I'll Be There

13 | homecoming

"You guys do realize you moved into one room, right?" Olivia asked loudly as she navigated through the scattered moving boxes. The scene in the upstairs hallway of the Baker house looked nothing short of her mother's worst nightmare.

When she made it to the end of the hall, she came to an abrupt halt in front of Jordan's room, Spencer's chest bumping into her.

"Sorry," he muttered, stepping back. He had been more focused on not tripping over anything than what was going on in front of him. It was astounding to him how two people in their twenties could own this much stuff.

"Liv!" Simone squealed, jumping off the bed when she spotted her best friend in the doorway.

"Hi," Olivia laughed, wrapping her arms tightly around her sister-in-law while Spencer scooted around them to welcome Jordan. "Umm, how long are you guys planning on staying here?"

"You won't believe what your idiot brother did," Simone pulled back, shaking her head. "He mislabeled some of the boxes that were supposed to go to the storage unit, but instead they came here. Then some of the boxes that needed to be here ended up there."

While Simone went on, Olivia peered over her shoulder to catch her brother's eye, shaking her head as she giggled at her sister-in-law's frustration. "It was this whole mess, girl," Simone sighed.

"Looks like it still is," Olivia laughed, surveying the room.

"Yea, yea. We'll figure it out," Jordan insisted, moving his wife out of the way to pull his sister into a suffocating embrace. "What's up, dork."

"Good to have you back," she mumbled into his chest. "I missed you."

After the group exchanged all their hello's and I miss you's, they quickly realized that the cluttered room was not the ideal place for them to sit and catch up. Moving downstairs, they sat along the sectional couch in the living room. With Laura and Billy out preparing for the big welcome back party the next day, Olivia played the roll of hostess, pulling out some cheese and crackers for them to snack on.

Once everything was laid out, she took a seat on the far end of the couch closest to Spencer while Jordan and Simone sat across from them.

"What?" Olivia interjected during a break in the conversation, widening her eyes at Simone. For the past ten minutes, Simone had been shooting looks in her direction while the guys discussed recent NFL trades.

"I don't know. From what I heard about birthday dates and heated looks, I figured you two would be sitting a little closer together," Simone observed from her spot in Jordan's lap.

Olivia's cheeks got hot as she felt Spencer's eyes on her. Avoiding his gaze, she shot a death glare at her sister-in-law, wholly unaware that Simone had already exposed her over the phone a few weeks back. Olivia made a mental note to never share details with Simone again.

Taking pity on her, Spencer scooted towards Olivia, resting his arm along the back of the couch.

"Relax," he whispered, his lips brushing against her ear.

Taking a breath, she tried to appear less rigid. It wasn't that she was physically uncomfortable with him. That was far from the truth. It was just that every time they had gotten close in recent months, they had been alone. Now with a small audience, she felt vulnerable.

"That's better," Simone smiled, continuing the conversation. "So where were we?"

For the rest of the afternoon, the conversation was lost on Olivia as she sat next to Spencer, hyperaware of his body against hers. As he carried on with the discussion, his calmness did little to settle the uneasy feeling growing inside her.