*I know this is wicked late! But school and life has got me on hold, sorry. Hopefully this summer gives me more time to write. :) Enjoy lovelies!

Crush Into My Heart

Once in a while—a very long while—one meets a brilliant person whose talk is a delight; or still more rarely a wit who manipulates every ordinary topic with the agility of a sleight-of-hand performer, to the ever increasing rapture of his listeners.

-Emily Post

"He hates me! He hates me! He hates me!" said Nellie. She was burying her face into her pillow; her body was laid over the bed like a girl who'd been shunned by her suitor.

"Nellie, please stop crying," said Samantha. They were in Nellie's room and all of the guests had gone home. Needless to say, Edith's goodbye seemed to be a very awkward one between her and Mrs. Edwards whose face pierced like a hurt mother bird.

"Perhaps he just needs time, and he'll come to his senses," continued Samantha.

"And if he never comes to his senses?"

"Then he's not worth your time."

"I want him to be. I just never thought he'd care"

"If you thought that, then why didn't you tell him before?"

Nellie just shrugged in response. She buried her face back into the pillow. Samantha was sitting at the edge of the bed stroking Nellie's hair and could not help but feel sorry for her sister/best friend. Samantha glanced down to see her tattered copy of Pride and Prejudice. It was her and Nellie's favorite book and decided to use her knowledge of Jane and Bingley's relationship to console her sister.

"Nellie, you and Christian are just going through a rough patch. Look at Jane and Bingley, Caroline, who in this case would be Edith, will prevail in her attempts to tear you both apart from each other," said Samantha

"I don't want to be Jane and I don't want Christian to be Bingley. I just want us to be as we are, b-b-before...oh! He hates me! He hates me!" Nellie went back to her pillow. Samantha rose from the bed.

"I'll get you some hot chocolate and if you want, we'll discuss this further," Samantha said. She walked down the stairs and past the informal parlor towards the kitchen. On her way back, she heard hushed voices coming from the parlor and could not help herself but to lean in and listen.

"That was a disaster," said Cornelia, "should we try to intervene between Nellie and Christian?"

"I think those two just need to sit down and talk, but we must get them in the same place," said Grandmary

"Perhaps, they could reconcile at the opera!" cried Gardiner, "Mrs. Holsten told me how her husband was taking her and Christian to see Carmen tomorrow night. I think I could stop by and see if the company has any tickets on hold."

"Nonsense, we'll use my box," said Grandmary, "It would be incredibly silly to have Christian walk from his box all the way down to a floor seat to visit, it's unheard of. Cornelia, you had best call Mrs. Holsten, or better yet, visit her and we will explain the circumstances to her."

And so it was set. The Admiral will be escorting Grandmary and Nellie while Samantha would be escorted by Edward. They would be in box five. Mr. and Mrs. Holsten along with Christian would be situated in box seven. The adults had agreed that Nellie or Christian would not be able to avoid one another, and nothing could go wrong with such an arrangement...except for the young lady in box number six.

Samantha was taken by surprised. Grandmary had always told her it was not polite to interfere in other people's lives, but this must have been an exception and, a terribly romantic one at that. She quickly scurried back to Nellie to tell her all she had heard.

"You mean Christian's forgiven me?!" Nellie cried. Her eyes had dried up at hearing the possibility of seeing Christian again.

"Erm, not exactly," said Samantha, "you'll just see him again and hopefully things will work out."

"That's not very promising"

"That's all Grandmary could do, the rest is up to you. Oh, please don't mention this to her, then they'll known I've been eavesdropping."

"You know I won't but, you'll need to help me with what to say," Nellie said, "oh and also what to wear."

"Do not worry my dear, when I am done with you Christian will be on his knees begging to take you back."

*****

Samantha and Nellie were getting ready for the opera that following night.

Samantha wore a sage lace evening gown. The dress was off-the-shoulder with the straps falling at her arms. On the sleeves were rows of ivory bows. There were pearls sewn into the lace and a beautiful ivory sash on the waist with an emerald and pearl brooch on the sash. To accommodate any unforeseen chills there was a ruffle ivory satin jacket. Samantha was not trying to impress Edward. She wanted to be sure she looked so amazing that he could find no fault to torment her. She despised him as a child and dreads him more as a young adult.

Nellie wore a plum taffeta dress. Her dress had draped sleeves which flew into the wind like purple clouds as she walked. At the bodice of her dress were clusters of crystals and the amount of crystals dispersed as the dress went down creating the effect of stars spreading across the sky. She wanted to look her best for Christian, to sparkle so bright he could never forget her image.

"I've been thinking," said Samantha, "how will we all fit into Grandmary's carriage? It can only contain four people and our group is five..."

"Maybe we'll meet Eddie there," Nellie replied

"Thank God! I wasn't sure I could handle making polite conversation with him," Samantha remarked. To that, Nellie let out a great big laugh.

Girls! Are you decent? The opera waits for no one," called the Admiral

"We're ready," the girls simultaneously replied.

The girls were sitting in the parlor with the Admiral and Cornelia as they were still waiting for Grandmary. Then the doorbell rang and caught Samantha off guard. Who could be calling?

Gertrude answered the door and showed the guest into the parlor.

"It's Mister Eddie Ryland come for Miss Samantha," Gertrude announced.

Samantha was floored! Did they expect her to take an automobile alone with him?! Samantha ushered Cornelia into the next room to talk.

"Cornelia, there must be some mistake!" Samantha quietly exclaimed, "It is, after all improper for a young lady to come unescorted with a man before she has been introduced to society." Samantha never cared for society's formal conduct and the rules that came with it. Now, manners mattered.

"Don't be worried Sam," Cornelia assured her, "Your uncle will be driving you to and from the opera. Grandmary, the Admiral, and Nellie will take your Grandmary's carriage"

Suddenly the back door opened and Uncle Guard had come back from work and had all of his driving gear on.

"I promise not to embarrass you," Uncle Guard added and with that he winked at her. Samantha restrained her urge to roll her eyes for the sake of decorum and respect.

Propped into the car, Uncle Guard was in the driver's seat. He had left Samantha and Eddie to sit together in the back. Unluckily, Uncle Guard's backseat had only two seats unlike other cars which held three. If there had been three seats then Samantha would've been able to establish silently acknowledged boundaries between her and Edward.

"You first," said Edward as he opened the car door for her. She climbed into the car with ladylike finesse and tried to get as close to the edge of the car as possible to create some space between them. She noticed that his voice had gotten deeper, which was not unusual in growing boys. His hair had also gotten darker. Before, it was a bright shade of orange but had darkened into a complimentary shade of auburn. He's gotten quite attractive she thought. No, stop it. You are not interested in Eddie, think of Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence, Eddie, darn it! The car had taken off while awkward silence filled the air between Samantha and Edward. Uncle Guard broke the silence.

"Edward, your mother tells me you're interested in moving pictures?" asked Uncle Guard. This peaked Samantha's interest. She loved watching moving pictures.

"Yes Mr. Edwards, I've been working with the Universal Film Manufacturing Company," Edward replied.

"What do you do there?" asked Samantha as she inched closer to him.

"We produce movies. Well, the directors and producers do, I work for them. I get coffee and run errands but they also let me watch them work and sometimes I get to handle the camera. It's a whole different type of work. I want to produce movies one day but I've got to start from the bottom-up."

"Sounds like an honest living," said Uncle Guard, "How would you provide for your wife?" Uncle Guard winked at the pair from the rear view mirror. They blushed.

"One of the producer's is retiring. I've become very close with him, he's my mentor. He's promised me his position after he leaves. I just hope I can become as good as him."

"What movies are you going to make?" asked Samantha.

"A writer friend of mine showed me a work of his. It's very promising. What movies do you like to watch?"

"I like anything with lots of adventure," said Samantha, "it's very exciting to watch, as if I was really there catching villains, or searching for treasure. I especially like it when the heroine gets to come along instead of staying home like a distressed damsel."

"I love watching cowboy movies," said Edward

"Me too!" cried Samantha

The two had hit it off. They talked about much more and found they had many things in common; they liked riding bicycles in central park, reading, archery, and ice cream parlors. Edward's work took him to many different places throughout the country and Samantha loved hearing about it. He was polite, charming, and somehow else changed. She couldn't describe this new difference in him but she liked it. She was falling for him.

"Would you like to see a film sometime?" he asked, "thought, after your coming out of course."

"Oh, I-"

Samantha was cut off by a crash. Another car had collided with theirs. All she had remembered was a great flash of light and then clamoring coming from surrounding pedestrians. Samantha did not feel injured. In fact, she felt safe, like an angel had protected her. It wasn't an angel though, it was Edward. The two looked at each other for some time amidst all the chaos. Suddenly a thick liquid fell onto Samantha. Looking up from his arms, she saw that Edward was bleeding.