The Doubles Match

02

Olivia took a step back. Leo?

By now, she was blushing so furiously that her cheeks were probably the same shade as a cherry. It was embarrassing, because it looked like she was crushing hard on him. But it wasn't what it looked like.

At least, that's what she told herself.

Mostly, she was frustrated. I hate him. I hate what he did to my brother.

But what if he's changed?

From someone else's eyes, specifically Leo's, seeing Olivia arguing with her thoughts was an odd sight indeed. Her eyebrows went up and down; she kept alternating between a smile and a frown.

He'd never tell anybody, but Leo thought it was kind of cute. "Hello? You alright?"

His voice pulled Olivia back into reality. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry. Uh, yes, I just moved in today." She opened the window so she could hear him better.

"My name's Leo."

Olivia almost said, "I know," but she figured that would sound creepy. So instead, she said, "My name's Olivia."

Now it was Leo's turn to be confused. He was sure he had met someone with that name before... but where he lived, Olivia wasn't a very common name.

In that instant, he remembered.

The hurt look in the eyes of his best friend's sister.

The way she said, "Come on, Zach. Let's go. We're done with him."

Without thinking, he blurted out, "I'm sorry."

He grimaced, knowing he sounded crazy, thinking that Olivia had forgotten what had gone down so long ago.

What he didn't expect was for tears to stream down her face.

The previous resident of Olivia's house had been Leo's classmate's family. Since they lived right next to each other, they partnered up often for big projects.

Because of this, Leo had a lot of experience climbing through his window, traversing the sturdy tree branch that practically connected the two houses, and jumping into his neighbor's home.

This is exactly what Leo did when he saw Olivia needed comfort. He wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug and rocked her side to side, just like he did with his little sister.

Olivia cried, and everything that had been bottled up from the past few weeks came spilling out. "I miss my other half," she sobbed into Leo's shoulder. "I don't know why my parents had to separate, they keep telling us crap about how it's what's best for us but I can't see how it is, and I miss him, and now school is hard, and it's not the same."

After a few minutes, when her tears were mostly dry, she pulled away. "Not like you care," she said. "You didn't care about Zach, so I should be no different."

Leo opened his mouth, and closed it. He didn't know what to say to that. He was horrible at thinking of comebacks on the spot. "I'm sorry," he breathed. "I'm sorry for everything. I swear, I didn't mean to hurt him."

Olivia looked at him. His desperate eyes, the remorse in his voice apparent.

She looked back at his eyes. His chocolate brown eyes. She couldn't look away, for some reason.

"I'll go, if that's what you want." Leo said. He turned, heading back towards the window.

"Wait! No, please stay. Uh, we could watch a movie, maybe? I haven't finished unpacking and I haven't made many friends..."

Leo looked around the room. The walls were an off-white and bare. There were boxes scattered everywhere and close to no furniture, only a bed frame and a chair. "I have a better idea," he said.

***

Four hours later, Leo and Olivia hopped onto her well-made bed and admired their work. They had spent the time making her room feel like home.

With her father's permission, Olivia and Leo had rode to the hardware store in his friend's brother's car. They had searched for the perfect color for her walls and decided on a light teal. They bought a bucket of that as well as a pack of four paintbrushes; it was on sale.

They had spent the first two hours painting and catching up on each other's lives. Olivia's dad had stopped by to help for half an hour as well.

While they waited for the paint to dry, they unpacked Olivia's many boxes and Leo pointed out things about the items inside that Olivia would never have thought of. She smiled at the polaroids of her friends and family, including Zach. Leo could see a hint of sadness in her eyes nevertheless.

Olivia's dad had brought up her mattress, old bedding, and the remainder of the furniture.

And now here they were.

Olivia sighed in contempt and leaned her head against the headboard. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure walking up to Leo's door. On closer inspection, the figure was none other than the girl she had met this morning: Mackenzie.

"Leo? Do you know her?"

Leo looked over Olivia's shoulder and immediately his face settled into a frown.

"Uh... yeah. That's Mackenzie. She's my, uh... ex-girlfriend."