Eat Fresh

Her name

Olivia felt nothing when she called Elias's parents, nothing besides rage. Elias didn't get to make the shots, he never gets to make the shots. Olivia didn't plan for Elias to actually show up that night, she didn't plan for Diego to leave her side either. Olivia messed up, she was no longer ten steps ahead but walking alongside everyone else. Her room wasn't anything more besides a bed, her dresser filled with clothes, and a table that housed a journal with her every waking thought. Olivia could never tell anyone about anything, and a journal would never leave her. She messed up, how could she have messed up? Olivia had planned everything perfectly, and yet everything went wrong. It was a few days after the fundraiser that Elias's parents called her asking if she knew where Elias went. Elias went somewhere? Probably fled town with Diego, which is what she told his parents before hanging up. Olivia never told them the name of Elias's "friend," just that she was concerned for Elias, seeing poor people and all. 

All this she wrote in her journal, her pen running low on ink sent another spike of anger into her head. Nothing wanted to go her way, nothing ever wanted to go her way. She always had to make it go her way. Her every thought was consumed by how she could make things better, make everything right. Of course she had to break up Diego and Elias, but how? How! Nothing ever came to mind, nothing would work out in her favor. 

Olivia's thinking was interrupted by her phone buzzing, Diego. What could he possibly want? Olivia picked up her phone, a couple of texts from Diego loaded in. Pictures of him and Elias together, pictures of him and Elias driving together, pictures of him and Elias doing everything together. A bunch of pictures, and another text asking if he could call. Olivia replied yes, and within seconds an incoming call from Diego announced itself on Olivia's phone. 

"What kind've psycho shit is this Diego? Never took you as a gloater." Olivia said as confidently as she could, her nerves beginning to resurface after years of pushing them down. 

"I just wanted to send them to make sure you know how happy Elias and I are together." Diego replied, you could hear his smugness. Olivia wanted to slap the smug out of him. "-and I wanted to call to tell you that if you ever mess with either of us again," Diego stopped a second to laugh, "I will end you right then and there, thanks for answering. Now never talk to us again." Diego finished, and hung up. He hung up on Olivia. No one hangs up on Olivia. 

Olivia put her phone down and got out of her chair. Her thoughts going miles a minute, not wanting to slow down anytime soon. Pacing back and forth she began to babble out loud to herself, trying to sort out what she could do. Olivia hadn't ever thought about her future without Elias being forcibly put in it. Now, not only did Olivia have to deal with her now uncertain future, but the fact that Elias found someone and she didn't. She was Olivia, she had men begging to be with her, and yet Elias gets true love? How was that fair? Olivia has done everything for everyone, she didn't have to plan to marry Elias, but she did. She didn't have to do anything for this fucked up family, but she did everything and more. 

Olivia collapsed onto the floor, Elias was actually right. Who cares what our families think? Olivia did, Olivia did everything they asked no matter how damaging it was to herself. She laid back onto the floor, feeling the coolness cling to her skin. She did everything she could for this family, and no one did anything for her in return. The realization began to come to Olivia, how her family used her over and over like she wasn't a human let alone their kid. Now Olivia had no one, wrecking every close relationship she had because they didn't fit her families expectations- and Olivia just went along with it? 

Olivia sat up, then stood up, and walked out her door, then out her house. Walking, no running, further and further away from her house. Olivia was always kept in shape, whether she wanted to be or not, so running was easy. It was deciding where to go that was difficult. Down the streets and through every shady alley Olivia could find. Olivia had one thing on her mind, finding  something to hurt, something to break. 

Eventually she found herself outside the town limits, in the middle of a forest. The sun had began setting minutes ago but Olivia couldn't see the actual sun between all the trees. It was dark, but just light enough to see. All Olivia could see were the sunbeams breaking through the tree leaves, she continued walking deeper into the forest following the beams that sparkled and soaked into her skin Vitamin D deficient skin. The beams led her to a drop-off, a giant cliff with thousands of trees at the bottom and the ocean further out. Olivia had never seen anything like it, the waves were tiny where she stood. The trees were illuminated with a golden shade, courtesy of the sun. 

Olivia couldn't take it in all at once, her body forcing her to sit down. She always had to be inside when it became nighttime, her parents worried something would happen to her. How idiotic of them, the worst thing that could happen to Olivia was Olivia herself. Olivia watched the waves roll in and out on the beach, watched the couples leave with their children. She watched as the teenagers came and lit up campfires. Olivia could be lighting up a campfire right now, she could have done so many random teenager things when she was younger. But now she sat in the cold, because the sun had finally set. Olivia stood up, dusted the dirt off her pants, and began walking home. 

Olivia had gotten halfway home before she called for a taxi, prepared to tell them to take her home. But instead told them to bring her to the closest hotel. Checked in, and finally looked at her phone. No notifications. Absolutely no notifications. It was almost 10 at night her parents would've been home hours ago. No notifications, not even a "where are you at?" no messages from her friends, no messages from anyone. Olivia couldn't hold it in anymore, tears began flowing from her eyes. Years of pent up emotions suddenly burst at the seams, her face heating up with hate. Olivia hated crying, she despised the way it made her feel afterward making her face sticky and her nose runny. 

Eventually Olivia stopped, everything stopped. Her tears, her thoughts, her body. Nothing moved besides her ceiling fan that she watched spin around a million times, while her body laid numb. It was almost midnight now, her insomnia getting the best of her. Still no notifications. 

The sunlight hit Olivia awake, she had never slept in this late. She grabbed her phone off her nightstand, surely- her heart sank as the only notification that popped up was that her battery was fully charged. No one had even noticed Olivia was gone, Elias's parents called everyone when he didn't come back the next day. It's been at least twelve hours since Olivia left her house and Olivia hadn't seen her parents in at least twenty four. Olivia knew no one cared about her, and she was fine with that. But she hadn't thought her parents didn't care about her. 

Olivia was fuming, her mind finally made up about what to do. She waited in front of the ATM, and it gave her as much cash as she could get out of her account. Texting an "I'm truly sorry," to both Elias and Diego, and throwing her phone in the trash. Olivia was ready, she hailed another taxi and told them to drive until they were into the next city. Then she sat back in her seat, ready to leave everything and everyone behind.