One of the Guys. [ON HOLD]

Worry

|Chapter Eighteen: Worry.|

 

Olivia.

Another few days passed by with mild discomfort. Olivia was embarrassed that she had shared all of that with Reid; she hadn’t even shared those things with her friends! Sure they had their suspicions, but they didn’t want to pry since they knew that her parents were a bit of a sore subject.

If Reid tried to strike up a conversation or make a move to ask where something misplaced was she would avert her eyes, blush profusely, mutter a reply he couldn’t hear, and run away or hide as fast as possible. He was being civil with her for the most part; he hadn’t tried to pull any pranks or poke fun at her. She didn’t know why he was being so nice to her; it kind of reminded her of the very first day that she had met him when he was just a gorgeous boy, who wanted to make “Oliver” comfortable. 

“Oli!” Cash shouted, snapping Olivia from her thoughts of Reid. The library sent him a begrudging look and shushed him; he sent one back.

“Huh?” She responded dumbly.

“I was trying to ask you a question for number 59, but you totally spaced out on me.” His eyes discreetly scanned the library. He leaned across the table and whispered, “By the way, you forgot to use your guy voice.”

“What?”

He rolled his eyes and leaned back. “You just did it again. You have to be more careful Ol.”

“Oh! Right,” She coughed into her fist, clearing her voice. “Right.” She said dropping her voice down again another few octaves.

Cash smirked as he tapped his pencil on the table. “What were you thinking about anyway?”

Olivia’s posture went rigid as redness dusted her cheeks. “Oh uh…n-n-nothing. I wasn’t thinking about anything. It-it wasn’t important. Don’t mind me; I’m just being a space cadet.”

Cash blinked slowly. “See, the fact that you just rambled, makes me suspicious. Makes me think you were actually thinking of something important.” He paused and scrutinized her for a moment. The way his bright hazel eyes were looking at her so intensely made her anxious. They were such pretty hazel eyes, always flecked with gold making them even brighter and more intense. “Or maybe it’s not a something, but a someone.”

Olivia’s face darkened as she conspicuously slid down her seat in a poor attempt to hide. Cash sat straighter in his seat, his eyes wide. “You were thinking about someone weren’t you?” Olivia said nothing. “Who is it? Is it someone I know? Is someone back home?” An expression of clarity crossed his face, and the excited gleam in his eyes faded along with his cute dimpled smile. “Its Reid you’re thinking about, isn’t it?”

She nodded. She didn’t know what to say. It’s not like she liked Reid…okay maybe a little, but it was only a teeny tiny crush; she wasn’t committing a crime by liking him (even if he was an obnoxious bastard). But she liked Cash too. Even though he was hardheaded, and sometimes even a little bit rude, he was nice and sweet, and he was keeping her secret (which she was certain if any of the other boys found out, they’d spill the beans…except for maybe Julian; he was a quiet one). 

Even though she and Cash hadn’t really talked about his relationship with Reid much, she knew that the two considered the other to be a brother. And much like how Reid felt about his brothers, always coming in second and never getting attention, it was similar for Cash in their relationship sometimes. She knew from all the chatter that the boys had around breakfast, lunch, and dinner that Reid was popular with girls. They all were since they were all good-looking in their own right, but Cash always got pushed to the wayside because he wasn’t as outgoing with girls, and Reid was. She figured that he probably felt that she was just another girl, in a long succession of them that liked Reid.