Thanks to these awesome Reviewers!!
Kathy (He waited because he didn't think he deserved her), Ella Palladino, Jayne1, Beth, Slothtrashcan (your review made me blush!), xzaire, xxGREEN BAYxx.
Keep reviewing!!! Here's chapter 10, I hope you love it as much as you have the previous ones!
Chapter Ten: New Years' Eve
On the 27th of December, Katie received another, longer letter from Oliver.
~~~ Dear Katie, I've been going crazy, not being able to see you at all. I can't wait to see you on New Years'; I'm almost counting down the minutes. But as for what we'll do, we can either go to a party at pub near my home, or we can sit around and watch movies here. It's up to you! Missing you more each passing minute, Oliver ~~~
Katie smiled at the letter. The party sounded fun. She grabbed a piece of parchment, a quill and her inkwell and sat down at the desk in her room.
~~~ Dear Oliver, Thank you for the note you sent, well, pretty much after you saw me. It had me blushing for hours after I got it. My mother thought I was coming down with a fever! I can't wait until New Years' either. I asked my parents about it and they said it was fine, as long as I am home by 2! I'll come over on the 31st by floo around 8. Is that ok? Owl me back! Surprisingly, missing you too,
Katie ~~~
She read and re-read the letter. It sounded good. She set it aside to dry and took out another piece of parchment. She had to fill in Angelina and Alicia. When she was done, she folded up the 3 letters and went to find the family owl to send the letters out.
Katie had just seen her owl off and was heading back toward her room when a rather unnerving question hit her. A question that affected many, many women. What was she going to wear?
Luckily, Angelina and Alicia were there for her the next day to take her to muggle London to pick out something breath taking. They shopped the whole day, not finding anything to Katie's liking until they were in the last possible shop. It was a casual, but dressy store. Katie finally settled on a deep red V-neck form fitting sweater and a pair of black fitted trousers.
"Katie, you are going to make his jaw drop," Alicia said as they walked along the street.
"Do you think so?" Katie asked.
"Oh yes. Not that you don't already," Angelina replied.
Katie blushed and smiled. "Now all I need to find is shoes!" Katie said as they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron to return back home.
"Hmm, here's a nice shoe store," Angelina said and pulled Katie into a store off to her right.
"Angelina!" Katie and Alicia exclaimed.
"Oh, come on you two. Katie, you need shoes!" Angelina stated.
Katie and Alicia both nodded reluctantly. After shopping around for a few minutes, Katie found the perfect pair of black high-heeled boots to go with her outfit. She bought them and the three girls headed home.
***
Katie awoke the morning of the 31st to the sound of an owl pecking at her window. She quickly recognized it as Oliver's tiny brown owl, Mercury. She raced to the window and let the owl in. It dropped the letter on her desk and the owl sat beside it. "Here you go," Katie said, giving it a couple treats. It flew off when it was finished them. She opened the note that Mercury had delivered.
~~~ Dearest Katie, Actually, come around 7. My family wants to meet you. This means my parents; my 4 brothers and 1 sister want to meet you before they head out with their plans. I'm sorry. I really am. They're all crazy but I'm adopted so I'm not like them! (Note the sarcasm). Can't wait to see you,
Oliver ~~~
"Oh my," Katie thought, "His WHOLE family. And that's a huge family." Her nervousness went up another notch. She looked at the clock: 10 a.m. She took a deep breath and went down to the kitchen for breakfast.
As she walked into the kitchen, she saw her whole family seated at the table. Her brothers were throwing food at each other, and her mother was scolding them while feverishly picking up soggy pieces of cereal. Her father was reading the Daily Prophet, completely unaware that anything was going on around him. Katie chuckled to herself. It felt great to be home again.
She grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard and poured some cereal into it. She moved to the table, dodging bits of cereal on the floor, and the pieces flying toward her in the war zone. She sat down after brushing some mushy pieces off the chair, and started to eat.
"Nervous about tonight?" her father asked from behind his paper.
Katie looked up, a little shocked. "I am a little," Katie said playing with the last bits of cereal in the milk.
He smiled at her. "Don't worry. We both know you'll have a great time."
Katie smiled.
***
By the time it was 5 o'clock, Katie was nervous as hell. She quickly fixed a spot of dinner for herself, ate, and cleaned up the dishes. It was 5:30 by the time she was done. She rushed into the bathroom, and had a nice, hot shower. It relaxed her immensely. She got out, dried and dressed. The pants fit perfectly and her sweater felt amazing against her skin. She charm dried her hair and then charmed it to fall over her shoulders and down her back in loose, fluffy, blonde curls. She applied some champagne coloured eye shadow and mascara. Then she applied lip- gloss. In her opinion, she looked amazing.
***
Oliver was just as nervous. He spent the whole day finding something nice to wear. He showered twice to make sure he wouldn't smell. He rushed around his house, cleaning things that didn't need to be cleaned, and picking fuzz off his shirt that really wasn't there. His one and only sister, Coraleigh, noticed this.
"Calm down Oliver," she said soothingly.
He looked up at the oldest child of the Wood family. "You don't understand. You don't know Katie," he said smoothing his deep blue turtleneck.
She laughed. "My gosh Oliver. I didn't think you were THIS crazy about this girl."
He glared at his 30-year-old sister. "Well I am, so just leave me alone!"
She laughed again, "Fine, I'll leave you be." She left his room.
Oliver glanced at his clock. 6:50. "She's going to be here in 10 minutes!" Oliver thought excitedly.
Oliver ran out to the parlor where the fireplace was. (A/N: Oliver's family is pure-blood, but some of his brothers are married to muggles, and they live in a muggle town, so they keep magical things hidden. And that's how Oliver knows what a movie is!) He was extremely nervous now as he sat down on the Victorian-style chair. He shut his eyes and tried to relax. But his eyes opened when he heard someone land on the tile in front of the fireplace.
"Hello Oliver," Katie Bell said.
Oliver's jaw dropped. The woman in front of him was magnificent. "Katie, you look amazing," Oliver said, awed.
She blushed and smiled. "Thanks. You look pretty great yourself," she said, "So where's my hug?"
He ran up to her, picked her up in his arms, and spun her around. "I've missed you so much," he said and put her down, arms still around her though.
"Me too," Katie replied softly, her arms still wrapped around him tightly.
He let go of her, just to look at her. "I'm at a total loss for words, you're that beautiful," Oliver said quietly.
She wanted to kiss him. He was gorgeous and the looks of admiration in his eyes made her want him that much more. They both stood there, looking at one another, unsure of what to do. His hand was on her hip and she moved her hand up to his cheek.
"God, Katie. Let me kiss you," he said in a low, seductive tone. She nodded. They moved in closer to one another, but were interrupted when Oliver's sister called to them.
"Is she here yet Oliver?" Coraleigh said.
"Yes," Oliver called back, a bit irritated, "Let's go then." He guided Katie out to the living room where his family waited.
Katie's eyes widened when she saw all of the people in the next room. You could tell who belonged to the Wood family. They all had the same dark brown hair, and same brown eyes. The only person who had something different, was Oliver's father, whose eyes were blue. Some of his brothers' wives or girlfriends had blue or green.
"Everyone, this is Katie," Oliver announced as he and Katie walked in. A couple of his brothers' jaws dropped open, only to have them shut by their wives or girlfriends.
Katie blushed. "Hi."
"Well, let's get started. This is Coraleigh, and her husband William. Then there's Andrew Jr. and his wife Alyssa. Here's Nick and his wife Elizabeth. This is Colin and his fiancée Nadine. This is Tim, the other single one in the family. And these are my parents Andrew and Marla," Oliver said pointing out each one. Katie shook hands but was overwhelmed with names. They all looked the same! They all said 'hi' and 'how are you' to her. Tim kissed her hand gently, causing Katie to giggle and blush. This didn't impress Oliver. He kept his eye on Tim after that.
His house, more like manor, was huge. The living room was gorgeous, walls covered in mahogany wood with a huge cathedral ceiling.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Mrs. Wood said to her.
"It's magnificent. I've never seen anything like it. My brothers would destroy our house, we could never have anything like this," Katie replied still looking around.
"You have brothers?" Marla asked her.
Katie nodded. "Yes, twins. Six year old twins," Katie said.
"Oh what an age! I remember when Oliver here was 6," Mrs. Wood said laughing.
"Mum, this isn't the time for this," Oliver said ominously.
"Really?!" Katie said animatedly.
"Katie, we have to get going now," Oliver said pulling her towards the front door. This was embarrassing enough. He didn't need stories of him running naked down the street to be told to Katie.
"No! I want to hear this!" she said trying to resist, unsuccessfully.
Mrs. Wood laughed. "Another time dear," she said to Katie as Oliver pulled Katie out the door.
"Hey! I wanted to hear that!" Katie exclaimed as they starting walking in the direction of the pub, "I need to get some dirt on you, something to hold over your head."
"You will never. I'll make sure you don't," he said to her.
She smiled. "I'm sure one day I will," she said and linked her arm into his.
"No, you won't," he said.
"Fine," she said.
They walked along the street in silence. Her head rested on his shoulder as they walked along.
Oliver was happier than he had been in a long time. Katie was close to him, and she was actually thinking about giving him a chance. He was in heaven. He sighed. Katie looked up at him.
"You're so cute Oliver," she said smiling and then kissed his cheek. He blushed.
They walked into the pub and were blown away by the sound of "Hey! Oliver!" He was obviously well known in his hometown. But soon enough, everyone turned to see the girl attached to his arm. Again, a few good number of jaws dropped. Katie slightly recoiled into Oliver's arm.
"Hey!" he shouted out to everyone, "She's mine!" Katie blushed. After Oliver's comment she noticed several death stares from females that Oliver had probably, er, had fun with. She swallowed uneasily.
"Is everything ok?" he asked putting his arm around her waist protectively.
"Well, it seems I'm not very popular with some of the female crowd her tonight," she said looking over at a group of girls glaring at her.
"They're just jealous. Don't worry about them," he said pulling her into a hug, "I'll protect you." She smiled and he led her to a table to sit down.
They were in the middle of chatting with a few of Oliver's friends when Katie heard one of the songs that they had danced to before they had come home. She wanted to go dance, but Oliver was in the middle of talking and she didn't want to interrupt them. But right on cue, it seemed, he told his friends that he wanted to dance with his 'gorgeous friend'. She smiled and they walked out onto the dance floor. He pulled her in closely, wrapping one of his arms around her waist and then taking her hand in his. They danced.
Katie felt like she was in heaven. She seemed to fit perfectly in his arms. She couldn't believe that this was happening, that this guy who loved women so much, was being this good to her. She looked up at him, admiring the look of adoration in his deep brown eyes, and the way the smile on his face never seemed to fade. She smiled at him, an actual, genuine happy smile.
"Hey," Oliver said softly, "You have dimples."
"Yeah, only small ones though. They only appear, when I really smile," she replied trying to stop smiling. She hated the damn things.
"They're beautiful. Don't stop smiling," he said quietly as the song ended, much to their disappointment. Even though the song had stopped, and much a more upbeat one came on, he didn't let go of her. He leaned into kiss her, but before he could, one of his 'friends' came up to them.
"Oliver!" she said in a high voice that made Katie cringe.
He glared up at her. "I'm kinda busy at the moment Laura," he told her.
"Well I just want to dance!" she said and pulled him away from Katie.
"Laura," he protested.
"It's only ONE dance," she said, "You don't mind, do you Katie – is it?"
"No, go ahead," Katie said, feeling the opposite of what she had said. She walked to a table and sat down.
She watched Oliver dance with Laura. Then after that song was done, another girl came out. And then another song, another girl. And again, and again. Oliver didn't look too thrilled, but it's not like he was fighting them off to come back to her. She grabbed her coat and handbag, and walked out of the pub.
Once she was outside, she put her jacket on and leaned against the building she had just exited. She needed some fresh air. Since when had she been jealous of Oliver around other girls? She shut her eyes and took in a deep breath of cold air. She stood there with her eyes shut until she heard the door open.
"Katie? Are you out here?" she heard Oliver say.
"I'm right here," she replied quietly.
He rushed to her. "Why are you out here?"
"So you could have fun with you girlfriends and not have to look back at me and feel guilty," she said looking at the snow on the ground.
"Oh Katie. I'm sorry. I just want to be with one girl tonight, and that's you. I'm going to go back inside, grab my stuff and we'll go back to my place. We can just talk or watch TV or whatever you want, ok?" Oliver said taking her hands into his.
"I'd like that."
"Ok, wait here. I'll be back in a second," he said and went back inside.
Oliver was just about to exit again when Laura swooped in and blocked him.
"Leaving so soon? It's almost midnight," she said trying to be seductive.
"I know," he replied.
"Don't you want to stay a bit longer? Dance a bit more?" she asked.
"Not really. The girl I want to kiss at midnight is waiting for me outside. So now, if you'll move," he said attempting to get past Laura.
"Oliver, who cares? Just spend tonight with me. Don't you remember last time we were together?" she asked, stalling him.
"I don't want to be with you. I don't' care about last time," he told her.
"You don't?!" she exclaimed.
"No, I don't," he said, "Now excuse me." He gently pushed a stunned Laura out of the way and walked out.
***
"Sorry about that," he told Katie.
"Don't worry about it," she said smiling.
She linked her arm with his and he shoved his hands into his pockets. As they slowly walked through the night, the snow started to fall and the clocks struck midnight, causing bells to go off somewhere in the distance.
"Happy New Years'," they said in unison to each other. They laughed and stopped quickly. They stopped walking and Oliver turned to Katie. She really looked like an angel, her green eyes glowing and the white snow falling gracefully around her and into her hair.
Oliver was looking into Katie's eyes with a passion that she had never seen him possess. "Oliver, if you don't kiss me right now, I just might scream," she said almost silently. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her softly.
They pulled away from one another. Oliver looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Oliver, are you ok?" she asked.
"Yeah. You don't know how long I've waited to kiss you like that Katie. I've waited for so long," he said holding onto her tightly.
"Oh, I think I do," she said softly, savoring the passion and love of the kiss, "I've waited pretty long myself."
"What?" Oliver asked shocked.
She nodded. "I've kinda liked you since I broke up with Roger," she said smiling at him.
"What? Why didn't you tell me?!" Oliver exclaimed.
"I wasn't ready for a new relationship. And you had all those other women. That bothered me. I didn't think I was good enough and I thought you would just end up like Roger if I did say something. So I just put up a wall to resist you, so you couldn't hurt me. But you've shown me that you're not like Davies. I can trust you," she said blushing.
"Oh my God, Katie! You're too good for me! I don't even deserve to be here with you," he said back.
"But you're the only one I want here," she said.
"Does this mean," he said shocked, "that we're together then?"
"Not yet. I know I want to be with you, but I just want to be 100 percent sure before I go into this," she said, feeling a touch bad.
"That's fine Katie, take as much time as you need. I'll be here for you," he said.
"Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me," she said relieved. Then, with the snow still falling, they walked back to Oliver's house hand in hand.
Kathy (He waited because he didn't think he deserved her), Ella Palladino, Jayne1, Beth, Slothtrashcan (your review made me blush!), xzaire, xxGREEN BAYxx.
Keep reviewing!!! Here's chapter 10, I hope you love it as much as you have the previous ones!
Chapter Ten: New Years' Eve
On the 27th of December, Katie received another, longer letter from Oliver.
~~~ Dear Katie, I've been going crazy, not being able to see you at all. I can't wait to see you on New Years'; I'm almost counting down the minutes. But as for what we'll do, we can either go to a party at pub near my home, or we can sit around and watch movies here. It's up to you! Missing you more each passing minute, Oliver ~~~
Katie smiled at the letter. The party sounded fun. She grabbed a piece of parchment, a quill and her inkwell and sat down at the desk in her room.
~~~ Dear Oliver, Thank you for the note you sent, well, pretty much after you saw me. It had me blushing for hours after I got it. My mother thought I was coming down with a fever! I can't wait until New Years' either. I asked my parents about it and they said it was fine, as long as I am home by 2! I'll come over on the 31st by floo around 8. Is that ok? Owl me back! Surprisingly, missing you too,
Katie ~~~
She read and re-read the letter. It sounded good. She set it aside to dry and took out another piece of parchment. She had to fill in Angelina and Alicia. When she was done, she folded up the 3 letters and went to find the family owl to send the letters out.
Katie had just seen her owl off and was heading back toward her room when a rather unnerving question hit her. A question that affected many, many women. What was she going to wear?
Luckily, Angelina and Alicia were there for her the next day to take her to muggle London to pick out something breath taking. They shopped the whole day, not finding anything to Katie's liking until they were in the last possible shop. It was a casual, but dressy store. Katie finally settled on a deep red V-neck form fitting sweater and a pair of black fitted trousers.
"Katie, you are going to make his jaw drop," Alicia said as they walked along the street.
"Do you think so?" Katie asked.
"Oh yes. Not that you don't already," Angelina replied.
Katie blushed and smiled. "Now all I need to find is shoes!" Katie said as they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron to return back home.
"Hmm, here's a nice shoe store," Angelina said and pulled Katie into a store off to her right.
"Angelina!" Katie and Alicia exclaimed.
"Oh, come on you two. Katie, you need shoes!" Angelina stated.
Katie and Alicia both nodded reluctantly. After shopping around for a few minutes, Katie found the perfect pair of black high-heeled boots to go with her outfit. She bought them and the three girls headed home.
***
Katie awoke the morning of the 31st to the sound of an owl pecking at her window. She quickly recognized it as Oliver's tiny brown owl, Mercury. She raced to the window and let the owl in. It dropped the letter on her desk and the owl sat beside it. "Here you go," Katie said, giving it a couple treats. It flew off when it was finished them. She opened the note that Mercury had delivered.
~~~ Dearest Katie, Actually, come around 7. My family wants to meet you. This means my parents; my 4 brothers and 1 sister want to meet you before they head out with their plans. I'm sorry. I really am. They're all crazy but I'm adopted so I'm not like them! (Note the sarcasm). Can't wait to see you,
Oliver ~~~
"Oh my," Katie thought, "His WHOLE family. And that's a huge family." Her nervousness went up another notch. She looked at the clock: 10 a.m. She took a deep breath and went down to the kitchen for breakfast.
As she walked into the kitchen, she saw her whole family seated at the table. Her brothers were throwing food at each other, and her mother was scolding them while feverishly picking up soggy pieces of cereal. Her father was reading the Daily Prophet, completely unaware that anything was going on around him. Katie chuckled to herself. It felt great to be home again.
She grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard and poured some cereal into it. She moved to the table, dodging bits of cereal on the floor, and the pieces flying toward her in the war zone. She sat down after brushing some mushy pieces off the chair, and started to eat.
"Nervous about tonight?" her father asked from behind his paper.
Katie looked up, a little shocked. "I am a little," Katie said playing with the last bits of cereal in the milk.
He smiled at her. "Don't worry. We both know you'll have a great time."
Katie smiled.
***
By the time it was 5 o'clock, Katie was nervous as hell. She quickly fixed a spot of dinner for herself, ate, and cleaned up the dishes. It was 5:30 by the time she was done. She rushed into the bathroom, and had a nice, hot shower. It relaxed her immensely. She got out, dried and dressed. The pants fit perfectly and her sweater felt amazing against her skin. She charm dried her hair and then charmed it to fall over her shoulders and down her back in loose, fluffy, blonde curls. She applied some champagne coloured eye shadow and mascara. Then she applied lip- gloss. In her opinion, she looked amazing.
***
Oliver was just as nervous. He spent the whole day finding something nice to wear. He showered twice to make sure he wouldn't smell. He rushed around his house, cleaning things that didn't need to be cleaned, and picking fuzz off his shirt that really wasn't there. His one and only sister, Coraleigh, noticed this.
"Calm down Oliver," she said soothingly.
He looked up at the oldest child of the Wood family. "You don't understand. You don't know Katie," he said smoothing his deep blue turtleneck.
She laughed. "My gosh Oliver. I didn't think you were THIS crazy about this girl."
He glared at his 30-year-old sister. "Well I am, so just leave me alone!"
She laughed again, "Fine, I'll leave you be." She left his room.
Oliver glanced at his clock. 6:50. "She's going to be here in 10 minutes!" Oliver thought excitedly.
Oliver ran out to the parlor where the fireplace was. (A/N: Oliver's family is pure-blood, but some of his brothers are married to muggles, and they live in a muggle town, so they keep magical things hidden. And that's how Oliver knows what a movie is!) He was extremely nervous now as he sat down on the Victorian-style chair. He shut his eyes and tried to relax. But his eyes opened when he heard someone land on the tile in front of the fireplace.
"Hello Oliver," Katie Bell said.
Oliver's jaw dropped. The woman in front of him was magnificent. "Katie, you look amazing," Oliver said, awed.
She blushed and smiled. "Thanks. You look pretty great yourself," she said, "So where's my hug?"
He ran up to her, picked her up in his arms, and spun her around. "I've missed you so much," he said and put her down, arms still around her though.
"Me too," Katie replied softly, her arms still wrapped around him tightly.
He let go of her, just to look at her. "I'm at a total loss for words, you're that beautiful," Oliver said quietly.
She wanted to kiss him. He was gorgeous and the looks of admiration in his eyes made her want him that much more. They both stood there, looking at one another, unsure of what to do. His hand was on her hip and she moved her hand up to his cheek.
"God, Katie. Let me kiss you," he said in a low, seductive tone. She nodded. They moved in closer to one another, but were interrupted when Oliver's sister called to them.
"Is she here yet Oliver?" Coraleigh said.
"Yes," Oliver called back, a bit irritated, "Let's go then." He guided Katie out to the living room where his family waited.
Katie's eyes widened when she saw all of the people in the next room. You could tell who belonged to the Wood family. They all had the same dark brown hair, and same brown eyes. The only person who had something different, was Oliver's father, whose eyes were blue. Some of his brothers' wives or girlfriends had blue or green.
"Everyone, this is Katie," Oliver announced as he and Katie walked in. A couple of his brothers' jaws dropped open, only to have them shut by their wives or girlfriends.
Katie blushed. "Hi."
"Well, let's get started. This is Coraleigh, and her husband William. Then there's Andrew Jr. and his wife Alyssa. Here's Nick and his wife Elizabeth. This is Colin and his fiancée Nadine. This is Tim, the other single one in the family. And these are my parents Andrew and Marla," Oliver said pointing out each one. Katie shook hands but was overwhelmed with names. They all looked the same! They all said 'hi' and 'how are you' to her. Tim kissed her hand gently, causing Katie to giggle and blush. This didn't impress Oliver. He kept his eye on Tim after that.
His house, more like manor, was huge. The living room was gorgeous, walls covered in mahogany wood with a huge cathedral ceiling.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Mrs. Wood said to her.
"It's magnificent. I've never seen anything like it. My brothers would destroy our house, we could never have anything like this," Katie replied still looking around.
"You have brothers?" Marla asked her.
Katie nodded. "Yes, twins. Six year old twins," Katie said.
"Oh what an age! I remember when Oliver here was 6," Mrs. Wood said laughing.
"Mum, this isn't the time for this," Oliver said ominously.
"Really?!" Katie said animatedly.
"Katie, we have to get going now," Oliver said pulling her towards the front door. This was embarrassing enough. He didn't need stories of him running naked down the street to be told to Katie.
"No! I want to hear this!" she said trying to resist, unsuccessfully.
Mrs. Wood laughed. "Another time dear," she said to Katie as Oliver pulled Katie out the door.
"Hey! I wanted to hear that!" Katie exclaimed as they starting walking in the direction of the pub, "I need to get some dirt on you, something to hold over your head."
"You will never. I'll make sure you don't," he said to her.
She smiled. "I'm sure one day I will," she said and linked her arm into his.
"No, you won't," he said.
"Fine," she said.
They walked along the street in silence. Her head rested on his shoulder as they walked along.
Oliver was happier than he had been in a long time. Katie was close to him, and she was actually thinking about giving him a chance. He was in heaven. He sighed. Katie looked up at him.
"You're so cute Oliver," she said smiling and then kissed his cheek. He blushed.
They walked into the pub and were blown away by the sound of "Hey! Oliver!" He was obviously well known in his hometown. But soon enough, everyone turned to see the girl attached to his arm. Again, a few good number of jaws dropped. Katie slightly recoiled into Oliver's arm.
"Hey!" he shouted out to everyone, "She's mine!" Katie blushed. After Oliver's comment she noticed several death stares from females that Oliver had probably, er, had fun with. She swallowed uneasily.
"Is everything ok?" he asked putting his arm around her waist protectively.
"Well, it seems I'm not very popular with some of the female crowd her tonight," she said looking over at a group of girls glaring at her.
"They're just jealous. Don't worry about them," he said pulling her into a hug, "I'll protect you." She smiled and he led her to a table to sit down.
They were in the middle of chatting with a few of Oliver's friends when Katie heard one of the songs that they had danced to before they had come home. She wanted to go dance, but Oliver was in the middle of talking and she didn't want to interrupt them. But right on cue, it seemed, he told his friends that he wanted to dance with his 'gorgeous friend'. She smiled and they walked out onto the dance floor. He pulled her in closely, wrapping one of his arms around her waist and then taking her hand in his. They danced.
Katie felt like she was in heaven. She seemed to fit perfectly in his arms. She couldn't believe that this was happening, that this guy who loved women so much, was being this good to her. She looked up at him, admiring the look of adoration in his deep brown eyes, and the way the smile on his face never seemed to fade. She smiled at him, an actual, genuine happy smile.
"Hey," Oliver said softly, "You have dimples."
"Yeah, only small ones though. They only appear, when I really smile," she replied trying to stop smiling. She hated the damn things.
"They're beautiful. Don't stop smiling," he said quietly as the song ended, much to their disappointment. Even though the song had stopped, and much a more upbeat one came on, he didn't let go of her. He leaned into kiss her, but before he could, one of his 'friends' came up to them.
"Oliver!" she said in a high voice that made Katie cringe.
He glared up at her. "I'm kinda busy at the moment Laura," he told her.
"Well I just want to dance!" she said and pulled him away from Katie.
"Laura," he protested.
"It's only ONE dance," she said, "You don't mind, do you Katie – is it?"
"No, go ahead," Katie said, feeling the opposite of what she had said. She walked to a table and sat down.
She watched Oliver dance with Laura. Then after that song was done, another girl came out. And then another song, another girl. And again, and again. Oliver didn't look too thrilled, but it's not like he was fighting them off to come back to her. She grabbed her coat and handbag, and walked out of the pub.
Once she was outside, she put her jacket on and leaned against the building she had just exited. She needed some fresh air. Since when had she been jealous of Oliver around other girls? She shut her eyes and took in a deep breath of cold air. She stood there with her eyes shut until she heard the door open.
"Katie? Are you out here?" she heard Oliver say.
"I'm right here," she replied quietly.
He rushed to her. "Why are you out here?"
"So you could have fun with you girlfriends and not have to look back at me and feel guilty," she said looking at the snow on the ground.
"Oh Katie. I'm sorry. I just want to be with one girl tonight, and that's you. I'm going to go back inside, grab my stuff and we'll go back to my place. We can just talk or watch TV or whatever you want, ok?" Oliver said taking her hands into his.
"I'd like that."
"Ok, wait here. I'll be back in a second," he said and went back inside.
Oliver was just about to exit again when Laura swooped in and blocked him.
"Leaving so soon? It's almost midnight," she said trying to be seductive.
"I know," he replied.
"Don't you want to stay a bit longer? Dance a bit more?" she asked.
"Not really. The girl I want to kiss at midnight is waiting for me outside. So now, if you'll move," he said attempting to get past Laura.
"Oliver, who cares? Just spend tonight with me. Don't you remember last time we were together?" she asked, stalling him.
"I don't want to be with you. I don't' care about last time," he told her.
"You don't?!" she exclaimed.
"No, I don't," he said, "Now excuse me." He gently pushed a stunned Laura out of the way and walked out.
***
"Sorry about that," he told Katie.
"Don't worry about it," she said smiling.
She linked her arm with his and he shoved his hands into his pockets. As they slowly walked through the night, the snow started to fall and the clocks struck midnight, causing bells to go off somewhere in the distance.
"Happy New Years'," they said in unison to each other. They laughed and stopped quickly. They stopped walking and Oliver turned to Katie. She really looked like an angel, her green eyes glowing and the white snow falling gracefully around her and into her hair.
Oliver was looking into Katie's eyes with a passion that she had never seen him possess. "Oliver, if you don't kiss me right now, I just might scream," she said almost silently. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her softly.
They pulled away from one another. Oliver looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Oliver, are you ok?" she asked.
"Yeah. You don't know how long I've waited to kiss you like that Katie. I've waited for so long," he said holding onto her tightly.
"Oh, I think I do," she said softly, savoring the passion and love of the kiss, "I've waited pretty long myself."
"What?" Oliver asked shocked.
She nodded. "I've kinda liked you since I broke up with Roger," she said smiling at him.
"What? Why didn't you tell me?!" Oliver exclaimed.
"I wasn't ready for a new relationship. And you had all those other women. That bothered me. I didn't think I was good enough and I thought you would just end up like Roger if I did say something. So I just put up a wall to resist you, so you couldn't hurt me. But you've shown me that you're not like Davies. I can trust you," she said blushing.
"Oh my God, Katie! You're too good for me! I don't even deserve to be here with you," he said back.
"But you're the only one I want here," she said.
"Does this mean," he said shocked, "that we're together then?"
"Not yet. I know I want to be with you, but I just want to be 100 percent sure before I go into this," she said, feeling a touch bad.
"That's fine Katie, take as much time as you need. I'll be here for you," he said.
"Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me," she said relieved. Then, with the snow still falling, they walked back to Oliver's house hand in hand.