CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

SAFETY PIN — 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER
We'll safety pin the pieces of our broken hearts back together
Patching up all the holes until we both feel much better

AFTER THEIR LITTLE driving lesson, the boys took Olivia to Lucky Strike, a bowling alley just off of Hollywood Boulevard. They proposed a friendly competition where the losers would have to be the winner's roadies for all their gigs for the next month. Olivia proved victorious, but if you asked her, they let her win because it was her birthday.

After multiple reassurances that she won fair and square, Olivia was then taken to the pier where they grabbed junk food and sang a few songs for a small crowd of people. They finished the day at Sunset Curve, watching the beach below them and coming up with stories for all the people unknowingly living their lives.

They sat on the hood of Reggie's car, passing a box of Sour Patch Kids between them as the sun started to set.

"How do you think Bobby's date is going?" Olivia wondered, chewing on the candy.

Luke glanced at her. "Why? You jealous?"

"As if," she scoffed. "You and I both know he'll take it out on us if it goes bad."

He contemplated her words. "Yeah, you're right." He took the box of candy out of Alex's hands and shrugged. "Allie seems to like him, though. I don't think I can handle another three months of him talking about her."

"You can't blame him," Reggie said, leaning back onto the car. "He's crushing. You can't tell me you don't get annoying when you have a crush."

"Luke's always annoying," Alex said, sharing a knowing look with him.

Olivia saw the exchange and felt a pang in her heart, but she pushed away her jealousy and turned to the boy beside her with a smirk. "Does Luke have a crush?" she teased, bumping her shoulder with Luke's.

Luke furrowed his brows and shook his head. "What? No, I don't have a crush."

Olivia was unconvinced but nodded anyways. "Alright."

"Olivia..." Luke warned after catching her sly expression. "I seriously don't have a crush on anyone."

"Luke..." She returned in a mocking tone. "I seriously don't believe you."

"Neither do I," Alex added.

Reggie shot the guitarist a look. "Me neither."

"Thanks, guys." Luke's eyes roamed the beach below them for an escape out of the conversation. Luckily for him, a surfer was on the cusp of a big swell. He pointed it out and smiled triumphantly when Alex and Reggie started talking about their surfing experiences (or lack of).

Olivia wasn't so gullible and saw right through his lie and his attempt to change the topic. She decided to be nice and humour him for a moment before leaning in closer. "You gonna tell me who it is you're crushing on?"

If she asked the question to someone else, they would assume that she was just being a curious friend. But she asked the question to Luke, and he knew better than to dismiss her as such.

Olivia was more than curious. She wanted to know who Luke liked because she hoped it was her. Luke didn't know this, of course. He had his minor suspicions, but he didn't know for sure. If he did, he'd probably confess everything to her right then and there.

The shaggy haired brunet leaned closer to her and in a hushed tone said, "I'll tell you if you tell me who you're crushing on."

Her eyebrow raised. "Who said I was crushing on anyone?"

"No one," Luke shrugged, "but your love songs are too good to not be about anyone."

Olivia regret ever letting him touch her songbook in the last month. She should've known he'd notice the change in her writing.

Deciding that she wasn't ready to reveal her feelings yet, she took the box of candy from him and said, "I guess neither of us will know then." She turned to watch the sunset.

Luke's eyes remained on her, taking in how she looked in the golden light. She looked exactly how she did in his dreams. "I guess so."

AFTER THE SUN dipped below the horizon, the group retreated back to their studio where Bobby met them after his date. Fortunately, it ended up going well and he told them all about it over several games of Monopoly (which may or may not have ended with a few flipped boards).

As the night got older, the five teenagers grew tired. Alex ended up falling asleep first, slouching back into his bean bag chair. Next came Bobby, who took to lying on the fuzzy rug. Then Reggie and Luke. Olivia was halfway to her own dreamland, but the nagging sensation in her lower abdomen told her that nature was calling.

She didn't want to use the garage bathroom, just in case the sound of a flushing toilet woke any of the boys up, so she opted to use the one in the house.

The house was quiet. It was nearing midnight, so her mom was definitely asleep, but she wasn't so sure about Mikey since the boy liked staying up later than he was supposed to. As she passed, Solo raised his head from the dog bed in the living room and looked at her. She patted his head and he went back to sleep.

The telephone in the kitchen started to ring as she finished her business but stopped as she left the bathroom. She paid it no mind, thinking that it was just a telemarketer, and grabbed a few extra blankets from the closet down the hall.

As she entered the kitchen, the phone rang again. Her eyebrow raised and suspicion set in. Telemarketers didn't usually call twice in a row. Now that she thought about it, they didn't call after 5pm either. The phone silenced and less than ten seconds later, the ringing started again.

Olivia let out a long sigh. The only person she knew to be that incessant was Jason. She could feel irritation course through her veins. She had a really good day today and she wasn't standing for Jason's nonsense any further.

Olivia put the blankets on the kitchen counter and picked up the phone mid-ring. "Jason, I don't want anything to do with you. We broke up. Stop calling me."

She was just about to hang up but a voice rang out.

"You and Jason broke up?"

Olivia felt her blood run cold. She blinked a few times, frozen in shock. It had been so long, she almost forgot what his voice sounded like.

"Dad."

The man on the other end of the line let out a sigh of relief. "Hey, Olivia." There was a suffocating tension that grew between the two despite being blocks apart. Before the teenage girl could say anything, the man continued, "I'm glad you picked up, I was scared I wouldn't get a hold of you before midnight. I'm sorry to hear about Jason, he was a good kid."

He was met with silence as Olivia stared blankly at the wall. He cleared his throat. "Um... Happy birthday."

Olivia was snapped out of her daze and her eyebrows furrowed. "Happy birthday?" she echoed in disbelief. Her body felt light, like she was floating through air. She couldn't tell if it was the anxiety or the rage.

He hesitated, glancing over to the nearby calendar to double check that it was, in fact, the fourteenth of February. "Yeah, it's not everyday you turn sixteen."

"I'm seventeen today."

Her father let out a nervous chuckle. "I guess I've been getting old, messing up my numbers..." He felt horrible. A year without talking to her and he messed it up in less than five minutes.

Olivia shut her eyes. She wanted to hang up so badly, but she couldn't. She couldn't do it. Why couldn't she do it?

"I'm so sorry, Livy."

Her eyes flew open. She didn't want his apologies. She was past that point now and the fact that he used the nickname reserved for her family sent her off the edge. "It's Olivia to you," she snapped, her voice dripping with venom. "You don't get to call me Livy. Not anymore."

She put the phone back onto its holder, almost as if holding it any longer would leave her with third degree burns. The call ended with a loud 'SMACK'. She didn't mean to put it down so hard, but she was too upset to care.

I shouldn't have picked up, she thought to herself. I should've let it ring. I should've hung up the second I heard his voice.

Her hands shook and her breathing became erratic. Her heart beat so hard against her ribcage that she could hear it in her ears. Like a dark storm cloud, undeniable fear loomed over her.

No, no, no, no, no.

Olivia could feel a sinking feeling move throughout her body. The familiar chest pain returned as she realized what was happening. She felt detached from her body, like she was watching her panic attack from the outside. Her throat tightened as she hyperventilated.

Stop. Please, stop.

She tried her best not to make a sound, knowing that any sign of distress would wake the house. On shaky legs, she stepped closer to the counter. Her hands gripped the edge while she tried to catch her breath. She didn't notice she was crying until her tears splattered on the marble.

Take a breath, Olivia. Breathe.

Solo was the one to pull her back to earth. The shaggy furred dog had heard his owner's staggered breaths and made his way over to her. He nudged his nose into her leg and stared up at her with pleading eyes.

One look at her concerned dog and Olivia broke. She fell to the ground, tears streaming down her face, and hugged the dog in the dimly lit room.

For months after her father left, she'd wait by the phone hoping he'd call. Hoping that just because he left the house didn't mean that he left her. Hoping that he wasn't abandoning her. She stayed by the phone everyday for weeks on end, praying that he'd come back to his senses, that he'd come back and chose to keep her in his life. She held onto hope as long as she could before realizing that he was gone and that he wasn't coming back.

She thought she was done wanting him to come back. She thought she was content with her spite and obvious issues surrounding him because where she was back then was lightyears away compared to where she is now. All the healing she did, all the work she put into moving on, suddenly unraveled before her and disappeared. Hearing her father's voice after so long brought her back to those late nights falling sleep next to the phone. It brought back everything—the feeling of worthlessness. Disappointment. Doubt.

She didn't know how long she sat on the floor. It could've been minutes, even hours before she was ready to move. When she was, she kissed Solo on the head, stood up slowly, and regained her breath. She wiped her tears away, staring at her reflection in the window above the sink.

Pull yourself together, she demanded herself. Use your pain. It's apart of you. Power through it.

Feeling a sense of clarity, Olivia realized what she had to do.

She took the blankets from the counter and walked back to the garage. Solo trailed after her, curling up on the dog bed they put in the studio. After placing a blanket over each of the boys, she grabbed her notebook and guitar, then left the room again.

She sat on the steps outside of the garage with her guitar in her lap. The lyrics to Story of Another Us stared back at her, and with a raised pen, she started her rewrite.

Play the scene over again
Before the credits rolling in
Inside my head

A movie of the night her father left played in her mind. She remembered sitting on the stairs, crying as Mikey begged him not to go.

I don't recall a single word
You hit me faster than I hurt
Inside my head

She remembered the screaming and her mother's pained cries. The feeling betrayal that come with uncovered truth.

And now I'm shaking, wearing thin
I've always wondered where you've been
Tell me if you wanted it at all

After the divorce was finalized, she used to wonder what he was up to. If he found whatever it was he was searching for. His departure made her wonder if he ever wanted a life with her, Mikey, and their mom or if he just stuck around out of convenience. Or maybe it was pity.

The sound of the garage door opening made her stop. Luke walked out, groggy from his nap. His hair was a mess and his eyes were a bit puffy. Even though his gaze held the remnants of sleep, they also held concern for the girl in front of him.

"Hey," Olivia said quietly. She made room for him to sit on the stone step.

Luke sat next to her, moving the guitar from her lap to his before studying her face. She looked like she had been crying. "You okay?" His voice was soft and raspy.

Olivia shook her head before laying it on his shoulder. Her eyes shut when she felt him kiss the top of her head.

She wasn't okay, but she would be.

RAE SPEAKS !
i want to give her a hug :(

i have really bad writers block rn