We reached the bottom of the hill, and before we walked into unknown territory, I turned to face him. Ollie shivered under his black hoodie, wearing matching black jeans, a beanie, and the hood pulled over his head. The tip of his nose red against his natural bronze skin and his cheeks flushed from the sting of chill in the air. “Have I changed your mind, love?” He asked with a hope-filled stare.
I shook my head. “You taught me to see the good in everyone. That everyone deserves a second chance.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a hypocrite among other things.”
“What other things?”
“A man in love, and someone who will go against everything he believes in to make sure his fiancé is safe.”
“They can’t hurt me.”
“Someone already did, Mia. Who says the very person who fucking stabbed you isn’t one of the people waiting for you in the woods this very moment? Gaining more ammunition to take you out?”
“Then let’s call this detective work.”
Ollie cracked a smile and threw his arm around my shoulder. “Then no drinking on the job.”
“Deal.”
Everyone had sprinkled around the broken tree limb. The group of outcasts passed around a faceless bottle, laughing, when we showed up. Bria and Jude stood secluded in deep conversation against the tall stone wall that kept us inside this hell. Tyler swung her legs off the broken tree with the bottle to her lips, chugging before passing it below to a giggling Maddie, and Jake and Gwen laid in a pile of leaves throwing twigs at one another.
Maddie’s lazy and hungry eyes landed on Ollie, and she pushed the bottle out in front of her with a slow-rising smirk. “Oliver fucking Masters … or should I say, Oliverwho-can’t-fuckMasters.” She threw her head back while laughing, and it bounced off the tree.
“Someone clearly had too much to drink, yeah?” Ollie snatched the bottle from her hand and looked around the littered area. A graveyard of drunken bottles collected over many Friday’s I missed.
“I’m sorry, Mia,” Maddie slurred, eyes sliding to me as she stumbled to her feet.
Uneasiness washed through me, and my fidgeting hands hid inside the pocket of the hoodie. “For?”
“I’m sorry you fell for a guy who can’t get it up.”
Ollie’s head snapped in my direction to catch my reaction, but I stood undisturbed, having no earthly idea where this was coming from. My mouth went dry, and I dragged my nail against my wrist inside my pocket to fight the fact I was on the outside now looking in. I knew something had happened between the two of them, but never cared to know the details. Ollie had offered to tell me at one time, but I didn’t want to hear it before.
And I especially didn’t want to hear it now.
“Alright, we’re leaving,” Ollie interrupted my thoughts by placing a hand over my shoulder. Always the protector.
Tyler kicked Maddie with her Vans. “Maddie’s just jealous you only have a hard-on for Mia,” she paused when Jake giggled, “Stay, please. She’ll eventually pass out.”
“Yes, stay Ollie. It’s been forever,” Bria announced with Jude on her tail and a new bottle in her hand. “Relax. Like old times.” With her free hand, Bria grabbed Ollie and pulled him off to the side and sat him down as if he were a disobedient child.
Ollie declined the bottle and kept his attention trained on me.
“Just to make things clear,” I started to say, building the nerve to finish the sentence I’d started. “We’re all good, right?”
Silence settled, and I held my breath.
I should have never come. It was hard, the constant change within myself. For over ten years, it had only been me—never having to worry about other’s feelings, only depending on me and looking out for myself. It had been easier that way.
Then Ollie had found me.
And then he’d left me.
After Ollie, I’d made friends; got on a routine.
Now? I scanned the faceless bodies staring back at me. I no longer recognize these people I used to call my friends. My posture wavered, the uneasiness creeping up my legs, attacking all my limbs. It shouldn’t feel like this. Life was too short to be standing here next to them, feeling as if I was staring down the barrel of a gun.
“Mia,” Ollie called out low, and all my senses immediately recognized his voice. His light eyes from below looked up at me, calling upon me. A single look managed to grasp my soul and simultaneously empty every worry I possessed. “Ready now?”
