Chapter Two
"Carved by God himself."

"You did what?!" Mallory Harmon exclaimed incredulously from the other side of the room, the pretty flowers in her hands tumbling to the floor as a result of her shock. "Are you crazy?!" She asked, mouth falling agape.

Arabella shrugged nonchalantly, chewing on the edge of her pen. She remained focused on the many pieces of paper spread out on the desk in front of her - this week's costs for her to work on. "Apparently."

Arabella and Mallory had been friends for as long as Arabella could remember. Their families had been close, their mother's best friends, which meant, by right, that Arabella and Mallory had to be too. They spent a lot of time working together in the local florist shop, and even most of their free time was also taken up by each other's company.

The girls had everything and nothing in common all at once, and their friendship only seemed to grow stronger and stronger as the years went by.

"Bella, you realise what they do, right?" Mallory asked, eyes full of disbelief after hearing all about her friend's most recent encounter with the Shelbys. "Like, just so we're clear, you haven't completely lost your mind." 

"Of course I do, my brother is a peaky blinder for christ's sake." Arabella shook her head, turning back to her papers. "You're overreacting."

"Overreacting?!" Mallory almost shrieked. "They blind people, Bells! Cut out their tongues. Beat–"

"Okay, enough," Arabella placed the pen down. "I know exactly what they do."

"They protect this town, and in return we have to respect them," Mallory reminded. "That's how it's always been. Don't need you going in all guns blazing and getting yourself bloody shot or something."

Arabella chuckled quietly as she watched Mallory bend down to retrieve the flowers she'd dropped earlier. "They're not gonna shoot me."

Mallory whirled back around, pointing at Arabella accusingly with the flowers in her hands. "You don't know that "

"I do," Arabella countered, trying to hold back the amused smile surfacing in response to Mallory's melodramatics. "The Shelbys aren't a lot of things, but they have always been loyal to my family."

"Wow," Mallory sat down in a nearby chair. "Never thought I'd see the day you were defending the Shelbys."

Arabella scoffed and picked up her pen again, ready to continue with her work and move away from the subject. "Not defending them."

"Sounds like you are," Mallory teased, a hint of a smile pulling on her lips.

Arabella slowly lifted her head to see her friend busying herself preparing a bouquet. She rolled her eyes, and though Mallory didn't see the act, she could definitely feel it. "Whatever."

Arabella quietly continued with her sums, whilst Mallory finished preparing the flower arrangement she was working on.

Arabella had been so engrossed in working on the papers that it hadn't even felt like much time had passed when she sensed a presence in front of her desk. She sighed heavily, directing her eyes away from her papers. As she looked over the top of her round reading glasses, she noticed Mallory leaning against the desk with a coy smile.

"What?" Arabella groaned, reading the look on Mallory's face very well.

"So..." Mallory trailed off. "Isaiah kind of asked me out tonight."

Arabella raised her eyebrows. "Again?" Mallory nodded eagerly. "And what did you say this time?"

"I said that I might see him there."

Arabella leaned back in her chair as she studied her best friend's expression.

Isaiah Jesus had been trying to win the affections of Mallory Harmon for a very long time. In fact, Arabella was pretty sure it started when they were kids.

Mallory was very beautiful, with soft features and brown doe-eyes. There was an innocence to her that many young men were drawn in by, though, no matter how many dates she went on, nothing ever worked out for her.

Isaiah had asked Mallory out more times than Arabella could count, and her best friend had always turned him down, telling Arabella she did not want to get involved with a Peaky Blinder, nor did her mother want that for her either. Though, Arabella could always tell there was a hint of disappointment in her friend's eyes whenever she talked about a certain Isaiah Jesus.

"Where's there?" Arabella questioned.

Mallory smiled weakly, already anticipating her friend's reaction. "The Garrison."

"Mal," Arabella groaned in exasperation. "You know I'm on shift there tonight."

"I know but," she paused to find the right words. "I just thought that it might help if you were around. You never would have agreed if I asked you outright to come so–"

"I thought you weren't interested in dating a gangster?" Arabella challenged, though she knew full well that rule likely did not apply to Isaiah.

"Well," Mallory paused, twirling a strand of her wavy brown hair around her finger. "He is very handsome." Arabella chuckled lightly, not even surprised one bit by her friend's sudden change of heart. "Look, I just wanna have a drink with him and see how the night goes. But if I tell my mum I'm going to the Garrison alone she'll freak out about peaky blinders being there–"

"Mal–"

"–But if I tell her I'm going to meet you after your shift then, in a way, I'm not even really lying to her," She rushed out quickly. "Plus, you're untouchable in this town. I mean, you've always got blinders following you around to keep you from harm. If I'm with you, she'll know I'm safe and she'll let me go. It's the perfect plan!"

Arabella deliberated for a few moments. "No," she eventually decided. "I'm not lying to your mother."

"Why not?" Mallory whined. "She might not even question you about it anyway."

"Because she bloody terrifies me."

"You go around threatening the Shelby boys but my mother scares you?" Mallory asked in disbelief.

"Your mum is very intimidating," Arabella defended, earning a huff from Mallory in response. She exhaled heavily, noticing her friend had not moved another inch, nor did she look like she was going to. "Fine, if your mum asks then I'll tell her you were with me."

A huge grin brightened across Mallory's face, and she skipped around the desk to wrap her arms around her friend. "You're the best!"

Arabella waved her away. "Yeah, yeah, don't get too excited."

"What should I wear?" Mallory wondered, biting down on her bottom lip. "I need a new dress."

"And I need to finish this before Mrs Willows gets back," Arabella said with a heavy sigh as she glanced down at how much work she had left to do. "The new red dress," she then decided, craning her neck back to look at Mallory. "It suits you. Now get that flower arrangement finished or Mrs Willows will have my bloody head."

"Fine," Mallory begrudgingly gave in, moving back to her own table. "You know, you work too hard, Bells," she stated, face now obscured by a giant bouquet of flowers. "I do worry about you."

"I'm fine," Arabella assured, though, it was quite far from the truth. Arabella was exhausted, and certain she was one more sleepless night away from going clinically insane.

"You need some excitement in your life again," Mallory told her, eyes suddenly lighting up as she poked her head out from behind the bouquet. "I could set you up on a date! What do you think of–"

"No."

Mallory huffed. "You didn't even let me finish."

"Your taste in men sucks," Arabella pointed out.

Mallory thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, you're probably right," she sighed dramatically. "Being attracted to bad boys is such a curse."

Arabella chuckled, turning back to face her. "Since when were you attracted to bad boys?"

"Uh, Isaiah," Mallory rolled her eyes, as if it was obvious.

Arabella shook her head, stifling her growing smile. "Mal, please, don't make me laugh."

"Fine then, I don't know," Mallory said, mind drifting for a moment. "I mean, I guess John Shelby is rather handsome."

Arabella almost choked. "John Shelby?!"

"Yeah, why not?"

"John bloody Shelby," Arabella muttered under her breath, biting back her laughter. "I didn't think the Shelbys were your type, Mal."

"Uh, have you seen Thomas Shelby? That man looks like he was carved by God himself," Mallory replied, resting her chin on her hand, sighing dreamily. "And those pretty blue eyes, Bells...Those eyes could convince me to do anything, I swear."

"Christ," Arabella mumbled. "Your mother has a right to be worried about you."

"Shut up," Mallory retorted. "Oh, and the new boy. What's his name?..." she trailed off, lost in thought. "Michael!"

Arabella frowned, only half listening as she read over her work. "Michael?"

"Yeah, he's part of the Shelby family," Mallory answered. "Polly's son," she prompted. Arabella paused, she had no idea that Polly had children. "Thought you would have met him by now, since your always over there threatening somebody." 

"Very funny," Arabella replied flatly.

"Anyway, Michael's hot." Mallory paused, deliberating on her next words. "Your type."

Arabella harshly scribbled out a wrong calculation. "I don't have a type."

"He might be there tonight," Mallory started, ignoring Arabella's ridiculous comment. She moved away from her table to sit on the edge of Arabella's desk, a grin teasing on her lips. "You could join us after your shift."

Arabella glanced at Mallory over the top of her glasses. "I'd rather stick pins in my eyes, thanks."

Mallory sighed defeatedly, but the door to the florist shop opened before she could press the issue any further.

"Ladies," Mrs Willows barked as the door slammed shut behind her, startling both girls. "I'm paying you to work, not gossip!"

"Sorry Mrs Willows," they mumbled in unison. Mallory shot Arabella a look as she hopped off the desk and headed back to her own.

"Miss Newell," Mrs Willows began as she placed her bags on a nearby chair. "How are the numbers?"

"Down from last month, Mrs Willows," Arabella answered politely, removing her glasses. "But we have a lot of orders for next week."

Mrs Willows pondered over Arabella's words for a few seconds, her face unreadable. Arabella's eyebrows began to draw in concern, but she did not prompt her boss any further. "Okay. Back to work you two."

She took her bags without another word and headed straight into the office, leaving Arabella and Mallory alone again.

Arabella placed her glasses back on, resuming reading carefully through the documents in front of her. Mallory watched her friend quietly busying herself with work for a few moments, but the silence soon became unbearable for her. "Bells..."

Arabella sighed exasperatedly, eyes not leaving her papers. "Mal, you can try every trick in the book, but you're not going to win me over about tonight."

"Bloody hell," Mallory breathed out. "How'd you know what I was going to say?"

Arabella's lips tugged. "Lucky guess."

"You know, I'm only going to keep asking until you give in and say yes," Mallory told her.

Arabella raised her eyebrows, finally turning her head to face her friend. "And I thought I was supposed to be the stubborn one?"

"Oh, trust me, you are."

A/N

Mallory is such a mood.

I'm setting it up for Michael to finally be introduced in the next chapter. Hopefully it will be up within the next few days!