“That’s a conversation for another day.”
“Let’s have your notions decide then,” I said, remembering his words from the night before. He believed in something stronger than science, and I couldn’t judge him for it. Most people believed in that shit.
“What are you proposing?”
“We’ll use music to decide the next …” I glanced up at the same clock as mine above Ollie’s door “… two hours. Where’s your phone?”
Ollie reached under his mattress for the phone and handed it over to me.
“Think of it as a magic eight-ball. I push shuffle, and it’ll answer our questions based on the lyrics.” I looked over to him for a hint of understanding, and he rolled his head back but eventually agreed. “First question, why is Ollie here?”
Ollie nervously laughed as I pressed shuffle and a song I’d never heard before came through its speakers. The bright screen read it was “Lean on” by Major Lazer.
Glancing up from the bright screen, Ollie’s mouth dropped open. “That’s fucking weird,” he breathed as he looked at the phone and back at me as if I’d done some kind of magic trick.
“Didn’t have anyone to lean on?” I grinned.
He grabbed the phone out of my hand. “We’re still not getting into it. My turn.” He waited in thought while the chorus played for a second time and shook his head before he continued, “Oh, magic eight … phone, should Mia get up and dance right now?” he asked into the phone and peeked over at me with a wayward smile.
Shuffle was pressed.
The intro to “Killing Me Softly with His Song” by The Fugees flowed, and Ollie’s eyes widened as a smile crept across his face. “That’s it … you have to get up, Mia. You can’t turn down the Fugees, it’s an unsaid law.” He stood and pulled me off the mattress until both feet of mine were planted in the middle of the dorm room. My face flushed and Ollie, with a massive grin, fell back over the mattress. “Come on, love,” Ollie teased, and held up his head in his hand. “The notions are saying you have to dance.”
And finally, I did. My hips swayed to the smooth beat, lost in the rhythm. Adrenaline rushed through me as Ollie’s eyes followed my body’s flow. His eyes met mine as they burned with fever. “You’re missing out,” I said with a teasing conviction.
Ollie’s eyes beamed back at me with a wild smile. “I can promise you I’m not.”
Before the song came to an end, I grabbed the phone from his hand. “What is Ollie thinking right now?” And I pressed the almighty powerful shuffle button.
Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire” played and I hunched over as a loud laugh came from inside me. Ollie’s stuffed his face into a pillow and my laughter turned into the quiet kind as my vision turned cloudy.
“This whole thing has got to be rigged somehow,” he said with flushed cheeks. He quickly jumped to his feet and towered over me while trying to grab the phone from my possession. My laughs only increased as he pinned me to his torso and wrestled the phone from my hand.
“Is your sex on fire, Ollie?” I asked through each breathless laugh.
He was able to secure the phone from me and fell back over the mattress as I sang the song with an air guitar and an invisible drum set. Around him I was free, stuck in a natural high as I whipped my hair and did stupid dance moves. Ollie watched me in awe, and I enjoyed the way I physically affected him. The dimple, the blushing, the glowing smile. It was all worth every embarrassing move as his eyes radiated in my direction.
“Should Mia leave or stay with me?” he hesitantly asked out loud and pressed the button.
An unfamiliar song played. He glanced up at me and waited for my reaction.
My laughing dissolved as I tried to recognize the tune. “What song is this?”
He smiled. “Wait for it.”
I put my hands on my hips as I waited for a voice to come through, and when it did, I grabbed the phone from him and looked on the screen. It read, “Nice to Meet You Anyway,” by Gavin DeGraw.What the hell?I tossed the phone over the mattress beside him and turned to leave since we were now following by the rules of my own game.
“Uh-uh. Where you going, Mia?” He wrapped his long arms around my waist, pulling me back. Shrieking, I fell on top of him and onto his small bed. “Gavin might think differently, but you’re not leaving,” he said through a laugh. Ollie rolled me over to his side, and when our eyes met, our laughter slowly faded.
We were so close, his staggering breath reached my lips. His fingers applied an eager amount of pressure to my side as his eyes wandered from my eyes to my mouth, and I had to concentrate on breathing to make sure I still was.
“Ollie …” I breathed.
He trailed his fingers up my arms, and I couldn’t seem to move. My body was under a spell of him. His warm hand left my arm and reached behind me for the phone still playing the Gavin DeGraw song.
Ollie turned his back and dangled the phone in front of him. His eyes darted over to me then back at the phone. “Should I kiss Mia?” he asked, then pressed shuffle.
I held my breath.
