FADED MEMORIES: A Lance Stroll fanfiction

CHAPTER 9

Olivia smiled at Lance, her eyes shining brighter than the stars in the sky. For a split-second, she almost felt like she was a kid again. She almost felt as free as she did when she was 13 years old. But then she remembered where she was, and who she was with.

The smile she previously wore left her face, as she looked out the window. The silence that engulfed them was almost suffocating, and Olivia felt a strong urge to dig a hole in the ground, and sink into it.

Lance glanced to side, and saw Olivia's tense state. He clenched his jaw. She used to be his best friend, and now he felt like a stranger. He made the worst choice of his life when he decided to cut her off. He knew he needed to fix it, but there was one problem. He just didn't know how.

Soon enough, Lance pulled into the driveway of a small Italian restaurant. "You still like chicken alfredo?" he asked. Olivia perked up as soon as she heard the mention of her favourite pasta dish. "Have I ever not?" she said, undoing her seatbelt.

The two of them walked inside to a small table in the back of the restaurant. Lance pulled out Olivia's chair, and she smiled at him. 'After all this time he's still as polite, and well mannered as ever.' she thought.

After ordering their food, they sat in a stifling silence, with Olivia pretty much dying of awkwardness, and Lance having a very loud discussion in his head.

'Ah screw it, I have nothing to lose anyway.' He thought. So he summed up his courage and spit out the words he had wanted to say for the past 4 and a half years.

"I'm sorry." He blurted out. Olivia looked up at him. The expression on his face was one she knew all too well. It was one of pain, repressed emotion, and pure utter regret. It was an expression she saw often when she looked in the mirror.

Olivia smiled. Those two words were all she needed to hear. It was at that moment she knew she had her best friend back.

"I'm sorry I stopped picking up the phone. I'm sorry I ignored you all those years. It was so stupid. I'm so sorry I-" "Hey." She said, cutting off his rambling, and reaching out to hold his hand.

"It's okay Lance." She said, a soft smile on her face. "Really?" he asked. "Really." She said. And for the first time in a while, it really was okay.

Before long, Olivia, and Lance were chatting away like the years that they had spent apart had never happened. Lance felt a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders, and Olivia breathed a lot easier now that the awkward tension had dissolved slightly.

Olivia was just telling Lance about the time she almost got into a fist-fight a bit after he left Montreal, when her phone started ringing. It was a facetime call from Kelly. She groaned as she got up from the table. "I'm sorry I need to take this."

She went outside, and answered the phone, and sure enough the face of her blonde friend popped up on the screen. "Oh good you picked up." She said. "Hey Kels. What's up?" she asked.

Kelly's usually perfectly styled blonde hair was up in a messy bun, and her usually flawless makeup looked slightly rushed. "Okay so we may have a slight problem..." she said, slightly exhasperated.

Olivia let out a string of curses under her breath "What happened?" she asked. "So your costume ripped and-" "Hold on, hold on Kels, which one?" she said.

"The blue one." Olivia facepalmed. "Kelly I have at least 3 blue stage outfits for this tour, you need to be more specific."

Kelly rolled her eyes. "The dark blue two piece outfit that you used after the second outfit change when we were in New York." She said in a tone that clearly said, 'duh.'

Olivia's eyes widened. "But I was supposed to-" "Use it as your outfit for the grand finale in there in Sydney yeah I know." Said Kelly cutting her off.

"So Pauline is asking what outfit you want to use, so she find a makeup look that fits with all of them." She said, referring to Olivia's stylist.

Olivia thought for a moment. "Can you ask her if I can use the white one from when we did the show in Minnesota?" She asked. "And if not, tell her she can pick as long as it won't get damaged during the finale 'cause I still need it for the Manila concert."

Kelly nodded. "Okay." She said. All of a sudden, the phone was grabbed from her, and Jason appeared on the screen. "Hey Via." He said in the tone of a protective older brother who's little sister just went out on a date.

Olivia grinned innocently. "Hi Jason. What are you doing on this fine evening." She said hoping he would lay off on the scolding. "OLIVIA JERUSHA CORTEZ WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WERE YOU THINKING!" He practically screamed.

Olivia winced at the loud volume of his voice. "You were just saying less than a week ago about how you were terrified about meeting him, and now you're on a date with the guy?" Olivia rolled her eyes. "For the last time it's not a date. We're just going out to dinner." She said.

Jason pinched his nose. "Okay here's what you're goanna do." He said. "You're going to go back inside, tell him that something came up, and then you're going to leave."

Olivia stared at him. "No." she said. "What do you mean no?" exclaimed Jason. "I mean, I'm just goanna ignore what you just said, and I'm really not in the mood for this conversation right now, so I'll just see you in Sydney." She said. "Wait what? Olivia don't you dare end th-" "Bye!" she said, quickly cutting him off by pressing the end-call button.

She walked back inside, and saw Lance at the table. The food had just arrived, and he sat there waiting for her. Olivia smiled at him. "Everything alright?" he asked, referring to the phone call. "Yeah. Yeah everything's fine." She replied.

"Jason's just a bit pissed." She said. 'Does Olivia have a boyfriend?' Lance thought to himself. "He's my producer." Said Olivia, seeing Lance's raised eyebrows.

He nodded. They started to eat their food and as Olivia took a bite of her pasta, she looked at Lance with a humorous glint in her eyes.

"So tell me," she said. "What's it like to drink out of Daniel Ricciardo's shoe?" Lance almost spit out his water, as he tried not to laugh, making Olivia burst into a fit of laughter.

"Well," he said. "First you need to tell me what it's like performing in front of thousands of people, and then having a wardrobe malfunction while dancing." He retorted.

Olivia groaned. "You saw that?" Lance nodded. Both of them were laughing hysterically by now. They got a few stares, but it didn't bother them. All that mattered to them was that they had found each other again. 

A/n: It's funny how you can pinpoint the exact spot where I get writer's block, and just gave up on the entire chapter.