Nova Grace

26

Chapter 26| Oliver Rhodes

"Tell me more, tell me something I don't know
Did we come close to having it all?"

— Hold me while you wait, Lewis Capaldi

𑁍Nova𑁍
Still day 10

My leg bounces up and down when Victoria leaves the room, right after handing me the phone and number to make the call.

Dad left about thirty minutes ago, we had a session with Vic and my other psych and we established how the next few months after I'm out are gonna be like

They gave us some tasks, mostly mine, but she sent dad home with a chart of recommendations and stuff they need to do that I wasn't allowed to see

And now I'm here, sitting alone in a plant decorated room building up the courage to call Oliver. Those few months before we left town...they're a blur but I remember most of it I think

I remember Ollie drinking and smoking everyday behind the school, skipping class and getting into fights right after he got the call...that he'd lost the hockey scholarship he'd worked his whole life for

He needed it to be able to go to a good college with a well known, competitive team to get himself drafted. But because of me he had nothing, being accused of sexual assault, of abuse even if he wasn't guilty...it wrecked any chance he had

I remember telling the story of that night to my family, there are some blank spaces in my memory and others I can't seem to get rid of

Like when people started saying I blamed Oliver, one of the golden boys of the town — though they were quick to trash him — to protect my supposed boyfriend

That my so called boyfriend beat me and roughed me up during sex because I asked for it... and then I used Oliver to cover it

I didn't even have a boyfriend I was painfully, obviously  in love with Cadence for fuck's sake!

There were names called, speculations of who that boyfriend was, mostly they said the names of middle aged truckers who passed through town, only staying for a few nights and making deliveries to the farmers before they passed on to the next one

Or bikers belonging to the few MC clubs who took residence in that godsdamned place. They were outcasts and the bane of the church's existence though I thought they were pretty cool

Even through all that, even when he was at his worst, Oliver stood by Rune and me. What if he regrets it now? Giving me his first time like I gave him mine, ever touching me and getting into that mess.

I let out a breath, dial the number and lay the phone on speaker on the table because my hands are too sweaty to hold it

It rings and rings and there is no answer, so I call a second time. Just when I think the call is about to end the ringing stops and there's a shuffling sound

Then voices in the background calling out to him and laughing. It's noisy, I hear him — or who I hope is him — breathing loud and fast too

"Hello?" It's him. He sounds...cheery. Like you're answering a call you've been waiting all day or saying hi to someone you've missed for months