Eddie & Liliana LII
Summary: Eddie gets invited to dinner and Lili really needs to learn to stop walking into awkward situations.
Evie's Notes: Hope you enjoy the new chapter! Let me know your favorite part in the comments!
Eddie was having a perfectly good Friday before he received the unexpected intercom call. Joy and Eddie were playing chess in one of the side libraries when the ancient intercom crackled to life blaring "Edison Miller to Mr. Sweet's office. Edison Miller to Mr. Sweet's office".
Eddie let out a long-drawn-out theatrical groan sparking giggles from Joy. "What does that man want from me now".
"Who knows," shrugged Joy, "Only way to find out is to go see him".
"You're right. Sorry to cut our game short little J".
"It's fine, not like you planned this. I'm just going clean this up and then go see if I can find Fabian".
Eddie chuckled fondly as he exited the room. Joy was seriously too good for Fabian. Not that Eddie particularly had a problem with the boy, he was a decent enough roommate, but he wasn't a fan of the way that he kept leading Joy on. It was so obvious that Fabian was still in love with Nina and vice versa. Well obvious to everyone but Joy. At the moment though Fabian was currently unattached so he wouldn't stop her from shooting her shot with the guy. Who knows, anything could happen, just look at him and Patricia!
Knocking on the headmaster's door, he waited for his father's command of "Enter!" before pushing the door open. "You called?" He sassed with a smirk. "And can we just agree that you're never going to do that again".
His father though ignored his comment and told him to take a seat. "Edison," he began ignoring Eddie's wince at the name. "We agreed as part of your deal to stay here that we would spend more time together".
Oh yes, nothing like good old blackmail. To be fair after everything that he had heard from his girls there was no way that he would spend time with the man on his own without the blackmail.
"So, I was thinking" continued his father "that I would take you out for a nice meal tomorrow night".
"Sure, sounds cool" A chance to get away from Vera's cooking, count Eddie in! He had heard the others rave about Trudy's cooking, but had never experienced it for himself besides the cake at the bake off, so he didn't have much of an idea for what boarding school food was supposed to be like.
"I also thought that you might want to bring along a friend" hinted his father.
"Hmmm" hummed Eddie playing dumb, there was no way he was making his friends spend any more time with his dad than was absolutely necessary.
"Miss Valentine told me you have a special young lady friend" teased his father. "Is it Miss Mercer? I know that you two have been spending quite a bit of time together, or perhaps Miss Millington? She's very sweet and would be a good match for you".
That last comment clearly showed how little his dad knew about him. Amber was great and all, but she was way too high maintenance for Eddie and the pair rarely interacted.
"No" chuckled Eddie. Deciding that the shocked look on his dad's face was enough reason to out his relationship he revealed, "I'm actually dating Patricia".
In an awesome turn of events, his father had just taken a swig of tea when Eddie gave him the news. The old man choked and then stuttered out a shocked "Patricia?".
"Yeah. She's my lady friend" he snapped locking eyes with his father and daring him to say out loud the comments Eddie was sure were just sitting on the tip of his tongue.
"Right…" muttered the headmaster taking another calming sip of tea. "Really? Patricia? Lady friend?"
Eddie continued to chuckle silently at his father's discombobulated state. There was no way in hell that his father would force her to attend this dinner now! His chuckles were cut off though at his father's next statement.
"Right. Well, I look forward to enjoying both your company tomorrow night".
Eddie's jaw dropped in shock… what was he supposed to do now? The saving grace of the situation was that Patricia was even less willing, for good reason, to spend time with his dad then he was with her.
"Alright… You, me and Patricia. Tomorrow night… that is if she agrees" cautioned Eddie before exiting the room in search of his girlfriend.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Eddie wandered through the school and eventually found his way to the student lounge where the others were hanging out. Joy and Fabian were playing that Egyptian board game they liked, Lili and Jerome were curled up on one of the couches watching something on his iPhone, Amber, Nina, Mara and Alfie seemed to be working on their literature project, and his beautiful girlfriend was texting on one of the room's couches.
"You will never guess what my dad just asked me" laughed Eddie dropping down next to her.
"Ugh, get to the end" Patricia joked.
"He wants to take us both out for dinner tomorrow night"
"What" gasped Patricia, her expression waring between shock and revulsion.
"Yeah, I know. Crazy, right? As if you'd ever be into something like that" scoffed Eddie. "I mean he'd probably just want to drone on and on about classical music and old books an-"
"I accept" cut in Patricia.
"What?" asked Eddie shocked. What the heck was wrong with her? Why would she want to go to dinner with her principal, much less a man who once almost murdered her?
"I'd love to go with you and your dad. Sounds great. In fact, your timing is perfect" rambled Patricia, her mind clearly thinking about something else.
"Oh" stuttered Eddie "You sure Yacker?".
"Of course!" she chirped bouncing to her feet. "I have to go sort some stuff out now but tell your dad that I'm down for dinner out tomorrow". His very confusing girlfriend quickly pressed a kiss to his cheek before dashing out of the room, leaving a very confused Eddie on the couch wondering what the heck was going on with her.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Liliana's POV:
Liliana was sure that there were many other pleasant ways to spend her Saturday morning rather than tromping through dusty old tunnels. Unfortunately, instead of having a nice lie in or ice skating with Amber, Lili was spending her cold January morning sneaking through the Frobisher catacombs with the other Sibunas to try out their new mirror reflector.
"Okay, ready?" asked Nina placing her mirror on one of the hand-shaped stands. Nina turned her torch on the mirror, and Lili gasped with the others as a glowing beam appeared and stretched out towards the next stand.
"Okay! One down, five to go" cheered Nina happily.
"Wait… so once we have all the reflectors on all the staffs, it'll bounce the light, make the constellation shape and open the door?" reviewed Fabian
"Cinch" scoffed Patricia
"We've got this one in the bag" agreed Lili.
"Eh, not so much. We have no idea what the reflectors are. It's like finding needles in a haystack" Nina reminded the group.
"Well, there must be a clue somewhere about where the reflectors are" protested Amber
"Let's fan out and look around guys, fine tooth comb time" suggested Jerome moving to study one of the chamber's walls.
Lili studied the floor to see if she could find any other hidden messages.
"Hey guys, look at this!" called Alfie shining his light at one of the walls.
"Good job, Alfie. Fabian, do you know what this is?" asked Nina.
"It's a zodiac chart of some kind, but I've never seen one like this before" mused Fabian.
"Okay, we need to find out what it is then" decided Patricia. "This could be the lead we are looking for. Though we should probably be getting back upstairs; the others will start to notice we are missing soon".
Lili snapped a quick picture of the zodiac before heading back upstairs with the other Sibunas.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
After their early morning start, Lili spent most of her Saturday doing homework in Jerome and Alfie's room before leaving to hang out with Amber when Jerome had to work.
Lili was grabbing the popcorn for her movie night with Amber from the kitchen when she heard Eddie yell for Patricia, "Yacker the cab is here!".
Carrying the popcorn into the atrium she found herself trapped in another one of Alfie and Patricia's weird moments.
"Wow Patricia" breathed Alfie "You look like an angel" staring deeply into her eyes.
Glancing up Lili noticed that Amber was frozen in the doorway of the girls' hallway, watching the scene with visible horror.
"Except without wings. I mean…" rambled Alfie dumbly "unless… you don't have wings. Do you? You're just so angel-like".
"The word is angelic" flirted Patricia tossing her hair over her shoulder.
"Oh…" muttered Alfie.
"I mean, I don't look it. But thanks for thinking it" stuttered Patricia.
The pair stared into each other's eyes for a couple more seconds before Alfie remembered that they were on the very public staircase. "I'm blocking your way, aren't I?"
"A little bit" giggled Patricia. Honest to gods giggled! Lili swore that she had to have walked into the twilight zone. There is no way, Patricia 'goth pixie' Williamson would ever giggle like that.
Eddie's return to the room broke up the moment, making Alfie move guiltily to the side as Patricia descended the stairs to where her BOYFRIEND was waiting. Liliana didn't know what kind of racket the pair thought they were playing but she would for sure be giving Patricia a piece of her mind when the couple returned from their dinner.
"Wow Patricia, you look amazing" complimented Eddie.
"thanks…" replied Patricia graciously, but Lili observed that she seemed to be much more wary when speaking to Eddie than when flirting with Alfie.
The slam of the upstairs door marked Amber's upset departure and Lili sighed knowing that their fun movie night would now be spent consoling the other blonde over her complicated relationship.
Stepping onto the staircase, Lili shot Alfie a death glare before motioning for him to go back to his room, hissing "You have done enough damage to Amber's heart tonight. Go to your room and think about the scene you just caused and know that we WILL be speaking about this tomorrow Alfred Jason Lewis".
"What do you…?"
"Room Now!" shrieked Lili sprinting up the stairs to console Amber.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Liliana caught up with her friend just in time to hear her snark, "What is this? National fall in love day, because I for one didn't get the memo".
"Ambs leave them alone" sighed Lili snagging the blonde's hand and dragged her past Nina and Fabian, over to the girl's bed.
"You inspired me" stated Nina. "I left my notes downstairs, I'll be right back".
"Remember that Amber and I are still here, so if you're going to make out use Fabian's room" called Lili towards Nina's retreating back. The American girl's only response was to flip off the fashionista.
"So, what do you want to watch?" asked Lili curling up next to Amber. "A love story or explosions?"
Amber shot Lili a look that clearly conveyed how dumb she found Lili's question.
"Right, explosions. Fast and Furious it is" laughed Lili pulling up the film on Amber's laptop.
They only got a few minutes into the film when Amber's phone rang with a call from her father. Pausing the movie, Lili pulled out her novel for Literature class and tried to drown out Amber's conversation.
"And I've really grown up a lot this semester Daddy" explained Amber. "Like A Lot! So, you see I really do deserve a raise on my allowance… Of course, I'm staying out of trouble".
And in a burst of bad karma for the blonde, Nina appeared in that moment shouting "Amber! We're in trouble!".
"What's wrong Neens?" asked Lili dropping her book.
"No time to explain!" ordered Nina. "Lils grab the box of curlers, Ambs get your fashion magazine and both of you come with me. Fabian, hide. Hustle ladies!"
The girls rushed through the hallway and into the bathroom slamming the door as Victor stormed in shouting, "Miss Martin, come here at once!".
"Sorry, Victor. Urgent girl talk!" shouted Nina through the door.
"Okay what's going on?" asked Amber "I'm in the middle of important negotiations".
"I just had a run-in with Victor and look what he dropped" explained Nina holding up a familiar sheet of paper.
"Is that the zodiac we're looking for?" asked Lili
"It's the same one from the tunnels, but this one has the symbols we are missing".
"Can you hold please, daddy?" asked Amber into the phone.
Victor suddenly began to bang on the door shouting "Nina Martin open this door! You have something that belongs to me and I want it back".
"Amber, take a picture of it quick. Lili, start rolling her hair".
Lili was confused but she knew that arguing with Nina wouldn't get her anywhere, so she began to roll Amber's hair in the curlers with Nina's help.
The pair were placing the final curlers in the blonde's hair as Victor issued an ultimatum, "You have until the count of five to return that sheet of paper, if you do not the consequences will be most severe" The girls could hear him pacing back and forth in the hallway, "One… Two… Three…".
Shooting the two girls a look, Nina opened the door proclaiming "Sorry, Victor. We just had to finalize Amber's look for prom. After all it is…"
"It is a rather far way off" snapped the grouchy housekeeper.
"True, but hey! It's never too early to get ready, right?" lied Nina. "Anyways, I think we cracked it".
Taking this as their cue, Lili pushed Amber out of the bathroom spinning her around to show off the 'look'.
Victor ignored their obvious lie in favor of snatching back his paper. "This is mine. And if you EVER try to pull a stunt like that again" he threatened the girls.
"Our bad, Victor. What is it anyway?" asked Liliana playing dumb.
The grouchy caretaker simply grunted at them and stormed back to his office in a huff.
The trio quickly broke down in giggles as they headed back to their room.
"Fabian?" called Nina as they walked into a seemingly empty room.
Lili startled as the dark-haired boy popped up from the small space between Nina's bed and the wall.
"There you are! Look what we got" said Nina offering the boy Amber's phone with the image.
"This is the chart from the tunnel wall" gasped Fabian in shock. "The hieroglyphics call it the Zodiac of Horus" he deciphered.
"So now that we know what it's called, we can look it up online and find some information about the Zodiac" explained Nina passing Fabian his laptop.
Lili figured that the detective duo probably had this research handled and she still had a bestie that needed cheering up. Slipping her hand into Amber's she pulled the beautiful blonde over to the girl's bed and restarted the movie that they had abandoned earlier that night.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
An hour later Lili's attention was pulled away from the movie by Fabian growling angrily and slamming his laptop closed. "Nothing! There is absolutely nothing on the internet about this damned Zodiac of Horus" spat the boy.
"What about the other hieroglyphics under the image?" asked Nina.
"No. Those symbols predate all known alphabets. They could contain vital information for our quest, but we have no way of translating them".
"Great. A zodiac that isn't even a zodiac. It can't even tell me who to date" bemoaned Amber, clearly still upset about Alfie and Patricia's scene earlier that evening.
Something about Amber's statement stood out to Lili though. "Wait, Frobisher liked to play games with people seeking the treasure. What if this zodiac isn't supposed to be used as a zodiac?"
"Are you suggesting that Robert wanted us to use the zodiac images as clues?" clarified Nina.
"Wait that could actually work!" commented Fabian.
"You don't have to sound so shocked" snarked Lili.
Fabian just waved her off continuing his thought, "Frobisher could have found the ancient zodiac and then chosen the various reflectors based off of the symbols".
"So, if we decipher the clues, we will know what the reflectors are or where to find them" cheered Nina perking up now that they had a new lead.
Nina and Fabian decided to search secret room for possible hiding places, leaving Liliana and Amber to finish their movie in peace. As she settled back down beside her friend, Lili prayed that tomorrow would be a better day and that the beautiful blonde would not find her heart broken by the boy Lili considered to be her brother.
I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far in the comments or my Tumblr House-of-Secrets! Have a great week and stay safe! - Xo Evie