A/N: I actually started writing this a very long time ago, before I ever even did my little series of interruptions, so it doesn't really fall in line with the rest of my stuff… and then I lost part of it, and had to start over from my notes. I rewrote quite a bit of it. And then, I just spent about 15 minutes trying to decide if I was really done, or if I wanted to hold on to it and revise it some more in a couple of days. I thought if I didn't post it soon, I might not do it until January, and since it's December and all, I thought a missing moment from the only Christmas related episode of Hannah Montana was in order, so my mind was kind of made up for me, although there really is no mention of Christmas in this. Haha. Enjoy!
An Appointed Hour
Everything comes gradually at its appointed hour.
-Ovid
Lilly narrowed her eyes, watching Oliver watch the blond girl striding by them in a very tiny, very tight, skirt. Did the girl not realize it was winter? Okay, so it wasn't snowing or anything outside, but still, it was completely wrong for the season. Didn't she have any sense of decency? She wasn't a real blond either… not that it really mattered, but Lilly could see the dark roots at the girl's scalp, and the tips of her hair had been bleached so many times they looked like straw. The narrowing of her blue eyes turned to a full on glare when she saw Oliver's own eyes traveling none too subtly down the other girl's body. Really? Again?
"Oliver! Would you cut that out!" She crossed her arms and set her jaw, sick of seeing that look on his face every time a pretty girl entered his field of view. This one wasn't even that pretty.
"What?" His head did not turn to Lilly, but instead turned to follow the mini skirt down the walkway.
"You're checking out anyone in a bra within a five mile radius! Do I need to call Joanie and let her know that her boyfriend is a pig?"
"What? First of all, I was looking at her shoes first. Why do girls wear heels if they can't walk in them? Second, Joanie and I aren't exclusive. We're taking things slow cause she doesn't want to get hurt again."
"And dating other people stops her from getting hurt? You two are morons."
Oliver was facing Lilly now, and at her disbelieving expression, he added, "Besides, it's not a crime to look."
"Well, stop it," Lilly snapped. "It's annoying!"
"I'm pretty sure that obeying your orders is not what my fortune cookie had in mind when it said to 'open your ears to the world outside,'" Oliver remarked jokingly, referring to the Chinese take-out the two of them had scarfed down with Miley before she left them to meet her date for the carnival that evening.
Of course, he stopped short of telling her that the extra fortune cookie he had eaten later contained a slip of paper informing him "love is closer than you think." That was just too cheesy, not to mention a little awkward of a conversation piece with Lilly. She would probably have spent the rest of the night trying to find him the perfect girl. Lilly liked to act like she believed in all of that fate crap. Oliver was staunchly opposed. It just didn't make sense. He was pretty sure his life was not like that movie where the guy and the girl kept just missing each other. No. That didn't happen in real life.
Lilly just rolled her eyes and hid the grin that threatened to cross her face at his comment, turning to look and see if the line for the Ferris wheel had moved at all since they got in it fifteen minutes ago, but she found the people immediately in front of them to be staring at the two friends with interest. It was like they had never seen two people disagree before. Why couldn't other people mind their own business?
"What?" she snapped again, and they all turned back to the front. The line had only moved about a foot and she was getting impatient. It was all Oliver's fault. If he had been acting like a normal friend instead of a teenage boy, she wouldn't be getting so annoyed with him all the time. Not that she expected him to not be a teenage boy, but, well…
When her eyes went back to Oliver, his brown ones were boring into her own. She gave him a look that was meant to be intimidating, but he just smiled, having grown familiar with all of Lilly's different glares by the age of nine.
"I figured if I was only looking at you, you wouldn't yell at me." He did not even blink, and Lilly started to get a little uncomfortable, especially since she was sure the woman in front of them was giggling at them and not at something the guy with her had just said.
"Now you're just creeping me out. Stop that!" She looked away again and tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the line to move forward.
Oliver sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Are you sure you want to wait in line for another hour just to see if we can see our houses from here?" His tone made it obvious that he was not looking forward to the wait.
"What do you want to do instead?" Lilly asked him a little testily. She was trying to rein in the agitated tone, but it was becoming more and more difficult since her only break from spending time with Oliver this winter break had been a couple of shopping trips with Miley at the mall, where they met Oliver after, and sleeping, was frequently interrupted with him texting her random messages if he happened to be up at therein the morning and she forget to turn her alert tone off.
Not to mention riding the Ferris wheel at a winter carnival was a must, but it was a given that if he decided to step out of line, she would too. She was not going to ride the Ferris wheel alone, but she was also sick of being his surrogate girlfriend while Joanie was visiting family for the break. Even if Oliver said the two of them were not yet exclusive, they had been joined at the hip for the last couple months. She had a feeling he was just lonely, and, being his best friend, she had been determined to make sure he had a fun break from school. That was, of course, until he started checking out every girl in sight. Sometimes nodding his head, smiling at them, striking up general conversations. It was making her crazy. He had a girlfriend. Didn't that count for something? No, apparently Oliver was still the biggest flirt ever. And it wasn't always aimed at complete strangers, which was really throwing her off balance.
Lilly belatedly realized he was waiting for her to say something. Obviously, he had just asked her a question, but she was too busy thinking about him being annoying.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I said, we could play a couple of games or get something to eat. Anything to get out of this line!" Oliver's tone was exaggerated and he was on his way to a full on puppy dog face.
"Okay, let's go." She quickly agreed, tired of the people around them giving them significant looks and whispering to one another. It was also easier than listening to him whine for the next hour or so. She grabbed his arm, detaching it from the pocket he had placed his hand in, and dragged him through the people waiting in the queue, packed in as close as sardines and out of the back of the line. She forgot to let go once they were safely out of the crush of people, and the two of them walked with her fingers loosely wrapped around his wrist until they found themselves in front of a small stall with a colorful smattering of balloons across a cork board.
"You wanna throw darts at balloons?" Oliver tried not to laugh when Lilly pulled him to a stop. Somehow it was not all that surprising that she wanted to throw something, though usually it was at him. He reached for his wallet when she let go of him.
"No, it was just the first game I saw. You wanted to play a game, right?" Oliver nodded uncertainly, and Lilly continued, "I'll just watch. You go ahead."
Oliver hesitated, not really sure if he wanted to play a game while his best friend just watched him, but he decided this was much better than the two of them waiting in line for the next couple of hours to sit in a seat on a carnival ride that looked like it could fall out of the air at any minute. Those seats looked pretty small too. He wasn't sure if it was okay for him to be on a ride like that with a girl he wasn't dating.
Lilly stood next to him while he handed over three dollars in exchange for five darts. Apparently, that was a real steal compared to normal carnival prices. The boy at the booth who gave Oliver the darts could not have been much older than they were, and he flashed a flirtatious smile in Lilly's direction, complete with gleaming white teeth and roving eyes. Not in the mood for flirty boys, she rolled her eyes and chose to ignore it. Oliver, however, did not.
For all this guy knew, Lilly could be his girlfriend. She was, after all, holding on to his arm when they walked up, and she was waiting while he was going to throw sharp projectiles at a bunch of balloons. What kind of guy looked at another guy's girlfriend like that? Not that he was jealous. It was a matter of principle… Okay, so now he understood why his checking out other girls had been annoying Lilly for the last few days. It might have made a little bit of sense. Just a little though. He would need to tone it down. Not for Lilly. But, you know, because it was possible that all of those girls were already in relationships. Right.
"So," Oliver casually said to Lilly, "which one should I go for? He angled his body a little closer to her, trying to give the guy a hint. Not that it was his responsibility to telegraph that Lilly wasn't interested or anything. He just thought the guy was a creep.
Without missing a beat, Lilly responded, "the yellow one, all the way in the right corner."
She tilted her head to the side a little bit and watched Oliver. He took aim, let the dart fly.
Pop!
The smile did not leave the attendant's face. Really? Maybe it was because Lilly looked kind of bored. She may have been watching him, but her eyes were not really interested in the game. Oliver offered her a dart to remedy that. Lilly could never resist the chance to throw something.
"You're really going to willingly give me a sharp object?" Lilly feigned shock, the corners of her mouth beginning to quirk up in a small grin, but took the dart from his hand, her finger tips brushing his thumb, and she may have let them linger on his skin for longer than was strictly necessary before she realized what she was doing and jerked her hand away, taking a half step back for good measure.
He decided to ignore the warmth that spread all the way up his arm at the contact. Even if it was spreading throughout his whole body now, it was nothing. Probably just the circulation coming back to his hand from when she had grabbed it to pull him out of line. That was all. It couldn't be anything else.
"I figure when balloons are involved, I'm probably safe," he joked, giving his arm a surreptitious shake, and she gave a full smile in agreement, taking a small step closer to his side again.
Lilly tapped the dart thoughtfully against her chin, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet as she surveyed the board in front of them, before asking, "if I help you get a balloon, can I keep the prize?"
A slight blush covered her cheeks when she looked up at him again and there was a sparkle to her eyes that hadn't been there a few minutes ago. Oliver told himself it was a result of the wind picking up. It was just a reaction to the chill, not anything else. There was no way she was flirting. Not with him. Not possible.
"Only if you hit the red balloon in the very middle of the board." Oliver's tone was one of amusement now, as he inclined his head toward her, knowing he had given her a ridiculously easy target. She could probably do it with her eyes closed.
Lilly barely glanced toward the balloons before she brought her elbow back gracefully. The dart shot from the same fingertips that had just taken the object from his hand.
Pop!
The two of them continued the game, Lilly ignoring the booth's attendant the entire time, and Oliver shooting him daggered looks every so often. She refused any more of the darts, insisting Oliver had to pop the last three balloons, all chosen by her of course, on his own. When he hit all of them, and Lilly gave him a celebratory elbow bump, the carnival employee's smile finally faltered.
"If you'd like to try for one of the bigger prizes, you can buy five more darts." His tone was clipped and he was already looking passed them, hoping to pull in more customers.
"No thanks," Lilly told the boy standing in front of the cork board, remembering the towering toy she had seen Miley with earlier. "I don't really need a giant stuffed animal."
The boy pushed his hair back from his head and gave a tight smile.
"You can pick anything from the bottom shelf." He gestured to a row of bobble head Hannah Montanas, little magnets in the shape of sea shells, and bracelets that looked like little more than rows of knotted string pieced together. She thought the bracelet was her best bet though and asked for a blue one.
As Oliver tied the strands around her wrist, he remarked, "you don't need a stuffed animal, but you need yet another bracelet? Don't you and Miley have like, a million of these?"
"What? You want to spend another five dollars on me?" she asked him cheekily.
"Point taken. Let's go." Oliver's hand found its way to her elbow as he spoke, and he gently led her down the row of tented booths, his fingertips barely grazing her skin. Realizing what he was doing a little too late, that same warmth having made its way up his arm again, he awkwardly shoved his hands into his pockets soon after.
The two of them wandered around for a while, looking at the other games, but not playing any, before stopping at a small stand set up with a man who claimed to be able to read minds. He tried to convince Lilly to pay him a fee in exchange for him guessing her weight. If he was right, he kept the money, and if he was wrong, she could have her pick from his lovely array of prizes. Lilly's only response was a pair of raised eyebrows and a shake of her head. After she and Oliver watched a little girl win a bear because the man was unable to guess what month she was born, they started walking again. He slung an arm around her shoulders and they ambled their way passed a game where you could win a goldfish if you landed a golf ball in the correct fish bowl, then found themselves winding through scents of popcorn and pizza, of corn dogs and cotton candy. Oliver inhaled deeply, peering at the brightly colored tents all around them.
"Don't even think about it." Lilly poked Oliver sharply in the side. There was still a little bit of an edge to her voice, even though he was no longer driving her insane in a line full of people.
"What?" He tried his best to look innocent.
"We are not eating anything in the traveling fryers of festering filth."
"Fryers of festering filth? Someone's been doing their English homework."
Lilly pointed to one of the tables where pretzel dough was being prepared. A thin layer of grime, broken egg shells, and bits of paper littered the surface, accompanied by drops of batter.
"See," she commented. "Disgusting."
"Ice cream is never disgusting," Oliver responded, using the arm resting around her shoulders to steer her toward what looked like a refrigerated boxcar.
Lilly stumbled a bit when he pulled her, directly into him. She drew in a sharp breath and he paused to help her regain her footing.
"Sorry. I wasn't expecting you to drag me to the ice cream. I thought cake was the only think that got that reaction." Lilly mumbled the words a little awkwardly as they started walking again, but Oliver left his arm around her, and she relaxed into it.
"Ice cream is a close second."
"I'll keep that in mind for future reference," Lilly teased him, enjoying the friendly banter. Their eyes met and she had to look away. She glanced at the small line of people and her eyes widened. "You might not want to get your ice cream just yet."
"Why?" Oliver tilted his head a bit to get a look at the line and spotted Sophie right in the middle. He hurriedly yanked Lilly in the opposite direction.
"You know, you could just tell her the truth," Lilly muttered as she was again dragged down the walkway by her best friend. Her annoyance at Oliver began to return.
"She knows I have a girlfriend and she still keeps asking me out!" Oliver's voice rose as they walked by the balloon booth again. The boy in front of the cork board narrowed his eyes at the two of them, and that served to temporarily abate Oliver's fear of running into Sophie, but not much.
"Maybe if you two weren't free to see other people that would actually mean something," Lilly muttered under her breath before saying, "I meant just tell her you aren't interested. Tell her she's not your type." Lilly shrugged and Oliver's hold on her shoulders relaxed a little bit.
"I can't tell her I think her feet are too big. I might be shallow, but I'm not mean." He looked horrified at the very thought.
Lilly laughingly responded, "you don't have to tell her that."
"But what if she asks what I don't like about her?"
"Tell her she's not like Joanie." Lilly thought for a second, then added, "you like the crazy girls who like to break people's bones."
"She told me that was an accident."
"Sure it was."
Oliver rolled his eyes, but paused in his getaway. "Where are we going?" he asked her.
Lilly examined their surroundings for the first time. She had been so caught up in keeping pace with a frantic Oliver that she had not noticed where they were headed. They reached the end of all of the rides and games, and were now standing in front of the grassy area that separated the beach from the parking lot. There were a few tents set up, but nothing fancy. One in particular caught Lilly's eye.
"We're going there."
She pointed out the small tent that had multicolored tapestries hanging across the entrance. A small faded sign read "Complete Fortune Revealed $10."
"I am not paying ten bucks for someone to read my horoscope." Oliver dropped his arm from around her shoulders and turned to look behind them before he continued. "Those things are such a waste of money."
"Come on," Lilly needled, trying not to notice that the loss of the extra weight on her shoulders bothered her, "I always wanted to have my fortune told, but my parents never let me."
Oliver's face remained skeptical.
"It'll be fun?" she tried.
"You go, and I'll wait."
"Alone? Where Sophie could find you?" She thought that would do the trick, but Oliver just nervously shuffled his feet. "Are you afraid they're going to tell you the love of your life actually wears a size nine shoe?" She giggled at the look that crossed his face.
"What? No! They never tell you anything like that. They just say a change is coming or tragedy follows you. I don't need that!"
Lilly sighed and looked longingly at the tent. "Please?"
"Lilly…" His eyes softened when she turned back to him, but he did not say anything else. She always won, and he knew it.
"I'll pay…" she added hopefully.
"Fine." Oliver sighed and walked toward the small tent.
***
When the two of them reached the structure, Lilly awkwardly knocked on the sign hanging by the entrance. Panels of fabric were blocking her view of the inside, so she waited a couple of seconds before trying again.
"Hello?" she asked, but no one answered.
"See," Oliver told her, "there isn't even anyone here. Let's go."
He tried to grab her arm to pull her back toward the more crowded areas of the carnival, but she smacked his hand away. Oliver ignored the idea that he could possibly be offended by her not letting him hold on to her arm.
"What is your problem? Did you have a bad experience with one of your fortune cookies?" Lilly joked.
"No, I just think this is stupid," Oliver explained, rolling his eyes for effect.
"Fine, then you don't have to do it. I still want my fortune told. You can just wait, like you said." Lilly gave him a look that told him she had every intention of going into the tent, whether he went with her or not.
Oliver sighed, and pushed the fabric out of the way so he could poke his head inside, but immediately drew it back out again. His nose was scrunched up and he looked as though he was trying not to sneeze.
"Okay, it smells really weird in there."
Lilly sniffed the air, then explained, "incense, one of the ones that has the weird name like moonlit walk or better than sex or something."
Oliver raised his eyebrows at her.
"My mom likes incense," Lilly explained.
"Your mom has better than sex incense?" Oliver was trying not to laugh.
"Can I help you?"
The voice that interrupted their conversation came from behind them. A middle aged woman stood there holding a corndog gingerly in one hand. She was wearing an ankle length brown skirt, no shoes, and a white peasant blouse, large hoops dangling from her ears. Her long and curly hair was pulled back with a brightly covered scarf. She looked every inch the theme park gypsy who would crystal gaze for you in exchange for a small fee.
"I just saw your sign," Lilly gestured to the ten dollar fee as she spoke, "and I wanted to…"
"Oh, come on in." The woman ushered them in and took a seat behind a table covered with what looked like the same fabric that made up her scarf. "Sorry, no one had been back here for an hour, so I went to grab something to eat." She set the corndog down on a silver tray on a smaller table behind her.
"Lilly," Oliver whispered as they sat down in the chairs opposite her, "she coordinated her outfit with the furniture."
Lilly elbowed him in the side in a way that was clearly meant to let him know he should stop talking. Oliver put his hand on her arm to stop her from digging into his ribs, and left it there. To his surprise, it felt like it just belonged there.
"Did you to want a couple reading?"
"What? No!" Lilly almost jumped out of her seat, but was able to restrain herself. She jerked her arm back and put both of her hands in her lap.
"Yeah, we're not together," Oliver added, his face turning a light shade of pink. "I'm just, you know, waiting for her to… I mean she's the only one getting her fortune told. We're just friends."
"Okay… well." The woman gave a small shake to her head and tried to cover up an amused smile before she went on. "My name is Anna. You are?" She pulled a jar out from under the table that was half full of five and ten dollar bills.
"I'm Lilly. This is Oliver." Lilly said the words before Oliver could make a crack concerning the idea that this woman should already know their names, and pulled a ten from her back pocket, setting it in the jar.
"Your name's Anna? That's kind of…" Oliver paused, trying to think of the right word while Lilly glared at him.
"Ordinary? I was named after my aunt. Her full name was Anastasia. What kind of reading do you want then?" Anna placed the jar back underneath the table as she rattled off the question.
"Oh, well, what kind do you do?" Lilly had not expected to have to choose how her fortune would be presented to her. She had no idea there were going to be options involved, and she was starting to get a tad nervous with Oliver sitting right next to her, his chair so close it was almost touching her own.
Oliver crossed his arms and slouched in his seat while Lilly leaned forward eagerly, pushing his proximity from her thoughts and focusing on the task at hand.
"Let's see… I can read your palm, your tea leaves, or your tarot cards." Anna gestured to the table behind her, and Lilly noticed the silver tray where she placed her corndog was next to an old tea set, the white china cracked around the handle of one of the cups. A rectangular shaped wooden box with carvings of stars on it was sitting there as well.
"Hmm.. What do you think?" Lilly asked, turning to the boy next to her.
Oliver shrugged his shoulders before saying, "don't they have websites that can do tarot cards?"
Lilly rolled her eyes at his response and turned back to the woman in front of her, who was again, sporting an amused smile.
"The palm reading. I'll take that."
Lilly placed her right hand palm up on the table, but Anna shook her head vehemently She kept her own hands firmly on her side of the table, not even letting her eyes flicker toward the upturned hand.
"I only read the left hand," she explained.
"Why?" Oliver asked skeptically.
"The left hand, it looks internally, so it looks at how you affect your future instead of the world around you," Anna responded easily.
She brought a small lamp out from under the table to give herself more light, and Oliver wondered just what all she had stashed under there. Was it like Mary Poppins's carpet bag? Was she going to pull out whole pieces of furniture? Now, if she could do that, he might put a little stock in all of this psychic stuff.
Lilly quickly switched her hands and Anna began to examine the lines in Lilly's palm carefully. She made a few murmurs to herself, but nothing that Lilly or Oliver could hear. Oliver sat back up and leaned forward now, trying to see just what it was that Anna was seeing. All he saw were the same lines that had always been there, well, those and the paper cut on Lilly's thumb from her helping him wrap presents for his little brother that evening. They'd had a little time to kill after Chinese food, and she had offered to help. It wasn't his fault Lilly had decided to wrap most of the presents. He waited for Anna to say just what it was she was seeing, not noticing that Lilly was squirming in her seat a little bit now, able to feel his breath on her forearm.
"I see that you have a very creative personality. You like to experiment, try new things."
Oliver held back a snort. Lilly did not like to try new things, not unless those new things involved cute shoes, skate board tricks, or Orlando Bloom. Other than that, she liked to stick to a routine. She scheduled everything, had enough of her own traditions for three families, and she wasn't huge on surprises, not unless it was a cute guy or Hannah Montana doing the surprising.
Lilly listened attentively, hoping that Anna could de better than that and astutely ignoring Oliver.
"You also have trouble expressing yourself. I see that sometimes you get stuck on explanations."
Oliver let out a sigh and glanced at Lilly to see how she was handling this. She was looking at him out of the corner of her eye, biting down on her lip and trying not to laugh. He smiled and tried to imagine a time when Lilly had not successfully expressed herself. As far as he was concerned, if she really needed to get her feelings out, she just hit him, or yelled a lot. That had never really been a problem.
"I can tell you are also afflicted with a deep pain. Your love line is cracked, recently too."
Lilly inhaled sharply and stared straight at the fortune teller, avoiding Oliver's gaze. He narrowed his eyes at that and leaned forward a little bit more.
"Really? That's on her hand? Cause she hasn't had a boyfriend in a while now."
It wasn't that he believed in any of this psychic crap, it was Lilly's reaction that had him concerned. She was sitting rigidly now, her shoulders tight and her feet braced on the floor, breathing shallowly, and if he wasn't mistaken, her face was slightly more pink than even the wind outside would have allowed for.
"I don't know what that's about. Oliver's right. I haven't had a boyfriend in a while. Not even looking for one." Her voice was tense and high pitched though, and a nervous laugh followed the statement.
"My dear, a woman knows you don't have to actually be in a romantic relationship to have a broken heart. It's interesting for someone so young and so pretty, you only have one break in it though. Usually people your age have lots of little breaks across the palms, ones that heal over time, from flitting around from one relationship to the next," Anna remarked, casually waving her free hand in the air.
Lilly snatched her hand back quickly, her brow furrowed now, not liking where this was going.
"You must feel very deeply about this person if he's the only one who has gotten through." Anna pursed her lips in thought now, knowing she had touched a nerve.
"Thanks, but I think that's enough for me," Lilly remarked quickly, jumping to her feet and exiting the tent without looking to see if Oliver was following her, not even making the suggestion that she wanted her money back.
"You sure you don't want me to tell you your fortune?" The woman asked him, her eyes piercing his, seemingly not put off that her customer was fleeing the tent.
Oliver swallowed and stood up, too worried about his best friend to really care about what his left hand or a deck of cards might say about him, especially since until about ten seconds earlier he thought it was all a bunch of crap.
"No, thanks. I should probably get going."
As he made his way to the entrance though, tripping over the other chair, Anna's voice called after him, "you shouldn't run from change, you know? It can be good for you. Don't worry. Everything comes gradually at its appointed hour. The way you feel, it will eventually catch up with you."
Oliver ignored her and kept going, relieved to see that Lilly wasn't that far from the tent. Pushing Anna's words from his mind, he quickened his pace. He told himself it was just that he didn't want to have to search for Lilly alone when Sophie was still somewhere out there amongst the booths and attractions. She had her hands balled into fists at her sides, like she was trying to hide whatever was there, and she scuffed the toe of one of her sneakers against the sidewalk when she saw him coming, leaning against one of the cement posts near the sidewalk.
"You okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be okay?"
Her voice was shrill, and Oliver could see that she was most definitely not okay. She had the same look on her face as that time when they thought his attic was haunted.
"I'm not saying I believe the psychic, but… you want to talk about whoever he is?" Oliver's throat tightened as he asked the question, knowing that he really did not want to know who had hurt Lilly. There was the possibility that he would immediately be heading out to track the guy down and attempt to beat him with his skateboard, and that probably wasn't the best course of action right now.
"No, it's really not a big deal Oliver, okay? I didn't even tell Miley about this guy."
"You dated someone and didn't tell Miley? That's a first."
"No." Lilly shook her head, wanting to explain herself so he wouldn't look at her like she was about to break, but not wanting to tell him the truth either. "I just had a crush on this guy, but it turns out he has a girlfriend, and they're very happy together." She gave him a small sad smile at that, hoping that was vague enough and that he wouldn't need a better explanation.
"You're sure that's it?" His asked skeptically, searching her face for clues.
"Yeah, I mean, I thought for a while that he might, you know… but he doesn't, obviously, so, really, it's not a big deal. My heart isn't, you know, broken, or anything like that. I was just surprised."
She crossed her arms in front of her chest now, sucking in a breath, and standing up straight, intent on moving on to another conversation, any conversation.
"Well, he's an idiot," Oliver informed her easily, slinging an arm around her shoulders again and leading her back the way they came. He kept glancing down at her out of the corner of his eye, a part of him hoping that maybe… but, no. That couldn't possibly be right. He made a mental note to never put stock in anything that wanted to tell him his future. Except that what Anna said, it was nagging at him.
"Yeah, sometimes, he is…" Lilly mumbled to herself, leaning against him as they walked.
Oliver didn't hear her, lost in his own thoughts, but he inhaled deeply, smelling her perfume, and suddenly tugged her toward the area they had been standing in over an hour ago, back toward the winding queue of people he could see from here.
"You ready for the Ferris wheel now?"
He asked the question without really expecting an answer, not looking down where her head was leaning against him this time, so he missed the smile that broke out over her face at that. He decided he was just going to have to brave the rickety looking contraption with the small seats. It wasn't like he was afraid of being that close to Lilly or anything, even if his heart was beating a little bit faster now. He just wouldn't tell Joanie about this part of the winter break, especially not if he actually enjoyed the trip to the top. Besides, it wasn't like he and Joanie were exclusive. And, it wasn't like anything would happen. Lilly was his best friend, and he wasn't about to change that. At least, not anytime soon. He was just going to wait and see what happened next.
After all, everything was supposed to come gradually, right? No decision had to be made tonight.
***