Octavia had no idea what to expect when Cappie picked up her Saturday night. Normally, whenever they hung out, they’d do something pretty casual or with a group of friends, but this time she had no clue. He’d told her to trust him, and even though she did trust him… mostly, she couldn’t help but wonder what he had planned in order for it to be a big secret. There were a ton of different scenarios running through her mind, but for all she knew, this was his weird way of taking her to some hole-in-the-wall restaurant he’d discovered.
No matter what he had in mind, she was open to just about anything, but that didn’t stop her from trying to take random guesses on the ride over to where ever they were going. Some of her guesses were pretty mild, like the aforementioned dinner or going to see one of the local bands play in town. Other guesses went to skydiving, getting tattoos, or driving to meet his secret imaginary friend outside of town.
She made note of the direction they were headed, but after a while Cappie insisted that she put on a blindfold. Octavia had given him a ‘you’re serious?’ type of look, but eventually complied and made her guesses to where they were going even more outrageous. He made a few more turns, some probably to throw her off course, and after a few more minutes they finally came to a stop.
Octavia took his hand when he helped her out of the car and let him lead her down what felt like a path instead of a road or sidewalk. She knew they were still outside, and her other senses seemed to tell her that they were headed away from the road and into some woods. “If I start to hear Dueling Banjos playing off in the distance, I’m so going to kick your ass,” she teased as they walked. “How much farther are we going?”
Cappie hadn’t felt this psyched up about anything in years. Not even this summer’s tour had filled him with such an overwhelming sense of nervous excitement. It had taken him weeks to work up the courage to enact this plan but, now that it was all happening, the world seemed to have speeded up around him, carrying him forward at breakneck speed. All he could do was stick to the plan, which he had rehearsed a million times in his head, and keep his fingers crossed.
“Not much farther,” Cappie replied, steering her gently along the woodland path with his hands on her shoulders. He’d trodden this path more times than he cared to remember over the last couple of days, whilst setting up ready for tonight, so it was easy to retrace his steps and find the way, even in the dark. Coming up with something witty to reply to her Duelling Banjos comment with, however, was presently eluding him. Tense silence would have to do for the time being.
Eventually they reached the spot. Cappie positioned Octavia just right before letting go of her shoulders and darting forward, so he could stand directly in her line of sight.
“Okay,” he said, taking a deep breath. “You can look.
As weird as this was, Octavia felt this weird nervousness the further he led her into the woods. It was the butterflies in your stomach kind of nerves rather any sort of fear. So many different scenarios of what this was ran through her mind, but ultimately she was coming up empty. Finally, he stopped her and said she could look, so she pulled down her blindfold and opened her mouth to gasp but nothing actually came out.
Cappieland? Octavia’s lips curled into a half smile, but she also still felt a little confusion. She looked all around. Past him to the table and at the setting and up at all the lights in the trees. “You did all of this?” She asked, still confused as to the why, although, the look on his face when he looked at her started to give the secret away.
“Why?” She asked him. “I mean, it’s beautiful, but what’s the occasion?”
“Cappieland is magic; you can’t rationalise it,” he told her, ignoring her question and beckoning her forward into the glen. He was nervous, she could probably see it on his face and in his body language, but he was starting to get into his stride and seeing the stunned and enchanted look on her face when she’d first seen the decorated clearing had given him the courage he needed to do this right.
“In Cappieland, all kinds of amazing things can happen,” he said, a smile spreading across his face, making his eyes twinkle in the lantern light. “Wishes can be granted, dreams can come true, things can be transformed before your eyes.”
He reached out, taking her hand and pulling her close, so he could whisper to her, “Would you like to see some magic?”
"Wishes, huh?" Octavia just gave him a look and couldn't help but return the smile he gave her. Something about that smile was contagious. She kept her eye on him but also still couldn't help but keep looking around at this 'Cappieland' he'd somehow created. He'd told her earlier in the week that he'd been busy, and she guessed he really was if he was fixing up this.
A shiver ran up her spine at the whispered question in her ear. There had always been something between them for a while, but their timing had always sucked. Given how their last night out had gone, and his revelation that he was starting to see one of his old girlfriends again, she'd just assumed that timing would never be on their side. But right now? Maybe it was.
"Yes," she said squeezed his hand a bit without realizing it. She had no idea what sort of magic he had in mind, but the setting already looked pretty damn magical to her. “What kind of magic? Does this make you a wizard?”
Cappie felt his heart miss a beat when O squeezed his hand, he guessed, in encouragement. He nodded, slowly, his smile becoming more sly as he wetted his lips.
“You’re going to be impressed,” he told her, beginning to feel a little of confidence he was feigning. He let go of her hand and stepped back a little, holding his arms out in demonstration.
“Looking at me now, I bet I look completely normal, right? Just your friend Cappie.” He grinned, letting his hands fall back to his side. “But I’m going to do something amazing right now. I’m going to transfigure myself into something completely different. All you need to do is close your eyes and say the magic word: Cappiecadabra…” He laughed, noting the stupidity of it all, but nodded for her to do as he said.
Octavia narrowed her eyes a little in suspicion when he stood in front of her and bit back another smile. Cappie the magician was acting all kinds of crazy, and as adorable as it was, she was ready to see what he was hiding behind the curtain.
"Yeah, my really weird friend Cappie," she said with a laugh and gave him a look. Cappiecadabra? Really? She thought he might have been kidding at first, but he seemed to insist on her saying the totally crazy magic word. But alright, she'd play along.
She closed her eyes and took a breath before declaring, "Cappiecadabra!" and waved her arm a little for effect. Eyes still closed, she waited to see what came next.
For a moment, Cappie had worried that Octavia was going to call bullshit and stop playing along. He hadn’t really factored that kind of scenario into his equation. He didn’t have a plan B. Luckily, however, she stopped protesting and did as he asked.
This was it. This was the moment he’d been waiting for. His heart hammering in his throat, he took a little step forward, close to her, before stooping to press his lips to hers. He had spent so long planning how he should kiss her - open mouth, closed mouth, embrace, no embrace, long, short - but now he was in the moment he found he’d forgotten everything he’d decided on. All he could focus on was the feel of her soft, warm mouth against his. He found that his hand had risen to gently cup her cheek and he let his thumb move softly across the smooth skin of her face.
Eventually, he pulled back just a hair’s breadth. He could feel her breath, hot and moist, against his lips.
“See?” he murmured, his voice sounding gruff and thick. “Not just your weird friend Cappie any more, right?”
She could feel him step closer before he kissed her, and her heart sped up practically beating out of her chest. Even though she knew it was coming, Octavia was still surprised the moment it happened. Cappie's lips met hers, and she found herself leaning into him until he pulled away just enough so that they were looking at one another.
Octavia's eyes blinked open, and she stared into his eyes. "I thought..." she started but then shook the thought away. Nevermind what she thought. That obviously didn't matter now, or it was a conversation to have later. Definitely not right now.
A smile slowly spread across her lips. "You're still a little weird," Octavia teased him lightly. "But that was a pretty impressive magic trick." One that she wouldn't mind experiencing again. So, she paused a short moment before leaning in to kiss him again and rested a hand against his arm.
Cappie gave a relieved sigh when Octavia finally spoke and called him weird. When she’d started to say something then stopped again, he’d felt certain that she was going to tell him she wasn’t into it, that he’d read all the signs wrong and that she wanted them to just be friends, like they always had been. Teasing, on the other hand, was a good sign. Kissing was even better. A wide grin spread across his face, even as he engulfed her in his arms and kissed her back.
~
"How long did it take you to set this up?" Octavia asked after eating a couple more bites of food. Looking around at the set up - the table, the food, the lights - all of it was really beautiful. Knowing that he'd set all of it up for her? Well, Cappieland was a big hit as far as she was concerned.
After they'd firmly established the magic of being more than friends, he'd shown her the picnic he'd brought along. It wasn't anything fancy, but Octavia wasn't exactly the fancy type. A romantic picnic in the woods was definitely more her speed.
"You know you've set the bar for future dates really high now, huh?" She joked.
“A while,” Cappie chuckled enigmatically in response to her question. It had taken him the best part of the day to get everything just right and that wasn’t including all the time he’d spent planning, begging and borrowing to get all the stuff he needed to make Cappieland a reality. Still, it had been worth it: Octavia was absolutely worth it.
“Dammit,” Cappie jokingly scolded himself. “At this rate I’m going to have to serenade you on the banks of the River Seine before we even get to second base.”
“Nah,” she shook her head. “I’m a simple girl. “A little serenading in a boat on the lake would do just fine.” Octavia grinned as she took a sip of her drink. “But the boat better be all fancy,” she joked and pointed up to the lights as an example of her meaning.
She was mostly finished eating, so she took another sip of her drink as she thought over another question that she’d been curious about since the night began. “So…. how long had you been planning this?” She asked but took one of his hands in hers. “I mean, not necessarily this specifically, but,” she gestured between them with her free hand. “This. A couple a weeks ago I thought we might have missed each other again.”
Octavia definitely didn’t want to make things awkward, and it wouldn’t be for her no matter what his answer was. Obviously, whatever she’d thought she’d sensed with him the last time they’d gone out for drinks was totally off the map, but that was a good thing. Definitely a good thing.
Cappie laughed: a genuine, happy laugh.
“I can manage a fancy boat,” he reassured her, grinning. “Besides, I bought all the fairy lights. I might as well use them again.”
Cappie paused and picked up his drink to take a sip, buying himself a few moments while he thought about how to answer her question. It wasn’t an easy answer. He’d liked her since they’d met and around the time they’d almost hooked up he’d been driven near crazy with thoughts of her. But then they’d fizzled out - they’d done the right thing and backed off from each other - and in time he’d met Rebecca and committed to her. It wasn’t that he’d exactly forgotten his feelings for Octavia in that time, just that he’d made the conscious effort to put Rebecca first and give her the love and attention she deserved. When it had become clear that their relationship had been slowly dying, however, he hadn’t been able to stop his mind wandering and wondering what if.
“What, Pippa, you mean?” he asked, catching on to her meaning about missing each other. He shook his head, frowning. “No, that was never…” He trailed off, wondering how to explain. “Okay, so I may be a bit of a dick sometimes but, generally, I like to think I’m a good guy.” He hoped she agreed with him.
“But Pippa… I wasn’t a good guy to her and that’s never sat well with me. When she started speaking to me again at our party, it kinda seemed like the time had come to smooth things over and make it right.” And it had been kind of nice to be reminded of what it felt like to be young and in love for the first time but Octavia didn’t need to hear that. The truth was that Cappie wasn’t the guy who’d dated Pippa all those years ago and that was exactly what had become painfully clear on their date that wasn’t a date. Both of them had grown up and moved on and while the memories were still electric and full of passion, the spark just wasn’t there any more. If anything, the whole thing had just proved to Cappie that the way he felt about Octavia was special and something that he absolutely shouldn’t ignore any longer.
“I wanted to catch you before you went to Yellowstone,” he admitted, returning to answer the original question. “But I was too slow. Still, it gave me time to think up Cappieland so it’s not all bad.”
Octavia listened to him talk about his thought process and how he felt or didn't feel about his once girlfriend. It made sense; she wasn't the same girl from a few years ago either. She'd grown up a lot during college and spending summers on her own. So, she understood what he meant. She nodded. “I get it. And I'm glad you got that opportunity - to make things right. Because, yeah. You are a pretty good guy. “
Knowing that he'd been feeling this way the entire summer did catch her by surprise a little. They'd kept in touch, and he'd been busy with his band, but it had mostly been normal back and forth between them. She'd been excited to see him so quickly after she'd first gotten home at the end of the season, and in a lot of ways, him missing her before she left was a good thing. Neither was distracted or wanting to skip out early. Plus, Cappieland. Definitely worth waiting for.
She turned in her seat, straddling the bench so that she was facing him. Octavia loosely hung her arms around his neck and smiled. “No, not bad. It's kinda perfect.”
Cappie’s face split into a wide, goofy grin. She thought he was a good guy. He liked that. It made a little part of him, deep inside, glow with pride.
He turned towards her, following her cue, and lifted his hands to gently stroke her forearms when she draped them around his neck.
“It’s only perfect because of you. Without you here, it would just be a weirdo hanging out in a forest with a load of fairy lights,” he pointed out in a murmur before leaning in to press his lips to hers in a long, lazy, happy kiss. She was right. This really was kinda perfect.