Chapter Text
Arkansas, Applebrook, 1883
It was a lively night at Gunnars, most tables were full, the floor was cleared for folks to dance, there wasn't a single space empty at the bar, men crammed in to lean on the counter and talk to Gunnar himself. Eliza and another girl - Annette - were waitressing, although most of the food orders were up by now as it was well past sundown and those who weren't eating were drinking and dancing.
The lamps inside the saloon that lined the walls lit up the building, only adding to the warm atmosphere. A world of difference to the cold, mid-winter night outside. Eliza could see snow falling past the window but it wasn't lying on the wet, muddy ground. Anyone who came in, came in soaked and shivering, there was a pile of coats infront of the fireplace since all the pegs had been filled up and Eliza didn't have it in her to pick them up for tell anyone off - how could she blame them? It was freezing out there.
Applebrook was small, very small, the type of town travellers only stopped by for a drink, a bath and to stock up on cans. For that reason, the town consisted of barely any houses, a store, a hotel, and a bar with another hotel on top of it, the very bar that Eliza happened to work in. All day, every day of the week. The same food being served, the same drinks, same songs on the piano, ever since she'd fell out with that nunn and ran out the orphanage when she was fourteen.
She often wondered what her life would be, if she'd stuck in, become a nunn herself. She'd probably be working in a reforming school, hitting some Irish child, not exactly the life she imagined for herself. Neither was living in a hotel room, but a roof over her head and food in her belly was something to be thankful for, Gunnar was always nice, Applebrook was pretty, so really what was she to complain about.
"Hey, hey! Snap out of it!" Annette tapped her shoulder, "we have a table just come in, whole group of six, ordered full lamb joint each, three whiskeys, three wines, my hands are full here, girl."
Annette was right, Eliza had been leaning on the bar, staring off into space, hypnotised by the spinning of drunken dancing, "Right, sorry."
She shuffled around, pouring six glasses of the chosen drinks swiftly, Annette hadn't told her which table she was to bring them to... But she did notice new faces sitting at a table in the very corner of the bar, three men, three women. A lady with dirty blonde hair, and noticeably stitches across her cheek, she didn't exactly look happy, a younger lady with tanned skin and a gorgeous yellow dress, brown hair up in a tight bun and fawning over the man next to her, a tall, man with dark curls and thick rings, beside them were what looked like another couple, older, a man with blonde, greying hair looking lovingly at a small lady with short hair, she was so short herself her feet didn't even touch the floor. Beside them though...
he made her stop in her tracks, watching through spirals of legs and flowy skirts. How he sat with his head tilted down so you couldn't quite see his eyes, the other five were obviously lost in their own conversation, whereas he sat off the side slightly, still keeping close to his people but not quite getting involved in their conversation. He was wearing a yellow vest that hugged his broad chest so nicely and let the blue of his shirt outline his arms so perfectly, his worn cowboy boots were folded over eachother as he relaxed himself onto the chair.
Eliza was a stupid girl, so she'd been told by so many of her superiors. How many men she'd fallen for, some never spoken to, some never seen more than once. This one, this one had her like a fish to a hook. Still, she composed herself, shaking her head and fixing her shirt ever so slightly, making sure her blonde ringlets sat just over her shoulders, before taking a deep breath and approaching the table.
"Hi." She said, with the biggest, polite smile she could muster, playing the tray down and dishing out the drinks. Taking a little too long, just the gauge the situation. Strategically, she bent over the boy a little, showing off a for him, just a bit.
The man with the black hair, his hands were sparkling with rings of gold and ruby, it drew her. In her recent boredom, she'd taken to being less than honest with a few too-drunk patrons, taking a few dollars and jewelry off them in their haze. It'd proven successful, a few extra dollars in her pocket, and with a rather scandalous thigh garter, a knife tucked into it, she could handle herself.
No one would take a dirty old drunken cowboys word over the pretty saloon girl who just works herself into the ground every night.
Still, if she wanted the attention of the brown haired boy, she'd have to subdue the urge for now, keeping that polite smile as she served them, "I'll be back soon with your drinks."
She twirled away, scrambling behind the bar and into the kitchen, where she went over to her bag and pulled out a little hand mirror. With her finger, she delicately fixed her red lipstick, made sure her mascara wasn't making her eyelashes stick together in that weird way. She examined her face, as if she was counting the thousands of freckles that were dappled all over it, before giving herself a nod in affirmative and quickly skipping over to the counter where lamb joints were being put out, ready for serving. As she picked up three plates, she couldn't help but feel her outfit wasn't exactly eye catching - white shirt, red wrap around her waist that doubled as pockets for her pen and paper, money, handkerchiefs, etcetera, and a simple blue skirt with her white and brown lace up heels, it'd have to do.
She brought the three plates over, "your lamb," she served the brown haired boy first, and then the others, "I'll be back with the other plates."
In the corner of her eye, she could see the men in the group muttering something to the brown haired boy, while the women listened in intently. When Eliza circled back round to dish out the rest of their food, they all stopped suddenly, the shorter women was trying to hide a smile and the black haired man was trying to discreetly kick the brown haired boy under the table.
"Anything else for ya?" Eliza asked, hand on her pen just incase, all of them looked at the brown haired boy.
Innocently, she followed their gaze, looking at the brown haired boy. She could feel her heart start to beat, the suspense too much, the silence amongst the group deafening as the boy fumbled over his words, feeling the pressure of the eyes watching him.
"Uh...n-no."
Disappointed sagged deep in Eliza's chest, she saw the black haired man face palm and the older man shake his head with a wry smile. She turned to walk away, giving up on her unspoken advances, immediately starting to plot how she was going to rob that blinged up, fool.
Until, she felt a firm hand reach out and grip her wrist, her heart soured for a second and she turned around, biting her lip.
"Wait-" the boy said, "can- could I-" she waited on her tippy toes for him to finish his sentance, feeling his calloused fingers on the back of her hand, "can I buy you a drink?"
'Yes!' She wanted to scream, 'yes you can buy me the whole bar, we'll wed and move in together!' but she kept her composure and nodded, "why, I'd love that, will I see you at the bar, once i finish up what I'm doin' and you finish your meal?"
The boys eyes were wide under his hat, his cheeks were bright red and he still seemed panicked, in fact, he only just seemed to notice he was gripping Eliza's hand still, and let go of it, "oh, yes, yes ma'am," He sounded like he didn't expect her to say yes, if only he knew.
With that, she floated off again and cleaned the glasses that had been sitting there for hours, waiting to be cleaned, lazily served the men at the bar and dished out another few meals.
"What are you in a rush for?" Annette walked over, hand on her hip, eyeing Eliza.
"Oh you know, working on something..."
"Working on something?"
"On someone, I suppose."
Without words, Annette slipped in close to Eliza and they scanned the bar together, Eliza stared down the table the boy was at and Annette followed her gaze, finally landing on him.
"Him? Really?"
Eliza nodded frantically.
Annette didn't seem so sure, "seems sorta... Hillbilly?"
"Annette!"
"What... He does!"
While they're talking about him, he looks up from his meal and makes eye contact with them. They whip their heads around to face the back of the bar, trying to conceal hushed giggling.
"Right, go, go! Please cover me," Eliza makes a shooing motion with her hand to get Annette away while this boy came to talk to her.
"Yeah, whatever girl," Annette's attention was drawn off Eliza when a small scrap broke out between two men on the other side of the bar, she flagged them down and started telling them off.
When Eliza looked back over at the boy, he was patting his mouth clean and standing up from the table, she quickly leaned on the bar, trying to make herself seem busy and Nonchalant.
He made it to the bar, and she picked out two shots of whiskey.
"You drink whiskey, ma'am?" He quirked an eyebrow at her and smirked.
"Yes, I do," she slid a glass to him, "and my names Eliza, not 'ma'am', makes me sound old."
The boys smirk instantly disappeared when she said that and she saw his hand wrap around the glass so tight his knuckles went white and she thought it was crack, "I didn't mean-" he tried, but failed, and tied it together with, "I'm sorry."
She giggled, finding his nervousness quite endearing, but was then met with an apparent silence between them.
"So...?"
"So, what?" He tilted his head.
"So what's your name?"
"Oh- Arthur."
Arthur, Oh, Arthur, "Arthur, That's a handsome name."
"Thank you, Ma- Eliza," This boy could not form a coherent sentence, his pretty face made up for it, though.
He was still bright red, his blue-green eyes - which Eliza could now clearly see - darting all over the joint, hunched over in on himself. Still, despite all his efforts to dodge her gaze, her light blue eyes still sought him out, hunching over herself a little to meet his. She could see gears turning in his brain, watched him think. It seemed he'd made his mind up on something when the music picked up in the background and he downed his whiskey in one go.
"Can I have this dance?" He stood up straight, and offered his hand, tucking the other behind his back.
Eliza was slightly taken aback, but not put off, by his sudden confidence. One look at the spinning couples in the background, she could never deny a dance. So she took his hand and let him lead her around the bar and into the crowd.
The music was fast, the older, more experienced people around them had probably danced to this song many time since they were their age, and he was in no way skilled, they tripped and stepped on eachothers feet, he fumbled his words, he caught her excitedly pointing him out to her coworkers, who just shook their heads. He was handsome, very handsome. Cute too, the way he awkwardly glanced away, or rolled his eyes when his friends cast him teasing glances.
This is what she wanted, someone to spin with her, the same age, the same glint in their eyes, to spin her around in a circle and make her feel like a princess, truely wanted. Not like how those men she robbed made her feel, usually those men deserved to be robbed, unfaithful scoundrels, and she never felt guilty for pulling that money out their pockets. Not him though, she knew this would mean something, they'd barely spoke and she knew he'd be with her for the rest of her life.
When the song faded slower, Eliza and Arthur looked around to see the older couples he'd walked in with join in, leaving the greying lady alone in the booth, watching them from a distance. The youngers looked around to figure out how they were supposed to stand, and finally adjusted themselves with her blonde curls pressed against his chest, holding hands, entwining their finger's his arm wrapped around her and she could hear his heartbeat, it was fast. His heart was all she focused on, letting the saloon drown out around her, that thumb was all that really mattered, mesmerising, made her own heart flutter.
She'd fantasised, thought and considered other men, watched them from a distance, played into their advances a little, but none had made her feel like this boy and he wasn't even trying. He was just flawlessly charismatic, she didn't think he could stop if he tried.
When the music stopped for real, and couples started to leave the dance floor, Eliza took a little too long to pull away from the boy.
She looked up at him as he began to speak, batting her blonde eyelashes at him, "can I... Can I buy you another drink?" He smiled.
Eliza nodded frantically and started to drag him over to the bar, where Annette has already assumed she wouldn't be doing much work the rest of the night.
*.✧｡･♡
They woke up the next morning in eachothers arms, Eliza's endless hair draping over them and covering their top laugh as she drooled onto his chest. She didn't want to move for a little, her heart skipping a few beats as she realised who she was cuddled up to. This was heaven, he was so warm, comfy too, resting her cheek on him, oh how she was going to get used to this, she knew he'd be hers, he just had to. She'd be admiring his sculpted abs if it weren't for her aching headache.
She slowly leaned up, arousing Arthur, where he had to spit her hair out her mouth. He groaned, covering his eyes to shield them from the light pouring through the window, "what the hell..."
Eliza looked down at him for a moment, admiring his features even when he covered half of them up. Finally thought, she broke away, and climbed down to sit on the edge of the bed and stare out the window, her naked form silhouetted by the morning rays.
When her body blocked out the natural light, Arthur dared to move his hands to let his eyes adjust. What he saw when he opened them was nothing short of ethereal.
Eliza's silhouette, beams of light spreading past her and towards Arthur, like she was an angel. Glowing, literally. Her golden curls really did flitter like the real thing in this light. The remnants of freckles Arthur could just barely see were like if stars were seen in daylight, thats what she was, the embodiment of the sun and light itself, capturing it's beauty in just her vessel.
She stretched and turned back to him, perking up a little when she realised how arthur was staring at him, "are you okay?"
"What happened last night?"
"Uhm... Well we met in the bar and... Guess we got on so we ended up here," Eliza explained carefully, still looking a little uncomfortable at the way he was looking at her, "is that okay? Do you regret it? Are you...," a terrible thought crossed her mind. "Oh my god... Are you married?"
Arthur waved his hands around, "no! no," he assured her.
Thank god.
He gulped, unsure how to go about asking this next part, "I just... Are you busy?"
"Today?" She grinned, "no...why?"
Arthur stretched his arm forward a little, caressing her wrist with his large hand. The room already stunk of sex, god knowns what the walls had seen, the sheets would need washed, and that was only things they could remember, only barely.
He didn't even need to keep talking before she all but threw himself ontop of him, splaying herself out and climbing under the covers, and slamming her mouth onto his. Their acts were lit up by the skys light, like whatever higher power was shining a spotlight on them, like it was meant to happen, like it was written in the stars.
and it felt so right.