by Nicole Shay
Olivia’s grin only widened at Imogen calling Olivia her girl. She’d never once in her life been happier to hear anyone she was dating claim her as Imogen just did. Her smile faltered as Imogen continued. “But he’s a total ass for doing this, don’t you think he deserves what’s coming? And plus, it’ll keep my friends occupied instead of trying to figure out what really makes happy.”
Imogen gave a chuckle “Okay Livvie….let’s do it, give this guy what he deserves!” Imogen said jumping on board even though there was a growing feeling of bad news written all over the idea.
The younger girl looked at Imogen, a curious look on her face with a hint of a smile. “Hardly anyone ever calls me Livvie.”
“Well...I’m not just anyone” Imogen stated returning a shy smirk.
Olivia giggled, biting her lip. “You’re right. It’s cause you’re mine.” She leaned in to kiss Imogen, but was stopped short when she heard her front door bang open. “What the hell?” Olivia whispered.
“Olivia!”
The striker’s eyes widened. “Shit,” she hissed, getting up.
Imogen gave an exhausted sigh as she jumped back behind the couch again.
“Maeve!” She answered, running into the hall to meet the other striker. “How the hell did you get into my house?”
Maeve dangled a pair of house keys in Olivia’s face. “You gave me a spare, remember?”
Olivia groaned, closing her eyes. Note to self: never give Maeve spare keys to anything...ever again.
Imogen gave herself a mental note to remind Olivia to never give Maeve spare keys to anything.
“Not that I don’t love you or anything, but why are you here?”
“I don’t know,” Maeve shrugged. “Kerrie’s off with her sister so I decided to drop by.”
“You couldn’t have texted...called..?” Olivia asked, annoyance growing by the second.
“I did,” Maeve frowned. “You just didn’t answer, so I assumed you were sleeping or something.”
“I could have been kidnapped,” Olivia reasoned.
“Which is why it’s a good thing I came by!” Maeve grinned.
Olivia shook her head, letting out a long sigh. All she wanted was to go back into the living room and make out with Imogen.
“So, what are we up to here?” Maeve asked, skipping past Olivia towards the living room.
Olivia sprinted after her, but of course Maeve was too fast. “Oh, nothing,” she said quickly, scanning the room to make sure Imogen couldn’t be seen. “Just movies…”
“Oh! What are we watching?” Maeve asked. “And pizza! Wow Olivia, way to be selfish. You could have called.”
Olivia glared at her, crossing her arms. “Oh-huh.”
“Aw come on Ollie, cheer up. Your best friend’s here!”
“Yes, and she should go,” Olivia pouted.
“Why?”
“Because I was having alone time,” Olivia groaned. With Imogen.
Imogen couldn’t help but let out an audible laugh, at what, she wasn’t sure, maybe all of it.
“What was that?” Maeve asked, raising an eyebrow.
Olivia’s eyes widened as she glanced at the couch before replying, “What was what?”
Maeve got up and started making her way over to where Imogen was hiding. “Ollie, I heard something. It sounded like a person.”
Panic set in as Imogen had nowhere to run, she hoped Olivia had a backup plan because otherwise shit was about to hit the fan.
“Maeve, I’m going on my date tomorrow with Julio and I need to borrow your clothes!” Olivia exclaimed quickly, not knowing what else to say. She was freaking out because if Maeve found Imogen it would be game over.
Quickly forgetting about her investigation, Maeve spun around, an excited look on her face. “Wait, so you’re admitting you’re excited for this date?”
Imogen wiped her brow in relief That was a close one.
“Um….yeah,” Olivia nodded, going along with it.
Maeve quickly ran over to Olivia, squeezing her in an embrace. “See! I knew it! I knew it all along! You’re so into him!”
“Oh-huh,” Olivia breathed out. “Maeve...can’t...breathe.”
“So where are you guys going?” Maeve asked.
“A little fancy, not too fancy. Date night fancy,” Olivia specified. “I don’t have any dresses, I need to raid your closet.”
“I’ll go look for something right now!” Maeve suggested.
Olivia grinned, glad she was leaving. “Yeah, send me pictures, and we’ll decide!”
“Got it!” Maeve called out, already leaving.
Olivia sighed in relief, closing the door behind the rushing girl. “Babe, coast is clear!” she called out as she walked back into the living room.
“Does this happen often? Am I going to have to get used to being interrupted?” Imogen joked as she pulled the girl back into a tight hold.
Olivia laughed, shaking her head. “No, I swear. It’s just tonight. Everyone’s out to ruin our date,” she pouted, resting her forehead against Imogen’s.
“We’re going to be a couple date-ruiners tomorrow so it’s only fair I guess” Imogen said light-heartedly as she leaned up to kiss Olivia’s forehead.
A giggle escaped Olivia’s lips and she smiled as she felt Imogen’s lips on her skin. “You’re right. But come on, let’s finish this movie.”
The following night, Olivia was in Maeve’s dark blue, sleeveless, tight-fitting dress and black heels with her hair straightened. She actually attempted to look good because it made victory sweeter when it was all over. That morning, Olivia called Elaine to ask her to be where the date was supposed to happen, just to make sure Maeve and Kerrie wouldn’t do anything stupid, because knowing them, they’d end up spying on Olivia. At first Elaine was reluctant, but in the end she agreed to be there only because she “wanted to see everything go horribly wrong”.
“Wow, you look amazing,” was the first thing that came out of Julio’s mouth when Olivia opened the door.
Olivia blushed and gave him a small smile. “Thanks,” she murmured before quickly walking to his car.
They filled the ride to the restaurant with small talk, but Olivia was jittery once again. She was scared that it would go wrong as soon as they arrived, but she had to think positive.
Elaine was sitting at a table by herself, menu covering her face. She knew Olivia was due to walk through the door at any moment, but she still hadn’t seen Kerrie or her troublesome best friend anywhere. It wasn’t until she heard a clang and a “Maeve!” hissed that she found the duo in the back, eyes on the door.
Rolling her own eyes, she stood and walked over to them. “You guys are so dumb.”
“Elaine!” Kerrie exclaimed, dropping her menu. “What are you doing here?”
“What a lovely surprise!” Maeve said over dramatically, batting her eyelashes.
Elaine gave her a hard stare. “Stop sassing me,” she ordered Maeve. “And I’m here to make sure you two don’t mess anything up tonight.”
“You’re here for Olivia’s date too?”
“Didn’t I just…” Finding it a pointless cause to try to reason with Maeve, she sighed. “Yeah.” She slid into the seat across from the two.
“They’re here!” Kerrie announced, grabbing her menu and covering her face again.
Elaine turned to find Olivia and Julio walking in. She made eye contact with the striker and nudged her head to Maeve and Kerrie, rolling her eyes.
“Hey! She looks hot,” Maeve nodded in approval. “I knew she’d look good in the blue one!”
“Maeve, shut up,” Kerrie hissed, both of them oblivious to the fact Elaine just pointed them out.
“This is going to be a long night,” Elaine muttered to herself.
“Allie hurry up! We’re going to be late!” Imogen stated as she checked the time “Dinner reservations are for 7:30, it’s 7:30 right now!”
Ornella fiddled on the side with her phone unbeknownst to wha
t was about to go down. As far as she was concerned Imogen made dinner reservations for the three of them at some swanky restaurant ‘to catch up’.
“Chill Imogen, prepping for a night out is an art form” Allie replied as she tousled her hair in the mirror.
Imogen began to grow nervous as she and Olivia made the plan to go quickly but now the three of them were going to be late and she wasn’t sure how effective the girl would be at stalling. She sent a quick text hoping it would give Olivia some reassurance.
All of dinner, Olivia kept looking at the door expecting Imogen and Allie to walk in, but every time she checked she was disappointed. Finally, just as they were finishing dessert, she got a text from Imogen.
Running late, sorry.. :/ Allie took forever.
Olivia held in a groan. It was too late now. Dinner was over and Julio was getting ready to pay for the check. But before she replied, Julio caught her attention.
“So I guess I take you home now,” he said coolly.
The striker flashed him a mysterious smile, an idea quickly coming to mind. “We can go to that new club down the street.”
Julio returned her smile. “I like your thinking, beautiful.”
Olivia did her best not to cringe. “Mmm, so do I,” she replied before texting Imogen and Elaine.
Going to club down the street. Meet us there.
Imogen looked down at the text from Olivia with the change of plans.
“Hey guys how about we just go to this club down the street from the restaurant instead? We missed our reservation anyways?” She suggested to the car.
“Good idea!” Allie chimed in as she changed the direction of the car.
“Could be fun!” Ornella added as she was texting Elaine and being vague about where she was and who she was with.
Olivia found herself on the dance floor with Julio in front of her and all she could worry about was if Imogen would get here in time and how she would even find Imogen. She knew Elaine was standing by at the bar while Maeve and Kerrie were doing the same, with Maeve of course downing a drink. Elaine seemed to be impatient, waiting for Olivia’s so-called plan to go to action. Her attention was now mostly on her phone, allowing Maeve and Kerrie to do as they please.
“And this is why I hardly go out in public with you two alone,” Elaine deadpanned.
“You love us, El!” Maeve stated.
“Right,” Elaine muttered.
Just as the blue-eyed striker started to lose hope, she turned her head as Julio’s hands still wouldn’t pull away from her waist to find Imogen along with Allie and someone else she recognized, but not by name. Olivia made eye contact with Imogen and immediately regretted doing so because Julio’s hands were still on her waist and hers were resting on his shoulders. They were probably closer than they needed to be, but Olivia had been so freaked out about messing up that she didn’t even notice.
“Hey,” she said over the music to Julio, looking away quickly before Imogen could react. She bit her lip, mentally apologizing to Imogen about what she was going to say. “Look at that girl, she’s such a slut.”
“Who?” Julio asked, turning to look. It took him a second to recognize her. “Oh…” he said slowly. “Oh yeah, totally. You’re hotter,” he smirked and Olivia held in a gag.
As soon as Imogen walked into the crowded club she could still spot Olivia almost immediately. She was about to smile until she saw Julio’s hands all over her girl’s waist, and even worse Olivia’s were on his shoulders. She saw her point over to the three of them and Julio looked over as well but seemingly turned his attention back to Olivia. Knowing Imogen had to get Allie to spot the two of them she called out “Hey you want to go dance?” to her two friends who were looking everywhere but where they needed to look.
“Why so eager Imogen? It’s like you almost like dancing now?” Allie said with a laugh as she began to dance her way into the mass beckoning her friends to join.
It was dark, and sweaty, and hard to comprehend much of anything that was going on thanks to the blaring music. Imogen knew they were dancing close to Olivia and Julio and it was only a matter of a few people between them. She whipped her head around to find Olivia’s eyes fixated on her as she embraced Julio. She thought she saw her mouth the words ‘Get over here now’ so she moved her way to the other side of Allie and Ornella and pushed them in the direction of Olivia. She must have pushed a little too hard as Allie went flying into the back of Julio. Imogen held her breath with what was about to happen next.
When Allie ran into Julio, it forced him to let go of Olivia which was more than okay with her at that point. He’d been too close for too long and all Olivia really wanted was Imogen dancing with her, like they did when they first kissed.
But that had to wait. She held her breath for what was coming before looking at Elaine, but Elaine was focused on someone else.
“What the hell?” Julio said as he turned around. His eyes widened. “Oh….”
“What the hell Imogen-” Allie began as she turned around to apologize to whoever she just fell into. “Julio? What are yo- Who’s this?” Allie yelled already mad and getting angrier as her eyes fell on wide-eyed Olivia.
Olivia knew she had to play her part or else it wouldn’t completely work so she looked between Julio and Allie, placing a hand on her hip. “Wait, you know her? Who’s she?”
Julio turned to Olivia. “No, I don’t know her!”
“You don’t know me?” Allie shouted “Months of endlessly flirting with me and two dates later and you don’t know me? I’m so stupid.”
At the commotion Ornella turned to see what was happening Holy shit she thought as she knew how powerful her friend’s wrath could be. She turned to look to Imogen who was equally worried and shocked. Imogen slowly remembered that she had a part to play as well and reluctantly did as was expected causing an even bigger scene.
“Olivia McBray? You cheated on my best friend with Olivia McBray? You dog!”
Before Olivia, Julio, or Imogen could jump in again Allie went on a rampage.
“You slimy no-good piece of shi-” Before she could finish fuming someone interjected. Allie was too distracted by her raging hormones to notice who it was but Ornella suddenly grew stone cold as Elaine, the Thenard girl, and some other blonde walked into the fray. Imogen suddenly regretted all of the plan as she saw the three rivals approaching.
It was Maeve - no surprise - that was the first to speak as the trio approach. “Wait, what the actual hell is going on here?”
Olivia did her best to look pissed, but she was more in shock at how Allie had gone off. “He took me out, but he was already dating her!” she pointed to Allie.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Kerrie glared at Julio.
Julio was still trying to process Allie’s rage. “This is so not what it looks like.”
“Aw come on,” Maeve groaned. “You’re a douche. And to think I was rooting for you! And I let her borrow my dress too!”
Olivia suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at Maeve. She opened her mouth to speak, but once again Allie beat her to it.
“First of all… who the hell are you? Don’t call me again,” Allie shouted as she started to make her way outside of the club purposely pushing hard into Olivia on the way out prompting a “What the hell” from one of her teammates. Imogen and Ornella gave glares to Julio as they followed their fuming friend. Imogen bumped into Olivia on the way out , as much as she didn’t want to play the part anymore she knew she had to.
“Watch it McBray, You and the circus here better take it somewhere else”
Olivia bit the inside of her cheek, not even bothering to reply because Imogen was already following Ornella and a very angry Allie Long out of the club. She knew their hatred for each other was still supposed to be going on, but she was still not in the mood for the rivalry.
Elaine watched them, leave, eyes on a specific defender.
“Are you going to let her talk to you like that?” Maeve asked, a li
ttle buzzed from her drinks.
Olivia shrugged, an annoyed look on her face. “That blonde girl already ruined my night and Julio’s an ass. I’m not in the mood to start anything.”
“You never let her talk without having the last word!” Maeve argued.
“Maeve…” Kerrie muttered, looking worriedly at Olivia and then Elaine.
But it was no use, Maeve was already making her way out the door.
“Oh here we go,” Elaine groaned, following Maeve with Kerrie and Olivia on her heels.
Maeve burst through the door and looked around until she found Imogen, Allie and Ornella a few feet away, walking to Imogen’s car. “Hey Sloane! You think you’re off the hook, smart ass? Maybe you should watch out for blondie’s temper, can’t have that one the field unless you want to play down a game!”
Allie whipped her head at the smart-ass comment , she was ready to punch something really hard and this Thenard chick wasn’t helping “Who the hell do you think you are anyways? You think you’re better than us?”
“Oh no,” Maeve laughed, rolling her eyes. “I know I’m better than you!”
Elaine exited from the doors with Olivia and Kerrie still behind her in time to catch the last of Maeve’s words. “Oh shit.”
“Hey Thenard! Last time I saw that shirt it had my soda spilled all over it, looked better then.” Chloe stated as she and Britta walked over upon spotting their teammates.
Ornella saw Elaine come out of the club and she did everything to keep from running into her protective arms. She just gave her a look of ‘This isn’t good’. Imogen caught Olivia’s eye as she made her way over , the both of them realizing how wrong their original plan went, and how it was about to blow up in their faces.
Elaine gave Ornella the most subtle nod, but knew the smaller girl would catch it anyway. She hissed into Olivia’s ear. “Perfect plan, Ollie.”
Olivia’s jaw set as the words came out of Elaine’s mouth. “Thanks Elaine,” Olivia muttered sarcastically before walking over to Maeve. One look at Imogen and she knew she’d screwed up big time.
