Unusual Circumstances

Chapter 15

"So, what's up?" I ask as I sit opposite Ollie on a hard, cold plastic chair.

He called me an hour ago to meet him in Subway, but wouldn't tell me why. He simply refused.

He pulls the neck of his top away slightly and clears his throat. "I wanted to talk."

"Talk?" I ask sceptically as I unwrap my sandwich and raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know, about this," he gestures between the two of us.

Ugh, I knew this was bloody coming soon enough.

"Alright, let's talk." I try to keep calm and standoffish, but it's a little bit hard to do that.

"Well, Ronan told me about that contract..."

I groan and hit my head against the table.

"Ouch." I say sluggishly as I raise my head.

Ollie snorts, "You even managed to get cucumber on your forehead!"

Oh. Well that sucks, I think as I peel the green slice off my head. I just want to get this over and done with, but I still got a sandwich.

What? Most people are partial to their sandwiches. I'm normal.

"Alex, you need to talk to him."

"What?" I almost yell.

"You need to resolve this," he pleads, giving me puppy-dog eyes.

Okay, I live with a three-year-old child model, who is practically a clone of my glorious self. Puppy eyes ain't gonna work, honey.

Seeing my resolve, Ollie sighs. "Might as well change the subject."

I nod stiffly. "Please do."

"What do you think about this?"

Not this again.

"Ollie," I say, looking him straight in the eye, "I want you to say that again. In fact, I dare you. Just so that I can reply the same way I did at the hospital, at school, and when you - very rudely - woke me up at midnight to ask again."

He sighs, scratching his neck. "Will you go out with me?"

I pick up my sandwich and leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before anyone calls my therapist, I have my reasons.

I feel that my saying 'no' is fine, if you consider the situation.

I'm going to tell you what happened later at the hospital, after I ran from a very annoyed Imogen.

'I walked in, wondering why they'd asked me to come into this room.

There, sat next to each other in plastic chairs, were Ollie and Ronan; I was expected to sit in the empty seat in front of them.

There was no way in hell.

"Alex, please, just sit down," Ronan asked, sounding tired.

I looked behind me, back to him and pointed at myself. "Who, me?"

"Yes you. Now sit your ass down." Funnily enough, it was Ollie who said that. Hmm.

"Have you guys eaten Chinese lately?"

They looked at me blankly. "What?"

"Because I'm getting Freaky Friday vibes."

Ronan rolled his eyes.

"Alex," he said, "you need an explanation for all the weirdness that's been going on."

"It wasn't too bad until you beat up your cousin."

"About that..." Ollie started. "I may have beat him up?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"It all started a long time ago-"

"In a galaxy far far away." What? It was Star Wars!

Ronan gave me a look and continued where his cousin left off. "I liked you since we were little, and-"

"Wait a stupid second. Why did you act like a little insert preferred word if you liked me?"

He sighed. "Because I knew you liked Ollie," he turned to glare at his cousin, "and it was the only way to get your attention."

I nodded. Fair enough, I guess.

"And when I left to live with Granny Blake, I had to threaten just about everyone to stay away from you," he chuckles.

"What?" I yell. "I can blame not having a boyfriend on one over-possessive little shit!?" He nods. "I know where you live," I growl the last part.

"But, when I came back, I wanted to tell you all this, make it how it should have been - but then Ollie came into the scene."

Can anyone say Twilight?

"He knew of your little infatuation, and was going to use it."

"Use it?" Uh huh, sure.

Ollie shrugged, "I do what I can for a thrill."

Okay, this is the same Ollie, but kind of nasty. Me no likey.

"And so a bet was made. Winner would ask you as their girlfriend first, loser admits defeat. Once involved with one, the other had to back off." Ronan glares at his cousin as he says the last part.

"So the contract..."

"Was a way of stating claim." He nodded, "Which Ollie knew."

Oh.

"So when Ollie stated getting friendly..."

"I was exploiting the deal." Ollie said, sounding bored.

I nod, "But this doesn't explain why you two decided to go fist happy. Innuendo not intended."

Ronan chuckles. "I was going to scare Ollie off, but you started to stand up for him. I was actually going to hit Ollie. Remember, before you punched me?"

Interesting.

"So, when I came home," Ollie starts, "There was a very pissed off cousin waiting for me. Who, being the wimp he is, 'wanted to talk'."

"But you started a fight?" I ask, still sceptic.

"I do what I can for a thrill, remember?"

I nod again and start to leave.

"Alex?" Ollie asks.

I turn around.

"Go out with me?" '

And obviously, I said no.

But he was persistent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alex, you came." Ronan says, sounding slightly shocked.

I roll my eyes. "Of course I did."

He try's to take my hand, but I jolt it away.
No thank you, not yet.

"Alex," he says quietly, "will you go out with me?"

"Ronan," I say quietly, "I can't."

I walk away from him, and back to my friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Right, people may remember me saying that I decided to stop the book there, but I've changed my mind!

Ta da!

Also, please read my book Listen, as I really think it's gonna be good - better than this, hopefully!

(And, for those who were wondering, Imogen and Kilani get married. And have kids. And start a heavy-metal band together and are always on the cover of Kerrang)