Chapter 8
"What the fuck," Tommy grounds out, taking hold of Edith's wrists "is going on?"
"It's nothing Tom! Please, stop!" She pushes on his chest, trying to stop him for moving any further towards Bonnie who had now risen from the bed.
"It didn't look like nothing." He states, locking eyes with Bonnie over Edith's shoulder. "You." Tommy points his finger at Bonnie, now stood just behind Edith, still pushing back on her brother's chest.
"We were just kissing!" Edith exclaims as Tommy lets go of her wrists, stalking over to the window where he stands, back to his sister, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it before speaking again. Edith watches on, gulping as she waits for Tommy to speak.
"I do not," he starts "want my baby sister, in a room with a boy, ALONE!" He roars, turning to face Edith who wraps her arms around herself. 'Don't lose your temper Edith,' she says to herself. 'Keep your calm. Getting angry won't help anything.'
"I'm..."
"You're 17 Edith! A child still!" He shouts, pointing at her with his cigarette.
"We weren't doing anything wrong Tommy!" She protests, her voice marching the volume of his.
"What's all this shouting about?" Arthur booms from the bottom of the stairs.
"No! Arthur! Everything's fine!" Edith yells back, clenching her fists as her sides, throwing Bonnie a fearful glance.
"What the fuck's happening in here, eh?" Arthur bellows as he walks into the room.
"I've just walked in," Tommy says slowly, turning to face him. "On..."
"No, Tommy, please! Edith shouts, cutting her brother off with her begs for him to stop, throwing him a pleading look.
"What the fuck, is going on?" Their older brother asks, growling under his breath, looking between Tommy and Edith, ignoring Bonnie for the time being.
"Tommy if you'll just..." Bonnie tries, Edith throwing him a small shake of her head, silently telling him to stop.
"No! You don't get to speak!" Tommy shouts, now turning to Bonnie. "I just walked in on him, kissing OUR EDITH!"
"I swear..." Arthur grounds out, also turning towards Bonnie.
"Woah! No!" Michael shouts, entering the room with Finn, John and Ada behind him, seeing Arthur, face full of fury heading towards Bonnie. He throws his hand out, Edith yelling in protest as she places herself between Arthur and Bonnie, Michael coming to stand directly in front of the oldest Shelby, hands outstretched.
"This is not a family meeting!" Edith explodes, head in hands. "I want you all out! Get out!"
"Edith," Ada says gently, placing her hand on her arm, trying in vain to sooth her sister who was clearly past remaining calm.
"No Ada. I want them out! They don't bloody listen!" Aberama watches on from the doorway, a bemused look on his face.
"Ok, she wants us out, let's go." Says Ada, trying to diffuse the situation.
"No Ada. We're talking about..." Tommy starts, only to be interrupted by Edith's yells.
"Get! Out! Of! My! Room!"
"Ok, enough." Finn finally steps in, taking Edith by the tops of her arms, knowing that the situation could not be fully diffused until him or Michael got Edith on her own to calm her, away from the anger of their older brothers. "Edith. Enough. Sit down, eh?" He implored, searching Edith's eyes.
"Finn." John growls, having remained silent until this point, throwing a pointed look at his brother, which gets ignored as Finn leads Edith to the bed.
"John this is not going to help." Ada says, following Finn's lead. "Let's just all take a step back, catch our breath." She grabs her brother's arm, pulling him towards the door, doing the same with Arthur and Tommy, all three throwing protests her way. "Michael?" Ada calls from the doorway, he nods, squeezing Edith's shoulder as he passes her, hunched over on the bed, head in her hands. Bonnie watches from beside the bed, glancing between Finn and Edith as Ada shuts the door behind the rest of the family.
"Bonnie." Finn says lowly. "Maybe you should give us a minute."
"No." Edith states, reaching out to grab Bonnie's hand in her own. "No. I want him to stay."
"Edith, love." Bonnie says gently, kneeling beside Edith, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'm going to let you talk to Finn alone, ok?"
"But my brothers..." she protests
"He'll be fine." Finn assures her, Edith's eyes flicking over to meet his. "Michael and Ada won't let them do anything stupid."
"Bonnie..." Edith whispers, locking eyes with him, silently asking him to stay.
"I'll stay right outside the door, eh?" Edith nods, reluctantly letting go of Bonnie's hand as he stands.
"Now." Finn says, also standing as Bonnie leaves the room. "What do you need? Huh?"
"A pen, and some paper?" She replies, Finn nodding and moving over to the dresser to find what she needed. "And a drink?" Finn nods again, passing Edith the pen and paper, pointing his finger at her.
"Stay there. I'll get one. Yeah?" She nods, sinking back to lie on the bed, Finn leaving to retrieve a bottle he kept in his own room across the hallway, the younger siblings both having been given a room in Tommy's house for when they stayed over. "Here." He says, holding the bottle of whiskey out to Edith who sits up enough to take a sip. "Only a little bit. Ok?" She nods again, passing it to him to take a swig, placing it down on the side when he's done. Edith rests the paper on the side table, bowing her head as she starts to scribble on it, Finn sitting silently beside her. This had become routine for the youngest Shelby's, in order to calm Edith from her temper; she would take the time to write down her anger, getting it out of her head and onto paper working as a method to calm her, doodling around the edges of the pages as her breathing returned to normal and her chest loosened again, the red mist in her head fading away. Finn watches until she is done, taking the paper from her, folding it and storing it in his jacket pocket until later in the day when she would take it back and put it into the fireplace. He shrugs off his jacket, flopping back on to the bed beside Edith, who had laid back down again, with a sigh. "Didn't think you'd calm down so quick." He quips earning a soft chuckle from his sister.
"Me neither. I feel calmer when you're with me." She comments, focusing on taking deep breaths. "How do you do that so quickly?"
"Huh?"
"Calm me down. Make me feel so safe."
"Magic!" Finn teases, wiggling his fingers in her face, making her laugh. "Hey! There's the smile!" She bats his hands away, sliding her body to the edge of the bed so that her head was hanging off the side. Finn copies her actions, a stance they had both adopted when they were younger, either hanging off the edge of a bed or sofa when left together. The pair sit in silence as they watch the clouds pass by the windows. "So, you and the Gold boy eh?" Edith sighs, resigning to the fact that they needed to have the conversation at some point.
"He has a name." She grumbles
"Sorry! Bonnie." Finn replies, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender. "You fucked him yet?"
"Finn!"
"I was joking!" He laughs, dodging his sister's raised fist. "You better not have!"
"Of course I haven't! We've only known each other a little while!"
"Egh!" Finn exclaims with a shake of his head "I don't want to think about you and a boy doing that!"
"You brought it up!" Edith bites back letting out a laugh in protest. "Anyway! You're one to talk with your one night stands!"
"Hey! That was once!" He defends himself, rolling his eyes.
"Are you angry?" Edith asks after they've laid together for a while, staring out of the window.
"Not like Tom and John and Arthur are."
"But you still are?" She asks, turning her head to look at him. "Angry at me?"
"Not angry Edie." He says gently, looking her way. "I don't like the idea of you and Bonnie anymore than they do. But we're teenagers."
"Yeah." Edith replies with a nod. "And the boys were too. So they shouldn't be so angry. Bonnie's a good guy."
"He might be, but you know they won't see that." Finn states
"I know."
"You're our baby sister..."
"But I'm not a baby! And we're not doing anything wrong!" Edith protests, throwing her hands in the air.
"Shh, I know. Breathe." Finn soothes, pushing her hands back down.
"We'll need to go back down there, right?"
"Yep." He says with a nod, helping Edith up. "You ready? I'll meet you down there, yeah?" Edith nods this time, following Finn out the door, stopping in front of Bonnie who was sat on the floor just outside the room.
"Hi." She says, holding out her hand to pull him up, humming contentedly as he pulls her into his arms.
"Can I do this? Or are your brothers gonna storm up here and cut me?" He asks, Edith chuckling against his chest.
"I'll keep you safe." She promises quietly, looking up at him, puckering her lips for a kiss. He laughs at her, leaning down to capture her lips with his.
"Edith. Come on." Finn calls from the bottom of the stairs, Edith groaning in response, reluctantly pulling away from Bonnie's embrace. She takes his hand in hers, leading him down the stairs towards the living room where she could hear her family talking.