The Hopeful, The Hardheaded and the Homework

Chapter Fourteen: First Kisses and Stolen Chairs: Olive

Olive could not stop smiling. If she could have been any happier she was sure she would explode. Despite what she had hoped, and how much she really liked Enoch, she hadn't let herself be so hopeful as to expect that Enoch O'Connor of all people would actually like her back. He hadn't said so in so few words, nor had she expected him to, but she didn't need to hear it anymore.

It had been her first kiss and she would have bet any money that it was Enoch's too, which would have surprised no one. It was slightly awkward, but warm and soft and so unexpectedly gentle that she felt light headed and Olive found herself subconsciously going to touch her lips every so often for the rest of the day. It felt right. Granted, she had nothing to compare it to but still.
It sounded awfully silly, but she might have just found out what it would be like to swoon.

He had smiled too. Or at least, the closest thing to a smile she had ever seen from Enoch, and he'd actually taken her number when she offered it. He could pretend he didn't care as much as he liked now, although Olive hoped he didn't, she knew that he did.

"Well somebody's especially cheery tonight. What's gotten into you, Olive?"

"Huh?" Olive jumped slightly and the plate she'd been washing slipped out of her fingers and back into the dishwater with a splatter of bubbles before she could hand it to her mother to dry. Olive hadn't stopped smiling all evening. More animated than ever after the afternoon that had passed. "Oh! Nothing...I just...made a new friend today."

She was being perfectly transparent, she was sure of it, and her cheeks felt they were turning a fresh shade of pink as she tried not to think about Enoch for five minutes and then her message tone sounded from her pocket and she jumped a mile. She couldn't help the excitement, a testament to her optimistic nature, that bubbled up inside that it might even be Enoch after all and it must have shown on her face before a moment later her mother laughed and Olive could feel the knowing stare.
"Oh right, of course. It wouldn't be a boy would it?"

"N-No! I mean..." Olive wrinkled her nose slightly and wiped soap suds from her hands as she held out the last plate. "Can I be excused? Am I finished for now?"

"Homework, right?"

"Right!" Olive dried her hands hurriedly on a tea towel and scampered off. She tried not to look too keen, but the moment she left her mother's line of sight, she took the stairs two at a time to her room and bounced onto her bed.

A silly kind of excitement that Enoch would probably have been disgusted by, buzzed through Olive's arm accompanied by an overwhelming case of butterflies in her stomach as she pulled out her phone and clicked the button to wake the screen. But it wasn't an unfamiliar number that she had been, perhaps naively, expecting to see and Olive couldn't help a disappointed sigh when she saw Emma's name pop up instead.

Well????

Of course, Emma hadn't taken the bus home either, she hadn't had the chance to corner Olive and make sure she had spoken to Enoch like she promised.

Olive sighed and hopped off her lavender bedspread, leaving the message unopened for a moment. She tugged her hair out of the ponytail she had tied it up in to do the dishes and let it fall back around her face as she unlocked her phone to the stock picture background of fiery hearts. Should she tell Emma? Who was she kidding...she might even already know. Hugh had been on the oval while she was talking to Enoch. He'd probably seen. Much to her immense relief and partly out of fear for Hugh's life from Enoch, he hadn't interrupted again.

I did it.

No sooner had she sat down at her desk with her biology textbook open in front of her, her phone rang.