I hope you're all ready for chapter three! It's taken a lot of time and energy to generate this story between us two, so it would mean a lot to us if yhou tell us what you think of our works! Remember, I'm (AngeliqueBouchard1972) is creating the POV for Barnabas while TheBitterAfterTaste is representing Angelique. So tell us what you think!
"Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable." - Bruce Lee
Angelique looked hesitantly at the chair. Whilst she was a rebellious spirit she didn't believe in getting into trouble for no reason whatsoever. If or anyone for that matter caught her sitting down, especially beside Barnabas she knew she would be in so much trouble, but her thoughts on this were that …surely he was worth a little bit of trouble.
"I suppose I could stay…just for a little while…" she trailed off as she glanced at the door, finally settling down in the chair beside him as he opened the large book. She slowly moved her fingers over the pages and flicked through a few. She had only read a few bits and pieces so it was new to her too. Absentmindedly she rest her elbow on the desk and leant up against it so she could see better.
She glanced up at him and caught him staring at her, it had happened a lot those final few days before he left to get an education, and back then she was naïve to know why. Now she did of course, it was the same look many men had given her, but from him it was definitely something more. Whereas others would stare at her and think only lustful thoughts she saw that Barnabas definitely had more than that on his mind and this made her smile.
She remembered one particular event before he left, and that was his leaving party. Naomi and Joshua had spent at least two months planning such a grand affair and everything had gone off without a problem. She had worn her powder blue dress with the long sleeves and a simple white apron over the top as she served many of his friends and his father's business associates. Though she stood and watched all the women dancing, and thought they were the most graceful things in the whole wide world. She watched as men asked them to their feet with a bow and Angelique only wished one day someone would ask her.
The party had been over a number of hours and she had stayed scrubbing the ballroom floor as the rest of the staff left for bed. Truth be told she had been so enthralled in the party she wanted to stay there for a while, even just to reminisce the elegant movements and laughter that still seemed to echo through the air. She had been in a world of her own when she heard a cough, and she quickly spun around to see him there. Barnabas Collins. He was still in his suit and she thought he looked most handsome, though she stepped back a little when he approached her. She had been so desperately upset that he was leaving and he knew that. Instead, no words were spoken. He simply bowed to her and extended his hand, and ever so gingerly she had taken it. They had spent half an hour whirling across the ballroom floor, sometimes dancing off beat and stepping on each other's toes, but both had laughed till tears had trickled.
She smiled as she thought about that night, then realised that Barnabas was glancing back at her, and her cheeks slightly pinked, she had been thinking about that night the longest time and hadn't said anything as she cleared her throat and tucked a loose strand of her unruly hair behind her ear.
"A page each?" She asked him, pink still spotting on her cheeks.
-Angelique-
It had been a while since he had seen her blush. It was refreshing. Barnabas wondered what she was thinking about as he opened the book and smiled in response.
"Of course." He added in a low drawl. It just so happened that his mind was taken back to that last night they had spent together before he went away. Barnabas had almost told his father why he was so anxious about leaving that very morning. He came so very close to telling him why he wanted to stay. Angelique.
Because if a boy could ever be in love, that was it. He thought about her day and night. When he studied, went about business with his father, but especially during that last night. No other girl paled in comparison to her. Not her status and riches of course. But aside from that, none even came close.
She was charismatic; enigmatic. Her beauty, personality and fierce intelligence made it impossible for him to avoid her. Angelique was majestic in his eyes and he simply didn't care what anyone else said.
On returning, Barnabas had thought of her - of how they used to associate with one another. He thought that he had grown past her, pushing her allure to the back of his mind. Because in reality, he knew that they could never be together. Society would eventually break them apart, there was no avoiding it.
But there was just something about her. How she held herself, the way she walked, the way she said his name. It was too tempting to leave alone. As Barnabas began to read to her, his tone velvety smooth and deeper than before, he couldn't help but keep drifting back to think about her. God, she was beautiful. The dark haired woman pushed back a strand of her hair, revealing more of her stunningly structured jaw line and smooth skin. It took every ounce of self control he had not to just reach out and touch her gorgeous flesh. Just as he finished his page he couldn't help but glance at her ample cleavage as he worked his stare back up to her icy blue gaze.
- Barnabas -
She found herself drowning in his hypnotic voice; it was just another thing that pulled her towards him, like he was some sort of gravitational force that she was at his complete mercy with. The way he spoke, the way his perfect lips creased together when he pronounced an m… the slight shift of his Adam's apple as he took another breath. Truth be told she wasn't even focusing on the words, she was keeping her focus on him entirely, as if simply a blink and she would miss too much.
Things had been tense since he had left, she felt as if a half of her had been taken with him. He was her only childhood friend, the rest of the staff were much older than herself, but when they were younger part of her responsibility was to keep Barnabas entertained between her chores. She segregated that activity from cleaning and cooking, because spending time with him was so much better than doing anything else, even at a younger age.
She reminisced from where she must have only been eight years old. She and Barnabas had been chasing each other around the pond that resided by the old oak tree in the extensive Collins grounds. Barnabas had caught her and grabbed her arms, playfully threatening her by tipping her at the edge, making her squeal and wriggle with laughter. She unfortunately wriggled a little too much, which caused him to let go of her and she fell in, but not without catching his jacket first, sending him in straight after. Once both had resurfaced they spluttered with laughter, covered in moss and other pond-life, but it didn't really matter. Because she only had one dress whilst the other was washing, it meant she was cold the whole next day and still sopping wet, but it had been more than worth it.
She smiled to herself and quietly cleared her throat as he read, turning her eyes back towards the book as she allowed his voice to travel through her, to enthral itself in her thoughts like a sweet sounding melody to her ears. She glanced at the page and noticed he had spoken his final word, and looked up at him, surprised to find his eyes wandering from her cleavage to her eyes, and her lips curved upward into a playful smirk.
"Did nobody ever tell you it was impolite to stare at a woman in such a way Mr Collins?" she teased, her eyes glimmering with wicked humour as her eyebrow arched, waiting for an answer.
-Angelique-
Barnabas chuckled deeply and leaned back in the chair. His dark brown eyes avoided her form as he answered her,
"Not for a while, no." Barnabas admitted. She was so independent. Odd thing for a servant girl, but he liked it. For a moment he envied how she could be so confident without brushing past the line of arrogance. It was unerringly desirable.
"Though I really should not be surprised. You alter everything." He noted, locking eye contact with her. God, she was so beautiful. Her cerulean gaze darkened a bit as she took in what he had said. He was reminded of all those times, years ago, when she was everything he cared about. When he gave no notion to money, or commitment, or reputation. All he wanted was her.
A raven headed girl ran along the shore, her dark locks blowing in the wind along her face as she ran ever further away from the manor, and from the little boy trailing behind her. Careless laughter filled the crisp springtime air.
Barnabas finally started to catch up with her, his intricate coattail flowing behind him. When he finally reached her, he playfully grabbed her and they both tumbled to the ground. Angelique smiled and moved over so she was on top of him. Tendrils of her dark hair fell next to his face. The cool grass beneath them moistened his new coat, but he didn't care. All he could seem to focus on was her. Her childish breaths fanned over him as he stared into her sparkling blue eyes. In that moment, everything was perfect.
It was ironic - that was exactly the way he felt right then. She was right in front of him, her beautiful full lips parted ever so slightly. She was so deliciously close. But reality was that he couldn't have her. He could have everything in the world but her. The only problem was that the only thing he actually desired was out of his reach.
Barnabas licked his lips and took a long breath. He hated this feeling. When he was younger, he had thought about kissing her quite a bit. Whenever they were close, actually. He just never could seem to muster up the courage. Despite how much things had changed, and how much higher he was placed in society, she still intimidated him a bit. Kissing her wouldn't be like any of the other girls before.
Besides, he wasn't supposed to do anything like that in the first place. If someone caught them, it would not go unnoticed, he knew. It would be imposing and rather rude to enforce something like that on her. She was very intelligent after all. After realising that he a had been staring at her, he straightened in the chair and ran an elegant hand through his short dark hair, hoping that she might continue reading.
- Barnabas -
Angelique blushed a little as she watched him stare at her, he was like an enigma and she loved that about him. Everything in the natural world was telling her that she could not have him, and that this wasn't meant to be, but the way he was looking at her made her feel something entirely different.
Everything seemed to fall into place when she was around him, and that was just one of the things that attracted him to her. The way his short, tousled hair shaped his face, is deep chocolate eyes that made her feel weak in the knees when he stared so intently at her, just as he was doing now. He had perfect full lips, with the daintiest little cupid bowed angle on his upper lip, and if she had the nerve to do so she wouldn't ever stop kissing him.
The truth of the matter, and the dreadful truth at that was that they could never be anything more than friends, especially in this society. If in a novel they would be doomed to be star-crossed lovers, a Master and a servant was rarely heard of, but never actually approved. Once again she brought herself out of such thoughts and noticed his gaze had not faltered, and she was enchanted and hypnotized at the same time, so much so it was very difficult to catch her breath, and she actually had to remind herself to breathe.
"Why do you stare at me like that?" she asked, in almost a pleading whisper, and because she had lost all sense of her words it had slipped out before she could stop it. "Do you not realise how distracting you are when you look at me like that?" she added in a soft tone. It was as if right then she had just realised how intimate things were. Here she was sat next to him in a chair, the oil lamp burning and casting a certain dimness in the room. The light flickered over the pages of dry ink but not even that was enough to bring her out of her thoughts about him.
She wished she could just gather her words and put them back inside her mouth as a red flush appeared across her prominent cheekbones, and she realised what she had just said.
"I'm sorry, that was inappropriate of me to say," she stated, managing to tear away from his glance as she focused on the words on the page, causing a few tendrils of her pinned up hair to escape from their gripped confinements and fall down from the hold, framing her face even more elegantly than before. She began to read, but because she wasn't concentrating her words became humbled and mixed up, and she felt even more foolish as she shrugged back a little in her chair.
-Angelique-
Barnabas blinked out of surprise as she spoke, and furrowed his brow slightly as she blushed and corrected herself. At first, he was left in a stupor as he realised just how much of an effect he was having on her. But then she looked as if she lost her sense of dignity, lowering her head and blushing. She never used to do that. But then again, he had used to tell her that they were nothing different and should be treated that way. Perhaps she had thought that he didn't think that way anymore.
Even though that what he was always taught, and what she had always been scolded for, he still couldn't agree to it. Seeing her acting so submissive disturbed him. Despite his money and education, he could never deny that there were minds were not very different. They liked to toy with people, and to know what they were thinking; but at the same time they would never agree to anything they didn't approve of, even if it had consequences.
As she started to read again he was a bit too distracted to listen to her, but he didn't really care. Barnabas was just trying to think of what he could say to bring her back. To bring back the person he used to remember - and maybe, in the same way, find who he used to be as well. As Angelique stopped reading and shifted in her seat, he could help but reach out and touch her. It just felt so natural.
With one hand on her shoulder and the other brushing back the dark locks that framed her face, his gaze settled on her ice blue eyes. Her beautiful features looked a bit shocked at his touch, and he didn't like that. Barnabas furrowed his dark brows and tightened their gaze a bit as he brushed his thumb across the porcelain surface of her cheek.
"Do not bow your head in shame, Angelique. You need not humble in my presence."
- Barnabas -
Please do remember to comment and favorite this story and follow both of us on tumblr! My username is myquarelliswithallofyou, while TheBitterAfterTaste is AngeliqueBouchard2206. Thank you, and come back soon!