Better | Olivia Rodrigo ✓

Ⅲ. real life

may 21st, 2021

"Ow!"

Cecilia Brodsky lay on her bed legs dangling upwards against the frame of her bed, rubbing her face from the phone-sized imprint that had been left from her dropping the phone on her face. She paused briefly at the late time seared across the lock screen of her phone, silent as she waited for the inevitable footsteps of her Mum that never came. It was a habit that was impossible to break, stemming from the years of reading books under her covers with a torch late at night, only now instead of books under torchlight, it was her phone.

The phone in question never stopped buzzing with notifications, the drop of Olivia's album quickly circulating the world. Replies to her and Iris' comments on Olivia's post, texts from family and friends asking Cecilia to send through their congrats to Olivia and likes on her own celebratory post for Olivia all lit up her phone, draining her battery quickly. But she was slightly too comfortable to bother moving to get her charger. 

The chaotic, celebratory FaceTime between Olivia, Iris, Cecilia and Conan had died 20 minutes ago, Iris citing her early morning due to the amount of schoolwork she had had to complete as the reason for her departure, with Conan hopping on the bandwagon and heading off too, Cecilia soon following their lead as well. But despite the fatigue she could feel building up behind her eyes, the regret she would undoubtedly feel tomorrow morning after her late-night already bubbling up in her stomach, something felt amiss, ingrained in the atmosphere of her room and pulling her from the abyss of sleep her body craved. 

Her mind cleared moments later at the piercing sound of a doorbell ringing into the night, sounding several times louder within the silent house and late hour. Although the thought of someone being on her doorstep so late at night, caused the hairs to stand up on end on her neck in warning, the thought of seeing who it was through the Brodsky's peephole that her Mum had gotten installed reassured the brunette. Cecilia padded out of her room, pausing in front of the open doorway of the master bedroom only to see her Mum mumble slightly as she turned over only slightly disturbed by the doorbell. Cecilia continued down the stairs, her left foot automatically avoiding the creaky third step as always, another habit she couldn't ever quite break before reaching the front door, her heart cracking slightly at the sight of Olivia in tears on her doorstep. 

"Olivia, what-" Cecilia began, attempting to pull open the door only for it to creak slightly under the pressure, not giving way as Olivia's outstretched fist tried to knock again. "Liv, can you hear me?" Cecilia asked through the slit between the door and the door frame.

"Lil, is that you?" 

"Sure is. Mum's dead-locked the door and I don't want to wake her up, any chance you could creep around the side and I'll let you in my window?" 

"Okay, I'll see you in a second," Olivia replied before Cecilia hurried back up the stairs to unlatch the window so her best friend could enter. Thankful that this hadn't been the first time that both girls had snuck into each other's houses via the bedroom window that stood on the second floor for both girls. They now each possessed a strange talent they were both bizarrely talented at, scaling the side of a house to reach the second floor, at least they would be sorted if they ever had to break into someone's house. 

"Sorry." The brunette muttered, arms dangling over Cecilia's window sill, the rest of Olivia's body resting against the roof. "Sorry for being here so late, I just really needed to talk to you, talk to somebody, in person." 

"No need for apologies." Cecilia returned, her smile wide as she looked at her best friend. "Come on in although we've got to be quiet and you can tell me what's bothering you." 

"Now I guess I should start by asking, why do you always seem to show up on my doorstep in tears? Does my house really look that repulsive?" Cecilia joked, getting the slightest, crack of a smile on Olivia's face before the atmosphere turned serious once more. "What's going on Liv? I know it's been a big day."

"Is it okay if I say I don't really know?" Olivia asked as Cecilia nodded in encouragement. "Like I'm so excited for where this is all going to go, I'm immensely proud of Sour but I don't know it just feels like there's something's off at the moment, something sad about it."

"The reminder of Josh?" Cecilia asked tentatively, the name barely mentioned between girls but if Cecilia was ever to get to the bottom of Olivia's emotional state, it was a key instrument in achieving it.  

"Yeah, I guess, everything about it. The success and the response of everything is nothing like what I expected and it's just a little overwhelming." Olivia admitted, flopping down into Cecilia's awaiting arms. "Not that I'm not grateful for it or anything." She continued springing back up from the hug at the thought. 

"I'm not suggesting you aren't, Liv. But it's definitely a lot to take on at once, cause you are like famous now." 

"Are you saying I wasn't famous before?" Olivia asked in mock annoyance, Cecilia's smile widening as Olivia's mood lifted. 

"What I'm saying is that you've probably jumped up several rankings on the Most Popular rank on Famous Birthdays. In fact, I bet you are in front of Taylor." 

"Doubt it." 

"Never say never, Liv." 

"Did you just quote Justin Bieber?"

"Maybe," Cecilia admitted, the two girls breaking into a small fit of laughter, still partially wrapped in their hug as they lay on the floor. 

The moon was the only source of illumination in the room, as the two girls eventually picked themselves up, moving to lay on the bed instead of Cecilia's hard wooden floors. 

"Do you think your parents will mind you staying the night?" Cecilia asked, grabbing another blanket out of her cupboard. "I don't really want you walking back this late and I'm sure my Mum doesn't either." 

But Olivia wasn't listening, utterly captivated by the way that the moon reflected over Cecilia's eyes, sparkling in an almost ethereal way as she moved around the room preparing a place for Olivia to sleep.