See You in Hell

9

"You really nailed that horrified expression."
The frame was paused on Louise's panic stricken face as she was being dragged prostate from the t bird. They were in Ollie's room reviewing his edit of the Lover's Lane scene. Andy looked more proud of himself than her, despite the compliment.

"Kissing Logan was really that bad huh?" Ollie glanced up at her slyly.
"Yup."

Louise could feel how red her face was from thinking about the neck kiss. Living through it had been bad enough, but now having to watch it on replay for the last hour had really put her over the edge. A million conflicting thoughts were racing through her head. She could still feel his lips move from her collar bone to her ear, which sent shivers down her spine which in turn filled her with shame and self loathing. How could she be feeling this way for Logan? She'd hated him for so long, but now when she looked at him, even in the tiny freeze frame glowing from the editing software on Ollie's monitor, her heart did things she couldn't control.

"Ok, this cut looks fine. I feel like we can move on to the next scene." She just wanted to be done with this.
Andy's phone vibrated. There was a long pause as they waited for a response while he typed away.
"You guys keep going, I gotta take care of something." He walked out of the room without looking up.
"Wait, Andy! How are we supposed to.. YOU'RE the director." He appeared not to hear her. They heard him walk across the hall, the door to his room closing behind him.

Ollie sighed, stretching his arms above his head to crack his knuckles. "He's talking to Rudy now."
"Oh. Since when is that a thing?"
"Since Lobsterfest, don't you remember?" Ollie swiveled round in his desk chair to face her.
"I guess, kinda? Honestly my memory of that whole night is pretty fuzzy.." She sat back onto Ollie's bed not meeting his eyes. "How long do you think he'll be?" She wanted to get off this topic.

"I'd give it 40 minutes at least.. So, what do you remember?" He wasn't gonna let it go. She could usually read Ollie, but this felt different; he was looking at her with such a funny expression.
"Uh, I mean I remember the keg stand, but after that it's all pretty hazy. Why did I do something bad? I mean, other than puking and going into anaphylactic shock.." She almost didn't want to hear the answer, but she supposed it was better to know.

They hadn't really talked about the incident, the three of them. The twins had both checked in on her in their own ways the next day, to make sure she was ok, but the topic had a sort of unspoken taboo, up until now.

"No, nothing bad, just different."
"What does that mean?" He paused as if considering his next words carefully.
"You danced."
"Oh god."
"Not in a bad way!" He laughed as she flopped back onto his bed burying her face in her hands in pure agony. "It was cute!" She moaned in audible pain at his choice of words.

There was a long pause as she stared up at the ceiling, losing her thoughts in the forest of glow in the dark stars that had begun to peel off the plaster above Ollie's bed. She could still see Logan's face looming down at her from the moment he'd revived her on the beach. If only she could go back in time and smack the schnapps out of her own hand.

"You really don't remember?" This broke her out of her reverie. He sounded almost disappointed.
"Bits and pieces." There was silence again. She realized suddenly that this was the perfect opportunity to talk to Ollie about her college decision, while she finally had him alone. Any topic was better than Lobsterfest.

"Hey Ol?"
"Yea?"
"There's been something I've been meaning to talk to you about."
"Yea, ok, but I wanna go first."
What did that mean? She felt the bed contract as he came to sit next to her.

"There's something I've been wanting to ask you for a while." Why did he sound so nervous? "Even before Lobsterfest.. Although, I'm not gonna lie that night kinda gave me the courage to finally get it off my chest.." He laughed anxiously.

"I was hoping I could take you out some time." Her heart dropped into her stomach. There was another long pause.

"You mean like on a date?" Her mouth had gone completely dry.
"Yea. Like on a date."

She suddenly felt very conscious of their intimacy sitting so close on his bed. She propped herself up from her reclined position, adjusting her pose to buy some time and put a few more inches of distance between them. She could feel him eyeing her nervously, waiting for an answer.

"What do you say?" She met his eyes. He was staring at her with such an intensity and she had no idea how to respond.

"Ollie, I don't know if that's such a good idea." She finally managed. "You're one of my best friends. It would be too weird." He recoiled visibly at this, but pressed on.
"Just think about it ok, will you do that?" He was leaning in close now. "I know you felt something too, when we danced that night." His eyes searched her face desperate for some hint of confirmation or recollection.

So it had been him that had pulled her in close after all. Her heart sank despite herself; part of her had been hoping it had been Logan. She pushed that thought away. She felt queasy, but all she could do was nod. How could she tell him it hadn't been that way for her? Her urge to protect his feelings and their friendship overcame all sense.

It was at this moment that Jimmy Pesto walked into his son's room.
"Oh!" Pesto's face went from genuine surprise to a lecherous grin. They both jumped up instinctively.

"Look at you two kids, all alone in here." Pesto sounded proud of his son. Louise ignored Pesto and his creepy comments, but took this opportunity to make her escape.
"Hey it's getting kinda late, I better get back to the restaurant." She grabbed her stuff and was out the door and down the steps before Ollie could protest.

When she hit the street level outside the Pesto house she found herself running. It was almost an instinctual need to make a break for it, as if enough momentum would erase away the events of the last few harrowing minutes.

Wonderwarf and the summer late afternoon crowds hurtled past her in a dizzying blur. Her heart was racing faster than her feet pounding on the pavement below her. She hit the door hard and the familiar jangle of the bell ringing out, announcing her arrival to an empty restaurant. She had never felt more grateful for the 3 pm slump as she collapsed gasping into the first booth.

"Hello?" She heard her Dad call out from the kitchen.
"Hey.. it's... just me.." she managed between labored breaths.
"Louise? Jesus. What's going on."
"I ran."
"I can see that." She didn't offer further explanation and Bob didn't push her. This was why Louise connected with her father so well. They didn't nose into each other's business. Her mom was all about feelings and long heartfelt chats. But Louise took after Bob. There was a mutual understanding that if it needed to be shared it would be.

He came to sit across from her in the booth, lowering himself gingerly; his back had been flaring up again this week. "Oof."

Her Dad was tired more and more these days and she worried about him more than she liked to let on to his face. Logan's warnings were still echoing in her brain.

"You should be taking it easy."
"You should take your own advice." He prodded, she was still regaining her breath. "Besides, someone's gotta keep this place running."
"Why don't you let me take over for the night?"
"It's Saturday, you should be out having fun."
"Honestly, I'd rather stay in tonight." It wasn't a lie. The thought of going out to face Ollie again was worse than any amount of manual labor. "Come on, at least let me run the food." There was a pause as he considered this. He glanced at the clock looking doubtful.
"Maybe just for the first part of the dinner rush."