Chapter Ten - Olivia
Olivia
The crush of students emptied into the hall as they traveled between classes. I jumped as my phone buzzed, vibrating against my butt in my back pocket. I didn't even look at who it was. The only person who called me anymore while I was in school was Doug.
"Hey Baby, how are you?" I said, smiling.
"That wasn't exactly the greeting I was expecting."
Oh my God! "Dillion? I, uh, didn't look at my phone before I answered. I just assumed you were Doug."
Silence greeted me on the other line. "Dillion? You still there?"
"Yeah," came the terse reply. "Look, I don't mean to bother you, but I've been trying to reach Cat for a while now and she hasn't called back or returned any of my texts."
"Oh, she broke her phone last night. She's going to get a new one today. I'm sorry I should have thought to call you to let you know. Of course, you'd be worried about her."
"My feelings are not your responsibility. Is she okay?"
His words needled me. I hate that he can get under my skin so easily. I choose to ignore it. "It appears so, but I'm worried about her."
"What? Why?"
Oh great, I set off the big brother alert and didn't mean to. "Healthwise she's good, Dillion. I didn't mean to alarm you. It's Alex."
"Alex?"
"Yeah, it looks like they may patch things up. Or at least that's her plan. He's away right now though, some family matter."
"Family matter? I didn't know he was still in touch with his family but would it really be so bad if Cat and he worked things out?"
"Yes. He's already proven he can't be trusted with her feelings. I don't want to see her get hurt. Not again. He should have never done what he did and what's worse is how he did it. How dare he end things that way and expect she'd just take him back. What gives him the right to just come waltzing back into her life and expect her to forgive him? He hasn't earned it."
Again silence. Maybe I took things too far? Am I projecting onto Cat how I feel about Dillion? Maybe...?
"I think you're right."
"You do?"
"You sound surprised."
By now I've reached my destination. A secluded bench in the courtyard. I take a seat. "I am actually."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I just thought..."
"What do you think he should do to earn her trust?"
This question had me squirming in my seat. Are we still talking about Cat and Alex or does he want to know what I really think because he wants to earn my trust? My heart did a little flip at the idea but I squashed it.
"That's between Cat and Alex, I guess. He knows what he's done wrong and if he wants to make amends, he better address what he's done to her. I doubt they can move forward if he doesn't."
"Olivia? Can we meet somewhere..., anywhere, you pick? I..."
My heart is racing at his words. It was hard not to detect the guilt in his tone. No. No. No. I can't let him in again.
"I can't."
"Can't or won't?"
Now his words are tinged with anger. How dare he think he has any reason to be mad at me. I stand my ground.
"Both."
"I see. Sorry to bother you."
I panic knowing he's going to hang up. Why, why am I panicking?
"Dillion."
"What?"
"I promise I'll keep an eye on Cat. If anything happens, I think you should know about, I won't hesitate to call."
"Other than that, you're off-limits." He finishes for me. Ugh, why does this have to be so difficult?
"I do think that's for the best."
"What if I disagree?"
My heart constricts. "Please don't," I beg but only in my mind. I can't bring myself to say the words. My heart, my traitorous heart was hoping he would.
"Dillion... I"
"Meet me for coffee. Just one cup of coffee and a simple conversation. I swear Olivia, I won't ever bother you again. Please?"
Now he's begging me? I can't take it. I cave. "When?"
"Tomorrow, whenever you're done classes, you name the spot. I'll be there."
This is wrong. This is so wrong. "Meet me at The Grind at 3:00 pm. You know it?"
"No, but I'll find it."
What am I doing? I shouldn't be doing this.
"Olivia?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for this."
I didn't know what he meant by that. Not entirely sure what he had hoped to gain from our meeting and a cup of coffee but I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
"Yeah sure. I gotta get back to class."
"Later then."
"Later." I hung up my phone and stared at it. Wondering if it had some sort of brain-altering powers. Did I just agree to meet with Dillion, alone? Have I lost my mind? I must have. I stick my phone back in my pocket and get back to class.
I couldn't pay attention to a thing in Advanced Human Anatomy. The girl next to me nudged my arm to let me know the teacher had called on me. Shit.
"I fail to recall," I said lamely not even sure that was the appropriate response, but my professor seemed satisfied and moved on to someone else.
All-day I wondered if it were too late to back out. I pulled up Dillion's number a dozen times but my curiosity about what he could possibly want to say won out every time.
I'm startled when I'm kissed on the cheek and drop my phone but Doug caught it with his amazing reflexes. "Woah, you were deep in thought there, huh? Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
I quickly click another button to get out of my contacts, a wave of guilt washes over me as I slide my phone into my purse. "Great catch, no wonder you're coach's favorite with reflexes like those." I try to smile but it feels forced.
"You want to go out to dinner? Or my roommate is out. We could go to my apartment and I'll make you something?"
"Your place sounds great."
Doug's smile spreads from ear to ear. "Great, come on. I'll stop at the market on the way home. What are you in the mood for?
"Surprise me." Doug often did. He was a really good cook. He's a bit of a health nut so he got into cooking knowing it was the only way he could regulate his diet. His dedication paid off as he was all lean muscle under that t-shirt and jeans.
"You keep looking at me like that and I may ask to skip dinner and go straight to dessert."
I laughed. "Caught me again, didn't you?"
"Hey, you don't hear me complaining, do you?"
I giggle again. "No, never."
"I'm the luckiest guy on campus to have you as my girl, O. I'm so glad you agreed to dance with me that night."
"I'm happy, too." I was. I really was. We even talked about finding a place to move into together and I thought I was ready to take that step. Never before did I want to stick around but Doug was different from the other guys I dated.
A down-home country boy, he is all manners and politeness. He wasn't after me for sex. Doug genuinely wanted to get to know me. He knew nothing of my reputation around campus since he had his sights set on Cat at first. I didn't really expect us to hit it off as we had little in common but somehow it worked. He was so easy to talk to, I enjoyed spending time with him, and he made me feel... wanted.
Doug put his arm around me while we walked. "Are you okay? You look worried?"
I smile up at him. "No, I'm fine."
We stop at the market so he can get supplies. His apartment isn't far from campus. He opens the door and we drop our backpacks at the door.
"Can I help you with anything?"
"Sure, if you want?" I washed my hand and so does he.
He pulls out a cutting board and peels an onion. He hands it over to me along with a knife. "Dice this up for me, will you?"
"I'm really not the best cook?" I admit, afraid I may screw things up somehow.
"It's simple." Doug grins at me. "Here I'll show you. He comes up behind me and puts his hand over mine and gently applies pressure with the knife. Together we start dicing up the onion. It's hard not to be aware of his body pressed against mine. I know this is completely innocent but the intimacy of our positions is hard to ignore.
"See, just like that. You're doing great." He stepped away from me and I miss his warmth.
He pulls out a wok and pours in some oil but doesn't turn up the heat. He joins me again with some bell peppers and carrots. He checks my progress. It slowed because my eyes kept watering. Not thinking, I touched one of them.
"Ow, ow, ow!"
He's immediately at my side. "Did you cut yourself?"
"No, I rubbed my eye by accident." I can feel the irritation getting worse.
"Okay, hold on?" He runs to the bathroom and comes back with a bottle in his hands.
Doug leads me over to this sink. He fills up an eye cup with eyewash. "Here." He hands it over to me. I tilt my head back and try to rinse out my eye. I can feel the solution run into my hair. I tilt my head forward and blink a few times.
Doug hands me a tissue. "Just dab it. Don't rub."
I do as I'm told. It feels so much better. "Let me see." Doug tilts my head up towards the overhead light and looks into my eyes. "They're still as beautiful as ever."
I grinned. "Did you set me up with that onion just so you could use that line on me?"
He laughed. "Do you really think I'm that smooth?"
I laughed harder. "I know you're not, but you're learning."
"I've learned so much from you. Like this..." His lips came down to caress mine. I smile against his. He really wasn't the best kisser when we first met but he was so eager to please me he's now perfected it. It was slow sweet torture. My arms wrapped around his waist and I pulled him in closer. He sighed against my lips.
"O, what did I do to deserve a goddess like you?"
"Goddess? You're too funny. I'm only human, I swear."
"If you say so, but I still think this mere mortal must have done something to please the gods to have you in my life."
"Well, this mere mortal is hungry so how about I help you finish up this dinner?"
"Okay, but no more onion for you." He switched me over to slicing carrots and peppers.
I love to watch him cook. The smell of garlic and ginger filled my nostrils as he heated the oil. He made the most delicious chicken and vegetable stir fry. I was stuffed after eating it.
"You're an amazing cook."
"I'm willing to barter for more lessons. He said pulling me over to him on the couch. I snuggled in.
"What kind of lessons?"
"Whatever you want to teach me. I'm willing to learn."
"I think you've mastered most of what I have to teach you."
"You so sure? If there's one thing I've learned from playing football, you can always improve with practice."
I giggled. "You know you really are pretty smooth."
"You think?" He sounded pleased. He's so darn adorable.
I give him a quick peck on the lips. "I do."
"Hey, have you given any more consideration to my offer?"
I knew he was referring to us living together and I sit up. He frowned seeing me pull away from him.
"Doug, I'm not sure if..."
He waves his hand. "It's fine O, you don't owe me any explanations. I just wondering."
He does this often, tries to escape from any conflict. I know what he wants and he must find my hesitation frustrating.
"I'm not saying no. I just think maybe we should wait until after you graduate. I still have a long way to go, school-wise, but let's see where you need to be first before we decide on anything. Okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
He gave in so quickly. I know he's hurt but I don't know how to fix it. I'm not good at this relationship stuff.
"Is there someone else?"
"What?" His question stunned me. "Why would you ask that?"
" A bit of humble brag here, but I've never had a problem of girls being in my life. There were only a few I wanted to stick around, but they never did. They always found someone better."
"Better than you? I doubt that."
Doug gave me a sad smile. "Thanks, but you don't have to spare my feelings. If there is someone else, I'd rather just know."
"No. There's no one else." Doug rewarded me with his smile. I loved that smile.
My mind however needled me about my meeting, Dillion, tomorrow. "Doug, can I ask you something?"
"Anything?"
"What would you do if one of those girls from the past wanted to meet with you? Would you?"
"Maybe? I guess it would depend on the circumstances."
"What if they said they wanted to talk to you but didn't say why?"
"A mystery date, huh? That would be harder. If I didn't have any feeling for them, I guess there'd be no harm in it, but if I was already with someone I would tell them about it."
I took a deep breath to gather courage. "Someone I used to date a very long time ago, wants to meet me for coffee tomorrow."
"And you said?"
There was no going back on this. "I said, yes."
"So, you want to see this person."
"It's been a while since we've had a chance to really talk and I have to admit I'm curious about what he may have to say."
"Curious as in you want to know if he's still interested in you?"
I shook my no know even though I wasn't sure if that was entirely true. "Curious in the fact that things ended horribly between us, and I have to wonder what he may have to say about that."
"So, this about closure."
I thought about that for a second. "Yeah, I guess it is."
"Then I think you should go."
"Really?"
"Yeah, maybe if you do this, some healing can begin, if that happened that would only be good for us, right?"
I threw my arms around his neck and rained kisses down on him. He laughed and grabbed a hold of me.
I snuggle in again. "You are so amazing. What would I do without you?"
"Let's not find out, okay?" Doug said, holding me tighter. I lean up and kissed him again.
"Okay."
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top