19. Give and Take (1/2)

19 – give and take

ben cocked an eye

ow, glancing

aside at felicity as he paid for part of their grocery bill. "i am taking a

twenty out of my

and-new, really nice wallet. see?" he waved the wallet at

the cashier. "isn't this the nicest wallet you ever saw? isn't it cool?"

the girl at the register smiled,

obviously puzzled by his announcement and blushed under his playful grin.

"it's—it's really nice," she nodded.

ben gave a matter-of-fact nod.

"yes, it is." he tilted his head at felicity. "she bought it for me. wouldn't

you say she has very good taste?"

giggling now, felicity ducked

behind him. "ben, you're embarrassing me!" she hissed.

he raised his eye

ows and moved

out from in front of her. "i'm just showing off my new wallet, here. i want

this girl's opinion on my very nice wallet."

"she has excellent taste," the

girl laughed, playing along. she took ben's twenty and finished ringing up the

groceries. "i think she made a great choice."

"she did," ben agreed, taking

felicity's hand to prevent her from escaping. he picked up the grocery bags in

his other hand and gave the cashier a solemn nod. "well, thank you. thank you

very much for your input. have a great afternoon."

as they walked to the car,

felicity burst into another fit of giggles. "you are… you're just impossible!"

ben laughed in response. "i'm

proud of my wallet. this is some wallet." he

andished it at her and put it in

his back pocket. "i'll drive."

"oh, no, you don't. i think you

purposely hit every rock and pothole on every unpaved road we had to take to

get here. mickey's going to murder us when this trip is over." fizzing with

humor, felicity snatched the keys from him and unlocked his door, then went

around to the driver's side to open her own door.

"oh, so we're back on my bad

driving, are we? i make a point of showing that girl how nice my wallet is, and

what good taste my girlfriend has, and i'm getting crap for it?"

felicity froze, standing outside

the open driver's side door. "say that again."

"which part?" when she didn't answer,

his smile

oadened. "oh, the 'girlfriend' part?" he

rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a helpless grin. "it is kind of weird

to say it…but it's nice."

there is no way i'm ever coming down from this cloud, she thought,

glowing, as they got into the car.

the trip back to the cabin was

long but pleasant. they'd had to leave the park to find a grocery store that

was relatively inexpensive, but considering the scenery—and the

company—felicity didn't mind in the least. they were silent for most of the

trip, but she didn't mind that, either.

- - - - -

ben tapped his fingers against

his leg in half-hearted tempo with the song on the radio. he smiled at the

dreamy look on her face, then looked away out the passenger window and dissolved

into a private frown. i can't tell her.

if she finds out how much i spent on this cabin, she's going to want us to stay

in some cheap hole in the earth. he could hear the whole scenario in his

head. first she'd get that stunned look on her face. then she'd get all

stubborn and start insisting that they find another place to stay because he

needed the money for college next fall. if she found out he'd charged it on one

of those stupid credit cards from the mail, she'd really blow her stack about

it. whatever. i'll get a good job this summer and make up

the money. after paying for that new tire, i'd better. he glanced back at

felicity. she was singing along with the radio. he smiled again. if i've got to work a few

extra hours or pick up a second job, so what?

he remembered their conversation

back in washington when she'd

said that her father stayed at the ritz carlton. being a doctor must have a lot

of perks if the hospital was willing to pay for him to stay at a place like the

ritz. he wondered if felicity were used to the nice things money could buy. her

father was putting her through college, even though

she'd decided to come to new york

instead of go to stanford. his father

wouldn't do that. ben was expected to pay back his loans when he graduated. that's if i graduate. if i

even figure out what i'm going to be.

he'd been teasing her about the

wallet back there in the grocery store, but he meant what he said about it

being the nicest thing anyone had ever given him. especially since it came with

no strings attached. he'd never gotten that

kind of present before. he felt compelled to give her something in return, even

though she hadn't asked, so he resolved to keep his mouth shut about where the

cabin money had come from. he gave an inward sigh, watching her sing. i'm not going to cheap out on this with her.

i'm just going to enjoy this and let her enjoy it, and deal with the money

later. she should have nice stuff.

felicity looked over at him.

"you're kind of quiet. what's wrong?"

he fidgeted for something to say