#cout

TW: none in this one, future tw include; smut, sexual assault, injury, fluff?.

It had been a long day of driving back home from New York to the small town of Macomb but you couldn’t wait to see your brother. When you finally arrived and pulled up to your brothers house you were immediately greeted by your brother, niece and nephew, running up to you and tackling you into a hug.

“Aunt y/n, Aunt y/n, I’ve missed you so much.” A very excitable Scout Finch practically shouted at the top of her lungs. “It was only just a year since you saw me though.” You lightly giggled at Scouts hyperactive behaviour. “It felt like ages though to be fair.” Jem interrupted as you ruffled his hair lightly. “Kids, why don’t you two run along and go play while I talk to your aunt y/n and catch her up on.. recent events.” And with that the kids were off running about in the yard.

“It’s good to see you” Atticus hugged you ”how about we go inside. There’s some things I need to tell you about.” You glanced worriedly at him.”it’s about Arthur Radley.” Upon hearing that name you swear your heart skipped a beat. You hadn’t seen him since you and your brother went to school and high school with him. Until you didn’t see him anymore and the rumours started.

You sat down in Atticus’ clean, nicely decorated living room on the black sofa, a glass of lemonade in hand, when you finally decided to pipe up.”So, what is there to tell me about Bo- Arthur.” You paused before saying his name, almost saying Boo. “Well, last year, in autumn, Halloween, there was..an incident involving the kids and Arthur. Mr Ewell supposedly tried to attack the children and well, Arthur saved them, however killing Mr Ewell in the process.” He paused for a moment and you quietly gasped. You thought he had gone to jail or worse and began to panic. Sure it had been years since you had seen him but, that didn’t mean you didn’t care for him like you did as kids.” Thankfully the sheriff took pity on him and he has been left and free from punishment. The children have also formed a good relationship with Arthur and I have re developed a friendship with him and now it is a regular occurrence that we see him.” He paused again for you to speak “Well does that mean he’s leaving the house now?” God you had so many questions.” Yes he often goes out with us actually or comes round here. We helped him with his house and fixing it up too, in case that was a concern.” It was. In fact it was your next question. The last time you had seen the house it was in bad conditions so of course you had concerns about that.

You spent the next hour or so talking about other changes that had happened since you had last seen each other. You talked about your graduation, how the kids were and how his job was going. “Oh by the way, did I mention that Arthur would be coming over tonight. I invited him round for dinner thinking maybe you two could get to talking again. Who knows maybe you still have the same feelings as you did in high school.” This time your heart definitely did stop. Then you felt the sudden annoyance at your brothers sneaky comment, referring to the fact that you used to have a stupid little crush on your older brothers friend. He had a fair point though. What if you did still have a crush on him..or more.

You spent the evening deciding on weather or not you should clean up your appearance. You decided it would be for the best. Just in case you ended up wanting to leave a good impression on Boo. Obviously you couldn’t make it too obvious you were trying so you tidied up your makeup and got changed.

You decided to go back downstairs and wait on the sofa and just scroll through social media until you needed to do other wise.

About 20 minutes later you heard the doorbell ring and hear Atticus shout down the stairs “I’ll get it.” You turned to face the door and watch as Atticus opened it. You couldn’t see him, but you heard him and your heart practically melted immediately at just the sound of his voice. He was relatively quiet but loud enough that you could hear him from where you were sitting. His voice had gotten slightly deeper and he sounded slightly nervous. Maybe he knew you were here ”thank you for inviting me over.” He spoke softly as he entered the living room and Atticus stepped out of the way and closed the door once he had entered the house. ”not a problem Arthur.” You couldn’t help but stare a little, and you weren’t exactly sure what enticed you to stare. Maybe it was his short, messy blonde hair, the light stubble he had or his grey, colourless yet beautiful eyes. You blushed and quickly looked away, realising you were probably staring too long, and he blushed as well. You only caught a short glimpse of him blushing but you thought it was adorable. The way his perfectly snow-white skin tinted pink was making your heart melt. “Y/n” Atticus suddenly spoke up to break the tension and make conversation. “why don’t you and Arthur talk for a while while I go check on the food and make sure the table is set. Kids why don’t you come help too.” With that Jem’s face turned annoyed “but Atticus I don’t-“ he then stopped as if he had realised something, and you think you know what” oh right of course.” All three then left the room and you and Boo were left along in the living room. You definitely knew what Atticus was doing. He wanted to set you two up, clearly, it was as clear as day. However you weren’t complaining in all honesty. He was pretty tall, about 6’2 6’3, he was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and a flannel shirt, and he was still blushing lightly. The room was silent, not awkward, but a comfortable silence.. which you eventually decided to break.

Araya A. Hargate wearing Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture at the ‘Girls of the Sun’ Cannes Film Festival Premiere.

05/12/18