New Beginnings: Year One

Chapter 8

Chapter 8, Goodbyes and Hopeless Dreams

The kiss did not last long. Marshal pulled away after a few seconds of their lips touching. It was enough for Fionna's feels to over whelm her. She was lost in a mix of her own hurt, happiness and sweet bliss. The moment Marshal pulled back she was on her feet. She moved over to the window and flung it open, taking deep breaths. She tried to even out her breathing. Marshal stayed on the bed, sitting up as he thought he had done something wrong. Fionna turned to him and gave a grimace of a smile.

"Sorry… Sometimes I have anxiety attacks when something I really want to happen happens by surprise…" She shrugged awkwardly, carefully walking back to the bed. She sat next to him, occasionally glancing at him as they stayed in silence.

When Marshal finally broke the silence, his words were heavy. "Did I do something wrong?" He was overthinking things, he had not touched her in an inappropriate way, had not made any sort of advancement move, he had done everything in opposite of what his instincts told him. He looked up at her, deep sadness permeating from his eyes. The look made Fionna want to cry.

She shook her head, leaning over she gave him a quick kiss, before taking his hand. "Was just unexpected." She gave him a smile, which he returned almost immediately. She squeezed his hand gently, curling up against his side.

"I didn't mean to freak you out…" He leaned back against her, carefully wrapping his arm around her slim body, still holding her hand in his.

Fionna rolled her eyes and nudged him gently. He replied with a grunt and fell back onto the bed taking her with him.

"Is it okay if you stay the night?" Fionna lifted her head enough to look at him. His eyes were half closed as he tried to stifle a yawn. Marshal gave a halfhearted shrug.

"If I get in trouble so be it.

Fionna smiled, reaching up to flip her light off. She curled herself up to him, forming against his form. 'One night can't hurt anything.' She told herself before drifting off to sleep. Something in the back of her conscious mind telling her she was opening a jar of trouble for them both.

~Three weeks later, just after thanksgiving timeish~

Fionna found herself spending most of her time with Marshal. They had not kissed since the night of the party. They held each other's hand, and often Fionna sat in Marshal's lap when they were alone. They spent countless hours talking, finding out more about the others fears, and joys. A few times they would sing together, writing songs about nonsensical things.

It wasn't until the holiday break began creeping up on them, that Fionna realized how sadden she had become by the thought of not getting to see Marshal every day. Through the last few days they had together, Fionna began find reasons to see Marshal. Twice she had blown Cake off, telling her a ridiculous story about some project the two were working on so she could sneak off and see him without trying to hurt her friend's feelings

It went on that way even to the last moment that Cake and she had to leave for their train. Cake ended up having to drag Fionna away from Marshal and force her into their cab so they could make it.

During the train ride, it was all Fionna could do not to drive Cake insane with her stories about what she and Marshal had done over the weeks. The two best friends rode in silence; Cake had no desire to send Fionna into a Marshal frenzy.

As their time together began to dwindle down to minutes, Fionna finally found something the two could talk about.

"What kind of clothes should I bring back for winter?"

Her one innocent question caused Pandora's Box to be filled with fashion tips that over flowed Fionna's mind. At one point in the topic she had cake pause so she could start taking notes. It was the most fun the two friends had had in days.

Unfortunately as the saying went all good things must come to an end. Fionna and Cake were torn apart by the hands of time. Cake hugged her friends five times before hopping off the train. She continued to wave until Fionna could no longer see her best friend in the distance. Sighing she went back to her seat, humming to herself. She still had a few more stops before she would finally be home with her mother.

Her mother.

The thought reminded her of the text she had received three days after the party in the cabin. It had been odd that her mother had not responded right away. It had been even odder that when she did respond all she said was, 'We'll talk about it over winter break.' She had nearly four weeks with her mother, she did not want any of that time to be wasted on silly misunderstandings about boys.

Fionna shook her head, pushing the thought to the back of her mind. She would deal with it when the time came.

As she opened the door to her compartment, she was greeted by an unknown person sitting in Cakes spot. She eyed the male, taking a moment before making her presence known. The boy was sitting with his back to her, looking out the window. Slowly he turned, pulling his hood down. Fionna was first greeted by an unruly amount of blonde hair. Once she was over the shock of finding someone who kept their hair much like her own, she looked into his blue eyes, scowling at him.

"Uh do you mind dude?"

The boy shrugged, looking back out the window. He remained silent.

Fionna glared at him before taking her seat. She pulled out her music player, over the weeks she and Marshal had filled the device with original and covers of music they had recorded on Simon's computer, each uploading the songs onto devices they could use. Fionna picked a song Marshal had written for her, and plunged into the music, ignoring the boy who shared her compartment.

Her ears filled with Marshals voice. She was taking away from the train, her eyes closed, as she let herself drift further away from her reality. She never wanted the moment to end. So when the train came to a halt at her stop, she sighed heavily, pulling an ear bud from her ears as she grabbed her duffle bag, heading off the train.

Her mother was the first person she saw. Both of them shared a smile, before running to each other. They shared a long hug, her mother kissing Fionna's head a few times as tears ran down her face. Fionna had tears in her eyes as she clung to her mother, laughing at the silliness of them both. Finally when they parted, Fionna saw her father's parents standing a few feet from them, the boy from the train standing with them. Confusion filled Fionna. Before her mother could stop them, her grandparents marched over.

"Fionna love, we'd like you to meet Finn, your Fiancé."