you're not alone [k.q]

*chapter 15*

   OLIVERS POV

   At first, I was kind of unsure about leaving Anna alone with Jenna. Jenna might blurt some stuff out that doesn't need to be said... yet. I finally brushed it off and knew Jenna wouldn't screw me over like that.

   Or so I thought.

   Right around the time Anna and Jenna made their way over to the fire, I heard Jenna say something, and the word stepbrother was most definitely in that sentence. Anna's jaw dropped.

   Damn, Jenna. She said exactly what didn't need to be said. Kellin is my stepbrother.

     ANNAS POV

   Immediately, shock took over my thoughts. Kellin and Oliver...stepbrothers?
   WHAT?

   "I didn't know that, that they were, s-stepbrothers... N-nobody told me," I say more to myself than Jenna.

   "Oh," Jenna says softly. She gives me a weak smile and walks over to Alan and Matty.

   Oliver was already walking over to me. Wonderful.

   "I guess she told you," he mutters with his hands in his pockets. I am shivering ever since that revelation.

   "Yeah," I tell him. Oliver pulls a blanket from the bag and wraps it around me. "Can we walk and talk?"

   I nod and he puts his arm around me. Strangely, after the surprise revelation that Oliver and Kellin are related, I don't feel as guilty when I wrap my arm around his lower back.

   "We should have told you," Oliver begins. "But it was Kellin's idea. Over the summer, when Kellin's mum and my father met, he told me to lie low and keep my mouth shut. When they were married, it was at a small courthouse downtown, and that's why you never really heard about it. Nobody in this town did. Luckily, I got a scholarship to Payne, and I met you."

   I nod as the wind blows my curls in wild directions. The sun is quickly setting and the air is getting chillier by the moment. I mentally thank Oliver for grabbing the blanket.

   "I don't understand. Why wouldn't he tell me about you, though?" I ask. I'm shivering because of the cool weather. I'm only in thin clothing wrapped in a thin blanket. Oliver stops and sits, pulling me down with him. "Sit," he says. I sit down, and he wraps the dark throw blanket around our shoulders and he pulls me into him.

   "Kellin thought you would leave him for me."

   Oliver is a great guy, but Kellin was better. Emphasis on was. Kellin was an amazing boyfriend, and an amazing person. Its like Mitch's death triggered Kellin's worldly hatred.

   I miss the Kellin who smiled every time he saw me and told me how beautiful I was. I missed the Kellin who told me how much he loved me, just because. It was only a short while, but I hadn't heard Kellin say an 'I love you,' since the day Mitch died. After that, I don't think he ever said it unless he was crying. And I couldn't take anymore of that.

   Oliver looks down at me, eyes shining. "I really like you, Anna," he says softly. I know.

   "I like you, too, Oliver. But I just got out of a long-term relationship, and I'm not sure I can immediately get into another one," I tell him.