Human Error - Sherlock Fanfiction

Chapter thirty seven - chips

Despite how the weather had been playing up for the past few days, today was quite different. It was still cold, but the clouds were all white in the sky instead of gray, and the gentle breeze and warmth of the sun were refreshing on my skin.

I and Edward walked along the pavement in Regents Park, the uniform green of the meadow looking almost as if it were combed. Shoving a chip into my mouth, we finally approach a bench that hadn't been taken up by other visitors of the park. "How do you not like curry sauce?"

"I do like curry sauce, on a curry." Edward explained, taking a chip out of his cone that had been covered in tomato ketchup. "Red sauce is best on chips."

"Just try one." I protested, holding my cone of chips towards him for him to help himself. We had made a spontaneous plan to meet, and after walking around for awhile we came across a chip shop. We couldn't help ourselves. With a sigh, Edward gave me a look before grabbing a chip that was smothered in curry sauce. I watched how he ate it, his face unmoved. "Well?"

"... It's not bad." He answered, and a grin appeared on my face. "But I'm going to stick to my ketchup."

"Okay, fair enough." I responded, using my blue plastic fork to pick up another chip.

"By the way, I was thinking--"

"Oh God, that's never good."

"Shut up." He let out a laugh and playfully nudged my side with his shoulder. "My friend Veronica is having a party to celebrate her and her wife's anniversary. It's a couples party, so I was wondering if, um, you'd be my plus one? Nothing weird like that! Just, you know, it'd kind of suck to show up to a couples party by myself."

A smile pulled up on my lips. But before I could answer, he quickly added: "There will also be free drinks and food."

"Well, in that case, you can count me in." I beamed, munching on another chip.

"Great!" He grinned, pleased with my answer. "You can also ask Sherlock to come if you like. I'd like to be friends with him again, and maybe we could catch up at the party. He'd need a date, of course."

"Oh, I don't think the party will be his kind of thing," I tell him, looking down for a moment as I tried to comprehend the thought of Sherlock attending a couples party with a date. I couldn't imagine him making small talk with a bunch of strangers. "But I'll ask him to make sure."

"Nice one." Edward smiled, throwing a ketchup coated chip into his mouth before offering me some more details about the whole event.

We walked around the park after we had finished our food, before deciding to call it a day. We hugged and said our goodbyes before I caught a cab and he walked off into the other direction towards his apartment. The drive back to Baker Street wasn't long at all since the Park was only minutes away from our small, scruffy flat. I pay the taxi driver the right amount money that I owed him for the ride before climbing out of the vehicle and making my way inside of the building.

I was just about to head into my own flat when I heard a thump from upstairs. With a raise of my brows, I look up towards the ceiling with curiosity. And then I heard it again. Thump.

I make my way up the stairs eagerly, wondering what the hell was going on in two-hundred and twenty-one B. I don't even knock, I just twist the door knob and walk nonchalantly inside, my eyes darting around the room for any sign of action.

I see Sherlock tossing books across the room, and John is sat in his armchair reading the newspaper like nothing was happening.

"Hey, don't throw Cosmos!" I warn him, rushing up to his tall figure and reaching my arm out to grab the book from his hands. He looks at me with surprise.

"Eleanor!"

"That's me," I announce, furrowing my brows at him. "What the hell are yo doing?"

"Looking for a book."

"He's looking for his cigarettes," John speaks up, and I turn on my heels to look at him. "I've hidden them."

"I just want one. I'm not on a case, there are no experiments to do. I'm bored."

With a roll of my eyes, I turn to look at Sherlock again. "Have you tried exercising?"

"Have you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, eyes widening as I wait impatiently for an answer. He taps his foot anxiously, knowing that he needed to be careful with his next choice of words.

"Nothing." He shakes his head.

He knows best.

"Yeah, keep your deductions to yourself, Mister." I warn him, shaking my head and letting out a sigh. "I've been invited to a couples party next week. If you still haven't found an interesting case by then, would you like to tag along? Could be fun."

"I highly doubt it." He stated his opinion, before hesitating. "But... if it's a couples party, you'll need a date?"

"Yeah, Eddie has asked me to go with him."

His face falls slightly and he rolls his eyes. "Oh." He grumbles, looking back between the books on the shelf. "Count me out, I prefer not to go if he will be there."

"Come on, Sherlock. This could be good for you!" John joins in.

"No." He says firmly, and I shake my head, knowing that we won't be getting anything else out of him.

"Well, the offer is always there..." I trail on, wanting him to know that I'd like him to come, but deep down I knew Sherlock wouldn't. These kind of events were just not Sherlock's thing.