The Heart That's Meant to Love You [COMPLETED]

Chapter 75: Skirmish

Claire's explanation of Oliver's behavior stuck with Naomi all day, and several days after. With each thought given to it, a seed of irate anger bloomed in Naomi's head and heart.

Had Oliver ever had intentions of telling her about this engagement deal? Or had he intended to wait until their wedding day to break the news? Moreover, would she have gone along with it for the sake of the Grand Plan?

Naomi knew the answers to all of those questions, which only served to make her angrier.

As much as she had once trusted Oliver, Naomi now avoided him. He had called her several times and texted her even more, but Naomi refused to answer his cries. Not when he had been lying to her the whole time. She couldn't let him get away with that kind of manipulation.

And besides, Claire had a thing for him. Naomi didn't want to lose her first real friend just because of a boy.

The Kieran matter had little to do with the decision.

Or so Naomi told herself.

Unfortunately, Oliver knew where Naomi lived. And he had a deal going with her mother. Naomi had forgotten to factor in those things.

One evening, approximately five days after Naomi cut contact with Oliver, she came home late from final exams. She should have known, by the position of her mother's folded arms, what the next words out of her mouth were going to be.

"Why are you avoiding Oliver Bettencourt?"

Naomi tried her best not to roll her eyes. At this point, she should expect such confrontation from her mother. "I'm not."

"Then your phone must be broken. He's downstairs to see you."

"What?" Naomi expected an argument, not an intervention. What was Oliver doing at her house? Waiting for her mother to command her to see him?

Ms. Rowe heaved a world-weary sigh. "I suggest you go and explain the misunderstanding."

Oh. Apparently, Oliver was waiting for her mother to command Naomi to see him. What an interesting turn of events. Inner, numb Naomi observed the situation as if it was happening to a stranger. She could either stay and argue with her mother again, or she could go see Oliver for a few minutes.

She needed to make things clear to him, anyway. Naomi didn't like him in that way. If he had ever been her friend, he would understand.

"Fine, I'll go speak with him." Naomi turned back to the door. She hadn't gotten far enough inside to take her shoes off, anyway.

Blessedly, her mother didn't reply to Naomi's final statement.

Naomi retraced her steps back down to the ground floor and out the complex's front doors. A quick perusal of the visible neighborhood revealed Oliver's sport's car parked near the end of the street.

Naomi ventured closer, until she was certain he could see her. Then, like her mother's favorite disapproving stance, Naomi folded her arms and arched her brows.

Oliver's car door clunked and thunked as he disembarked, looking just as defiant as Naomi felt.

All the more reason that Naomi stood her ground, refusing to move forward.

Oliver shoved his hands in his pockets while he walked, stalking forward as if Naomi had been the one in the wrong. "Why aren't you answering my calls and texts?"

"Why are you telling people that we're engaged?" Naomi threw back, outrage fueling her courage.

Oliver's defiance fell, replaced by repentance. His hands came out of his pockets, his eyes softened into pools of puppy-dog tears. "I got ahead of myself, didn't I?"

"Ahead of yourself?" Understatement of the year. Naomi didn't know how to say that without being mean, but did she really care anymore? "You think telling people that we're engaged without my knowledge is ahead of yourself?"

"I thought you were ready." Oliver scuffed a toe against the ground.

Naomi had seen him solicit pity before. Every behavior he displayed said he had gone into that fake victim mode of his. "You thought I was... Oliver, we haven't even gone on a date."

Those puppy-dog eyes snapped up to meet Naomi's glare. "What about dinner? Karaoke? The dessert cafe? Those aren't dates? Because if they're not, the party the other night definitely counts."

"We were hanging out as friends. You were trying to make me feel better. I didn't want to go in the first place." Naomi ran her fingers through her loose hair, letting the strands tangle like the myriad of emotions in her heart. "I thought you knew."

"What I know is that you don't know your own thoughts or feelings." Oliver reached out a hand toward Naomi's arm. "It's okay. I've figured them out."

Naomi shied away from his touch. "I'm not stupid."

"I never said that." Oliver reached out again. "It's just that you don't know what it is to like someone. You don't realize that we're made for each other."

Naomi shot both hands up to push his hands away. "I realize that you were never the boy I thought I knew. You've lied and manipulated me. Don't think we can be together after that."

"I know you like me, Naomi." Oliver's puppy eyes faded to twinkling opals. "Stop resisting."

"Let me say it once, very clearly." Naomi lifted her chin, prepared to debate her point until it got through Oliver's thick skull. "I have never liked you romantically, and I never will. We can be friends, or we can never see each other again. It's your choice."

Thinking that she had adequately made her point, Naomi turned on her heel and stormed back toward her mother's condo.

She never expected Oliver to follow her.

His hand looped around her arm and held firm, like an iron cage entrapping a delicate bird.

"Oliver, let go." Naomi almost tripped over her feet trying to regain her balance.

"Just get in the car. We'll talk while we drive. We can go anywhere, do whatever you want to do." Oliver tugged her in the general direction of his vehicle.

"Let go." Naomi dug her heels into the ground and refused to follow. "I said what I meant Oliver. I won't change my mind."

"No. We're not done. We're the perfect match." Oliver gave another tug.

"I said let go!" Naomi screeched at him, dropped her weight, and managed to get out of his hold by falling to the ground.

She scrambled to get back to her feet, moving toward the safety of the condo complex as she did.

Oliver was faster, grabbing her by her arms and spinning her to face him almost before she had stood back up. Naomi's back hit a tree, leaving her no place to go.

"You just don't know what you're feeling," Oliver muttered once more.

His hands landed on Naomi's face, pulling her head up toward his in a motion Naomi mercifully recognized.

Her palm hit his cheek with all the force of the raging fury within her chest. The slap echoed through the still evening air.

Oliver froze, his head turned from the blow, his chest heaving with exertion or desperation. Naomi didn't care which it was.

Naomi inhaled a sharp breath, trying to still her panic and anger all at once. Her words, when she managed them, came out bitter and stern.

"Whatever plans you and my mother made, consider them canceled."

And with Oliver stunned and shaking, Naomi broke out of his hold and made a beeline for safety. She never looked back.