“Don’t take too long, Felix!” she called. She smiled to herself. Felicity knew that Felix and Izzy had some making up to do after the incident with Greta.
Izzy eyed Felix coolly. “Hello.” She started to walk away, but Felix stuck out an arm and grabbed her. Several packages tumbled to the ground. Felix hurriedly bent down to retrieve them, his ears turning red from embarrassment. Izzy knew that the friendly thing to do would be to help him pick them up, but she did not feel like being friendly to Felix King. Still, she retrieved a small package lying at her feet. As she bent down to pick it up, her hand met Felix’s. Izzy stood up quickly and Felix followed her lead, all packages in hand.
“Izzy, I want to…um,” Felix faltered. He could see it would be useless to apologize to her. “I want to know if you could come over to the hotel. We still need an extra player, you know.”
Izzy looked Felix in the eye. “Felix King,” she snapped, “in case you haven’t noticed, I am not a boy. I have other things on my mind than playing some dumb game.”
“But--,” Felix started. Izzy cut him off.
“And furthermore, you don’t need to ask me to play anymore games with you because I’m not interested.” Izzy turned on her heel and left Felix standing in the road. He was dumbfounded. Izzy not want to play a sport? What had happened to her? Felix watched the retreating girl. Girl. Felix felt like kicking himself. He had never even noticed that Izzy was acting more like a girl. How nice she had looked in that dress at the lighthouse. How her hair looked so much more feminine down on her back than pulled back. The way she had clung to his arm at the bachelor’s dance.
She’s almost… Felix cut off his thought. Izzy must have just been having a bad day. She would never give up the chance to play a sport. Felix shook his head, confused, and started home.
* * * * *
The next morning Izzy couldn’t keep her mind on things. She barely touched her toast and drank only one sip of tea, burning herself in the process. Finally, Clive told her to go out for a walk.
“Anywhere,” he told her. “Go to the beach; it would do you some good.”
Izzy followed his advice and headed down the main road. She enjoyed having the wind on her face and the grass whip around her ankles. Occasionally she would stoop down to pick on of the many blooming wild flowers. A small bouquet started forming in her hand and she stuck a few of the flowers behind her ear.
Soon after she had started out, Izzy heard a creaking, jostling sound. A bicycle. Izzy realized with a start that this was about the time Felix went to work and that he took this road! Izzy straightened her shoulders and kept walking.
Soon, Felix’s voice called, “Hey Izzy!” But Izzy just bent to pick another flower and added it to her little bouquet.
“Izzy, hold on! Wait…Iz!” Felix’s pleading voice compelled Izzy to stop and sharply turn around.
“What?” she asked.
Felix was slightly taken aback by this behavior. He wanted to restore their relationship very badly but was caught off-guard.
“Izzy, I want to apologize,” he said.
“For what?” Izzy asked sarcastically.
“For, well, for everything. I honesty didn’t know it…was you in…the light…” his voice trailed off. Izzy’s cheeks had turned pink. “In the lighthouse,” he finished. “I though you were, uh, someone else--,” Izzy cut him off.
“Who exactly is Greta?” she asked.
“Well…” Felix looked at Izzy. Her loose hair hung softly down her back and a few colorful flowers were tucked behind her ear. Felix had to admit, she looked pretty. “She’s no one.” At Izzy’s small smile he added, “No one at all.”
They walked on in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Izzy broke the silence.
“Felix?”
“Hmmm?”
“Is the offer still up for the game?” She felt foolish asking but she knew that this was a way to make things right.
“For you, Izzy,” Felix responded looking at her with a lopsided grin, “it always is.”