by Anthology
“And?” she practically shouted. “And you didn't think any of that was important to tell her before you left.”
“I told you, I'm not looking for anyone right now.” My voice was an even cadence. I could feel my muscles tense up and I was doing my best to keep my temper under control.
“Bullshit, you're just scared.”
That was it. I leaped from my seat and got right in her face. I knew Andrew well enough to know he wasn't going to interfere. “You're right. You think that Olivia's the first girl I met that I have stuff in common with. You think she's the first girl I'm interested in. That answer is a big old, hell no! I've been down this road before and I'm not interested in doing it again.”
“You're just being a pussy. Man up and tell her how you feel. You never know what might happen.”
At that point we were both yelling. “You know what, fuck you, Em. That shit hasn't worked out for me yet”
Andrew stepped between us and pushed me back a step. “Yo, man, that's enough.”
I brushed his hand away. “Fuck you too! You're the one that doesn't stop her when she gets like this.”
Emily grabbed her purse, face red. “Let him wallow in his own self-pity. Apparently his life is just perfect.”
With that, Emily stormed out the door slamming it behind her. Andrew turned to look at me.
“You know she cares about you, right? That's why she gets so upset when she thinks you have a chance to be happy.”
“Yeah, well, this time she's wrong and if she cared so much, she'd listen to what I want and not what she wants to hear.”
Andrew shook his head. “Whatever, man.” He followed Em out the door and I slumped against the wall.
After all of the bullshit for day, I was done. The only thing I wanted was a bed. I grabbed a quick shower and headed to bed. When I closed my eyes, all I could see was her. Not only did she invade my senses when I was awake, she also controlled my dreams.
With Emily and Andrew still not speaking to me, the next few days passed in silence. By Monday, I went back to work. The problem was that I couldn't concentrate on the work in front of me. I kept finding myself staring off into space wondering what Olivia was doing right then and how she might have reacted if I told her.
Maybe I blew it. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I should have told her. The only thing I could do was head down there over the weekend and talk to her. The worst thing that could happen would be if she wasn't interested in me the same way. By Tuesday night, I was praying for the week to end. The sooner the weekend got her the sooner I could see Olivia again. My bed seemed so empty and cold at night. I missed her smile and smart ass remarks.
All in all I missed Olivia. I'd been wrong to suggest the “no strings attached.” I should have been up front from the beginning.
There was a knock on the front door and I forced myself off the couch to go and answer it. On the other side was Emily and Andrew with beer and Chinese. She held up the six pack. “Peace offering?”
It was rare, that Emily was willing to apologize, much less admit that she might have been wrong. She carried the stuff into the kitchen. When she came out, she took the seat next to me on the couch.
“I'm so sorry for the way I acted the other day. I hate seeing you hurt and if there is someone out there that could make you happy then I want you to be with her. But that's what I want not what you want, so can you forgiven me?”
I pulled her into my arms for a hug. “Of course I can.” Andrew fist bumped me over Emily's shoulder.
“Okay, since I didn't ask the last time. What do you want when it comes to Olivia?”
I smiled, knowing she was going to like my answer. “I want her. I thought long and hard about what you said and you were right, I was being a pussy. You warned me before that love isn't easy, but it's worth it in the end.”
She looked over at Andrew. “It is.”
“So what are you going to do?” Andrew asked.
“I'm going to go down there this weekend and talk to her. I know we have logistics to work out over the summer. After that she'll be living up here again for her senior year of college.”
Emily was practically bouncing in her seat. “Oh, I'm so happy for you. And Lauren's going to be thrilled, she'll no longer be the youngest in the group.”
“Well, that's if she's willing to try a relationship with me. We both need to accept that not every person we date is going to break our hearts, but the only way to find out is to try.”
There was a light knock on the door. Andrew offered to get it, while Emily and I talked about a strategy to win Olivia over.
“Nick, it's for you,” Andrew called out from the hall on the way to the door.
Emily and I shared a look because neither of us understood why he didn't just let the person in. When I rounded the corner, all of the pieces fell into place. There on my front step was Olivia.
Chapter 11
Olivia
NERVES DIDN'T EVEN begin to describe my feelings when Nick came around the corner and gasped.
“Olivia?” he questioned. “What are you doing here?”
“There's something I need to talk to you about.”
He gestured for me to come inside. I followed him and the other blond down the hall to an open living room. There on the couch sat a beautiful brunette.
“Did I interrupt something?” I asked, suddenly regretting my decision to come without calling.
“No. These are my friends, Andrew and Emily.” Those were names I'd heard when Nick talked about his two best friends who were always at his place. “They came over to talk to me about you.”
“It's nice to meet both of you.” My head tilted to the side, curious about what he might have wanted to talk about.
Emily stood up. “We'll leave you two alone to talk. Nick, call me tomorrow.” She winked and out the door she went.
Andrew shook Nick's hand with a smile. “Good luck, man.”
Nick led me over to the couch without a word. I used the time to adjust in my seat and wait to see what he had to say. When I continued to fidget, Nick's hand covered mine sending a wave of calm through me.
“Okay, here goes nothing,” I mumbled. “Nick, I know we were doing things as 'no strings attached.' The problem with that is that I got very attached. You're all I can think about or dream about. For the first time, I felt like I could be me. You didn't want to change me, but you accepted me for who I am, not who I could become and molding me to fit that idea.”
Nick was frozen in his seat. “That's what you came to tell me.”
My stomach dropped. Had I read him wrong? Did he actually want someone else?
“Yes. I'm not sure how we could work it out with you being five hours away until September, but I'd still like to try.”
Nick didn't say a word, instead he pulled me into his arms and covered my mouth with his. I felt safe and comfortable there. The kiss was more than sexual feelings. It felt like the day on the beach when he'd kissed me after I told him the story about my dad.
“What made you change your mind?”
“Actually, Chris did.”
The weight in my chest was so heavy. It had been two days since Nick left, and I still had no idea why I let him go or why he was willing to leave in the first place. Maybe what I felt with him wasn't real.
I walked into the bar for my shift and there stood Chris at the end of the bar, like he'd been waiting for me.
“What are you doing here, Liv?”
My head tilted to the side. “Umm . . . working?”
“We need to talk, babe.”
Chris didn't often give off the gay vibe, but when he was ready to tell you like it was, it came out in a blaze of glory. The fact that he called me babe, I knew it couldn't be good. Whatever he had to say, I wasn't going to like it.
Chris turned to Brian, one of the waiters. “Brian, can you keep your eyes on the bar? Liv and I need to take care of something.”
“Sure,” B
rian shrugged.
Luckily, there were very few early afternoon drinkers today. Chris wrapped his arm around my shoulders and guided me to the back office. Once the door closed and locked, he took a seat on the edge of his desk. His arms crossed over his chest.
“I'm asking again, what are you doing here?”
“Working, what else am I supposed to do?”
Chris rolled his eyes so high, he's lucky they didn't roll into the back of his head. “Go after that prince charming of yours.”
“Nick?”
“No, that asshole, Jake. Of course I mean Nick.”
I mimicked his stance, crossing my own arms over my chest. “Did you forget that he left? He didn't want any type of relationship anyway.”
“Man, I thought you were smart. Apparently, you can't see what's right in front of your face.”
“I'm not listening to this.” I spun around to reach for the door when a hand landed on my arm.
“Liv, listen to me. We've been friends for years and through all of the dipshits you've dated, I've never seen you with a guy who actually treated you like you deserve.”
“We're friends.”
“Wow. Another excuse. You have a million things in common with him, why are you so afraid to go after him.”
The fight left me and my eyes dropped to the ground below. “What if he doesn't want me that way?”
“Oh, honey.” He pulled me into his arms. “Of course he wants you that way. Every night he was here, he eyes never left you. Even when I talked to him, he always knew where you were.”
That snapped my head up. “He did?”
“He did. You're the strongest woman I know. Go after him. You'll never know if you don't try.”
Chris was right, I've always gotten what I wanted because I fought hard. Now wasn't the time to give up, but go and face him.
“Do you need me today?” I asked, hopeful.
He kissed me on the top of the head. “Get your ass out of here and on the road.”
Leaning up on my toes, I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”
“For the record,” he announced. “I was driving down this weekend to say the same thing to you.”
My mouth dropped open. “You were?”
“I was,” he admitted. He cupped my face and slowly brushed his thumb across my cheek. “Not telling you when I realized things had changed was a huge mistake. I knew my feelings for you were growing, but you'd said that weren't looking for a relationship. And I was afraid of being rejected again. Emily and Andrew helped to convince me that I should have stayed and explained.”
Cuddling into his side, I told him what I was feeling. “The same happened to me. I wanted so bad to tell you what I knew from the start. Watching you drive away was harder than I imagined it would be. Chris convinced me that if I really wanted you, I had to fight for it.”
“Had I known you felt the same as me, I never would have driven away.”
There was no need for apologies or hurt feelings. Nick put one arm under my legs and the other behind my back, lifting me off the ground and carried me to the bed. It was the place I wanted to be more than anything. We still had a lot of shit to deal with, but two months would be easy. Once I got back to school, things would balance out.
It took a boy stealing my wave on the beach to help me find the one man I had more in common with than any other. The best part he accepted me for me. Sometimes when we're not looking for it, what we want falls right into our lap.
Epilogue
Nick
8 months later
“LIV?” I CALLED DOWN the hall. “What the hell are you doing? We need to leave soon.”
“Get your panties out of your ass. I'll be there in a sec.”
Typical Liv answer and I wouldn't trade her for the world. I couldn't believe how much time had passed since Olivia showed up on my doorstep that night. Everything had changed since that moment and I loved it. The first two months had been hard, but we each did our best to travel and see the other as often as our work schedules would allow. Chris had been great about giving her extra days off to come up. Let's be honest, long distance sucks for any relationship, much more for a brand new one.
After school started again, things got a hell of a lot easier. Since she was only a ten minute drive away, we had more time to explore what was growing between us. We both needed time to learn to trust not only in one another, but ourselves. I think I earned hers when I was faithful in my support of her soccer career. Being a collegiate athlete could make life crazier than it already was.
The relationship we started building down at the beach only grew stronger. By Christmas, we decided that she wouldn't go back to the dorms after the holidays and would come live with me instead.
“How's this?” she asked.
I looked up from my phone and almost fell off the couch. The short black dress, made her legs seem miles long. Her breasts firmly outlined in the tight fitting fabric. My pants grew a few sizes to small, watching her twirl around.
She smirked. “You can close your mouth now. We don't have time to do all of the things I know are running through your head.”
Standing, I walked over and pulled her into my arms. “You look absolutely stunning.”
Her cheeks pinked. It still amazed me that for such a strong willed, self-confident woman, that she blushed whenever I commented on the beauty she created. She could be in her sweaty soccer uniform and she'd still be hot as hell.
“Thank you.” She grabbed the lapels of my suit jacket. “You're looking pretty hot yourself.”
“Thank you for coming with me tonight. I know they can be overwhelming.”
“Yes, they can be, but I love them. They've been nothing but accepting of me since the moment we met. Not all groups of friends are willing to let someone new into their circle.”
I held her tighter. “How could anyone not love you? I know I do.”
Her eyes went wide. “You do what?”
Shit. That wasn't exactly how I planned to tell her, but I felt it for months and it's about time she knew how much she meant to me.
Staring right into her eyes, I said the words I felt all the way to my bones. “I love you, Liv.” Unshed tears shimmered in her eyes. Lifting my hands I wiped them away. “Why the tears?”
She took a deep, calming breath. “I never in all my life expected to find a man like you. A man who loves me for me. I love you with all of my heart, Nick, and I am so lucky that you stole my wave.”
Laughing, our lips connected, showing the love we felt between us. Life would never be the same. I'd finally found everything I'd been looking for. No longer was I the third wheel with all of my friends. We were a group, each with our own love and life to live. But we would always be inseparable, so many bumps in the road we needed each other to get through. With this hurdle cleared, Olivia and I could enjoy our life together. Life wouldn't always be easy. As long as we found our way through it together, that's all that mattered to me.
