Coup De Foudre ➵ Allison Argent (1)

Twenty-four

Olivia's POV:

"Look out world! I'm a licensed driver now!" I attempt to yell but then cough a few times.

"Oh no, you're not," My mom snatches the keys from my hands. "You only drove on an empty road, not with cars."

I roll my eyes. "Okay...almost licensed driver?"

"Not even close."

"...Half?" I give a hopeful grin.

She pats my arms. "Keep dreaming."

I lean further in my seat with a huff. "Can you take me to Allison's then?"

"You guys are okay again?"

I nod. "I think so. Lydia texted me earlier about wanting to meet up with us at Allison's place."

"Alright. Just make sure you have someone to take you some since I'm working the night shift." She says as we switched sides.

Soon after, she drops me off and I walk up to the front door, knocking on it several times. The door slowly opens and I'm face to face with Allison's father.

I expected the door to slam in my face but instead, he opens the door wider with a solemn expression.

"She's upstairs." He mumbles as I step inside.

"Are you doing okay Mr. Argent?" I ask but he winces at my concern.

"No." He mutters and walks down the hallway. I awkwardly go up the stairs to Allison's room and luckily Allison's door was already opened.

I knock on the door and see her peak her head from her desk. She smiles and gestures for me to come in.

"Hey, you." She greets and I kick my shoes off to place by her door.

"Hey yourself," I say and prop myself on her bed. "How was your 'date' with Matt?" I tease.

She cringes at the mention of his name which causes me to drop my smile. I sit up straighter and she fully turns in her chair.

"What happened?" I ask and she fiddles with her fingers.

"Last night he...kissed me." She starts off and my eyes widen.

"Oh." I dryly reply, not wanting to hear anymore.

"But I didn't want him to kiss me!" She quickly says but I cross my arms. "Then when I took him home, he accidentally left his camera bag in my car so I let my curiosity get the best of me and..." She trails and I furrow my eyebrows.

"And what?" I push, wanting to find out more.

"There were pictures of me...a lot of pictures without me knowing. Ones at school where I'm in class, ones where I'm sitting in the field while reading a book, ones of me just laying down in my bed." She rambles and immediately I stand up.

"Oh hell no." I quickly go to her window and shut the blinds harshly before I sit back down. "I'm gonna kick his ass and use his own camera to hit him with it."

"Olivia," Allison warns and I put my hands up defensively.

"What? He could always buy another one!" I shrug and she raises her eyebrows. "Well, my bad for worrying about my best friend," I mutter and sit back down.

She giggles which makes me break my frown, smiling at the simple moments of us together that I missed a lot. Just hearing her laugh or seeing her smile brightened my day.

"Olivia?" she whispers but I could've sworn her eyes were darting between mine and my lips.

Oh man, I need to snap out of it.

"Clear your schedules!" We both awkwardly turn away from each other and see Lydia walk in with several Macy's bags in her hands. "This is gonna take a while."

I get up from the bed as she places the bags where I previously sat with an amused expression. "So how many outfits are you planning on wearing?"

"It's my birthday party," She says and pulls out a black, grey, and white dress from one of the bags. "I'm thinking host dress, evening dress, then after hours casual?"

"I noticed you didn't send out any invites," Allison says as Lydia pulled out more dresses from the bags.

"It's the biggest party of the year, Allison. Everyone knows." She responds as if it's the most obvious thing ever.

"I was wondering if maybe this year, things might be different." Allison trails and I give her a discreet questionable look as if where's she's going with this.

"Why would things be different?" She asks, never bothering to look up so she could pull out another dress.

"Just cause things have been off lately. Things and people...like Jackson."

She slowly turns to her with her eyebrows furrowed. "Why do you care about Jackson?" She questions.

"Do you know if he's coming tonight?" Immediately I felt the tension in the room which causes me to nervously fiddle with my fingers.

"Everyone's coming," Lydia stated and reached for the peach dress. "This one is American rag, I love it. For me, not for you two" She says but then reaches for a floral dress. "This one is material girl, that's for you, Allison." She says, holding out the dress for Allison to grab.

A knock causes us to look up and I see Allison's mother, give a small smile at us. I tighten the scarf I had around my neck to hide the marks, remembering the feeling of her tightly wrapping the rope around my neck.

"Mrs. Argent," Lydia greets then holds out a navy blue dress. "What do you think of this one?"

"I-It's lovely," Victoria responds and looks to her daughter. "Allison, can I grab you for a moment to talk? Just the two of us."

Allison hesitates. "Um...can we do it later?"

"Actually, uh, to be honest, sooner would be..." She grunts and holds on to her shoulder in comfort. "sooner would be better."

"Party's at ten," Lydia says, not even caring if the tensions were high.

"Will you be here before then?" Victoria asks again.

"I think so," Allison responds, gesturing to the dresses.

"You think so?" Her mom raises her eyebrows.

"I don't know." She says and it was obvious that she was getting frustrated.

"Allison, maybe it'll be quick." I nudge her side with a whisper but she ignores me.

Lydia places the floral dress over Allison, along with a few gold necklaces to go with the outfit.

"How about with this?" She asks and Allison nods with a smile.

"It's cute. Happy Birthday, Lydia." She replies and I glance at Victoria once more. She was already walking away but briefly turned around, seeing Allison smiling with Lydia and continued to walk away.

Even though she practically almost killed me, I couldn't help but feel bad for her.

"Now for Olivia," I turn and see Lydia place another bag in front of me. "I know you aren't that big of a fan of dresses, so I kind of figured out what's more of your style."

I pull out a yellow jacket with frills in the front and back, along with a loose white t-shirt and denim jeans.

"Thanks, Lyds." I smile, taking the bag from her hands.