Forbidden

Chapter Seven

Olivia dropped her parents off at the door of the airport. There had been no parking spots nearby and her Daddy said it wasn’t necessary for her to stick around. She drove back home and had planned on cleaning, but everything had already been done. She sighed heavily. Now what?

                She fell asleep in the comfort of her own bed watching something on the Lifetime channel and awoke at 5:32. Longest nap ever. She balled her fists up and rubbed her eyes before stretching. She checked her phone. Nothing. I am officially a loser. She had no homework to do, no one to visit with or call, so she decided to pull herself together and head to the grocery store. She brushed out her hair and pulled it into a low ponytail, allowing it to fall over her shoulder. Just as she was about to walk out the door, her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a number she didn’t recognize.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Hey, Olivia?”

“Yes?”

“Hi, it’s Nick, Mr. Cereno.”

“Oh, hi, how’d you get my number?” she asked in a surprised voice.

“Student directory,” he laughed.

“Oh okay, what’s up?”

“This is going to sound absolutely ridiculous, but I’m kind of stuck at the school. I locked my keys my room and the night janitor won’t be here until a little after nine. I’m sorry to bother you about it, it’s just. . . I’m still new, and I have no one else’s number. Would you mind pickin’ me up?”

                Excitement nearly leapt out from within her. She suddenly ripped down her ponytail, and took some of her hair out with it, and ran back towards her room to fix herself up a little better.

“Yeah, absolutely!” Remain calm. “I was uh, just about to head out the door anyway so it’s no problem. I’ll be there in about fifteen or twenty minutes.”

“Thank you so so much, Olivia,” he sighed a relieved breath.

“No problem, I’ll be there soon.”

                She ran her brush through her hair again and winced at all of her painful tangles.

Ow. Ow. Son of a bitch! Ow. Never again, $20 conditioner!

                She teased it at the top just enough to give it a little oomph, she hurriedly brushed on some bronzer and she applied a little more mascara. She ran to the bathroom and brushed her teeth as fast as she could and removed her plaid shirt in the process. She ran back to her room and put on an oversized heather grey t-shirt that fell perfectly off her shoulder. Much better, she thought.

                As she pulled into the parking lot, she saw Mr. Cereno sitting on a parking block looking bored.

“You called for taxi service?” she joked.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said as he climbed into the passenger seat.

“I cannot believe I did that. I’ve been stuck here for three hours,” he laughed as he ran a hand through his short hair.

“I’m so sorry,” she gave him a pouty look.

                He looked over at her and leaned his head against the headrest as a smile slowly spread across his face.

“What’s so funny, Mr. Cereno?” she played.

“Uh, nothing, just . . . relieved, to be getting out of here finally.”

                He had never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life. He hadn’t lied to her entirely; everything was true, except that he was actually relieved to be sitting with her in privacy. She looked stunning as the orange sunset illuminated her already perfect face. He had to force himself to look away from her.

“Where we headin’?” she asked.

“Well,” he laughed, “my house key is on the chain in my classroom back there, so my house is out of the question. I guess you could just drop me off at the shopping mall or something and I’ll just walk around there until the janitor gets to the school.”

“How are you gettin’ back to the school to get your keys?” she asked.

                He hadn’t thought of that. He sighed again.

“They have taxis out here, right?”

“I’m sure somewhere they do, but I’ve never seen one cruisin’ around town,” she laughed.

                She could see the panic on his face and she was lost in how adorable he looked.

“How about this? Instead of walking around the mall for three hours and gettin’ a ride from a taxi service, you just come back to my house and I’ll drive you back to the school later?”

C’mon, say yes. Say yes! Holy shit. I can’t believe I just offered to take him back to my place. . .

“I don’t want to impose,” he said as he held his hands up and shook his head.

“You couldn’t possibly impose. No one is there, and I’m bored to death, and I know you don’t want to walk around the mall forever. It’ll be a’right. I’ve got Sports Center and an XBOX. It’s a man’s world, after all, right?” she laughed nervously.

“You don’t think it would be . . . inappropriate?”

“What’s inappropriate about it? You were stranded and you’re the new guy in town. Southern hospitality isn’t exactly frowned upon, Mr. Cereno.”

“Okay,” he agreed, “thank you again.”

                Olivia never would have guessed she was the only one feeling nervous and excited by this new occurrence. Mr. Cereno’s nerves were going crazy as well. The possibilities were endless but they had to show some self control and not let their emotions get the best of them. Olivia kept trying to hide her smile, but was doing a terrible job. He knew she was smirking the entire way to her house and he tried to ignore it, he tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. He was losing the fight.

                Olivia’s phone let out a loud ring and she answered it quickly, as if on edge.

“Hey Daddy! Ya’ll make it there okay?”

“Alright, well don’t have too much fun. Make good choices,” she laughed.

“Love you too. Bye.”

                She hung up the phone and placed it back in her purse.

“They make it okay?” Mr. Cereno asked.

“Yeah, they just got to their hotel,” she smiled. “Since you’re the guest, what are you hungry for, sir? I’m a pretty awesome cook.”

“You’ve already done too much,” he replied, “I’m not gonna have you cook for me, too.”

“I’m already cooking for myself. It’s no trouble.”

“Why don’t we do pizza instead? I’ll split the cost,” Mr. Cereno said.

“Perfect,” she smiled.

                They pulled into the driveway, not knowing what to expect, and definitely not expecting what was about to happen next.