The Summer That Changed Everything

Chapter Four - Part Three

“Fair enough, though my anxiety could never. Although I like to be spontaneous, that’s too spontaneous for me,” Felicity laughed, wiping her hands from the grease from the pizza. She could not imagine her parents displaying calmness if Felicity had the same views about her future. Her father, a successful businessman, and her mother had high expectations for their only daughter. Everyone in her family had gone to university, so she dreaded the thought of the implosion she would cause if she decided not to. So more power to Jared’s mum for that.

“What’s the dream, then?” Jared, enjoying their rekindled friendship, asked, diverting the conversation back to Felicity once more. She wasn’t sure if she was okay with that. She’d never been asked to talk about herself so much before. “If money were no object - which I guess for you, it’s not - what do you want to do? More than anything, what is your life’s goal?”

“Yeah, it’s not so much the money that’s stopping me,” she sighed, thinking about everything. “It’s the expectations of my parents and James.”

“Well, that too,” Jared playfully rolled his eyes. “If you had no expectations hanging over your head. What would you want to do?”

Felicity took a moment to ponder Jared’s question. No one had forced an answer out of her before. Not in a cruel ‘decide or else’ way. But earnestly and curiously, like they genuinely wanted to know the answer. Whenever someone asked her, her automatic reply would be something to do with her father’s business. But Jared’s genuine tone made her really think about the question.

“I guess... well, it’d have to be something to do with books,” she replied, shrugging. She thought the answer was obvious until Jared nodded and waited for her to continue. She continued, flattered that he wanted a further explanation. “It’s a pipe dream, but I guess I would love to run my own publishing company. Not run it in a sense, like my father runs the hotel business, because that’s far too serious for me. But I love the thought of spending my time reading new, exciting work. If I can give someone a chance to get published for the first time, that would be amazing. It’s no secret my family has money, so why not put it to good use? What if someone wouldn’t usually get published? Whether it’s down to finance or other circumstances, I don’t know, but if I can give them that chance… that would be incredible.”

Jared said nothing for a little while. He had an unreadable glint of something in his eyes. It was something Felicity couldn’t quite place, but it could’ve been admiration. Instead, she worried she’d overshared. She didn’t even realise she had those desires until he asked about them. Now, she realised she wanted nothing in life but that. And Jared brought it out of her.

“It sounds perfect,” Jared grinned, making Felicity let out a sigh of relief and mimic his smile.

Knowing she would get a reaction, Felicity said. “And of course, I also want the most romantic wedding to go along with the job.”

“Ugh!” Jared groaned, dramatically flopping back onto the sofa behind him. Felicity giggled at his over-the-top reaction. He righted himself and squinted his eyes at her, knowing that she had said it on purpose. “And I suppose you’ll have about a million children running around while you’re reading the work from unknown authors?”

“Oh god, no!” Felicity blanched. “Children aren’t in my plan for a long time. Nope. Nuh-uh. If my cooking is any indication, I can barely care for myself, let alone a helpless child. Oh no, not for me. Not for a few years.”

“Finally, something I can get behind,” Jared laughed. Triumph was clear in his peeling chuckle.

“What? Not having children for a while, or not being able to look after myself?” Felicity teased, a playful glint in her eye.

“… Both?” Jared shot back, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

Felicity let out a laugh, and she playfully pushed Jared in the arm with unexpected force. The unexpected shove sent him tumbling to the floor, which made her laugh even louder. Using his legs that were still near Felicity’s, Jared swiped at her. So, she, too, sprawled on the floor, their feet touching. They spent some time pushing each other’s feet, trying to determine who had the strongest feet. All the while, they were giggling and hurling playful insults at one another.

“Right, stop!” Felicity choked out a laugh. “We’ve not long since eaten, we’re going to be sick!”

They both sat up, and Jared held out his hand.

“Truce?” He asked.

“Truce,” Felicity smiled, taking his hand and shaking it. She couldn’t help but try to squeeze a little too hard to display some of her strength.

“Not gonna work,” Jared shook his head, cottoning on to her plan.

She groaned and let her hand fall to the ground. Jared’s laugh rang around the room.

Jared stayed at her house for a little while longer until they polished off the pizza. Felicity hadn’t heard from her parents yet, though she wasn’t expecting to. Jared offered to stay to keep her company until they returned home. But she explained it was getting late, backed up by the setting sun through her large living room window. She told him these dinners never had a set finish. She also didn’t want to face the million questions that would come along with her parents’ discovery of Jared. But she didn’t tell him that. With the admission of attempting to tackle the mess she had made in the kitchen, she ushered Jared out the door. That was something she didn’t want him to witness. After a reluctant wave, he headed off home.

Not long after, her phone pinged. She leaned over to grab it and read the text.

I’m home safe and sound. Thank you for the pizza. But please don’t ever try to cook again, not without extensive training first.

Felicity let out a smile and put her phone back in her pocket. She went back to scrubbing the stubborn grease off the frying pan in the sink full of hot water.