Page 21 of The Night Before Christmas
She flinched. ‘Look, it really didn’t mean anything, honestly. I’ve no idea what he was doing here… and maybe the ring’s not evenforme? He probably bought it for someone else. Maybe Andrea? She’s a dark horse after all!’
A smile tugged at his lips then, just for a split second. ‘And why would you think I care?’
He moved towards her in the shadows of the entranceway, and looked down at her upturned face so intensely her entire body began to tingle with anticipation. She resisted the urge to put her hands on him.
‘Happy New Year, Felicity Brooks,’ he said, a hint of regret in his voice, and with that he turned and stalked off into the night. She almost wanted to laugh out loud as she watched him strop off, the memory of him in his soggy penguin suit on the first night they met popping into her head. And then her knees gave way and she had to lean against the doorway for a moment.
Damn, but that was one very attractive man.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Felicity didn’t openthe box for several hours.
Instead, it sat on her nightstand next to the precarious pile of books waiting to be read (which seemed to always be growing rather than shrinking), burning a proverbial hole in the painted wood. Every so often she touched its pale blue top (well, stroked it really) and tried to picture what might be inside. She hadn’t been able to get a good look when James and Andrea were poring over it and although part of her was desperate to, now that she was finally alone, there were warning bells going off all over the show. In the darkness, lurid images of her time with Adam swirled around her head, interspersed with that memory of James leaning in to nearly kiss her and the feeling he generated whenever he was near her, as if her whole body might burst into flames at any second.
She couldn’t believe it. Her past and her present had collided, and not for the first time.
When she was at university there had been a boy called Tom who she absolutely adored. He was everything she had ever dreamed of, in fact. Tall, dark-haired, chisel-jawed, charming as all hell. Practically every girl she knew had fancied him that first term. He had been Head of the Social Soc and was incrediblypopular as well as funny and handsome, so she’d been beyond flattered when he’d asked her out. But, only a few days later, Adam had come to visit her in Halls and when Tom saw them together, he immediately ended it.
It didn’t matter how much she had insisted nothing had happened, how much she insisted that Adam was just a friend. As soon as he saw the –what was it, the chemistry?– as soon as he saw whatever it was between her and Adam, Tom – tanned, sporty, clever, funny Tom – had backed away from the deal, as if he knew he was on to a loser, just like James had. And of course, he’d been right. Adam and Felicity got back together a year after she graduated and it had seemed like that was it for good. For a while.
What was it about Adam, anyway?
Felicity lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling in the dim light, trying to ignore the shadowy damp patch that was creeping across the surface.Must get that seen to, she thought idly.
Adam and Felicity met when Felicity was fifteen.
She’d been in a bad place at that time. Her family had fallen apart long before, her mum was basically a non-parent; and school, which had always been her safe place, had become more and more difficult as she’d got older. That was, until Adam arrived on the scene. He was a year older than her and had just started at the sixth form next door, and the first time she saw him he was waiting at the bus stop after school, looking for all the world like he’d just dropped out of a rock band on tour.
His hair was dark and dishevelled and he was chewing gum and kicking at the back of the bus shelter, while one of his mates tried to get his attention telling some story or other. Asshe walked past, Adam glanced sideways and caught her eye – accidentally, she had assumed at the time but, later, she realised it must have been deliberate. No words passed between them, and it was a fleeting moment, that’s all, but in that single look, that one moment in time, a whole conversation had happened between them. Felicity knew with complete certainty she would be going out with that boy by the end of the month.
Her friends had all noticed him too, of course, had discussed his tight trousers and his lack of tie and his rule-breaking haircut at great length. And he was the only Asian boy in their school at the time, which just made him more exotic. Felicity was careful to keep quiet, to not give anything away, but one day, when they were all giggling together as they tried to work out his name, her friend Katherine had caught Felicity chewing her lip to hide a smile and guessed immediately that this new stranger was spoken for.
It took him two more weeks to approach her. Two weeks of sideways glances and eye contact and hot blushes. And then one day he stepped out in front of her as she walked behind the bus shelter, and she stopped immediately and bit her lip again.
‘All right?’ he said, standing just a bit closer than was really decent.
‘Yes thanks,’ she managed to squeak out, her voice failing her.
‘What’s your name then?’ he said, his deep brown eyes catching hers for a moment and then flicking to his shoes.
‘Felicity,’ she said, trying to sound casual, finding herself trying to catch his eye again, bring his gaze back up to hers. ‘What’s yours?’
‘I’m Adam,’ he said, looking up for a split second. She hastily looked away. ‘I like your red hair.’
Her hand had flown to her hair in embarrassment, and she felt herself blush hot and hard.
‘What are you doing on Friday night?’ he said with a grin.
And with that, it was done. He took her to the cinema and bought her popcorn and kissed her in (almost) the back row and then they were officially ‘going out’ and from then on it was ‘AdamandFelicity’ in one word as naturally as breathing. As if they’d known each other in another life and the universe had brought them back together. Felicity was the talk of the school of course, dating a sixth former and the most handsome boy in the school to boot, and it rocketed her to the top of the popularity ratings even though that was the last place she wanted to be. But where she did want to be, she was certain, was anywhere Adam was.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
In the early morning light,she sat up on the bed and opened the box.
Sitting there, on a perfect pillowy Tiffany’s cushion, was the most beautiful ring Felicity had ever seen.
It had four diamonds shaped like petals interspersed with delicate little leaves crafted intricately out of what looked like rose gold, and an exquisite narrow band with ‘Tiffany & Co’ imprinted on the inside.
