Force of Habit

Chapter 18

"Olivia! Olivia wait!" he calls after me as I hurriedly leave the grocery store with my purchases, "Please I need to talk to you!"

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I whirl around, furious he would dare talk to me, let alone touch me.

"What?" I shout, facing him.

"I thought now would be a good time to get your apology. I'll take you back you know. Just don't beg."

"You want my apology? Are you being serious right now, Dustin? How can I make this clear to you. You. Left. Me. I didn't leave you and I don't want to ever be in a relationship with you again. Did you know I felt like I was always acting around you? For the record I'm much happier now and I would never want to go back to a relationship like the one I had with you."

Those words must have stung but I'm far too bitter to care. Dustin hasn't called or made any contact with me since he left me.

"Olivia, I love you," he protests.

"No, Dustin, you don't. You're just saying that to make me feel bad that you left me. Tell me, how many times have you used that phrase to on other girls?"

"I do, Olivia, I really do!"

"You told me to act differently around your family so they would accept me. And you know what? I'm sick and tired of acting and pretending to be someone that I'm not. Your family should like me for who I am, not how they expect me to be. It took me far too long to realize that and when I did it changed my life for the better.

"But-" he starts.

I hold up my hand to him because I'm not finished yet, "Dustin, you didn't trust me enough to believe me when I told you I wasn't cheating on you with Sawyer. You had someone stalk me! No, Dustin, I don't want to ever be in that sort of relationship built off of lies and being unable to trust the other. Goodbye, Dustin," I finish, leaving him in the middle of the grocery store parking lot, feeling immensely more set free than I've felt for a long time.

The next day, Sawyer walks into the diner just as I am about to finish with the last few customers before we close up for the night. I'm ready to go home, and seeing that he's seated at a booth waiting to talk to me, I might not be able to go for a little while longer.

"Hey," I tell him, setting a cup of orange juice before him, after my final customers leave, "so I had an interesting little encounter the other day."

"Oh?" he asks, taking a sip of the juice.

"Yeah, there was this guy. His name was Dustin maybe? I'm not sure if you've met him."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he kept telling me that he would take me back if I wanted."

"Arrogant much?"

"I know. He's the one that left and then he comes around saying he loves me and that he'll take me back."

"What a stuck up jerk. I'm really sorry you had to deal with that."

"Thanks. Anyway I told him to leave me alone."

"Well I'm glad you're not dealing with him anymore. Honestly, I never really liked Dustin. He didn't deserve you."

"So you're saying you do?" I tease.

"Oh no... Olivia James, you're way out of my league. I still can't believe you agreed to date this dork," he says, gesturing to himself, " You deserve someone far better than I could ever be."

A/N:

Hey guys! So sorry I haven't updated in forever! I'm doing my best to update this more often!

Would you guys all do me a favor and check out my other story? It's a 5sos fanfic so if you like those please check it out!

-LN

(P.S. We're almost done with this book.)