olivia | o.r.

chapter 9: two can play at that game

Minnie wakes to the sunlight shining through the half-closed blinds in her new bedroom. She shifts to turn away from the sun in her eyes, noting the arms wrapped around her waist. She doesn't fail to notice the blanket that lay draped over her and the girl next to her. Regaining near-to-full consciousness, she recalls the night she spent, letting it all out. Well, almost all of it. But that's no matter because it was known from the beginning that that can of worms will not be opening any time soon... and hopefully never for Minnie's sake.

Thinking back to last night, Minnie's gotten two things straight, one, she's not. And two, neither is Olivia. 

Minnie thinks it's selfish of her to gain hope after hearing that, but she can't help but feel better about her odds of achieving happiness. 

Could there be a possibility? Maybe, just maybe...

Minnie's brows are scrunched in thought when Olivia shifts in her sleep, tightening her grip around Minnie and pulling her closer. Minnie smiles at this, despite the puffiness of her eyes from last night's cry session. She snuggles closer into Olivia, reveling in the fact that she had a lot more in common with her childhood best friend than she had thought, before drifting back into a deep sleep. 

} SURPRISE BITCHES, HERE'S OLIVIA

Olivia wakes not 10 minutes after Minnie, noting that they definitely weren't this close in proximity last night, but decided that they should remain this way... forever even. 

She recalls the events of last night, and holy shit, she did it. She came out to Minnie as Minnie came out to her. It's the kind of event you would expect to see in an ironic TikTok, but no, she liked the way it all... came out. Olivia prefers the term 'sweet,' which's how the night felt to her. It doesn't matter how overused it was, for now, it was hers and Minnie's. She'll forever hold last night tight in the clutches of her newly repaired heart. After hurting for so long, suffering over something that made her feel like she'd never been enough, she found something- no, someone who fixed her heart. Minnie fixed her, and she can't help but think about every time Minnie's repairs had gone unnoticed, every time Minnie had fixed her, and was she there to fix Minnie? Or was she too busy trying to make a lover out of another curly-haired boy, in a poor attempt to shield her own feelings from herself?

Olivia knew how she felt, she's always known. It just took a while for her to allow herself to be aware of them. There were moments... nights spent with Minnie where time seemed to stop. She's my best friend, she'd tell herself, We're supposed to love each other like this, she'd convince herself. 

Does she see me the way I see her?  The thought appeared on frequent occasions, quickly shut down by the internalized fears that deeply root within Olivia. (I bet Minnie could relate.)

And now, poor Olivia, with her favorite human in her arms, thinks back to every time she could've thought such a thing... finally allowing her feelings to scratch the surface.

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// chapter 1: butterflies

 "I did that" Minnie concluded proudly, calming down from her momentary victory.

"Yes, babe you did," Olivia didn't mean to let it slip. It rolled off the tongue so easy, so slick that she didn't realize it until after the crime was committed. It's safe to say that the blush on her cheeks reached the point where her ears paired as a matching set. Besides the tomato that she had become, she knows how to act, which made it effortless for her to feign nonchalance, refusing to look in Minnie's direction.