So I've had this idea in my head for a while now using one of my favourite songs, and it turned out shorter than I imagined it in my head, but c'est la vie, I think its still readable and I'm sharing it with you all. Anyway, one of my favourite things in Chelsie fanfics is when our beloved Chelsie meet when they're younger, fall in love and have this great life together, it hits all of my favourite story beats and I can't get enough of them. However, I do sometimes wonder what it would be like if the reverse happened, they met when they were young, but the happy ever after didn't come and this is the result. So I hope you like it, and at the end of the story I'll reveal the lyrics that I used as inspiration throughout this story. I hope you like it.
Charles looked around the empty theatre and smiled to himself. He had been planning this for a while now, certain that it was the right thing to do. He had first met Elsie just over six months ago, when he had first started working at the Lyceum Theatre. He mostly performed as a warm up before the main performance began. He also occasionally appeared a little bit in the background of various shows that the theatre put on. Elsie, on the other hand, worked exclusively backstage with the other seamstresses. They'd first interacted when she had patched up his jacket ten minutes before he was due to perform one of his small magic shows. While he had been instantly smitten, Elsie had been a little bit more mercurial and hard to pin down. But he'd soon gotten a glimpse behind the outward image and realised she was just the tiniest bit smitten with him too. Despite some deep feelings, things moved at a glacial pace, he'd only dared to offer her his arm when walking her back to her boarding house in the past couple of weeks. He had told his family what he was planning to do and had been met with tepid support at best. Even if his mother had gifted him her ring to give to Elsie.
Once he had a plan in mind, Charles had set about turning it into actual events. He was thankful that he had a good relationship with the theatre manager, so that he could make use of the auditorium. He'd also arranged for no one else to be there that night, he was well aware that Elsie was no one for being the centre of attention. With a little help from a couple of stage hands, he had gotten one of the fancy backdrops from an opera performance the previous month to provide a different background than just the blank stage wall. He had also made use of the props from a previous production and lit candles to create an atmosphere. Charles hadn't fully understood it at the time, but one of the other wardrobe girls had explained that it was romantic. He pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time, he had told Elsie to meet him there at 7 and hoped that she wouldn't be too much longer. It wouldn't take him too long to start second guessing himself if she was even a few minutes late. He'd always been a worrier.
Charles looked up as he heard footsteps, and breathed a sigh of relief as he recognised the familiar silhouette of Elsie walking towards him. She gave him a small smile as she approached him, she was always taken aback by the lengths he went to. Never in her life had she felt like someone had really cared – outside of her family.
"What's all this?" she asked as she looked around the empty theatre, noting the candles and theatre scenery.
"I wanted to make tonight special," he replied with a smile as he held out a hand to her. Her smiled widened briefly as she placed her hand in his, allowing him to lead her to the centre of the stage. "I wanted to do this here, the place where we first met."
Elsie's smile froze as she caught the underlying sentiment. She then felt a little confused as to why felt that way. "Oh," she murmured as she watched him pull something out of his waistcoat pocket before he lowered himself down to one knee.
"Will you marry me?"
She looked down into his face, she noted the openness of his expression, the depth of love that he had for her. She opened her mouth, but not words came out, it felt as though her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth. As she closed her mouth, she noted that the cliché was true, you really didn't know what answer you would give until the question was asked. She watched as his expression turned from hopeful to worried to confusion.
"I'm sorry," she replied with a shake of her head. "I can't," she added as she removed her hand from his. She hated herself for being the cause of the heartbreak she now saw in his eyes. It didn't help that she didn't know why she turned him down, she just knew she couldn't marry him. "I'm sorry," she repeated, before she turned to leave the theatre. She couldn't turn back and look at him, couldn't bare to see his crestfallen expression knowing she was leaving a deep wound on the heart of one of the sweetest men she had ever known. All she could do now was hope that her actions today wouldn't leave him too broken hearted and that in time he would find someone worthy of him. Who would mend the glass heart that she had broken.
So the lyrics that inspired this fic:
'Left you out there standing/Crestfallen on the landing'
'Your mom's ring in your pocket'
'Love slipped beyond your reaches/And I couldn't give a reason'
I may revisit this version of Chelsie at some point, either with a happier ending or what came next for them, who knows, thanks for reading.