PART IV
Oliver didn't know what had happened but he had just felt the need to kiss her. He didn't understand... Felicity had never had any traits that would make him want to kiss her... The thought of him and Felicity together in the same sentence had always seemed ridiculous to him but the truth was that now he was kissing her, and she was kissing him back and neither of them seemed displeased with that.
He pulled back slowly without really knowing what to say or what to do. He stroked her cheek with the palm of his hand and sat on the lawn before she would have time to open her eyes.
Felicity felt the air hit directly in her face again and opened her eyes. She was like… in a cloud... It was hard to explain, but she hadn't even noticed that he'd separated from her. The kiss had left her clouded, it was curious how something she'd never think of, something that seems so unreal, could make her feel so good... Because she felt so great, better than ever.
She sat too and looked at Oliver. Felicity couldn't help but smile. She knew it had been just that, a kiss... a perfect kiss that would not go further. But she didn't care. She was ok with that, she didn't expect or ask for anything.
Felicity placed her hand on his nape and ran her fingers through his hair. "It's getting late."
Oliver stood. "Yes, it's already dark... I'll take you home. The car is..".
"Thanks, but I think I prefer walking."
He saw her turn around and head to the exit. Wasn't she going to ask anything? He scratched his head... It was much better for him if she didn't because he had no answer to give...
"Felicity!"
Felicity turned around and smiled. "Yes?"
"Are you upset?"
Oliver lowered his head and stared at his feet. Why the hell did he speak up? What if she answered him yes, she was angry? It was obvious that things between them didn't go further, but still he had some fear that because of that kiss, those little steps they had improved in their relationship during those days were disrupted. It may be nonsense, but now he had managed to get along with her and be comfortable with her company, he didn't want to ruin it.
"I mean what just happened... I wouldn't want you to get mad..."
Felicity walked back to him and leaned giving him a small kiss. "You haven't done anything offensive. I have no reason to get angry."
Oliver took her face in his hands. "I'm glad to hear that, I find it very nice, this thing of being friends..."
Felicity smiled again and circled his neck. He approached her and rejoined their lips.
Tomorrow everything would run as usual, there would be no more kisses or more gestures of affection from either of them. She was completely sure of that and for that reason she didn't want to go home without having kissed Oliver even if it was just once more. The feelings that invaded her just to kiss him, to hug him... made her feel too good to not take advantage of it.
"I should go now."
Oliver nodded and kissed her one last time. "See you tomorrow."
She turned around and started walking away from him. Oliver sat on the same swing on which they had been swinging earlier. When he left home that morning the last thing that had crossed his mind was that he would finish the day swinging in the park after having kissed Felicity... but there he was; in a park, sitting on a swing and grinning like an idiot.
She shook her head noticing a slight tingling in her face and turned in bed, covering herself with the sheets. A few seconds later something started to blow gently on the ear and she moved again. Either there was a gadfly in her room or her sister Laurel was pushing her buttons... Doesn't she know to wake her up normally ?! Calling her name or something? She sat up in bed and saw her looking bored.
"Laurel! I hate you to wake me up with tickles and nonsense!"
Laurel laughed and got into the bed with her. "I just wanted to talk to you."
"And you couldn't wait to wake me up?" She looked at the clock on the nightstand. "It's seven o'clock!" She lay down again and covered her head with the blankets. "It is impossible to speak at 7 am., I'm not human yet!"
"Please Felicity... I need your advice."
Felicity snorted and sat up, folding her arms. "What now?"
"I don't know if I should talk to Oliver or just not see him at all."
Felicity rolled her eyes and sighed. Her sister was the most indecisive person she knew ... Right now she had to go for advice about Oliver? Honestly, she didn't believe she was capable at that time of being impartial.
"You already know my opinion."
"Yeah. Forget Oliver. Focus on Tommy."
Felicity looked at her and frowned. "Is that the attention you pay to me when I speak?" Laurel looked at her without understanding. "When did I say that?"
"Well... not with those words... but more or less... it's what you meant."
Felicity got up from the bed. "Well, then you understand me very badly Laurel! What I've always said is that, before doing anything or before giving such an important step like marriage, you have to be one hundred percent sure." She sat at the end of the bed. "And well, you should also take into account all the years you've been with Tommy, how good you feel with him... I don't think you should throw it all away just because of a whim."
Laurel covered her face with her hands. "I would never do that to Tommy! But you have to understand me... I need to see him. Since I found out Oliver is in town I have this feeling… eating me inside." Felicity stood and turned, opening the closet to get clothes. "I need you to help me Felicity."
"How?"
"I want to see him… Can you bring him to me?"
Felicity turned and opened her eyes. What the hell was her sister thinking? That she was available to do all she commanded? She had a life of her own and in recent weeks it seemed that life had been reduced to help her with the preparations for the ceremony and to be a guard dog. She was sick of it.
"Don't you have two legs to take yourself to him?"
Laurel took the comment as a joke. "I'm serious, Felicity."
Felicity raised an eyebrow. "Me too... Haven't you realised that you spend your life asking for favours? We both know that you're no fool, not lame, or deaf, or dumb... You can doing things for yourself, you know? You're not going to die."
Laurel was surprised by her reaction. "What problem do you have with me?"
Felicity ran a hand over her forehead as a sign of fatigue. "First you, then you and finally you... More and more I wonder how selfish you become Laurel. I have to have a problem with YOU? It can be something with me? Something that has nothing to do with you for once..."
"I don't know Felicity... you never talked to me like this."
"Because so far, I have been patient and I've been holding... but I'm done." Felicity looked at her sister. "Have you ever worried about who has been taking care of my clinic for the last two weeks? Because in case you haven't noticed, I've been a hundred percent stuck with your stuff. And what I obtained in return? Not a simple "Thank you" from you."
"I didn't think you were doing it for thanks. If I had known that helping me bothers you so much, I wouldn't have let you do it. "
"It's not about that... but sometimes it's just good that someone values your work."
Laurel rolled her eyes. "Okay... okay. Thank you for taking so much trouble with my wedding."
Felicity turned around and ended up picking clothes at random from the closet. Honestly, this kind of appreciation from her sister was worse than if she had remained silent and said nothing. If you didn't feel you had to thank someone for something, it was better not to force it.
Laurel spoke again before Felicity left the room. "So… Are you going to help me with Ollie?"
That made her want to turn around and drop a "Go to hell, Laurel" but she simply looked at her sternly and then went into the bathroom. Felicity didn't know if Laurel had really exhausted her patience or if that morning she was too sensitive and overreacting to everything. She checked her watch and sighed. It was too early to go to find Oliver... Oliver, would he be the reason that she had been so angry? She shook her head trying to get rid of those doubts. Everything was fine with Oliver, normal... and that kiss had meant nothing to her. Had she liked it? Of course... but if she'd wanted to marry all the boys who had ever given her a good kiss... the list would be endless.
He approached the camera to her face and took another picture. Felicity turned trying to make a serious gesture, as if scolding, but all she got was laughter.
"Stop taking pictures of me, Oliver! You've been doing it all morning. "
"I haven't taken that many..."
Felicity raised an eyebrow and grabbed the camera. "Nineteen. Don't you get bored taking pictures?"
Oliver shrugged "It's my job."
He lay on the beach sand and closed his eyes as he let Felicity snoop with his camera. It was already afternoon, and they had spent all morning together, they had eaten and now they had come to a small cove of the village. Last night, when he got home, his head was a mess. He wouldn't know exactly how things would be between them after "the park thing", and that made him nervous. But when Felicity came to pick him up in the morning and saw that she was behaving quite naturally and normally, he relaxed.
He heard the sound of the camera taking a picture and opened his eyes to look at Felicity.
She returned the camera to him. "You still owe me eighteen."
"Give me that, I should keep it in my car… knowing you, you're gonna break it."
"You don't know me at all."
"Oh yeah! I do! You're like a little girl ... entangling. Entangling and talkative."
"That's because I don't like being silent... Well, sometimes I do but it's rare."
"Really? I hadn't noticed..." He leaned back putting his elbows back on the sand. "I think sometimes we need a little moment of peace and quiet, like now for instance." He turned his head to look at her. "Isn't this place relaxing?"
Felicity smiled. "That's because we are in autumn ... autumn beaches are always so quiet. Mostly this one, it is always so quiet even in midsummer."
"It was always one of my favourite places."
"When I was little my grandmother told me a story about the name of the beach ... now I can't remember, but I remember it sounded like a bad tale..."
Oliver sat down and pointed to the rocks. "You see that?" Felicity nodded. "They say that when they discovered this cove those rocks were shaped like letters. And they took the name from them."
"On the rocks was "Uria"?"
Oliver nodded. "Exactly, hence this place is called that."
"You see? What I said, lie. Big fat lie."
"You don't believe it?"
Felicity looked at him raising her eyebrows. "That's a story the elders invented to tell their grandchildren." She looked toward the rocks. "It is impossible that that ever had the shape of those letters." She turned to Oliver again. "What a coincidence that they formed a more or less coherent word!"
"Why do you question everything?"
Felicity frowned. "Because I'm smart and that has no logic. I don't believe it."
Oliver laughed. "Are you aware that if all those grandparents hear you say that, they're going to hit you with their sticks?"
Felicity narrowed her eyes. "They wouldn't dare... Totally changing the subject, I think we should be leaving."
They talked animatedly as they left the beach. Having advanced a few metres Felicity got quiet and started to think through the conversation she'd had with Laurel in the morning... She felt bad, they never fight, not like that, and she could recognise that she had quite overreacted.
Felicity being quiet was weird, so Oliver asked. "What are you thinking?"
"Nothing… I..." At that moment she put a finger to her lips indicating silence and frowned.
"What's happening to you?"
She told him again to shut up and crouched beside some bushes looking at something between them
"Don't put your hands there!" He grabbed her shoulder trying move her.. "That's full of prickles! You could hurt yourself on those!"
"Wait a minute!"
Oliver snorted and thrust his hands into the back pockets. He was too scrupulous and didn't understand what motive could have had Felicity putting her hands on the thorny bushes. Well... it was just a few abandoned brambles... But there wasn't anything there in autumn, it could be anything from trash heaps in summer, to the remains that could push any tramp from that area.
Felicity turned to look at him with a smile from ear to ear.
"Look."
Oliver crouched beside her and looked where she told him. He didn't know whether to smile as she was doing or run. He hated those things… they filled everything with hair and scratches. And they were babies, five kittens to be exact. The kittens were worse than adults, playing and nipping everything they find.
"They are so cute!"
Oliver wasn't that excited. "They are… furry."
Felicity caught one of them with one hand and stood, putting it close to her face for a kiss. Oliver watched her with a disgusted expression.
"Don't kiss it! What if you got rabies or scabies?"
Felicity laughed. "You're such a sniveller, Oliver." She grabbed the cat between her hands and approached him. "Do you really think this precious little thing can have any disease?"
Oliver stepped back. "I'd rather not touch it, just in case."
Felicity bent down again laughing, leaving the cat with the rest. "They shouldn't be more than three days old... poor little things. The mother has to have them and leave them here."
"Well, they're not children... just cats. It doesn't matter where they are."
"Don't say that! It's cruel." She turned back to the cats. "I won't leave you here alone."
"And what will you do?"
Felicity was already putting cats in a box that was nearby. "Take them to the clinic."
"How?! Do you think you'll put them in my car?"
"Is there a problem?"
"No way! Don't! Cats stay here."
"What?! Cats will come with me! It's cold, it may rain, there are animals that can harm them... I'm not going to let them back into those brambles!"
"And I won't let them get in the car!" He counted on his fingers. "They are very small, scratch the upholstery, they can relieve their needs in the seats, get everything covered with hairs... No! Cats don't enter the car!"
She was angry, very angry. So angry that, right that moment she could throw all the cats at Oliver's head... She totally would, if she was sure that those poor cats would not get hurt in the process. She didn't understand how he could prefer not to spoil his car to shelter some poor defenceless baby cat... But she wasn't gonna let him! Either she left with the cats or she wasn't moving. She looked at him defiantly and sat on the floor folding her arms, with the box on her lap.
"What are you doing?"
"Stay with the cats. And I'll call a cab or someone to come get me. "
"Do you think that a taxi will allow you in with that?"
"I'm not asking your opinion!" She pointed at his car. "Don't you love it that much? Then you can leave now!"
"It's getting dark, Felicity, it's dangerous for you to stay here alone."
"I'm not leaving without them."
"And I won't leave without you either."
"What will you do to stop me? I'm a big girl, I don't need anyone watching me back…"
But she couldn't keep talking because Oliver bent down, pulled the box out of her hands and caught her in his arms, lifting her off the ground and over his shoulder.
"You leave me no choice but to force you."
Felicity was furious. "Put me down! Moron! I don't want to go with you." She started hitting blows at his back. "Let me let go! When I get rid of you I'll crush you! Moron!"
They reached the car and Oliver opened the passenger door, leaving Felicity in the seat and buttoning her belt without giving the possibility to get out again. He walked around the car and got into his seat. He started the car. He wasn't looking, but he could tell how she had her eyes fixed on him. She twisted her face, she looked very cold, reproachful... with disappointment. She shook her head from side to side and turned her face to look out the window.
Oliver began to feel sorry for his attitude. At no time had crossed his mind the idea that Felicity had been really worried or concerned about those animals. He had thought that it was a game between them. But seeing her face and anger, he realised that it was, indeed, something important. Something stirred inside him made him feel very bad, an idiot, a jerk… He had been more concerned to win "the fight" than to see what Felicity needed.
They were already halfway between the beach and the town when he turned the car and backed into the parking lot where they had left the box with the cats. He got off without saying anything Felicity and headed toward them.
When he returned she was waiting leaning against the rear of the vehicle. When she saw him come with the box in his arms, Felicity grinned and ran to him. Once she catch him, she jump to his neck and stretched filling his cheek with kisses.
"So enthusiastic! You are about to crush the animals. "
"Sorry... I got carried away." She reached into the box, pulled one of them out. "Thanks for coming back for them."
Oliver shrugged "If I had known it was so important to you to take the cats, I would never have left them lying here."
She smiled and brought the cat back with the others as Oliver opened the back door to get them inside. Felicity also went to her seat. She was almost more excited by Oliver's gesture, that she was with the idea of get the cats to the clinic. It wouldn't been much trouble to come back for them later.. But the fact that the idea had come from him… it touched her.
"Will you take me to the clinic?"
Oliver nodded. "Sure... It's still in the same place?"
Felicity nodded and looked her watch. "I'll better call Ray, it's late and is about to close."
"Ray? Who is Ray?"
"It's my partner."
Her partner? Where she had known him? He didn't remember any "Ray" in the village... And he didn't trust strangers.
"Where is he from?"
"He lived in the city but moved here when I took over the clinic. We study together."
"And is he trustworthy?"
"What? Of course! He is my best friend."
She took the phone from her bag and dialled Ray. Oliver paid attention to the conversation that Felicity and that guy, kept trying to prove he could really trust him... He frowned and rubbed his forehead What was wrong with him? He didn't have to distrust everyone surrounding Felicity... If she had associated with him, had hired him or something, it would be because she was sure, she wouldn't hire a complete stranger. He knew he was beginning to worry too much about insignificant things... and the worst thing was that, most of time, those things had to do with her.
"How it is that you needed a partner?"
"Too much work for myself."
"Too much work? In the village? What is it? Four dogs and five cats total?"
Felicity narrowed her eyes. "That's funny! if you knew that veterinarians not only take care of pets, are not also horses, pigs, cows..."
Oliver pulled a disgusted expression. "Cows and pigs?" He fanned his hand in front of his nose. "That explains the funny smell..."
Felicity opened her mouth, offended, and struck a blow to his arm. "Don't be rude!" He laughed. "I don't smell."
"Well... being surrounded all day by those kinds of animals..."
Felicity ignored him and reached out, pointing at a parking space. "You can leave the car here. It will be just a moment."
Oliver nodded and parked where she had indicated. He got out and helped her pull the cats out.
"Once I make sure they are all right I will give one to you."
Oliver opened his eyes. "A cat?! To me?" He shook his head placing his hands between the cats and himself as a wall. "I don't think we will get along very well... but thanks anyway."
"You'll see! They are very cuddly."
"Do not try to convince me, and get them inside... I'll wait here."
"Don't you wanna come? I'll show you round."
"No, I have the car double-parked, I'll wait for you here in case the crane comes"
Felicity nodded and turned around. "I won't be long!"
Oliver put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the car. He with a cat? He smiled, that idea seemed far-fetched, the only animal he liked was Honey... and not because he was a dog. No, he only liked him because it was his dog. Since he had moved to the city he hadn't had a single pet, and if he had to choose an animal, he would pick a hamster or a bird... never a cat.
He lift his head and saw someone whom he didn't expect to see there. All his thoughts about what pet suited him seemed ridiculous now that he finally was seeing her... He had seen her the day before, a few seconds and accompanied... so couldn't see much. She looked the same as always, almost nothing had changed. She looked at him and Oliver felt like if he went backward in time, returning to seven years ago and nothing had changed.
Laurel was pretty nervous and shaken. "Are you with my sister?!"
Oliver frowned. They haven't talked for years and that was all she had to say? "Hello How are you?" would have been more appropriate.
Laurel was looking everywhere but at him. "I haven't heard anything from her since this morning... we argued, she left without saying anything..." she lift a hand to her forehead. "It's very late and she hasn't called me all day. Have you seen her?... An hour ago I called Ray and he told me that she hadn't been here... Maybe she's still angry and gone… I don't know, she has never done anything like that, disappear..."
Oliver began to feel dizzy. Did Laurel always speak that much? Or he had a bad memory and had forgotten that, or in recent years her sister had infected her verbal incontinence.
Oliver cut her off. "Calm down!" Laurel paused and looked at him. "Felicity's fine, she has been with me since this morning. She's now in the clinic."
Laurel put a hand to her chest and sighed, "I was worried... thank you very much."
"You haven't even greeted me…"
Laurel looked nervous. With all the concern that she had because of Felicity, she hadn't stopped to think that she was back in front of Oliver... or if she still felt something when she saw him.
"Hello…"
Felicity finished putting the cats in their new homes, giving them food and water, and turned to Ray, who sat on the desk without removing his eyes off her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You seem very well."
Felicity smiled. "Are you hitting on me?"
"I'm not ... but it seems to me that another person is."
"Why is that?"
"Because you're smiling and radiant."
"Can't I smile for another reason than that?"
"Of course... but clearly this is why."
Felicity shook her head, smiling. "You're a fool ..." She put her jacket on and picked up her things. "Sure you do not want me to stay to help you close?"
"No. There's nothing left to do anymore."
Felicity nodded and left. Any other day she would have love to stay with Ray and close, it's what she always did... live almost exclusively for their animals. That was how she liked to spend her time. But that day... (week) being locked in the lab was the last thing she wanted. Spend time with Oliver, what at first felt as an obligation, was now the most normal thing in the world.
She came to the door and froze when she saw the picture he and her sister were making. Felicity hadn't expected that, neither from Oliver and much less from Laurel. They were kissing! They seemed immersed in a world really far from this... a world just with the two of them. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. She didn't want to see this, she didn't want to be there... She wanted to disappear.
She realized that her hands ached from her nails digging into them, but also realized that it hurt less than witnessing that kiss. She should feel rage to see her sister throw it all away, disappointed to see that Laurel had fallen again ... but now all she felt was pain.
Too much pain.