Love in the theater

Chapter 8

They stayed wrapped in each other's arms for a while until Oliver started talking again.

"Are you feeling better?" he said as he looked deeply in her eyes

"Yes I'm better. Oliver, I'm so sorry for what happened, I was so embarrassed and I didn't know what to do" she said, finally looking at him as tears were still flowing down her cheeks

"I didn't want to embarrass you, I'm sorry. You know what? Go put your clothes on and we will go eat lunch" he said which made her giggle

"Oliver, we ate breakfast 20min ago" she said as she kept giggling

"Oh yeah you're right, then let's stick to what we planned, let's go walking somewhere"

"Yeah let's do that. I'll just go to the bathroom, I'll be back soon" she said as she kissed his cheek and walked away from his arms

"With or without clothes?" he asked making her laugh

"you're so bad, WITH clothes" she looked one last time at him before closing the bathroom door

***

After putting her clothes on, Loretta put some light make up, brushed her hair and looked at herself in the mirror 'I don't look too bad' she said to herself. She sighed, opened the door and when to join Oliver in the living room.

"I'm ready now! We can go" she said happily

Oliver turned his head when he heard her voice and froze, she looked amazing.

"Do I have something on my face? " she asked, laughing

"What? No you don't, why?" he said, confused

"Well you looked at me and didn't say anything so I thought that maybe something was wrong with my face" she said, still laughing

"Oh no, not at all. Nothing's wrong with your face. It's the complete opposite, you look wonderful" he said still looking at her

She started blushing "Thank you so much Oliver, you don't look bad either"

"Oh thanks" he smiled at her

"shall we go now?" she asked, breaking the silence as they kept looking at each other

"Yes, let's go" he said as he went to take her coat that was on a chair and helped her to put it on.
They went to the door and when she started closing it, she realized that she had forgotten something.

"Oh wait! I forgot my purse, I'll be back" she said as she went back into the apartment while Oliver was waiting outside.
"got it!" she said as she came back and closed the door.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked

"Central Park maybe ?"

He nodded and they started walking down the stairs.

***

When they arrived at Central Park, it was full of people, which wasn't unusual during the autumn break.

"It's really beautiful in autumn" Oliver said, making her look at him

"Yes of course but it's not much different than usual. Sounds like you don't come here often" she said, chuckling

"Well I don't, the last time I came here was probably 10 years ago or more"

"Then I'm glad we came here" she said as she took his hand in hers

"You come here often?" he said, a bit surprised that she took his hand

"Yes I do, all the time. It's always full of people, so when I go to an audition I always come here after it. It helps to calm me" she smiled at him

"Then maybe I should come here more often, with you" he smiled back at her

"That would make me happy" she said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

He loved that she was so close to him, that he could feel her hand in his, felt so right.

"Loretta, I would like to talk to you about something" he looked at her with a serious face

"Yes of course, tell me"

"The funeral home called, the funeral will be tomorrow"

"But it-it's the day of the audition" she looked at him sadly

"Yes it is, that's why I'll push it back to Tuesday so both of us can be there"

"Are you sure? I mean, of course she was your friend so I understand that you want to go but don't do this for me. Even if I don't get the role, it's okay" she said, looking at him

"No no, firstly I want to be there, secondly I want you to have the chance to at least audition"

"Thank you Oliver" she said with tears in her eyes as she suddenly hugged him

"of cours-" he started to say when someone interrupted him

"Oliver!? What are doing with her?" he heard someone yell behind him

"Ro-Roberta? What are you doing here?" he asked as he turned around and his eyes immediately met her angry face

"I was just walking, waiting for you to call me" Roberta said, looking furiously at him. Her eyes met Loretta's teary eyes
"I'll ask you again, what are you doing with her?"

"We were just walking around the park and talking, why do you even need to know that?" he said, starting to get angry

"I'm your girlfriend, of course I need to know that. First I don't get news from you since 2 days and now I find you walking with that slut" she said, still looking at Loretta

"You're not my girlfriend anymore, stop acting like we are still together. And don't call her that she's not!" he said as he turned to look at Loretta who was still holding his hand, crying.
"Loretta, maybe you should get back to your apartment, I'll be back soon, just need to have a talk with her"

"No I want to stay with you!" she said as she continued to cry

Roberta walked to Loretta and smacked her, hard.

"See Oliver ? That's what I told you, she's a little slut, ready to do everything to get the role. Now she wants to steal you from me" Roberta said as she looked at Loretta who was crying even more.
"You're so pathetic"

"Don't ever touch her again!" he screamed at Roberta
"I want you out of my life"

"I'll never be out of your life, anyway I have better things to do than looking at a little slut crying" she said as she walked away

Oliver immediately went to Loretta.
"Are you okay? Do we need to go to the hospital or something?" he started to worry as he gently caressed her cheek

"I'm okay, don't worry" she said as she wiped her tears
"Maybe we should, uhm, go back to the apartment? I'm tired" she said as she looked at her feet

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked again as he made her look at him and took her hand back in his

"Yes I am, now let's go home" she said as she started walking away, still not looking at him

"wait! Let's go get lunch first"

"Okay" she simply said

They went to buy lunch and went back to the apartment, none of them were talking.

***