June 1459
"Where's Goldi?"
Fari looked up at Theo and Rose. He hadn't heard them approach, he'd been so caught up in his thoughts. "She left," he said quietly. He rested his chin on his drawn up knees. "I messed up."
"Faramir!" Theo muttered a curse, then whispered with Rose for a few moments.
"I should go talk to her," Rose said, no longer bothering to keep quiet. She sounded upset.
"No!" said Theo. He leaned over and nudged Fari's shoulder. "Go talk to her, Fari."
"I think she'd rather talk to Rose," Fari said dully. He knew he wouldn't want to talk to him if he were Goldi. He was an idiot.
"Doesn't matter. It's your problem. You need to fix it."
Rose huffed. "Don't worry, Fari. We'll go back with you and if you need me..."
"Rose," Theo turned to his wife. "They need to work this out on their own."
Rose pursed her lips and scowled at Theo. "I can talk to my sister if I want to!"
Fari stood up. "I'm going!" he said. "Just... quit fighting about it, all right? I've already caused enough problems, I don't need to be responsible for you two fighting as well."
They both nodded. Fari sighed. "Theo's right, Rose. I need to fix this on my own." He turned and headed up the hill to his pony.
-o-O-o-
Fari rode into the yard in front of Brandy Hall's stable, relieved to see that the pony Goldi had borrowed was in the paddock. He'd feared she might have continued on to Bag End. This was not a confrontation he wanted to have with her father around. He'd be lucky if he made it out of Bag End alive if Uncle Sam knew he had upset her so much.
He unsaddled his pony, hands shaking with nerves as he hung the saddle on a peg, and then headed up to the Hall. He went over in his head what he was going to say and succeeded only in making his stomach hurt. He had no idea what to say to her. He wasn't good at this. What do you say to a girl you've hurt so much, not realizing you were hurting her in the first place?
He recalled her face from the day before, when he'd turned down her offer of a dance. He felt sick. She had been so disappointed and he'd thought nothing of it. He had just thought... No, the problem was he hadn't thought. He'd laughed at her request, treating it like some big joke, and he should have noticed that she had started on the ale afterwards. They had all tried to tell him. Eomer, Bori--even Ari, who shouldn't be concerned about these things at only seventeen. They'd all noticed and he hadn't. Because he was an idiot, too wrapped up in wanting to be a stupid bachelor so that he wouldn't get hurt. And he ended up hurting Goldi because of it.
The door to her guest room was closed. Fari knocked but there was no answer. He pressed an ear up against the wood. He could hear her crying. He rested his forehead on the door, hating himself for doing this to her. He knocked again, a little louder, but she still didn't answer. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
Goldi was lying on the bed, face down in the pillow, her shoulders shaking with the sobs. Fari quietly closed the door and walked over to the bed.
"Goldi?"
She tightened her grip on her pillow, keeping her face buried. "You don't have to be here, Fari. I understand that you don't feel the same," was her muffled response. "I'll be fine."
He studied her for a moment, wondering how to explain that he just wasn't good at this kind of thing. He'd never expected to have to do this with a lass, working out feelings and misunderstandings, and he didn't know what to say to her to make it right. Of course, she hadn't said much of anything either, just took the direct approach and kissed him. Maybe that would work for him. Her face was hidden in the pillow, but her hair had fallen to one side, exposing the spot where shoulder met neck. He'd seen his dad kiss Ivy there lots of times and Ivy seemed to really like it. He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over to kiss that little patch of skin. It was soft and warm beneath his lips, and the scent of her made a shiver run down his spine. Goldi gasped and rolled over, mouth open in surprise.
"I'm sorry I'm an idiot," he said. "If it will make you feel better, you can get Bori or Ari to give me a well-deserved pounding for hurting you, because I can't do it myself." She made a noise that was half laugh, half sob. He shrugged. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean...I mean...I wasn't rejecting you, Goldi. You just took me by surprise is all." He gave a weak smile. "I'm clueless, remember? It took a bit for it all to sink in and by then you were heading to Brandy Hall."
"Oh." She sniffled. "Sorry."
Fari shrugged. "We're both a bit clueless, I guess." He smiled at her and was relieved when she smiled back.
"We make quite a pair," she said.
He nodded. "We do." He clenched his hand nervously a few times, then reached over and took her hand. "You've been my friend for a long time, Goldi. I just never expected that you'd like me like that, because we'd always just been friends and you're different from the other girls and I guess I didn't realize you'd be interested in that. In me. Like that." He shrugged.
She sat up. "Do you like me like that?"
He didn't even hesitate, just decided to take the direct approach again and leaned forward to kiss her properly. His lips met hers and his body seemed to explode with the sensation, warm and tingling. He put his arm around her, needing to pull her closer, and she leaned into the kiss.
Kissing her was...amazing. Fari knew, now, why Theo always wanted to kiss Rose and he wished he'd figured this out with Goldi a long time ago. He startled when she pushed her tongue into his mouth, but then relaxed. He'd always thought that kissing with your tongue sounded disgusting, but he discovered that it was a whole lot nicer than it sounded. He returned the favor and Goldi moaned, which sent a jolt straight to his groin.
Finally, they had to come up for air. "You're good at that," he panted, squirming a little to adjust the tightness in his trousers. He noticed her blush and frowned. Someone must have taught her that. He had to know. "Have you kissed anyone before?" She averted her eyes and nodded, which made him feel ill again. "Who?"
She shrugged, keeping her eyes down. "It really doesn't matter, does it?"
He supposed it shouldn't. Lots of lads and lasses kissed others before they settled on someone. But he had to know, because what if she decided she actually did like this other lad better and she decided to leave him? He'd like to know who he was up against. "I'd just like to know," he said.
She looked up at him. "I've only done it once. It was nothing, Fari. Just a friend."
That was worse. It was someone she was already friends with. Hadn't Ivy always told him to find a lass who was his friend as well? He and Goldi were friends, but she also had this other lad. "Would you go back to him?"
Her shoulders slumped. "No, Fari, I won't. There isn't anything..." She sighed. "It was Eomer, all right?"
"Oh." Eomer? Fari felt only the tiniest twinge of jealousy. Mostly it was surprise. He knew he could trust Eomer, after all. He trusted Theo and Eomer more than anyone else in the world. He shrugged. "All right."
"You're not mad?" She looked surprised.
"No." He thought for a moment, more pieces to the puzzle fitting together. "Was this last night?"
She nodded, her cheeks going red again.
He chuckled. "What? You two practicing a bit before you were off to face me and Moira today?"
She looked at him, wide-eyed. "Most lads would have been jealous, but you think we were just practicing for today?"
"Weren't you?" He furrowed his brows. Was there something between them? If so...what about Eomer and Moira?
"Well," she said, staring down at her fidgeting hands, "actually, we were both quite upset yesterday. You were ignoring me and he was upset over Moira. It was more for comfort." She raised her eyes to look at him.
Fari nodded. He supposed that made sense, considering how much he'd hurt her yesterday. And at least it had been Eomer she'd turned to for comfort. Any other lad, and he'd have been worried. "All right."
"You're not mad?" she asked again.
"No, Goldi, I'm not mad. It's just Eomer. I know he wouldn't do anything to hurt you and I know he won't try to steal you back." She smiled at him. He smiled back and leaned in close, their noses nearly touching. "So, um, did he teach you anything else besides the tongue thing?"
-o-O-o-
Fari figured that Theo and Rose must have been waiting in their doorway, listening for Goldi's door to open, because as soon as they stepped out of Goldi's room, Theo and Rose were next to them.
"How are things?" Rose asked, eyeing her sister carefully.
Fari smiled and raised their hands, his fingers linked tightly with Goldi's. "We've worked things out," he said.
Rose squealed and hugged her sister. Theo clapped him on the back. "So much for bachelorhood."
Fari grinned and shrugged. "She talked me out of it. Well, there actually wasn't a whole lot of talking, though I suppose our mouths were involved..."
Goldi blushed bright red and punched him on the arm. Fari smiled at her, happy they were getting back to normal.
"Well, I think we need to have a little talk then," Rose said to Goldi. She put her arm around her sister's shoulders and pulled her away from Fari and back into the bedroom. She shut the door behind them.
"What's that about?" Fari wondered. He'd just kissed her. It wasn't like he'd tried anything else, as much as he would have liked to.
Theo chuckled. "She probably wants to give Goldi advice on how to fight off your Tookish charms and keep you out of her bed."
"Huh," snorted Fari. "If I try anything Goldi doesn't want me to do," he said, rubbing his arm, "she'll just hit me."
Theo nodded. "Those Gamgee girls don't put up with much, do they?" Then he grinned. "You know Ivy's going to go all 'mum' on you when she hears about this? She'll probably have your wedding planned within a week."
"I'm not ready to do that yet!" said Fari. He still had to get used to the idea that he was actually considering marriage now.
"Not ready to do what?" Fari hadn't even heard Uncle Merry coming down the hall.
"Get married," said Theo. "Goldi's persuaded Fari to give up on bachelorhood."
Uncle Merry gave Fari an appraising look, glanced at Goldi's closed door, then back at Fari. "Well, just don't be doing anything here. I don't want to get on Sam's bad side." Then he clapped Fari on the shoulder. "About time, though." He winked and continued on his way.
Fari huffed. "Did everyone know except me?"
