1.1 | daunting medleys

thirty-two | jelly

Tabitha was surprised.

"I missed you." Emily said, kissing her cheek. She held onto the little girl, a tad shocked that was her home and that Oliver was her brother. The astonished look on everyone's faces was as muted as Oliver's.

She giggled when Tabitha booped her nose. "I missed you too, princess Emily."

"Ollie!" Emily squealed as she saw her brother, and wriggled in Tabitha's hands as she wanted to jump down. Oliver saw that and came so he could take Emily from her, as the little girl was even more happy to see him.

"You two know each other?" He asked, as Emily's small arms circled his neck. She had a bandage on leg, and her tiny face was slowly contorting in a yawn. The large man went over and kissed Wren on the cheek, she melted into his arms while stirring something on the pot. Oliver moved closer to her, and she wanted to shift away, he made her feel frazzled and her insides turn to jelly.

Tabitha nodded. "I saw her a couple weeks ago in the music room, and she asked me to play a song for her." She peered over, and saw the large man staring at her scrutinizingly. He was huge, with giant biceps, a goatee and balding hair.

"Oh, right. Babe, this is Tabitha, Ollie's friend. Tabitha, this is my boyfriend, Bryan." He held out his hand, and she placed her considerably smaller hand in his. He was blonde, and had blue eyes like Emily. Oliver looked nothing like him, or Wren, and it left Tabitha feeling puzzled.

She smiled politely. "It's nice to meet you sir."

"Pleasure." He said gruffly.

Oliver held her hand to pull her attention to him. "I'll go put her down for a nap, then we can talk." She nodded, and followed him into her room. Emily's room was pink, almost blindingly pink. Stuffed animals took up a huge corner of the room, and her bedsheets, pillow and blanket were all a bright pink.

Tabitha looked at the pictures, and majority of them were photos of her and Oliver at a lot of places. Both of them at the park, at the water park and one with both of them at the lake. He walked to her, and held her hand before taking her to his room. Tabitha let him pull her to his room, and he gestured to the bed. She sat on the bed, seeing that his room was airier, than earlier.

"What do you want to know?" He asked, leaning on the dresser, so he would be sitting opposite her.

Tabitha picked at the lint on her leggings. "Why were you so upset? You said you were just going for lunch. I'm confused."

"If you want to understand why then I'll have to start from the beginning. My father was married, and my mother was in college. He came to her small town and managed to convince her that he was in love with her. They fell in love and my mum became pregnant, my mother found out he was married after his wife came over and publicly humiliated my mother." He paused, eyes swollen and reddened as he stared into the distance.

"They found out that she was pregnant, made her give me up when she had me, because it was bad for his image." Oliver shove his hands into the pockets of his khakis to hide the tremble but Tabitha saw, she always did.

"Ollie..." She started, and Oliver shook his head as if to reassure her but it didn't. Hate spread in her heart at the thought of anyone hurting the boy before her.

"My father's wife sent me to the orphanage after they casually discovered that they didn't want me. Somehow, my mother found me in the orphanage, when I was seven, and now I'm here." Oliver tried to be nonchalant, like it didn't matter but as the story progressed, his eyes reddened tremendously and he had to stop because he was getting overwhelmed.

Tabitha blinked, once, twice. "And the lunch was with..." He walked to sit beside her, their thighs brushing.

Oliver nodded. "My dad. He is running for a second term as governor of Massachusetts and his opponents discovered that he has a child outside wedlock, and most of the story and now, he wants me to pretend like he didn't leave me. He wants me to pretend like it's okay, like he didn't fucking leave me. I hate him so much, Tabitha." He broke down there and then, his hands buried in his hair. Tabitha held him, and his hands wound around her waist.

"I hate that I look so much like him. I remind my mum everyday about her pain, about her humiliation and I hate myself for it." His tears soaked her shoulder, and she felt as if it burnt her skin.

Her eyes stung. "It's not your fault y'know. It's not your fault that you look like him. You didn't choose to look like him."

"I-" Then he continued crying.

Tabitha lifted his head and wiped his tears from his face. "It's not your fault. It is not your fault." She repeated. He stopped, sniffling and laying his head on her shoulder. It was silent, and he was playing with her fingers, and the manicure on them that were fading.

"Thank you, Tabitha."

She shrugged, as much as she could anyway with his head on her shoulder. "I'm just doing what friends do for each other." The statement killed something in her, she hadn't realized how horrible it felt being called just his friend. He was silent, and she was waiting to know what he wanted to say.

Oliver lifted his head, and held her chin with his finger, before kissing her cheek softly. "Thank you, Tabitha." Her mouth fell open as she closed her eyes, when she had opened them, he was close to her and his finger had started tracing the edge of Tabitha's lip. Oliver's eyes seemed impossible to read, and she almost hadn't been able to breathe. He leaned in, and she closed her eyes again. If she'd pushed against him a little, their lips would touch, and Tabitha wanted more than anything, to see how it felt.

Her heart had been thumping furiously, and it seemed to want to burst out of her chest. Her fists were balled, and she breathed out of her mouth. Oliver was about to kiss her, they were so close, and she could feel his breath on her cheek.

"Ollie, sweetie. It's time for lunch." His mother said and they pulled apart from each other so quickly, that Tabitha almost fell off the bed.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. Please, continue." Wren giggled, and said before leaving. "Tabitha honey, please join us for lunch." Tabitha sat on the bed, with her cheeks furiously blushing, her and Oliver looking away from each other.

She looked at him, just to see his cheeks so red they could glow. "I, um, I have to go home. My dad is having family over for lunch." Liar.

He nodded, and let her pass by him. "I'm sorry."

"You did nothing wrong, Ollie. I promise." Coward. She smiled at him, before running out of the house in general, the sound of her fears lingering behind her.