He Loved Me First ✓

He Loved Me First (16)

Chapter 16

After Felicity and I broke away from the kiss, we sat down breathlessly on her couch. I suddenly realized we were all alone. I jumped up, startling her, and pulled open the curtains in the living room. “Oh. OH!” she said, realizing why I had done what I had. It was for the same reason that I stayed somewhere else the night before. “When did you become the wise one in this relationship?”

“What do you mean? You're very wise, Felicity,” I told her.

“You've far surpassed me.”

“I don't believe that for even a second,” I said. I didn't. I learned far more from her still than she could learn from me in a lifetime, I was sure of it.

“I know you don't. That's what makes you you,” she smiled at me.

Two weeks later, Felicity told me that I was going to dinner with her, and I would be meeting her whole family, all six siblings. She promised that it was her parents she wasn't sure about, but that the rest would love me. I wasn't quite so sure, but I went anyway. I was excited for this.

Felicity opened the door and let me walk in first. I saw a young boy chasing a girl slightly younger than him around the room. They were both laughing, but they stopped the second they saw Felicity. They both ran to her, shouting her name. They almost tackled her to the ground, hugging her so tightly. Another girl and three more boys greeted her. No one seemed to notice me until they had all given her a hug. “Hello, I'm Peter,” one of the older boys said, holding out his hand to me. “You are?”

“Oliver,” I said, shaking his hand.

“Oh, Peter, why do you always have to be such a gentleman and introduce yourself first?” another asked.

“David, he'll let you go first the next time. Okay?” Felicity said. He just grinned at her in response. I knew this had to have been Peter's twin.

I was introduced to Joseph next, the middle child. Agnes shyly told me her name. The two younger ones I saw running around earlier tried very hard to be patient as they waited for their turn. The boy was about to tell me his name when they girl shouted that her name was Lucy. I said hello to her and turned my attention to the boy. He then told me his name was Isaiah.

The older ones backed up and gave me a little space as I told them about myself. The younger ones crowded around, seemingly fascinated by what I had to say. “So...you're Felicity's boyfriend?” Agnes asked me.

I smiled at her. “Yes,” I said.

“I have a boyfriend!” Lucy proudly told me.

“Lucy, just because he's a boy and your friend does not mean he's your boyfriend,” Felicity told her.

“It does so!” I laughed at the two of them. I knew then that I really liked her family, as crazy as they were. I wished I had more siblings, so that we could have had this much fun.

“I want a big family,” I whispered to Felicity. “At least eight children. We have to outdo your family.”

Her eyes glimmered and she asked, “How about nine?”

“Perfect!” We both smiled.

I felt accomplished as I walked away that evening. I was invited to come back, and I did that in the coming months. Christmas was very close, and at the end of another dinner, Lucy came up to me and asked if I was coming to her birthday party. “Do you want me to come?” I asked her.

“Yes! You have to come! Pretty please?” she asked me.

“Okay, then I wouldn't miss it for the world,” I told her. She gave me the happiest smile I'd ever seen, except for maybe the smile that her sister had given me about two years before when I told her of how my life had been flipped upside down. Or rather, right side up.

Lucy's birthday was December 13th, and it had happened to be on Friday the 13th that year. She didn't mind so much. Isaiah tried to tease her about it, but nothing could faze her. When I walked in, she ran to give me a hug, even before she gave one to Felicity. “Hey, you little munchkin!” she told her youngest sister, “What about me?” Lucy hugged her.

The party ran on. When her friends and family were distracted, Lucy came over to me and asked, “When are you going to marry Felicity?”

I was stunned by her question, but it was an honest one, and it deserved an honest answer. “Well,” I said slowly, “we haven't really talked about it. But don't you think this should be between me and your sister?” She wasn't very happy with my answer, but she ran off anyway.

I went over to Felicity and whispered to her, “The birthday girl just asked me when I was going to marry you.”

“What?” she asked. “What did you tell her?”

“I told her that we hadn't really talked about it. But I think maybe we should. Talk about it, I mean.”

“Oh. Yes! But we'll have to do it later.”

I nodded to her. We decided to talk about it after the party, which we did.

“I can't believe she asked you that!” Felicity said. We were in her apartment, sitting in the kitchen.

“I know! I almost didn't know what to say,” I said. Silence broke in. I then said, “Well, when are we getting married?”

Felicity was silent for a few moments. “Oliver,” she said carefully, “does something feel off to you about our relationship? Like maybe it's not supposed to be?”

“You're talking about how you think it isn't God's will.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes.”

I sighed. “Are we breaking up again?”

“I think we have to. Maybe I'm still supposed to marry you. I don't know. But what I do know is that it's not going to happen right now.”

“I know,” I said.

“But we're still going to be best friends. Nothing will ever change that.” I knew it was true when she said it the first time, and it was still true now. Nothing could ever separate us.