Quiet Enlightenment

Part 3, Chapter 12 - Steamrolled

Sunday, August 13, 2017

"I'm sorry! I can explain!" Olivia said as she ran behind her boyfriend with tears in her eyes.

"Explain what?! I can't believe you!" Orson yelled as he ran into his hotel room and slammed the door shut, leaving Olivia standing there sobbing. Kenton ran up behind her.

"I'm... not pregnant. He's got everything wrong..." Olivia said as Kenton wrapped his arms around her.

"I know. I know. Mia just told me everything. The best thing you can do is give him some space. I'll talk to him." Kenton said as she continued to cry into his shoulder.

Kenton walked up to the door and used his key to open it up. Orson was lying back on his bed looking up at the ceiling in a daze.

"Hey. I know that I'm just a stranger to you, but the best thing you can do right now is take some time for yourself to cool down. If you need someone to talk to, I'll be back later." Kenton awkwardly said before a knock at the door broke the tension. Kenton opened it up to see Calvin.

"Okay... I'm going to leave you two alone." Kenton quickly said as he slipped out of the door.

Calvin climbed up into the bed next to his older brother and the two sat there in silence for a few minutes.

"I'm done." Orson finally said.

"Done with what?"

"Everything. This stupid show. My lying gossip of a girlfriend. Just everything."

"I'm not trying to justify what she did, but she did have the best of intentions. She didn't to put this on you without knowing for sure." Calvin said.

"It's not that. It's the fact that I found about this from some stupid mouthy kid that I don't even know! My personal life is now out there in the open!"

"I don't think that Mom and Dad know, and I don't think that Olivia's Mom and Dad know, either." Calvin replied.

"But strangers know about my... private life! Do you know what they do to people who have a big online presence? One person blabs about this and I'll be crucified on a drama video channel in less than twenty-four hours!"

Back at Sylvester's apartment, the young teenager sulked into the place followed by Cameron and Mia.

"I was just trying to make conversation... and be polite." Sylvester quietly said. In a temporary loss of self-control, Cameron shoved his cousin back with a blow to his shoulder. Mia couldn't bring herself to say anything in response.

"SHUT UP. There's a time and a place for things. You were told to keep this a secret."

"I didn't know that she didn't tell the guy that she was knocked up!"

"First of all, she's not knocked up. It was a scare. Second, Cameron, you're a bit of a hypocrite because I told you that information in confidence!" Mia blurted out, finally getting the courage to speak up.

"Oh yeah? And you're the one who told me! Don't take the moral high-ground here!" Cameron said with a raised voice.

"Uh..." Sylvester said, just as surprised at Cameron's sudden outburst of anger.

"Go to your room. You go to your room and that little bitch better not be in there!" Cameron yelled. Without saying another word, Sylvester scurried off and quietly closed the door behind him.

"...What?" Cameron said as he noticed that Mia was staring at him with widely-opened eyes.

"What's gotten into you?"

Cameron could see from his girlfriend's eyes that he scared her. This was the last thing that he wanted to do. He knew that this point that Elias would be highly disappointed in him.

"I'm... sorry..." He quietly uttered as he sat down on the couch. Mia sat down next to him and put an arm around him.

"It's just... he makes me so angry. It's like he's deliberately trying to ruin my life every chance that he gets. I would have never dreamed that I would meet a celebrity like Orson, just to have it ruined because my moron of a cousin thought that he was doing me a favor."

"He's just a kid, Cameron."

"He's thirteen! He was about to elope with a girl, for God's sake! He's practically an adult, and there's no way that his age can justify his behavior!"

Outside of the hotel, Olivia found herself sitting against a wall staring out over a busy Hollywood street.

"Is this spot taken?" Kenton asked as he approached her. She didn't respond, so he helped himself by sitting down next to her.

"I thought that I was doing the right thing. Why should I worry him with something that turned out being some stupid thought that I had." Olivia quietly said.

"Exactly. I think that you did the right thing by not telling him."

"Really? If... we were still together and this situation happened, would you be just as upset with me?"

Kenton sighed and thought about that question for a bit.

In Orson's room, the two brothers sat there in complete silence. Calvin looked over and noticed that his older brother was close to a complete breakdown.

"I feel like... I had great news and bad news given to me and I don't know which is which."

"Are... you sad that it turned out this way?"

"I don't know, Pup. I should be happy... and I think I am... but at the same time I'm sad. This is the worst possible time for this to happen."

"If you don't feel up to it, just forget about the whole thing. Just say that you're sick. We'll go back to Maine with Mom and Dad while the others go to Arizona."

"...Don't. Don't give up your vacation just for me."

"I don't care about my vacation. I care about you and I want you to be okay."

Without saying another word, Orson wrapped his arms around his younger brother and a few tears came out of his eyes.

"Thanks, Pup. But I think I'll be okay."

Outside of the room, Olivia and Kenton continued to sit there in complete silence. A silence interrupted when Mia came rushing up the stairs.

"Hey... how are you doing?" Mia asked Olivia.

"I honestly don't know." Olivia replied with a sigh.

"I'm... so sorry that I told Cameron. I didn't know that it would come out like this."

"It's okay... I trust you and your judgment. To be honest, I don't feel like Cameron is too trustworthy at this point..." Olivia mumbled as she looked down.

"Olivia..." Kenton said, surprised at how the once tightly-knit group of friends was falling apart.

"I understand. I'm not happy with him doing this, either." Mia sadly said.

Olivia stood up and turned towards her room.

"I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll get this figured out before the morning."

Mia nodded and the two of them walked towards their room. Kenton looked towards the room that he shared with Orson and wondered where he should go.