Run Away to Me

[Nick]

When Felicity’s head hit my shoulder, it startled me. I looked over at her, but she was fast asleep. Her small shoulders were lifting up and down, and I couldn’t help but smile. She looked so small, so vulnerable. I wrapped my arm around her, and she moved closer to me, still asleep. I smiled, resting my head against hers, closing my eyes as my car drove home.

When we got home, Joe gently shook me awake. “Come on Nick, wake up. We’re home. Can you carry Felicity in? She looks completely out.” He said, motioning his head towards her sleeping form. I nodded sleepily, unbuckling our seatbelts.

“Come on, sleeping beauty, let’s go inside.” I murmured softly, picking her up gently and carrying her inside the house. Felicity’s eyelids fluttered open slightly, and she smiled when her eyes landed on my face.

“If I’m Sleeping Beauty, does that make you Prince Philip?” She asked quietly, before wrapping her arms around my neck and falling back asleep. That caught me off guard. I didn’t know she could hear me. I just smiled again, walking into the house behind Joe. I guessed he had dropped Cassidy off before we arrived home.

As we walked inside, my mom and dad greeted us.

“Hey kids. Oh, she’s sleeping. Come on, Nicholas, bring her this way.” My mom said, leading me up the stairs into the room that Felicity slept in when I first brought her home.

“We’ve decided this’ll be her room.” Mom said as I walked in, gently placing Felicity on the bed. She opened her eyes again, smiling at my mom and me before taking off her shoes and climbing under the covers.

“Goodnight, Denise. Goodnight, Nick.” She said softly before yawning and closing her eyes again and falling asleep quickly. I smiled again.

“Goodnight, Felicity.” I said quietly before my mom and I left the room, closing the door behind us.

“She’s a sweet girl. I like her.” My mom said, nodding her head. I smiled again.

“She is.” We moved downstairs into the living room, joining my dad, Joe and Frankie. My dad and Frankie were building some large Lego creation, a huge towering city. Joe was watching with wide eyes, always the child. I sat on the couch above them, not wanting to break their city.

“Felicity’s asleep?” Joe asked, looking up at me. I nodded and his eyebrows raised.

“Doesn’t take much knock her out.” He said, and I frowned. He was right. Was she sick?

“She has been through a lot, Joseph. It only makes sense that she’s tired.” My mom said from her spot next to my father. I let out a sigh of relief. That made sense. I relaxed against the couch, closing my eyes and letting my body relax after walking around all day. My thoughts wandered up to Felicity. Her story worried me. When I asked her today about why she was out on the streets, her reaction scared me. She had frozen, and her eyes were wide and filled with fear. It was as if she was seeing some terrifying scene and she couldn’t shut it off. I felt awful after asking her. When she finally stopped, I told myself I wouldn’t ever put her into that kind of pain again.

That didn’t stop my curiosity though. I couldn’t help but wonder what a girl like her was doing out on the streets alone. She never mentioned her parents, which made me wonder if she had any. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be abandoned by your parents. I looked up at my own parents, laughing at something Joe had done. Having a family was something I knew I wouldn’t take for granted again.

~::~

I woke up the next morning to the smell of someone cooking in the kitchen. I yawned, stumbling out of bed. My mom must be cooking. I threw on a shirt, rubbing my eyes as I walked downstairs.

“Hey Mom, what’s for breakfast?” I said sleepily, taking a seat at the table. There was a light laugh from the kitchen, a slightly familiar one. It wasn’t my mother’s though.

“Your mother is still sleeping, Nick. I decided to make breakfast for everyone. You don’t think she’ll mind, do you?” Felicity asked, looking over the stove to look at me. I shook my head, trying to get rid of all the sleepiness.

“No, I’m sure she’ll be fine with it. In fact, she’ll probably love you more than all of us for it. She’s always cooking. She’s gonna love this.” I said, laughing quietly. Felicity smiled with relief.

“Oh, good.” She went back to cooking, humming quietly to herself. I got up from the table, moving into the kitchen.

“Do you need any help?” I asked, watching her stir up pancake batter. She frowned slightly as she thought.

“You could start making some toast. You can handle that, can’t you?” She teased. I laughed.

“I’m sure I can handle toast.” I said, moving to grab a loaf of bread from the pantry and plugged in the toaster. I began putting bread in as Felicity started on the pancakes, pouring the batter onto the griddle. It was quiet, but not the awkward silence like yesterday. It was a comfortable silence, one we felt no need to fill with words. Soon the smell of pancakes was in the air, and there was a large stack of them on a plate. Felicity moved to put them on the table, taking plates and forks and knives and setting the table.

I watched her as she moved. She was tiny, barely 5’2”. I noticed this now. Her arms were covered in dark spots, some more faded than others. I frowned, taking the toast and putting it on a plate. Were those bruises? I shook my head, knowing I wouldn’t ask. I didn’t want a repeat of what happened last time.

I brought the toast and butter, plus a few more knives to the table, placing them in the middle next to the pancakes. Felicity smiled at me, clapping her hands together.

“Well, everything looks ready. Should I make more? Or something else?” She asked, biting her bottom lip as she examined the table. I chuckled quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s perfect, Felicity. Trust me.” I said, smiling slightly. She exhaled.

“Oh, good. I just don’t want them thinking something’s wrong.” She said, relieved. I smiled a little wider.

“It’s perfect. I can’t believe you’re doing this for us.” I told her, and she looked up at me with a skeptical look.

“You took me into your house, and you can’t believe I cooked breakfast for you.” She said. I chuckled.

“You’ve got a point.” She smirked.

“I know.” It became quiet, and I realized how close we were standing. I blinked once before stepping away, moving back into the kitchen.

“I guess we should get drinks.” I said quietly, moving around the kitchen to stay busy. I couldn’t let myself do that again. Every time we got too close, I felt something. It was a small something, but I wasn’t going to let it grow. I wasn’t ready for it to grow. I didn’t want it to grow.

“Right.” Felicity said quietly, not moving towards the kitchen. I thanked God for her weird ability to sense tension, and grabbed enough cups for us all. I moved back to the table, making sure to keep a wide space between us. She moved back into the kitchen, rummaging around the fridge for milk and orange juice. I sighed, placing the cups at each place. This was going to be quite the day, I could already tell.

Soon everyone began waking up and trailing into the dining room. My mom was pleasantly surprised when she saw breakfast had already been cooked, and she hugged and kissed Felicity a thousand times, telling her what a blessing she was. Joe was always happy when there was food on the table, but he hugged Felicity too, telling her she was perfect. This made me feel weird. Jealous, almost. I didn’t like him touching her, but then I reminded myself that it didn’t matter to me.

We all sat down, saying grace. I stayed as far away from Felicity as possible, but that put me right across from her at the table. Perfect.

My food suddenly became the most interesting thing in the world, and I focused on it through the whole meal, not looking up once. As soon as I was finished, I put my plate into the sink and mumbled something about having a headache, and escaped to my room as fast as I could. I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. I couldn’t believe I was letting myself be pushed around just because I didn’t want to fall for a girl.

I could handle this. I could resist falling for Felicity. It wouldn’t be hard. It couldn’t be hard.

I sighed, sitting down on my bed.

It’s going to be hard.