They were packed up and driving again soon after. They engaged in pleasant and easy conversation, neither of them really feeling the need to talk about the heavy stuff. That was until Felicity's curiosity got the better of her and she crossed the invisible line they had silently decided not to cross.
"You're going back to find her, right?"
Sara looked at her in surprise, a slight frown across her eyebrows. Felicity met her gaze and quirked up one of her own eyebrows.
"The girl who saved you. You are going back to Asia to find her."
Pressing her lips into a thin line, Sara turned her gaze back to the road and nodded slowly. Her hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"Her name is Nyssa."
Felicity smiled softly. "That's a beautiful name."
"Yes it is. I want to find her to thank her for everything that she did for me."
"I'm sure she will be happy to see you. But, I'm really gonna miss you."
"Are you crazy? You are going to have such a great time in Boston, you won't even have time to miss me. You are going to meet so many awesome new people that you are going to forget what I even look like."
Felicity's eyes widened and she held up a finger. "I would never!"
"I know, I know, I just like to exaggerate."
Rolling her eyes, Felicity sat back against her seat and laughed. Sara turned up the radio and they fell back into their easy road trip routine. It was a little after noon when they had to stop for gas. Felicity's phone had gone dead so she had started looking for a payphone. Sara had immediately offered to go with her, because of the events the night before, but Felicity said she'd be okay. This time it wasn't dark out, it wasn't a big place to get lost in, and it was pretty deserted. Sara reluctantly let her go and went to fill up the tank. Felicity walked around the back of the little shop, jingling the coins in her hand. She wanted to try to call her mom again but she didn't exactly know why. Absent mindedly she turned the corner and collided with something very solid. She lost her balance and would have fallen if the something, or as it turned out, someone hadn't reached for her arms and steadied her. Her eyes went wide as he pulled her up.
"Wow, you okay?" He asked her, his voice smooth like honey.
"Uhh, yeah, sorry, my bad." She stammered, shaking her head a little.
He was way taller than her, so she had to squint a little as she looked up at him. He smiled politely at her and let go of her arms. She stepped back.
"Nothing to worry about, miss. Did you hurt yourself?"
"No, I'm okay. Thanks for not letting me eat dust."
"No problem." His grin widened, showing a little of his teeth. She smiled in response, crossing her arms over chest and rocking back and forth on her heels. Studying him, she noticed that he was extremely attractive. His beige Henley clung to torso in all the right ways, displaying his muscles in a way Felicity had only ever seen in magazines. His skin was tanned and there was something about his stubble that made her want to lick her lips. She met his gaze and blushed. His striking blue eyes seemed to pierce into her soul. She had to swallow hard.
"Well, I should get to making my call." She said awkwardly, pointing towards the telephone box.
"Yeah. Probably." He smiled again, making her go a little weak in the knees. She nodded and stepped around him. She bit her lip when her back was turned to him. Damn that man was handsome, she thought to herself. She couldn't believe that what she did next actually happened. When she reached the phone box, she turned around, one hand on the door handle, she called after him. He had only taken a few steps and was about to turn the corner.
"What's your name?"
He stopped in his tracks, taking a second, grinning to himself before he turned around and beamed at her.
"Oliver."
Felicity's lips curled upward. "Felicity." She said.
"Nice to meet you, Felicity." He replied, nodding his head once, still grinning.
"Likewise." She said before stepping into the phone booth. She watched him shake his head, smiling as he turned around, swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder. Damn, his back was even more impressive. Biting her lip, she started putting the coins into the machine and punched in her mother's phone number. The phone rang three times before someone picked up.
"Hello?" A raspy voice spoke after a few seconds of silence.
"Mom?"
"Felicity?! Where the hell are you." Her mom spoke. She could almost feel her anger through the phone. She had put the emphasis on 'hell' and it made Felicity roll her eyes in annoyance.
"Geez, calm down, mom. I'm with Sara, we're going to the beach for a few days."
"Uhm, no you are not. You are getting your ass back here right now."
"No, I'm not."
"Excuse me? You listen to your mother now. You will be back here for dinner or I will…"
"Or you will what? What exactly are you going to do to make my life even more miserable, huh?"
Her mother was quiet on the other end of the line for a moment.
"You do not get talk to me like that, young lady. Did Sara put you up to this? Is this her idea of fun? Getting you into trouble? I told you that girl is poison, Felicity."
Felicity was breathing heavily by now.
"You know what. Screw you. I am going on this trip, I'm going to have a great time and after that I'm not coming back. I got a full ride to college and I'm going. I will not let you hold me back any longer. Try and survive without me because I am done being your maid. Goodbye."
She slammed the phone back in its place and stomped out of the phone booth. Kicking a stray stone out of frustration, she started making her way back to the car. She sighed heavily and ran a hand over her face and through her hair. The words her mother had said to her were playing in the back of her head, stinging like needles into her heart. That girl is poison, she had said, but if there was anything Sara wasn't, it was poison. Sara had helped her come out of her shell, and become a more well-rounded person. She would not let anybody talk about her that way.
Speaking of Sara, when Felicity got back to the car, she was nowhere to be found. Felicity's gaze drifted to the little store and decided to go look for her there. Just before she moved past the mosquito screen, her eyes fell on a couple of ads for different kinds of liquor. She had never been a hard liquor kind of girl, but today, she was willing to make an exception. She made her way inside, making the bell hanging above the door ring. The little store was everything you could expect from a gas station in the middle of nowhere. The cashier nodded at her when she walked past him and she returned the favor. Wandering through the aisles, looking for the alcohol, she found Sara at rack filled with newspapers. She was frowning, which was not a good sign. Without a word, Felicity moved to stand across from her, leaning back against the rack.
"It's all over the news. Manslaughter Mystery." Sara scoffed at the terrible headline and started folding the newspaper, her gaze avoiding Felicity's.
"They say they found some DNA, from the blood on his hands, but since neither one of us are in the system, that shouldn't be a problem."
"Oh god." Felicity put a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes for a second. The consequences of what had happened the night before hadn't really sunken in yet, but she could start to feel the weight of them pulling at her heart.
"Felicity. Calm down, we'll be fine. I promise you, I will not let you get dragged down with me if they even manage to find us."
"You sound awfully confident that they won't."
"That's because I am."
Felicity exhaled heavily. "I'm going to need some liquor."
Sara smiled and chuckled, pulling a strand of hair behind Felicity's ear.
"What'd your mom say?"
Felicity sighed again and looked at Sara, desperation in her eyes. "She started yelling at me. Saying that I had to get my ass back home. I told her she could kiss it instead."
She took hold of Sara's wrist. "Said I wasn't coming back either."
Sara nodded and jerked her head to her right. Felicity's eyes followed the direction and spotted the expensive bottles. What she came here for in the first place. She sighed a little and moved to pick one, taking Sara's hand and lacing their fingers together.
"How about this one?" She asked, pointing at a large green bottle with a reddish label.
"No. Too bitter. I think you should go with this one, much more you."
Felicity rolled her eyes as Sara picked up the pink bottle. "Sara, humor me please and pick me something strong."
Chuckling, Sara nodded and grabbed another bottle, a white one, and the pink bottle too.
"Fine, I'll take the pink one. It's cute."
Felicity laughed and shook her head. "Weirdo."
"You love me anyway." Sara smiled.
"How are we going to get these, anyway? We're not twenty one."
Sara looked around, there was no one to be seen. "We could just steal 'em?"
Felicity frowned and shook her head again. "No. we are not going to risk getting arrested and get our DNA taken, remember?"
"Right. So then what?"
They stood there for a moment until a familiar voice broke their silence.
"You two ladies need some help with that?"
Felicity's head whipped around and was now only separated inches from the lovely specimen that she had met earlier. Oliver.
