melancholia. [ ALTERNATE SPIN-OFF ] [ BILLY HARGROVE ]

xviii. CHAPTER SIXTEEN

~*~
Until the end of the day.

     Jackson stared at Olivia in shock, not quite knowing how to react to her words. He shifted his weight, then glanced back to Billy's door to see that it was still closed. 

     "I'm sorry, you're going to talk him out of moving with the love of his life to a better city for them?" Jackson asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "You know, maybe we should have a talk instead about how you can't still be in love with him." Olivia crossed her arms at Jackson's words, making his eyes widen. "You're still in love with him." 

     "Jackson, shut up! It's not the easiest thing to get over, and he's a perfect example of it," Olivia said, motioning to his room. "Look, I realize it was the stupidest thing I could've done. But I wasn't expecting her to show up." 

     "Look, I kind of like her, okay? I know it's hard, but... Maybe you should start thinking about getting over him," Jackson told her, giving her a small shrug. "I mean, do you want to hang out with me?" 

     "No," Olivia said, eyes narrowed at him. 

     "Well, don't get too mean about it," he scoffed. Olivia rolled her eyes at him again, trying to push past Jackson to the apartment. He stepped in her way, the girl glaring at him. She pulled down her sweater, then stepped back again. "Look, Olivia, nothing you say will change anything. Trust me." She rose an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms as if to challenge his words. 

     "Give me until the end of the day, I bet I could prove you wrong," she stated.

     "The end of the day?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Olivia nodded once, a smile growing on her face. "Fine. If you come up with something so grand that he would leave the love of his life to stay here, I'll give you... What do you want?" 

     "A hundred dollars," Olivia said. 

     "Seventy-five," Jackson offered. 

     "Deal." Olivia turned and walked away from the apartment, Jackson shutting the door with a sigh. He didn't really believe that Olivia could make Billy stay, he couldn't think of anything that she could say that would change Billy's mind. He laughed to himself, returning to his room to get ready for his classes. 

~*~

     Billy parked the Impala in front of the lecture hall, grabbing his bag from next to him. He was only taking a test for his class, and just needed to get through it with a good grade so the credits would transfer. He was about to walk into the hall when a hand grabbed his shoulder lightly. He turned around to see Olivia smiling at him, Billy glancing inside before turning to her. 

     "Hey, Olivia, what's up?" Billy asked, shoving his hands in his coat pockets. 

     "Just trying to catch you before your test. Jackson said its for your engineering class, seems important," she said, smiling at him widely. 

     "Oh, yeah, I'm nervous. I, uh, I studied for the past few days, though, so I'm feeling good, too," Billy told her with a small nod. "Did you... need anything?" 

     "Uh, not particularly. I thought I would wish you luck and then head to my music course," Olivia said, nodding at him promptly. 

     "I-I didn't know you took a music course," he said with small nod. 

     "Oh, yeah, it's what I want to do when I get out of here. Some place local, probably in the California area. You know, my California Dream," she said, laughing slightly. "I thought I'd told you about it before?"