exactly."
Francesca and Daphne looked at one another and sighed, "Next one!" Francesca said.
"Why can't I just not go?" Eloise groaned.
"Because," Daphne began, helping her undress, "It's my baby shower, and everyone will be there, and the baby would like auntie El to be there." She rubbed her large bump for emphasis.
Eloise leaned down, scrunching her nose in annoyance and spoke to the bump, "I don't think she will mind. Do you mind? No? Great!"
"Well, Edwina is going to be there..." Francesca said, sharing a look with Daphne, who smiled knowingly. Eloise's cheeks turned pink as she remembered their kiss three days ago.
They had been casual and slightly awkward at school, which she hated because she wanted to hold Edwina's hand.
"She kissed me," Eloise admitted, and her two sisters suddenly jumped on her with so many questions.
"What was it like?"
"Was it terribly romantic?"
"When? El, I can't believe you didn't tell me!"
"Okay! Okay!" Eloise yelled above their questions, "It was three days ago, I only told mum, and she somehow managed to keep quiet."
"And...?" Daphne asked.
"It was really nice. Like..." She struggled to describe it, not very good, "I completed my list." She kept the post-it Benedict had written for her but in her diary.
"Well then," Daphne said decidedly, "What is on your list
"No long puffy dresses?" Eloise suggested, and all three laughed.
Edwina, Kate and Mary arrived at the Bridgerton House, gifts in hand for Daphne and Simon.
Edwina spotted Eloise instantly and vice versa. Eloise had been standing against the wall, trying to avoid attention with Penelope. But when their eyes met, Eloise staggered across the room in the block heels for her.
"You look really nice. Purple. You look really good in purple. In all colours, really." Eloise rambled.
"I really like your outfit." Edwina said, admiring the polka dot co-ord she was wearing, "I thought your mother wanted you all to be in dresses?"
"Daphne managed a compromise with mama." Eloise said, with a wink, "I promised to be pleasant to Simon and Anthony's colleagues in the Lord's."
Edwina giggled, "And have you succeeded this task?"
"Nope." Eloise confirmed, then bit her lip nervously, "Can we talk? In private?"
Edwina nodded and grabbed her hand, letting Eloise take her out to the garden, which was thankfully empty.
They sat on one of the benches, both nervous.
"Do we have to change much?" Edwina blurted out, "I don't like how strange we have become around one another,"
"Well..." Eloise didn't really know. Her siblings changed if they were in relationships. But it didn't suit her, "We are not like most couples, so we can do it our way."
"A list," Edwina suggested, making her smile. Out of her small purse, she pulled out a small pen and small pad of paper decorated with flowers.
"We can still share books. But now we can buy each other books, hardbacks even," Eloise said.
"And still watch movies together." Edwina added, scribbling it down, "But we do not have to hold hands if other people are around, not if you don't like to."
"Um, I like holding your hand." Eloise said, and Edwina smiled, interlocking their hands together.
"I like holding your hand too." She agreed.
"So not much changes." Edwina nodded, "We-"
Eloise suddenly kissed her. It was short but sweet.
"We can do a lot of that!" Edwina said, and they both chuckled, nodding in agreement.
"Can we go up to my room?" Eloise asked.
"Already? Miss Bridgerton!" She playfully shoved her.
"We can watch a movie. No one will notice that we are gone." She snuck away all the time from these events.
"Okay." Edwina agreed, "I would like that."
"I suppose we are girlfriends now?" Eloise asked as they went through the kitchen.
"We are Eloise and Edwina." Edwina shrugged, "We are us.'
"Kate, where's Edwina?" Mary asked. The party was winding down, so she wanted to take Edwina home.
"I think she's with Eloise." Kate said, "Probably reading Iris Murdoch somewhere!"
Violet and Mary went upstairs, going to Eloise's room. Violet knocked gently twice, before opening the door. The two mother's poked their heads inside and melted at what they saw.
Eloise and Edwina cuddled up on the bed, the throw blanket over them.
"Awww," They both cooed quietly, shutting the door gently.