Player vs. Player II

Chapter Twenty One (21)

Keith's POV

I winced as another expensive glass flower vase collided with the wall 2 feet from where I stood before I ran. "I told you not to let that blonde haired bitch near my daughter!" Olivia shrieked as I picked up the nearest object to her hand. At this point she wasn't even looking, she was just throwing what felt like heavy objects at me. The remote control collided with the painting on the wall next to me and they both went down with a crash.

Her hand felt for something else and I stuck my finger out from across the room where I was safest, "Olivia. Throw one more thing and the cops will be called, that will not look good with the court. Remember, they're still watching you to make sure you're suitable for Diana with that last stupid stunt you pulled." A breath I didn't know I was holding released after Olivia closed her eyes and relaxed her hands. 

My fingers ran through my hair before I took a cautionary step forward, "Olive, what is going on?" I was highly confused to say the least. One second I'm polishing up my PowerPoint for my company presentation, the next I was dodging potentially lethal objects my crazy ex-girlfriend was hurling at me.

"Don't you dare call me Olive!" she screamed. Then she paused. "Do you want to know what hurts me, Keith? What really gets under my skin?" Olivia whispered, looking around the room.

"What?" another step forward.

"That after years, Alex has still managed to take everything I hold near and dear, and steal it." Olivia sat on the couch and her fingers drew circles on the armrest. "Diana hasn't seen Alexandra in weeks, Keith. Why does she still go on and on about her?" her voice began to rise. "Are you still letting her see the broad behind my back?!" Olivia stopped screaming temporarily and sighed, "I hate looking petty and jealous, I know that's hard to believe after everything, but I really do." I picked up on the sudden mood change and knew I had to act now before it switched back.

 "Olivia, you can't be serious. Diana is a little girl, she's not going to pick Alex over you."

"Why not? You did, Catherine did, Liam did, even Daniel did and he was my first friend at that school. You know he still won't hold a conversation with me? I always get his stupid boyfriend giving me another lame ass excuse on why Daniel can't speak with me. Basically, my boyfriend and my group of friends chose Alex over me." she shrugged.

Oh God, what would one say to that? It wasn't a lie. I sat on the right side of the couch, farthest from Olivia. "Look, man. I'm not gonna try to defend those things because they are true, I won't lie to you. What you do have to understand is, a love between a mother and child is so much different compared to a bond between high school students. I know you've been betrayed before but give Diana a few months, she won't even remember who Alex is. She's a child."

She nodded in comprehension, then a slow smile appeared on her face. It wasn't the mischevious and taunting smile I'd grown accustomed to. It was actually happy, a smile I hadn't seen on her face directed at me in years. Honestly, the only time she geniunely smiled was around Diana. This woman was going through emotions way too quickly. Is she on the verge of an emotional breakdown? "Thank you, Keith. Quite honestly, you're better than my therapist." she said.

"You're seeing a therapist?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah. My mom thinks I have anger issues." she rolled her eyes and crossed her legs.

"Yeah," I say obviously looking at the destruction over at my wall, "She's definitely insane for thinking that."

"Shut up. I'm working on it. My therapist says I have a lot of pent up resentment. Says I need to move on and let bygones be bygones." she rolled her eyes, then her face lit up again, "Speaking of which! I've begun dating again, and I've come over not only to ask you about Alex but to---"

"Ask?! You came in here ready to kill me!" I exclaimed.

"I was consumed in deep thoughts before I got here and let's just say that my emotions got the better of me. But I want to introduce Diana to this man and I'd like your permission."

"What?" I was so confused.

"I restricted you from seeing Alex around Diana so it's only fair you decide if this man should be able to see Diana," Olivia's eyes were dead again and her expression hinted she hardly cared what my answer would be.

"See, Olivia, I'm not you. I allow others to live their lives so go ahead, let the guy meet Diana." I said, matter-of-factly.

Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips sneered up. I prepared for an object to be thrown. "What the hell are you talking about. I allow you to live your life. I let you date the broad, didn't I?"

"You sure? Remember when you gave me that ultimatum." I made my voice very high-pitched, "It's Alex or the baby."

"It's funny because if Alex didn't dump your ass, you'd have abandoned Diana. That'll be a great story to tell her when she's older. This way we can both hate you together."

"I wasn't going to abandon--"

"Oh, save it! You were so ready to pay up child support and come visit every full moon--maybe." she made herself more comfortable, "Look, I didn't come here to argue the obvious, I came here to warn you to keep Alex away from my daughter and to see if it's ok for Diana to meet Matt."

"I thought you knew Alex and I weren't together anymore in the first place."

"Oh, that's still going on? Is this gonna be another year long wait? You guys waiting for something major to happen in your lives again? Maybe she's waiting until you start dating someone so you two can cheat on people again. You gonna text her when it happens? Lol found a girl, come over when you're ready." Olivia began to punch her thumbs into the air as if it was a phone. I remembered Alex's fiance and cringed.

"Olivia, I think you should leave."

"Oh, have I touched a soft spot? I apologize," her voice dripped sarcasm, "I'll leave now. Stay beautiful." 

She stood from the door and walked away. The door slammed shut and I grabbed my phone from my pocket.

Alex P.O.V.

"How's that job searching going?" Elaine asked me from the floor where she was playing with Johnny.

"I've applied to like five places so far." I sighed. This morning I went into my job and, after successfully avoiding Cam which didn't show up yet, resigned from my job. I also told Amy, who to my surprise looked genuinely upset to see me go. I couldn't go on working for my ex-fiance and he hated me right now so sooner or later he'd probably find a way to get me fired.

"I don't think you're giving Cam enough credit." Elaine said.

"It doesn't matter if he'd ignore me and let me work there or not, it's emotionally and mentally crippling to see him everyday. I refuse and no force on Earth can make do that." I felt a vibrating in my pocket and took out my phone to check.

Keith.

I sighed for what seemed like the twentieth time today and tapped ignore. 

"You should get a job where I work! They love me, so they'll definitely consider you." Elaine gasped.

"I can't be a personal shopper, I have no sense of fashion outside of sweatpants." I smiled, swatting that idea out the air. 

"Well what are you going to do for income until then?" she asked, placing her hands under her chin.

"Well I have a good amount of money saved up, I'll use that and be frugal until I get a job at one of these places. I was broke after college and survived so I'll be fine. I'm checking apartments in the area, of course, so I'll be out your hair soon."

"Dude, there's no problem. I miss talking to someone when I'm home. I don't think Johnny cares about my life past feeding time." Elaine had a small smile on her face and her eyes got distant. 

"Hey man, I'm always here for you, ok?" I reassured her, giving her a small smile as well. She nodded and I turned back to my laptop and typed in: Hiring Journalists.