Under the Bridge

chapter fifty-"I used an SAT word."

L I A M

OLIVIA BEAR WILL BE EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD TOMORROW, and here she is, crying over spilled milk. Well, it's a spilled mocha, but half of the thing is milk anyways. The second we walked outside of the coffee shop she managed to run into a tree and get hot coffee all over herself, the ground, and me. 

"I'm so sorry Liam," She says, frantically, trying to wipe the amber liquid off of her white sweater with a bunch of crumpled napkins. It's not working. I didn't get coffee anywhere but on my cheek, and I just wiped it off with my sleeve. I don't care about myself, but Olivia seems to be freaking out. 

I'm not sure if it's just her normal anxiety or the fact that she gets her AP chem test back today, either way, her hands are shaking like an earthquake. 

I shake my head and pull off my hoodie. "Take my jacket, Olivia. I have another one somewhere in my car." I insist, my now bare arms freezing in the cold Oregon air. The things I do for this girl. 

She looks at me apologetically. "Liam, aren't you cold?" 

"I'll be colder if we're out here any longer. Put on the thing and get in the car." I shrug, tossing the jacket in her direction and unlocking the car with my keys. It makes a loud sort of beeping sound, only amplified by the near silence of the morning streets. 

Olivia is soon in the passenger seat, and the frosty air is no longer biting our skin. Stef Chura is playing in the car, and Olivia is tapping her foot a little bit, equally on tempo, just as my fingers are on the steering wheel. 

Her lips and cheeks are tinted a vivid shade of pink from the cold, and the smell of lavender on her skin has mixed with the rich scent of coffee that she couldn't manage to drink. "Do you want mine?" I ask. 

Olivia takes the warm cup from me and presses it to her lips, taking a sip before scrunching up her nose in disgust. It's absolutely adorable. "That's awful, what the heck is in it?" She asks, dumbfounded. 

I laugh. "Nothing, it's just coffee." 

"I got your germs for nothing," She pouts. 

"I'm pretty sure you've gotten my germs a number of times," I comment, thinking about how her lips have been all over my face, and recalling everywhere that I've put mine. 

She hits my shoulder, and I grip the gear stick, wanting to pull the car out of park, but something stirs inside me, and a thought invades my mind. Moments like these, where she's drowning in my oversized hoodie and my heart is racing and I'm not sure why; moments where her eyes seem to be filled with contentment like everything is perfect; moments where I think about how much I am in love with her; moments where I think about kissing her horizontally and undoing her jeans; moments are fleeting. This is going to end. 

She's going to go off to college and find a boy like Alec, some kind of go-getter with a charming personality and a stupidly big smile that's there all the time. I'm going to be stuck here, or I'll be in the Air Force, and I'll be alone. 

We're going to break apart. 

"Are you okay?" Olivia asks, sensing the tension in the air. 

I shake off the worry. "Yeah, fine," I lie. 

We're facing each other, heads against the seats, eyes looking at one another, posing some sort of question about the legitimacy of my claims. "I love you," I say, for the first time since I saw her naked. That was probably a terrible time to say it. 

"I love you too," She says, leaning forward and setting a lingering kiss on my cheek. It feels tender, burning on my skin like ice does when it's too cold.