I Have Been Chosen

Oliver 14

Wednesday 28th January

Oliver was not looking forward to this day. The rest of the week was perfect, well, as perfect as it could be, but today was Cody's day off which meant that he had to take the bus home tonight, which meant being cramped and surrounded around strangers, some seeming never to have heard about personal space or inside voices. And then there was Miles. Sometimes Miles was a godsend, it meant that Oliver didn't have to sit next to a stranger, and Miles would always take the aisle seat so Oliver was safe from brushing shoulders with the other passengers as they passed him, but other times Miles' presence did not put him at ease. He sat a bit too close for Oliver's comfort, though Oliver would have preferred to take up two seats if that was possible. And then there were the small comments. They seemed so insignificant, and Oliver was perhaps just overreacting. There was nothing inherently wrong about them, nothing that Oliver could call out and point at the exact reason why they made him uncomfortable; they just did. He was just being silly. Miles was just friendly, and Oliver always had difficulty in interacting with people who spoke so familiarly with him when they barely knew each other, just like last Friday with Sasha, though he did do his best to make some jokes with her at Darren's expense to ease the situation. It took him ages to feel comfortable with Kara when they first met, and now they were best friends. Yes, it just must be that. It would just take time to get used to Miles' overtly friendliness. Oliver could never understand people who made friends so quickly, who were outgoing, all that smiling; it made him feel that they were lying, being insincere.

What Oliver disliked the most was how so many people pointed out little he smiled, Miles being the current main offender, making such a big deal out of it when Oliver barely made a chuckle at a joke or a post he showed. Wow, congratulations, you have eyes and see how little I smile! It's not like no one else has accomplished such a feat! What was the big deal? Oliver never understand how everyone else smiled so much. It wasn't like he was unhappy. He just never found it natural to smile unless he was laughing at the same time. Yet he still tried to smile when he felt the situation demanded it, to be polite as everyone else expected this showcase of expression. Maybe if he didn't have such a resting bitch face people wouldn't be pointing it out so much. Or if he grew a thick enough beard? Who was he kidding, Oliver could never grow a beard long enough for that to cover his mouth, so no one knew if he was smiling or not.

Nearing the end of the lunch break, when Oliver was returning to his desk, one of his colleagues was telling a funny anecdote, and Oliver, finding it actually funny, chuckled slightly, and thus another comment of the rarity of his smiles came up again. Oliver rolled his eyes, enduring the questions about how serious he was, a few passersby having overheard and joined in, some claiming to have never seen him smile, to which Oliver replied bluntly, "perhaps you're just not funny," which fortunately received some laughs, as intended, and not taken as an insult.

The topic, luckily, moved on away from asking why Oliver looked so miserable all the time and to Valentine's Day, which was about two weeks away. It reminded Oliver of how he had made a reservation at Arden's favourite steakhouse to celebrate and could not get a refund on the deposit. Had it really been almost a month now since the breakup?

"Got any Valentine's plans, Oliver?" asked Macy.

"I'm just going to dinner with a friend," answered Oliver.

"Oh?" Macy cooed. "Just a 'friend'?"

"What's the guy's name?" asked Martin.

Oliver froze; his heart stopped a moment as he heard the word 'guy'. How did they know? Did he really give off that many gay vibes? Did he portray himself as a gay stereotype? He hadn't been wearing any of his more vibrant and stylish clothes just to be on the safe side until he gauged how tolerant this new office was, you could never be more careful, and Oliver thought he had been careful, using gender-neutral pronouns or wording it to avoid pronouns altogether whenever any topics concerning romance and relationships came up. So how did they find out about his sexuality?