1.1 | daunting medleys

sixty-three | for you

Tabitha coughed slightly, caught a bit unaware at Ariana's question. Somehow, by her reaction she knew. Oliver narrowed his eyes, and she mouthed sorry. They hadn't spoken about if they wanted their relationship to be public, and she wasn't sure of what to do when anyone asked her. He seemed to understand, and looked away, red creeping up his cheeks. Axel looked at him, and raised an eyebrow before continuing to talk.

"Oh. You two are so adorable." Ariana said, hugging her in the middle of the hall. Tabitha groaned, and pushed her away, their elbows still linked together. They walked towards the boys where Oliver put his arm around her, kissing her cheek. Axel made kissing sounds, and Ariana followed suit.

Oliver rolled his eyes, and flipped Axel off. "Buzz off. See you later, Ariana." He said as he pulled Tabitha down the hallway. They made even worse kissing noises that made everyone in the hallway stare at Tabitha and Oliver. Her cheeks burnt with bashful embarrassment and she looked down at her feet as they scurried past everyone. They entered the music room and before she knew it, Oliver had pulled Tabitha into a hug, and kissed her forehead.

"Hi." She whispered, looking up at him. He took the books from her, and placed them on the piano he was leaning on. Oliver's hair was messy, as it usually was half the time. He attempted to brush it away from his face, but it flopped on his forehead. Tabitha smiled, as he huffed. Her hands were on his chest, and his were on her waist.

Oliver smiled at her, eyes twinkling. "Hey." His hands were slowly tracing invisible patterns on her clothed skin. The amount of time it took for them to slip into comfortable intimacy shocked her, not that they hadn't always been touchy with each other.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." He nodded and attempted to straighten himself. Tabitha grinned up at him, and kissed him softly. Oliver's eyes were very expressive, as much as he'd let them be anyways, and she always knew what was going on with him, and the fear that creeped up his eyes was staggering. He kissed her back, lulling her slowly into laxness, where she melted against him. They pulled apart abruptly when someone walked into the music room. He was shocked and then scurried out, wide eyes avoiding theirs.

"That's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about. We didn't talk about if we wanted to make our relationship public and everyone's going to know now and I'm sorry that it's going to come out this way, because I want everyone to know but I didn't want it to be this way." She said, playing with the dog tags that rested on his neck as she avoided Oliver's eyes.

He chuckled, lips tinted with her lipgloss. "Look, Tabitha. It's not your fault. Hell, I'd love to scream from the rooftops that I'm your boyfriend but with Aiden and everything else, I understand, but it's out now." He ended, looking a little scared at the prospects of their new relationship being out.

Tabitha giggled, hands locked around his neck as she pressed closer to him. "Then I guess it's out."

He chuckled into her neck, as he pressed a kiss there, oblivious to the way her eyes threatened to flutter shut. "Come find me during lunch." He mumbled.

"You aren't coming to class?" Tabitha asked, as her hands slid down his chest to his dog tags, where she saw his name engraved on them.

He shook his head. "Nah, Pierce and I are going over the song again and the arrangements and everything else so I won't be in class at all."

Tabitha mock-gasped. "So you plan on leaving me to deal with the rumours and everything."

Oliver laughed, the sound making her face warm. "Yes, sorry." He said, and as the bell rang for the first class, he kissed her again. "I'll see you later princess." He whispered against her lips to a barely functioning Tabitha. She nodded mutely, her face twisted in fake anger. He flicked her forehead, and led her to the door as she walked out, a tiny smile on her face as she scurried past everyone's disbelieving eyes to her class.

*************

Classes were the worst thing to ever happen to her, and she wasn't even exaggerating, perhaps she was. It wasn't easy to concentrate when everyone's eyes were on her face. The last class she shared with Aiden before lunch was about to end. English literature had been one of her favorite classes but she had been wishing for the past fifteen minutes that the class shouldn't have happened. Aiden's anger was simmering, as his foot tapped harshly on the floors. Tabitha was barely listening as she chewed on the tip of her pen. The loud blaring of the bell that dismissed them jolted her from her daydreams, and she flinched before taking her books and waving to her teacher as she ran to avoid Aiden who was following her.

She pushed her books in her locker, and sighed inaudibly when someone walked behind her. Tabitha turned to see Aiden, who she hadn't spoken to since he forcefully kissed her. Her body froze at his close proximity, and his eyes softened before he stepped away from her.

"Sorry. I'll... I'll move away." He said, his hands shaking. Tabitha nodded, and took out her books. "But him? Really, Tabitha? I've tried to beg. I've done everything I can, and it's fine if you don't want me back, and that you don't love me anymore but you can't be dating him of all people." He demanded, eyes narrowed.

Just as Tabitha was about to curse him out, all the curse words she knew ready to be spewed at him, Oliver strolled in. "You say it like it's a bad thing that she's dating me." He said, lips quirked in a sarcastic grin. Oliver kissed the top of her head, and pushed a paper bag in her hands. "Princess." Tabitha smiled up at him, and turned to Aiden who was staring at them with a vengeful expression.

"He's not going to treat you the way I did."

"And thankfully so. You used me to get revenge on your ex, and along the line, I might be shitting myself about this, you may have fallen in love with me, you then cheated on me with your ex and you've painted this absolutely disgusting sob story where it's my fault for defending myself from you? Fuck you Aiden." Then she walked away, her hands were shaking, and she could feel tears blurring her eyes. Everyone was watching them, and it made her even more upset. She didn't want the rest of her school year to be publicized.

Oliver caught up with her, and held her hands as they walked to the garden. They sat beside each other, her head on his shoulder. "I'm so proud of you for standing up for yourself. He's a prick, and you look better beside me anyway." She giggled, her hand firmly enclosed in his.

"Ollie?" He hummed. "I'm sorry that everyone's going to be talking about you now."

"I don't mind it at all, if it means I get to be with you, then I definitely don't mind."

She snickered. "You're so cheesy."

"Only for you, beautiful." He winked at her. Tabitha smiled at him, and his cheeks reddened.

"Ooh. What's the haps, peeps?" Axel said as he, Ariana, Talia and her boyfriend walked into the garden. She turned to Oliver, who shrugged. "Heard what happened in the hallway today, I'm very proud of you, dimples." He raised a hand to high-five her. Her cheeks flamed, and raised her hands quickly before he sat cross-legged beside Ariana.

Toby interjected. "Dimples?"

"Yes. Because when she smiles, she gets really deep dimples in her cheeks. Don't look at me like that, she's pretty but I'm more into Arianas." He stated, and they all laughed. Tabitha leaned further into Oliver and he kissed her hand as Axel rambled about something he saw. This was nice.