What a Beautiful Day

[Felicity Hjort]

March 19, 2009
4:57pm

The weather was beautiful. The sun was out, the clouds sparse enough to be able to smile up at the sky, but cluttered enough to make you want to pick shapes out of the clouds. However, Felicity didn't bother herself to gaze at the prettiness of the sky, instead she was located elsewhere, not even on the ground. The ground was still a little mushy from the melting snow, but instead she was sitting up closer to the sky. Being outdoors was important, she needed the fresh air. The blonde had written her parents and was now frustrated, trying to explain the ring Drew had given her for Valentine's day. It wasn't an engagement ring, she'd been very clear about that right off the bat, but though they knew what a promise ring was, they were overreacting, at least in her opinion they were.

The ring was a promise, not a sure-fire thing. It was only a promise that he was hers until either things didn't go well anymore or they couldn't do it. But, secretly, she prayed things would never go that bad between them. Felicity loved Drew with all her heart, deeply and passionately, but her parents just didn't understand. While her mum was more understanding, her dad sounded ready to jump the gun and go right after Drew. The thing was, he hadn't done anything wrong. The two of them had just shared their first different kiss a few months prior, she still hadn't given him permission to touch her bum, though she'd thought about that one too.

However, she was currently higher up in the branches, re-reading the letter she most recently received. They still didn't seem to understand why Drew felt the need to proclaim his love for her and make a promise to her through a ring. Why a ring? He'd given her a necklace they had put up with, but a ring? Why not a card or a letter or just plain old words? Both of the older Hjorts hoed that Felicity was merely mistaken of the meaning behind said ring. She was only sixteen, what need was there for her to believe she was in love like that? Love was trcky, and neither Hjort believed she was ready for something so serious.

Sighing, Felicity swung her legs below her, wondering how she was going to explain it all to them. She loved Drew, knew she was in love with him, and wanted nothing more than to spend as much time as possible with him. he was the most perfect boy in the world and she just didn't understand why they couldn't see that.

(Drew)

[Drew Thornton]

Finally Spring. The snow was melting, the temperatures were warming, and soon enough it would be summer. He had been anticipating the change of seasons for the last three months, looking forward to the sun and the green grass, but now that it was here, he wasn't ready for it. Spring also meant he'd be leaving school soon.

Drew had been struggling with all of the standard seventh-year issues as June got closer. He had to get his applications into the Ministry, pass his NEWTs with sufficient scores, and figure out the those details of being an adult on his own. What if all of the plans he made within the castle walls weren't actually viable in the real world?

To make matters worse, his parents were trying to convince him to come home. Ignoring the fact that the British Ministry offered the best Auror training program in the world, the Thorntons, especially Mrs. Thornton, had done their best to get Drew back into the states. Alternating between threats and bribes, nothing was working. The only thing they hadn't tried was cutting him off completely. Drew knew in his heart that they'd never stoop that low and he was pretty sure they knew it wouldn't work even if they tried.

Because aside from all of the regular seventh year things to stress him out, equally as important (and quite possibly more so) as an excellent Auror program, there was something else that made him want to stay at Hogwarts. Felicity had one more year and it killed him that he wasn't going to see her every day. He kept telling himself that the absences would make the reunions that much better, but considering her dad would be around most of the time, it wasn't very comforting.

At the moment, he was trying to forget all of that though. Classes were over for the day, dinner was in an hour, and his homework had been completed by tea time. Now was the time to relax, and the best place to do that was by the lake. He ran towards the water for no reason except to let loose some pent up energy, jumping over a rock or two and hurtling a fallen log that was in his path. With the lake in view, he almost didn't see the girl in the tree, but stopped with what would have been a loud screeeeeeech had he been in a cartoon.

"Hey you!" he called up, grinning at the girl in the branches. Just seeing her made his face light up and he couldn't help but remember the first time he had found her in this very tree. "Doing your Christmas angel impression again?"

[Felicity Hjort]

Pouring attention over the words on the paper, she didn't understand their concern. He hadn't asked her anything more than to offer her heart to him to keep, in return giving her his until it felt like the right timing to offer more. And something she knew, he wouldn't ask until the timing really was right, until they could really be together without obstacle or too many problems. Drew was brighter than that, he was a planner, he likely also knew she wouldn't accept until everything was right anyway. The thing was, her parents didn't seem to see it that way. In her dad's words, he was looking for a quick way to get something every teenage boy wanted, Felicity still wasn't sure what that meant, but she knew it likely wasn't supposed to be good.

While she heard the approach of another, the blonde didn't bother with looking up, preferring to be alone while she considered what her parents were trying to say, what she didn't understand, and what to write back without getting herself banned from seeing Drew that summer. The upcoming summer was all the time they had left, or so she felt, until the next June and even then, if things went well, she'd be going to Kenya soon afterwards. Maybe this was good preparation for that time? But if it was, she didn't like it.

Eyes glancing down, letter dropping from her hand and fluttering to the ground, the blonde quickly checked to make sure her ring hadn't fallen off as well. The only time she took it off was when she was in class for potions, care of magical creatures, and herbology, or when she was helping Davenport out. No need to lose it to a potion, creature, or a plant.

"Good evening sweetheart," she called out with a smile, despite her mood. It was hard not to smile when seeing Drew right in front of her, he always uplifted her spirits, even when he upset her about something, he could always turn it around. When he asked about what she was doing, Felicity scrunched her nose up and rolled her eyes. "I'm not still not sitting up high enough to be an angel, besides, you've known me a long time by now, do you really think I'm capable of being one?"

If her dad knew anything, he'd say no immediately and blame Drew. In a way, he had right to blame Drew with a few things, he was the only person Felicity had ever kissed or felt how she did about.

[Drew Thornton]

"Darlin'..." he drawled back up at her with a wide grin on his face, thinking she looked awfully cute in the tree whether she was right side up or right side down. He absolutely loved it when she called him pet names. There had been a time when he thought they were silly and overly mushy, but when they came from Felicity, they made the butterflies in his stomach do backflips.

He changed his plans, deciding he didn't want to go to the lake right that instant, and he jumped up to grab one of the lower branches, hanging there for a moment while he looked up at her. "You must be one of those low-flying Christmas angels then," he told her, "Because yeah, I do."

[Felicity Hjort]

Grinning when he called her darling, Felicity scrunched up her nose happily. It sounded so odd hearing him call her something like that, or anyone in general calling her a term of endearment, but she liked it. There was something exciting about hearing a name come from Drew in relation to talking to her. Love was her most used term, but sometimes she tried to branch out, using names she'd heard others use while in passing on her part. Most didn't seem right, like dear, she thought that one sounded much too much like a settled couple, and she refused to use it, but others, like babe she felt really odd about using. However, sweetheart was a safe one with her.

Feeling her mood brighten completely when he grabbed at one of the branches, Felicity scooted around, making sure to give lots of room on the branch where she was perched so he'd be able to share with her comfortably. But what he had to say made her blush like crazy. Her face heated over and all she could do was smile giddly down at him.

"You must not be paying close enough attention then, I'm disappointed in you," she told him playfully. "Or else I'm just being too angelic..." she continued, wiggling her eyebrows. "Come up here?" she called down, trying to pull a seductive sound, and knowing it never worked for her voice because she always wanted to laugh right afterwards about it, in which a small giggle escaped.

[Drew Thornton]

"Baby, I'm playing real close attention," he growled back with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. He couldn't pull off the wolf act really well, but it was fun to try. He also knew that if either of them went too far with the game, one if not both of them would probably back down and stop it. Not that it was a contest to see who would outlast the other, but in the meantime it was kind of fun to play.

She invited him up and he gave her a wide grin, swinging his legs up and over the next branch up and nimbly making his way up to where she sat. "Yes, ma'am!" he answered enthusiastically.

[Felicity Hjort]

Feeling her face warm over tenfold, Felicity tried to stop a surge of giggles, but in the end only made a squealing noise from trying. Their back and forth conversation was making her nervous, that butterflies finding even new tricks to pull with every syllable he spoke. "Are you sure you're not being distracted? Because last I knew, the things my dad always told me not to do because they're not angelic, I've done..."

Of course, she was only talking about kissing, as neither she nor Drew were willing to go beyond that, of which she was glad. It was nice that he shared that view with her, that things needed to wait, he wasn't anything like her dad said boys were like, she just wished her dad saw that.

However, when he exclaimed and clambered up to her, Felicity let the giggles loose. Excited as she was, she clapped her hands together and shifted a tad bit further from the base of the branch so he'd have room to sit there and she could snuggle close to him.

[Drew Thornton]

"If anyone can distract me, it's you," he answered back with a wide grin and he leaned in to kiss her on her cheek. The best part of this silly wolf and vixen game was it got her giggling and he loved that sound almost more than anything else.

He had to laugh, though, at her insistance that she wasn't angelic. There were, of course, many other things they could be doing, things Drew would be willing to at least try, so they weren't total demons. On the other hand, sure... some of those kissing sessions they had would probably get Drew strung up by his various body parts if Mr. Hjort found out.

"So what are you doing up here if you aren't being angelic?" he asked.

[Felicity Hjort]

Biting on her bottom lip lightly, Felicity glowed when he told her she distracted him. Not long before she might have gotten upset over something like that, as she wouldn't have understood what he meant, but she was trying to get better about stuff like that. It could be hard at times, especially when she knew she should understand but didn't, though Drew seemed to be pretty patient with her, which was really sweet of him. Accepting the peck on her cheek, Felicity waited for him to take a spot up before sliding closer on the branch to him.

"Reading and thinking," Felicity told him with a shrug. "I have another letter from mum and dad. I wrote them to explain what you'd given me for Valentine's Day," she motioned toward her hand, where the ring snugly sat with a bit of string strung around the band. "And they don't like it, nor do the understand why you gave me what you did."

Her dad didn't care much for the older boy, but her mum was usually great about him. However, even she was weary on the gift.

[Drew Thornton]

As his arm found its way around her, Drew sighed and fidgited slightly when she snuggled up to him and told him the situation. He felt uncomfortable that she had told her parents, but at the same time he wouldn't have wanted her to keep it a secret from them. He really didn't want any dishonesty between him and the Hjorts and besides, that was the whole point of giving her a ring she could wear all the time. Everyone would know they had promised each other.

"They... they don't understand why?" Drew asked, confused about what she had said. He could see how they might not like it, but he thought it was pretty obvious why he had given her the ring. "I gave it to you because I love you... It's... it's not an engagement. We're... we're too young for that... right?"

[Felicity Hjort]

Felicity shook her head in answer, letting him go on before saying anything more. They understood what promise rings were, the reason for them, but they didn't understand why he gave her one. In their opinion, his love for her (or what they preferred to believe as infatuation) could have been expressed through other means. A letter, a vocalized promise, even a kiss, but a ring was not needed.

"I think so," she answered honestly. "And I told them that it wasn't anything more than a promise, but they still don't like it, nor understand." And while even to the blonde it wasn't just a promise, not in that sense, hat it was much more meaningful than that, she had to tone down her own feelings about it while telling her parents. "They don't understand why you feel the need to tell me you love me with a ring. They even made reference and suggestions to other ways you could've told me."

Opening the letter, Felicity pointed out the various areas where her parents had done just that. "They think you could've written me a letter, or just told me. And they don't see why you needed to promise me anything like this."

While her parents didn't understand, Felicity was pretty sure she did. He loved her, she loved him, and she never wanted to lose him, nor did she ever want to feel how she did with him with anyone else. He might be her very first love, boyfriend, infatuation, she didn't care, she didn't want anyone else.

[Drew Thornton]

He knew they were young and neither of them were very knowledgable about relationships, but Drew knew that he loved her and he didn't want to lose her. Sure, he could have told her or written a letter. In fact he had done both of those tons of times already. It just wasn't the same as giving her something like a ring to wear. He wore the watch she gave him and she wore the ring.

"I promised you because I wanted to," he told her, still not sure why they didn't understand. He didn't expect them to like it (though obviously he prefered that they did) but he thought they knew how much he cared about Felicity. "I wanted to promise you because you're that important to me."

[Felicity Hjort]

Something her parents didn't know as Felicity hadn't felt the need to tell them of, were the numerous letters Drew had given her, each that was stacked with the rest, stored away safely in her trunk where no one could get to them and hurt them. They were precious to her, and she refused to allow any of the girls to get their messy hands on them, smudge anything, or tear them. Actually, she had everything he'd ever given her, except her quartz cut squirrel, which was smashed to pieces the previous January, or the little wooden bear he gave her on their first real date, and she was unaware of the whereabouts or the conditions of it any more.

"And I'm happy you did," she told him, allowing her hand to find his that wasn't attached to the arm around her. "Because you're just as important to me. I think it just scares them because I'm so far away and they haven't had as much time to know you as I have, but it really doesn't help when dad limits the time you're allowed to come over. I know mum likes you, but I don't see why she doesn't like it either. Jacob was sixteen when he gave Ashley a promise ring and she was the same age. I know it's kind of different because I'm their child and sixteen, and a girl, but it really shouldn't be any different, should it?"

As much as it bothered Drew, it bothered Felicity equally as much. Why wouldn't her parents understand that she was head over heels, completely in love with him? Was it that difficult to accept that she'd found someone she loved so much?

[Drew Thornton]

"You're almost 17," Drew told her, thinking it was a huge double standard if it was okay for Jacob to give his girl the same kind of promise when he had been two years younger than Drew was now. Of course, the Hjorts weren't the only ones with double standards. Before her seventh year, Allegra had been given a job through family contacts, allowing her to stay in London. On the other hand, his parents had done everything they could to get him to go home and as far from Felicity as they could get him.

"They're getting married," he continued, feeling like it really wasn't fair. Both he and Felicity were the youngest children and it was like the rules changed by the time things got to them. "So they could figure it out at 16, but we can't?"

[Felicity Hjort]

Sighing defeatedly, she didn't know what to say. While seventeen meant she was an adult by all technicalities in the ministry's eyes, she wouldn't be considered an adult by her dad until she was at least eighteen, and that was praying for a miracle. And the reminder that her cousin and his fiancee were to marry made the blonde shuffle through a few more things in her hands, so she wouldn't forget to ask him, but right now wasn't the time.

"They are getting married, in early August," she added softly. "But Drew, the thing is, I'm sixteen, just like Jacob was, but Jacob isn't my parents child either. He's my cousin. They had a hand in raising him, but that doesn't mean he's theirs. I know David gave Ruth a ring too, when they were at university, but they were older, too. I know my parents are afraid I'm too young, that you're too old for me, but you're not even a year and a half older, and Harold is much older than Raquel, he's almost six years older." Then again, they waited a long time before anything.

"I think that maybe telling them face-to-face would be easier, but now that I've told them through mail, they're going to want to keep the conversation going, I just don't know how else to explain it to them. It's a promise, it's not technically set in stone," though she wanted more than anything for it to be. "And it's a way to show everyone that I belong to you, and only you, and that I agree and want no one else in my life, right?"