Chemistry (Otis Milburn)

26

How strange, Otis never messaged me so bluntly. Was he mad? What could I have possibly even done to make him angry? If anything, I should be the angry one....

notnickrob: hey! had fun today. 

Me: so did I. definitely going back to that coffee shop x 

notnickrob: by the way, Amy just texted me. apparently I'm taking you to school tomorrow. 

Me: oh? okay. You have my address right? I'm sure she gave it to you.

notnickrob: right. see you tomorrow! :D

Nick was taking me to school tomorrow, which meant that most likely people were going to see us, gradually igniting the dating fumes. Very clever, Amy.

My preconceived notions of Nick Robinson turned out to be incorrect so far- he didn't seem like a self-centered, conceited actor at all. To be fairly honest, I was expecting him to be rude and for us to not get along, but I'm glad we did. 

I tried to go to sleep, but Otis's messages crawled into my mind and kept haunting me. I tried to trace my thoughts back in detail to the last time we had talked to find out what it was that I did or had said that could have made him upset. There was no way he could have known about Nick yet- there were no paparazzi in sight when we went out for coffee. 

____________________________________________________________________

After breakfast, I heard a honk outside my house. It was Nick- how romantic. He stepped out of his car and opened my side of the door for me.

"Good morning." He gave me a warm smile. 

"Morning." I smiled back. 

"What kind of music are you into?" He asked as he searched through his playlist.

"I like anything from rock to techno. Yourself?"

"I love rock. And some rap here and there." He chuckled.

"Led Zeppelin has to be my all-time favorite, or at least one of my favorites." He blasted Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, singing along to his favorite parts of the song. 

"Led Zeppelin? Looks like we both have something cool in common." I laughed.

3 Led Zeppelin songs later, we got to my school and he pulled into a parking space. 

"I'll keep you updated if I hear anything else from Amy."

"Great, thanks. See you later." I stepped out as he waved and drove off.

I walked into my chemistry class and spotted Otis, slouching in his seat with his notebook open.

"Good morning! Sit up straight, you're going to hurt your back."

He straightened himself up, not even bothering to look at me. 

"Good morning."

"Alright Otis, what's wrong? What did I do?" I gave in. 

"Let's talk about this later, okay?" 

"No. We are going to talk about this now, Otis. Don't play games please." I almost snapped. I think that was a first towards Otis.

"Vivienne, I just want you to explain something. I understand that I made you upset when I didn't go to the event, which I'm extremely sorry about, but you didn't have to switch up on me like that."

I was puzzled. "Switch up on you? What are you talking about?"

"I know something's been off. You've been acting very different and won't tell me why and I know you're going to tell me again that everything's fine, but I know it's not. You haven't been the same lately."

"Otis everything is fine, I just-have been busy lately with work, it's been stressful. That's all."

"Are you sure?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yes! Why would you t-"

"Then who was that guy who dropped you off at school this morning?"