icarus falls • felix catton

TWO

  two's theme - spice up your life - the spice girls 

Life had gotten better for Ariadne. She had friends who loved her and she had rekindled her friendships with Felix and Farleigh in the wake of her break up with Eliot. It was hard at first, seeing him everyday, but to her disbelief he had fallen out of favour with Felix's group of friends and had to resort to hanging out with nobodies.

They had all arranged to meet up in the Kings Arms that evening, Achilles' first drinking haunt at Oxford to celebrate hers and Achilles birthday. She would now be older than him for the first time and it terrified her. She always used to be teased by him that he was 40 minutes older but now, when the clock struck midnight he would be stuck as an 19 year old dead boy and she would be a 20 year old alive woman. Felix had an inkling about this and decided that he needed to get her out on the town before her mind convinced her that this was the wrong thing to do and cancel her plans for the evening. 

This was why Felix was lounging around on her bed while Ariadne had whipped up a storm of colourful fabrics on her bedroom floor. 

'I like the red Ari' he uttered as he stared at her ceiling, mindlessly chucking a bouncy ball up and catching it in his hands, his brown, shaggy hair covering his eyes, limiting his vision. 

'You only like it because its your favourite' Ariadne rebutted, a ghost of a smile on her face, secretly hoping he would choose the red baby tee, she bought it knowing he would love it on her. She had been correct after all.

'Not true' Felix had a shit eating grin on his face, he was lying, he loved the shirt. But the thought occurred to him that he wanted to rip it off her body more. 'Did I tell you someone saved my life yesterday?' he chuckled as Ari whipped her head round, curious to know more about Felix's mystery saviour who he would not shut up about after tutorial. Felix had only mentioned his bike tyre popping and that's why he was 20 minutes late again. 

'Go on' she mused, intercepting the ball and holding it away from him. Felix bolted up and tried to retrieve the ball, grabbing air as Ariadne moved away from him. 

'He said his name was Oliver and he lent me his bicycle so I could get to class' Felix reached for the ball again, tackling Ariadne to the floor in the process which led them to a compromising position. Felix hovered over her, while she was in her denim skirt and bra. His eyes flicked down to her pale, freckled chest and darted back up to her ice blue irises. Her eyes were drawn to his lips, his full pink lips that looked so inviting as she unconsciously leaned up towards them. He leaned down to her and a ghost of a touch blew across the pair's lips. 

Someone banged on the door. 

'Guys... c'mon open up. I don't care if you are shagging, you promised me pre-drinks.' whined an American drawl that could only be attributed to one person. Their favourite person. Farleigh. 

Ariadne scrambled out beneath Felix to get the door but was met with a curtain of red fabric over her eyes. 

'Put the shirt on before you get the door, you idiot' Felix looked between her and the door as she pulled the shirt on over her head. Ariadne flipped him off, as he did so in return and then opened the door. Farleigh stood at the door, a vodka bottle in either hand, with the promise of getting absolutely fucked tonight. 

The pub was loud and crammed. She was tucked between Farleigh and Felix as conversation flowed right over her head. Well wishes and happy birthdays were all that she received all night, she hoped this year would be better than the last. No dead people. Farleigh shook her, saying it was her turn to get around. She went to get up but Felix was in the way, his long legs creating a barrier around the round table, like these people were knights and that Felix was their King Arthur and she was his Guinevere. He moved his legs but caught her wrist before she could leave and muttered in her ear 'Tequila shots or Jagerbombs?' he tilted his head back chuckling when she said Tequila. He knew her too well and she loved to see him smile and laugh.