Never Really Over

Chapter 2

Maeve and Otis stood there staring at each other, as if, if they didn't say anything, they could still somehow manage to stay in that dingy old bathroom. Both of them knew the second they walked through that door, things would go back to being complicated and unbearable. Just the thought of which made Otis dizzy.

"I have to go." Maeve said suddenly, feeling as if the walls were beginning to close in on her.

"Wait, Maeve!" Otis said, the desperation evident in his voice.

Maeve looked back at Otis, she wanted so badly to say something, anything that would make any of this better but she couldn't. The truth was she had no idea what had actually happened and before she could do anything, she needed answers. So she stormed out of that bathroom before Otis could reach out for her, knowing that if he held her hand, she wouldn't be able to let him go.

"What was that about?" Eric asked, once Maeve had left.

Otis just sighed. He had no energy to tell Eric what had happened.

"Well?" Eric asked, his eyebrows rising with curiosity.

"Apparently Maeve never got my message." Otis said, hoping that would get Eric to calm down for a bit, but he knew that wasn't going to happen till Eric knew every single detail.

"The one where you declared your undying love for Maeve?" Eric asked, nonchalantly.

"Yes." Otis said, shooting him a look. He loved Eric with all of his heart but he really didn't have it in him to deal with Eric being Eric right now.

"How is that possible? Didn't you tell Isaac to tell her about it?" Eric asked.

Otis didn't say anything; he just looked at Eric as if to ask him to connect the dots himself.

"Unless he didn't tell her.." Eric began. If this were a cartoon, an actual light bulb would've gone off above Eric's head.

"I guess he didn't." Otis said, with a shrug. His mind was racing and he was a second away from passing out from all of his overthinking.

"I never did like him, I also found him to be a little off.." Eric said.

"Well we don't know for sure." Otis said, still a little irritated.

"Are you for real? Are you actually defending the guy who sabotaged you and Maeve?" Eric asked, clearly astonished by how understanding Otis was being.

"I'm not sure any of this even matters anymore." Otis said, the defeat evident in his voice.

"Why not?" Eric asked.

"Because she clearly has some sort of feelings for him, I mean she is dating him after all." Otis said.

"She's dating him because she didn't know she had a shot with you." Eric said.

"There's no way for you to know that." Otis said.

"There is. You and Maeve are basically every teenage star-crossed lover troupe in the book. Where the only thing standing in the way of the two of you being together is that fact that the two of you are complete idiots when it comes to communication." Eric said, sounding super pleased with himself.

Otis shot Eric a look, partly because he hated when Eric acted all smug but mostly because he knew there was a lot of truth to what he was saying.

"Honestly, people pay to watch this kind of shit in movies, lucky for me I get to see it for free." Eric said, turning on his heel and leaving the bathroom, knowing he had just won that argument.