The Hopeful, The Hardheaded and the Homework

Chapter 32: Blink and You'll Miss It : Olive

"You probably shouldn't have just gone, you know."

"Ya sound like my mum, ain't no big deal, no one was even 'ome anyway. I ain't exactly a kid, Olive. Mum treats me like one enough as is."

Olive blushed a little and wrinkled her nose at Enoch's sarcasm. "I didn't say you were." She reached for his hand and found it tucked into the pocket of his coat instead of open for her. He had been stoic and unresponsive as ever all afternoon except for the twenty minutes in which he'd consented to hold her hand during the movie. Enoch hadn't seemed in a good mood at all, not that he ever really was, but Olive could certainly see a difference, since the day he'd faked sick last week and nor had he been inclined to tell her what had happened after she left. Olive wasn't surprised at all by that, in fact, she would have been more surprised if he had told her anything but she was sure it at a lot to do with Enoch's extra sour mood lately.

Did she feel sorry for him? Very much, and she knew far better than to tell him that. Enoch wouldn't take pity, he'd be insulted instead of seeing it like she cared about him. And boy, did she care about him. Even if it hardly seemed fair to just say "care" anymore.

Despite it being the longer way, much to Enoch's chagrin Olive had managed to persuade him to walk home with her one of the park ways. Coming towards the end of January, it had finally snowed with more conviction and body than it had done for several years in London. A snow that was more assuredly snow and stuck to the ground rather than melting into slush before a flake could land. It probably wouldn't last long, and would melt away soon enough but Olive wanted very much to enjoy it while it lasted.

A sudden, and completely mad, idea stuck her and Olive couldn't help a wide, amused grin stretching across her face as she let go of Enoch's arm where she'd relented and held that instead of his hand.
He clearly noticed and stopped on the spot suddenly enough that Olive didn't realise for a step or two. She turned to see Enoch staring at her slightly suspiciously.
"What?...What's so funny?" If his raised eyebrow and narrowed eyes didn't scream suspicion his low tone certainly did and for a moment Olive was sure he'd just read her mind anyway. It seemed he could do that sometimes.

"Nothing!" She chirped perfectly innocently, like she wasn't imagining how Enoch would react if she threw a snowball at him, and Enoch didn't seem to buy it at first.

"Uh huh..."

"Seriously." Olive hopped back over to stand in front of him and smiled up at him. She could practically feel the blood in her face rushing to her cheeks against the cold. "I'm just happy. You know I'm a happy person."

"Understatement of the bloomin' century." Her boyfriend scoffed but seemed convinced enough as he gently nudged her shoulder as he stepped around to keep going.
Olive lingered just half a second to bend down and gather a handful of snow the moment Enoch was a few steps ahead. She held her gloved hands behind her back, compacting the snow together behind her, and ran a few steps to catch up, huffing and pretending to be frustrated.
"Enoch, your legs are a lot longer than mine, you could wait for me."

"Could. Probably won't." He shrugged with only a cursory little glance at her, giving no indication that he knew what she was up to.

There were two possible outcomes of Olive going through with it. One, Enoch would glare at her but be as determined to win as she suspected he could get, and retaliate. Or two, and it was probably a lot more likely, he'd huff and get annoyed with her and proceed to ignore her for the rest of the day. Even if that was the case, and he did get annoyed with her for a little bit, Olive very much wanted to find out. She stole a look around. They were nearly alone anyway, no one would think anything of it if they saw at all. Enoch would be the only one who cared in the least.