1.1 | daunting medleys

thirty-six | insecure

this chapter is in both Oliver and Tabitha's point of view. enjoy ♡

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Tabitha was quiet.

No one had spoken and she wasn't willing to either.

"Well?" Her mother asked with a quirked eyebrow. "Are you going to answer me or not?" She raised her head to see everyone looking at her curiously, so she answered.

"Yes, they got robbed but we were thinking of having a fundraiser of the sorts to help raise money for the kids." She said, and felt her heart race when her mother's eyes narrow in disgust. She was directly opposite Tabitha and the distance between them couldn't be much further with how much her heart broke.

The older woman leaned back and crossed her arms. "You aren't a superhero, Tabitha. You can't save everyone."

"What your mother is trying to say, is that we would love to help with anything that you need." Her father broke in, realizing the way Tabitha's eyes reddened. Her fingers wrapped around her fork, and she tightened her fist as if she wanted the metal to be ingrained within her palm. Talia and her grandmother were quiet, and she didn't want to say anything either.

Her mother snorted. "I'm not helping a lost cause." Tabitha almost smiled, the irony in her sentence wasn't lost on anyone and she seemed to have realized it quickly. Sobering from her disinterest, the older woman spluttered for words to salvage the situation but couldn't find any. There was nothing to say, nothing that mend the emotional emptiness of anything she said to Tabitha.

"I'm through with my meal. May I please be excused?" She asked, her eyes boldly meeting everyone's.

Her mother shook her head. "No. You can't just run away from your problems, Tabitha. You have to face them head on." Her problem was before her, in pearls and wicked brown eyes. No one ever here ever faced problems, it was in the blood of the Daniels to turn the other way from their problems.

Tabitha was built to ignore problems, she didn't know how to face them. No one ever taught her to face her problems, no one ever taught her anything. She had learned to turn the other way, to ignore them. Problems only increased when she focused on them, they didn't matter. And perhaps if she said it enough, she would believe herself, but Tabitha knew, deep within herself, that she was a liar.

Tabitha's family was cursed with the poison of unfamiliarity. There was nothing that resembled the ambience of a family, because family solved their problems together, not ignoring them until they became a thing of the past, leaving a mark on her heart, and the marks grew until it seemed they didn't hurt anymore. They did. She'd just grown accustomed to them.

Something bubbled in her, akin to fire and almost burst out of her. She began to shake, and bit her tongue so hard it bled. The air around her seemed stagnant, and filled with pain and fear. The entire house stunk with the bitter fragrance of pain. Perhaps she was used to it. Perhaps she wasn't. Perhaps, like the unfamiliarity of maternal love in her life, was accustomed to it.

*You are excused, Tabitha."

She didn't know who spoke, and she didn't wish to know. Tabitha just ran upstairs to her room and locked the door behind her. The shower she took was barely registered, and she didn't know when she fell asleep, tears glistening on her cheeks.

***********

Tabitha's tongue was tinted in red, and her lower lip coated in perhaps lipgloss or the sugar from her  lollipop.

The sun was especially bright today, and somehow increased the shine on her lips when she shifted and the temptation had never been stronger for Oliver. She was currently giggling in response to something Axel had said to her, while she was fiddling with the lollipop stick in her lithe fingers. She'd greeted him with a large smile and glossy eyes, yet the gut wrenching grief couldn't be hidden no matter how bright her smile was. They sat beside each other, and her arms brushed his every once in a while, his heart couldn't race any faster.

He was inside the booth, while Tabitha sat by the opening. Axel sat opposite them still arguing with Tabitha about something that he didn't bother to listen to. Axel still had the friendliness that Oliver saw when they had first became friends and Tabitha was unaware as she had fallen into his friendly trap, the sadness in her eyes melting into happiness.

"Right Oliver?" They both turned to him, and Tabitha's face was caught in the rays of the sudden sun. Her eyes melted into pools of molten gold and the tempo of his heart couldn't be faster. He turned to look away from her, to avoid anything that make him shout out how he felt, and immediately caught the dejected look in her eyes.

He blinked. "What?"

"We wanted to know if pie is better than cake, I think pie's better but dimples over here, thinks cake is better. I mean you are my friend, the very first friend I made and we've been friends longer than you've been with Tabitha. So you'll agree that pie is better than cake, right, my best friend and basically my brother?" Oliver barked out a short laugh, and the rings on his hands glinted in the light.

Tabitha turned to Oliver, her pretty features indignant, he coughed up a blank chuckle and caught the confused look when he turned to Axel. "That's no fair. He's trying to convince you with emotional blackmail."

Axel snorted, and cupped his chin, while humor curled his lips. "Sorry sweetheart, that's how it's done."

Oliver watched Tabitha splutter for words, then she looked at him smugly. "Well I'm smarter than you, right Ollie?" She turned to him, and curled her fingers around his forearms. She blushed when she'd realized what she did, and his cheeks burnt with embarrassment. Whenever she turned to him, her eyes would catch the sun, and her pretty hands would occasionally brush back a lock of hair.

"No. You can't flutter your lashes around him, then he'll have to take your side." Axel complained, throwing his hands up on annoyance.

Tabitha let out a short chuckle. "Sorry sweetheart, that's how it's done." Then she pulled up the edge of her turtleneck, up to her fingers. Oliver fiddled with the rings, seemingly entranced by the silver that glinted in the light.

Axel pouted, and when his phone rang, five seconds later, he walked out. It was silent for a while, and Oliver didn't know what to say, it was like they didn't know each other.

Tabitha turned to Oliver, and asked slowly. "Did I do something wrong? Are you upset with me?"

He froze. She really didn't know how much of a temptation she was. Tabitha wasn't making things easy for him, as all he wanted to do was kiss her, probably tell her how much he liked her and how much she drove him crazy. She had worked her way into his life, and his mind until his every waking thought was about her. But all that remained, were thoughts of if she liked him back, if there was space for him past the overwhelming grief she felt. The past day was horrible, and he couldn't think straight to form a sentence, past the way he hated how much she glowed in the rays of rogue sunlight, or how much he hated his father.

"Why would you think that?" He chuckled, although it was empty.

Tabitha scoffed. "Because you haven't looked at me since I walked in here, and I don't know what I've done wrong."

"You've done nothing wrong." He said, finally looking at her, and when he did, he instantly regretted it. Tabitha had expressive eyes, anything she felt would burn brightly in them and today was no different. She looked wronged, like she'd been falsely accused, and Oliver hated, beyond anything, being the cause of her worries.

She held his hand, and pulled his fingers away from the poor rings. "Then why won't you look at me? Or talk to me at all?"

His thoughts were eating him, and he couldn't help but contemplate every reason as to why Tabitha wouldn't like him. And he wasn't a stranger to the fact that he was insecure, of his looks, of his body and most times, of his parentage but this was different. His chest felt stuffed, and he could fell his fingers tighten against Tabitha's. By now, she had turned to face him, and held his cheeks.

"You look sad." She commented with a wry smile.

Oliver shook his head. "I'm not sad. I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"You."