Losing Oliver

Chapter 7

I added a cast in the past chapters with pictures, so Check it out if you want.

The storm started to settle down while I waited at Declan's house. Surprisingly, Declan and I had an understanding of each other.
Being a "bad boy" doesn't define who he is, and being a "good girl" doesn't define who I will be, whoever that is.

My ride pulled up at the corner of the house's street, so I stepped outside with my bag of wet clothes. I still wore the t-shirt and shorts he gave me with my pair of slip-ons.

"Lucy," Declan stepped out onto the deck with me. "Don't let them control your choices." When I told him about my sister and dad, I had also mentioned about the pressure they laid upon me. Somehow, I felt comfortable with him.

"I won't. Thanks, Declan." I smiled at him then walked down the stairs and sidewalk.

"Hey there." My driver said with a smirk.

"Hi, Lucas." I smiled back and hopped into the passenger seat.

"Why were you at Declan's?" He asked as I brushed a hand through my hair.

"It's complicated," I shrugged and glimpsed over at him. His brown hair was tousled and messy in a stylish sort of way with his honey brown eyes forward to the road. He was chewing on his bottom lip, seemingly in thought. He stole a look at me and smiled when he met my eyes.

"What're you lookin' at?" He chuckled. "You admiring my good looking self?"

"Nothing." I chirped and laughed. "You wish."

We were silent for a moment before he turned into my driveway. "The group's going bowling tonight if you wanna come. Payton enjoys having another girl around."

I instantly got happy at the thought. "Sounds great! I'll see you there." I got out of the car and took my bag in hand. Just as I was about to go into my house, Lucas yelled my name.

"Do you need me to pick you up?" He called to me with a raised eyebrow.

"That'd be great." I shouted back. His house wasn't far from mine, I recall, since Oliver mentioned how easy it was to get from my house to Emmy's. "I'll walk over in a couple hours, if that's okay."

"Alright." With that one last word, he put his car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. I gave one last wave to him before going in.

"Welcome back." My dad sat at the table with a beer in hand. His hair looked damp, probably from trying to find me. Frustration and irritation laced the tone in his voice. "We were looking for you everywhere, Lucy. We were searching all over, and I was scared that we wouldn't find you."

"I'm sorry, Dad. I shouldn't have ran away, but you shouldn't be judging me. It's been hard without Oliver, and it was only one party, my first one. All of my life, Oliver has been the one to take care of me, from when I fell off that swing in the backyard to yours and mom's divorce."

He winced at my words, "Both you and I know that's not true. I have cared for you-"

I rolled my eyes then pointed to the bottle in his hands, "Dad, you care about that beer more than you care about me. I've known that since I was a kid. I'm a junior in high school now; I need to learn to take care of myself. I know I shouldn't be drinking yet, and that won't be happening again. The fact is, I'm a teenager. I will make mistakes that I will learn from. Let me make them."

His face looked like he had just aged twenty years. Hurt was evident as he sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Talk to your sister. I'm tired."

My heart stung for a moment, knowing I shouldn't have said that, but I didn't say a word. He walked upstairs in silence while I sat at our kitchen table. My cell phone sat on the counter where I left it when I ran out. My favorite sweater sat on the back of one of the chairs, so I instantly wrapped myself in it. The familiar scent comforted me. I wore this sweater the last time I saw Oliver, and in that moment, I swore I could still smell his cologne.

"Oh Ollie.." My heart seemed to have this constant stinging and longing for him still. Love is worse when lost if it goes unspoken, and I was silent when it came to loving Oliver. Losing him makes loving him all the more heartbreaking.

Damn, why did I never tell him?

"Hey, Luce." Hannah spoke, and I looked up, tears blurring my vision. She didn't say anything more, just sat next to me and held me. After a few minutes in silence, she pulled away and held her hands in mine. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, I didn't mean it. I was completely out of control during high school. I don't know why I even judged you; I had no rite to do that anyways. You've had a hard enough time without me yelling at you for stupid mistakes."

"Thanks, Han." I squeezed her hand and smiled weakly. My eyes probably were puffed up and red, but I knew I should get ready for bowling with the group soon. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She smiled and brushed a hair from my face. "You've really grown so much since I was last here. It's hard to believe you aren't just my little annoying sister anymore."

I chuckle at that thought and nodded, "I've grown just a bit since then."

"You're still a shrimp." Hannah joked, getting up and walking toward the stairs.

"Hey!" I yelled with false offense.

"Kidding!" She called back. I heard her let out another chuckle as she headed upstairs.

~

After cleaning up and getting ready, I headed to the Randalls' house. Lucas had just texted me to come over. He was just finishing up dinner with his family. It was a couple blocks away, certainly not a horrible distance for Lucas to come get me. Some weird part of me actually wondered how Emmy was doing. She may have dated the only guy I've loved, but she loved him too. I could imagine what she was going through.

I stepped up the small concrete stairs before knocking on the front door. Emmy was the one to open it, and her shock to see me was very evident. "H-hi, Lucy." She blinked a few times, almost as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Hi, Emmy." My tone wasn't pleasant, nor was it unpleasant. It was just kinda.. neutral.

"It's nice to see you." She said, her voice travelling away. She seemed empty and sad. It was like the spark of constant joy she had before Oliver's death was gone. "Oh, please, come in."

I stepped into the well-kept house, then turned to Emmy. "Where's Ol-"My heart stopped. I almost said Oliver. "-Lucas at?"

The slip-up didn't go unnoticed by her, but even though her eyebrows shot up, she didn't say a word. "He's upstairs in his room. Follow me."

We both traveled up the steps and stopped at the first door on the right. She said an awkward goodbye to me, something about going out somewhere, and I knocked on Lucas's door. "Come in!" He said from the other side of the door. I opened it up to see him putting on a shirt with his back to me. He looked back at me with a smile, stretching his neck and the tattoo on it. "Hey, you ready?"

I nodded. "That's why I'm here."

"Great." He said and grabbed his keys off of a desk filled with paper. I stepped a bit closer to see that it was art.

"Woah," I said as I looked at them. They were amazing. One drawing was most likely a portrait of Emmy at a young age. "Is it okay if I-"

"Go ahead." He nodded, giving me permission to look at them.

I shifted the portrait over to see an unfinished color pencil portrait. The face was only halfway finished, but it was obvious who it was. "Oliver.." I brushed a finger over the impeccably drawn eyes. It looked just like him. "It's beautiful." I only lingered on it for a second before brushing it to the side like the other.

"Thanks. I started it when I first heard he died, but I don't know if I can finish it anymore." He said tensely. He was quiet after a moment but shook it off when his phone buzzed. "Zeke and Declan are already at the bowling alley."

"Well, we should probably go then." I said and looked up at Lucas.

"Sounds good."

~