Disclaimer: Felicity is the property of WB and JJ Abrams. No Infringement intended.
Summary: How could we be so wrong about each other? Those words had echoed in his head for years. Now fate was finally giving him the opportunity to do something about it.
Ice Cream and a Smile.
Four score and seven years ago ….that's practically how he felt, even though it wasn't the exact mathematical formula that calculated how long he had been in love with her. Yet walking through this cemetery, past headstones that documented civil war era deaths, it was the only thought that flew through his head.
He slowed his gait as the hearse and line of cars paraded through the quiet resting place. Five years ago he would have never believed he would be here, in this place saying goodbye to a close friend. But it happened and he came. For Zoe and now this.
It was all so senseless. A tragedy that played out on the big stage with characters that were alive and charismatic and real. The relationships their college years had forged struggled through all the hardships of life, the pain, the happiness, the love, and the hurt. The one constant at the end of it all was the irreplaceable existence, the unconditional friendship that just remained. It bonded these seemingly strangers to the end. And today was an end for one of their friends.
He turned and walked toward the burial plot. The casket sat on the support grid waiting to be lowered into the ground. The chairs behind it were empty and alone. It was odd to think that was the final goodbye. A thousand questions crossed his mind as he wondered what happened in those last moments of life. Were they filled with smiles and joy or sadness and despair? Was it painful or a blissful euphoria that enveloped the heart and stole that last breath? No one would ever know. No one could ever explain what it felt like to be dead.
He stopped at the side of the mahogany casket and ran his hand along its smooth side. The wood felt cold beneath his skin and reflected the emotion that boiled in his heart. This was only the shell of the person he knew. The person that he shared his life, partied with, played basketball with, fought with, lived with … and so many more things that he couldn't even quantify. What lay on those overstuffed pillows under the heavy wooden lid wasn't his friend, it was just the packaging that harnessed the energy of a life. And while he would never truly understand why, it was time to let that life go.
He looked up and saw her standing under the tree. He wondered how long she had been watching him. If she saw things the same way as he, understood the magnitude of what had happened the same way as the circle of their friends did. He knew in his heart, those answers would all be no.
Her eyes were glazed over as he walked to her side. The numb expression on her face answered most of the questions he was afraid to ask, yet he wanted to know so many things to make sense of this all. That would all come in time, because at this minute there was nothing else as important as what she needed.
Ironically that had always been his place. He was always the one to believe in her when the life had let her down. The one she came to when she was lost and needed direction or a boost or to just be that person for her. He just understood and unconditionally loved her. The thought that anyone could ever take advantage of her … made his blood boil.
She slid into his arms like a glove. A fit that was perfect in so many ways. A flush of memories teased his brain as he ran his fingers through her hair. The warmth of the embrace stood in contrast to the cool breeze in the trees. He held her as long as she needed, as she sobbed into the fabric of his shirt. He waited for the nonverbal signal that she was ready to close this open page.
Their friends waited by the car holding in the breath that no one was willing to release. Noel ran his thumb across her cheek catching the last of the tears as they streamed down her face. Felicity lifted her head from his shoulder and looked up into his eyes. The wordless conversation that sparked between them needed no explanation, just raw comprehension of that place that she was in. He knew it so well, having lived it himself.
Felicity had been there for him on a winter day just like today. Stepping to his side and asking nothing from him, she was the buffer in the mist of the questions that made no sense. A life so tragically taken for no plausible reason. She was there when the crippling emotions sliced through him, leaving him breathless and beaten in defeat. She was there to help him pull it together and gave him reason to love and laugh and just be. She got him in all the ways that no one understood. And today, it was his time to repay.
Noel glanced to the left and eyed Sean, Meghan, Richard and Javier as they waited. He pulled Felicity close and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. There was nowhere that any of them needed to be, other than where she needed them. And as much as he knew where she wanted to stay … it was time to leave.
"You ready to go?" he asked in a husky whisper.
"Yeah," she answered turning in his embrace so they could walk the thirty feet to the suburban idling at the side of the drive.
As the six friends settled in their seats, Richard turned and looked back at Noel with a sly grin that scared the hairs up on his skin.
"Hey Felicity, wanna get some ice cream?" Richard said so nonchalantly like today was just any other day.
And while Meghan and Javier scolded Richard at how inappropriate his question was, Noel and Sean noticed a familiar smile cross Felicity's features and a sparkle shimmer in her eyes that had been missing for so long.
"Yeah," she answered stunning them all into silence. "Ice cream would be really nice."
The end.