Lost in the Space Between

Chapter 7

Oliver's POV;

I'm reading when she comes home. Olivia bursts into my room and she looks like she's been crying, but she's smiling. She runs over to my bed and indulges me in a hug. I'm so surprised, I don't even realize that she's talking. "-you should have said something, Ollie." She usually never calls me this, only when we're teasing or being extremely nice to one another. I call her Livie, in these situations. I wrap my arms around her slowly, only because I don't know what to do with them. Finally I say,

"What are you talking about, Livie..? What happened? What did he do to you?" I cup my hands on her face, sort of forcing her to look my way. She's still smiling.

"Oh Ollie," she sounds like she's been drinking, which I know she's done before, but she doesn't reek of liquor right now. "He loves you so much Ollie, he really does." She's rubbing her thumb on my cheek now, and she's laughing now. Not her fake laugh that she'll do in front of her friends, the laugh she used to make when we were kids, running around the mansion. She sounds delirious.

"Who?" I croak. I also didn't notice the tears spilling down my face, that's why she had been caressing my cheek. 

"Jackson Scott you dense asshole," she insulted me, but in a teasing way. She told me to bike to the park, he would be waiting there for me and that he would explain everything to me. I nodded and sobbed, we both did, in each other's arms until she pushed me out the front door in my coat and made me ride all the way to the park. She was right, he was waiting for me. In a hot, navy blue suit and a white dress shirt underneath it, and he even had a black tie on. He looked like he just came out of a fancy drink party instead of an Olive Garden (me and Olivia used to pretend that they had intentionally named the place after me and that I was the ruler of the unlimited breadsticks and pasta; those were simpler times). He noticed me right away, and I practically jumped off my bike and started running towards him. I slowed down as soon as we were a few feet away from each other. He had been crying as well, he still was and we both ran into each other's arms. It was quite romantic if you ask me, straight out of a movie, all we needed was the rain and the sloppy kiss. He put his thumb on my chin and his index finger under it, jutting my chin up to look at him. He smiled that sickly sweet smile that makes me want to spend all day with him in bed. I kiss a dimple on the right side of his smile that's been bothering me all week; I've been wanting to kiss it for a while now, actually. He blushes.

"Olive.." he says softly, though there's no one else around. It's only us, the wind, the sky, and the stars. I love the stars. I glance up at them only for a second and I draw my attention back to Jackson. He's the brightest star of them all, I think.

I throw my head back in a laughing fit and he gives me a puzzled look before giving into my laughter. I look back at him, his eyes are sparkling. I wonder which side of the family he gets it from, his mom's or his dad's. I've never asked him about either, I'll ask him later.

"You, Jackson Scott, are an insufferable asshole," I tease. Jack looks at me sheepishly, biting his bottom lip subtly (as if I wouldn't notice that move, Jesus fucking Christ).

"I know, and I'm sorry," he says softly, brushing his knuckles gently across my cheek. Even the slightest touch from him sends an electric jolt down my back. I don't even know what to say anymore, but I finally manage to find my words again (it was embarrassing that I couldn't find the right words to say, it's ironic because I always have something to say about some other thing),

"She told me you love me, that you love me more than anyone else ever has except for her and my mom." She didn't technically say that, but I wanted it to be true. Jackson nods, like he's just now taking it all in.