22 – Flip Side

Felicity opened her eyes to the rhythmic rat-tat-tat of a woodpecker drilling at the wall outside the cabin. That's a new way to wake up, she thought with a smile.

Daybreak peered around the edges of the red checkered curtains into the room. She turned on her side and noticed that Ben's side of the bed had not been slept in. She hoisted herself onto an elbow and saw that he'd built a fire in the bedroom wood stove during the night. With a yawn, she pushed the covers aside and got out of bed.

She found him in the kitchen, messy-haired and wearing his shirt and sweatpants from the night before. "Hey. Crunch Berries?"

"Good morning. Crunch Berries sound great." She glanced into the living room. The floor had been picked up. The blankets lay rumpled across the arm of the couch. Ben's book lay open on its pages on the coffee table. "Didn't you sleep?"

He grabbed another spoon from the drawer and a bowl from the cupboard, setting them on the table for her. "Some. The storm kept me up. The power went back on around three."

Felicity sat down and poured herself some cereal. "Thanks for breakfast."

"Yeah, getting you that bowl and spoon was hard work." He smiled and handed her the milk. "I was going to get you up in a few minutes. There's a charter boat that takes people out on the lake, or we could go see some of the geysers this morning, if you want."

"Let's go see the geysers."

Ben sat down at the table and dug into his own cereal. "Geysers it is."

- - - - -

Ben snapped a photo just as the plume of steam billowed into the air. "This is amazing," he grinned, handing Felicity her camera.

They stood on the boardwalk in the Upper Geyser Basin, staring out across the park at the 100-plus feet of steam. Some of the geysers were between their predicted eruptions, but they'd managed to catch two so far, just walking past. Felicity couldn't wait to see if Old Faithful would be one of them. At the beginning of their tour, they'd missed it. She adjusted the portable picnic cooler on her shoulder.

Ben held out his hand. "Do you want me to take that?"

"Sure," she said, relinquishing it.

They walked hand-in-hand along the walkway with a large group trailing behind one of the park's guides. The sky was overcast with cloudy remnants of last night's storm.

The group paused at the next stopping point while their guide explained the next featured geyser. Another group was coming from the opposite direction down the boardwalk, chattering about the geysers ahead.

As the second group passed them, Felicity heard a woman shout, "Ben? Benjamin Covington!"

Beside her, Ben dropped Felicity's hand as if someone had skewered him and turned around.

A woman with a gorgeous mane of strawberry blond hair had stopped walking with the second group. The rest of the tourists shuffled away on either side of her. Felicity's mouth dropped open. For a second, she thought she was looking at a young Nicole Kidman.

"It is you!" the woman exclaimed in a lilting Irish accent. She giggled and raced toward Ben, flinging her arms around his neck. "My God, it feels like it's been ages!"

Ben looked stunned. "Caitlin," he managed. His mouth twisted into an awkward smile. "How are you?"

The woman stepped back from him. "What are you doing here? God, you look incredible."

"Thanks. You, too," Ben responded. Felicity thought he sounded a little strangled. His eyes slid toward hers, their expression unfathomable.

Seeming to notice her for the first time, Caitlin beamed and held out her hand. "Caitlin Rourke. Sorry about that. Ben and I are high school chums, after a fashion."

Felicity felt her eyebrows shoot up. Granted, she hadn't been friends with Ben at the time, but she thought she'd have remembered the redheaded walking Maybelline commercial. She remembered her manners and shook the woman's hand. "Felicity. Felicity Porter. I went to Palo Alto, too."

Caitlin's slender eyebrows arched upward. "You did? Gosh, this is like a little reunion, then, isn't it?" She flashed a brilliant smile, hooked one arm around Ben's, and the other around Felicity's. "You're obligated to tell me everything about yourself."

Felicity slanted a puzzled look over the woman's head at Ben, who marched along staring straight ahead.

- - - - -

They stopped for lunch at one of the many campsites furnished with picnic tables. Caitlin sat beside Ben, and Felicity sat across the table from them. "Thanks for the pop," the redhead chirped, holding up her bottle of cola.

Felicity smiled back. "Are you sure you don't want a sandwich?"

"No, thanks. I ate before the geyser tour."

Felicity propped her elbows on the table. "So…you're not originally from around here, obviously. I love your accent, if you don't mind me saying so."

"I'm as Irish as they come," she confirmed. "I came here to California originally on an exchange program. That's where I met Ben, during the senior year at Palo Alto. We sort of fell in together and he introduced me around."

Felicity glanced over at Ben. He'd never been much of a talker during the time she'd gotten to know him, but he was setting a new record for silence today. He sat finishing his sandwich, apparently willing to let Caitlin and Felicity handle the conversation.

"I'm sorry I don't remember you, though," Caitlin added.

Felicity blinked. "Uh…Ben and I weren't exactly friends in high school."

The redhead gave Ben a sidelong glare. "Were you mean to her? If he was mean to you, I swear I'll pop him. He always was a bit of a git about girls."

Amused at Caitlin's outburst, Felicity shook her head. "No, no. Nothing like that. We just didn't know each other." She grinned at Ben, who returned it with another inscrutable look.

Caitlin's eyes widened and she laughed, turning to face Ben. "Remember the time you, me, Jason and Kelly went to the drive-in and you gave us our very own intermission show?"

Ben ran a hand through his hair and gave that awkward smile again. "Could we not go over that?"

Ignoring this plea, Caitlin leaned across the table with a conspiratorial chuckle. "Ben happens to be world's worst juggler, but apparently that didn't stop him from being the love object of a bunch of sophomore girls."

Ben followed up this admission with a soft groan of embarrassment and put a hand to his forehead.

"We went to see this horrible gory picture about a haunted house, and during the intermission Ben tried juggling some apples. He thought he was a fine bit of stuff, until one of the apples flew out of his hand and smacked the girl walking behind him right on the head. He was mortified. Completely lost his cool, apologized all over the place. The girl was very nice about it, of course, but Ben here was probably a little too apologetic, because she and her chums proceeded to make eyes at him for the rest of the night. Our Ben made quite an impression."

"I wasn't trying to impress them," Ben grumbled.

"Oh?" Caitlin giggled. "Just who were you trying to impress, then?"

Ben shrugged it off. "Nobody. I was just goofing around."

Felicity watched him in surprise. Caitlin. He was trying to impress Caitlin. She took another look at the redhead, who seemed completely unaware of the possibility. Did he have a crush on her?

"Are the two of you staying here, or just passing through?" Caitlin asked.

Felicity shook off her gnawing concern. "We rented a cabin for the weekend. We're on our way home to California for the summer. What about you?"

Caitlin drained the rest of her drink and sat back. "I'm here on holiday, actually. I've got a cousin here who's a ranger." She lit up. "I've got a brilliant idea. Why don't you come for dinner tonight? Riley would love the company."

"Ah…" Felicity trailed off.

"You have to come. Riley's planning this chicken and wine sauce dish that's going to go to complete waste on me. He says I don't appreciate his cooking. Please come, or I'll go mad with the persecution."

Felicity couldn't help but smile at the redhead's entreaty. "Er…Ben?"

His eyes came up to meet hers, and then Caitlin's. "Sure, whatever. We can do that."

"Good, it's settled," the woman dimpled. She dug into her purse for a pen and paper and scribbled something down. "This is Riley's address. Don't bother getting all dressed up. Just come as you are. I've got to be off. Stop by about five o'clock, okay?"

"Sure," Felicity nodded. From the corner of her eye, she saw Ben wave goodbye.