My Name Is... Olivia

Chapter 17

Adam was out with David; I was at home with Dougie. We were sitting on the couch watching some hockey highlights from other NHL teams. Dougie and I couldn’t help but ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ at some plays. Playoffs were beginning in a couple weeks; it definitely brought the player’s best skills out.

            A commercial came on, highlighting the Bruins game against the Rangers tomorrow night. “April 28th,” Dougie read aloud. “That means it’s only been two months since I bonked my head.”

            “It was more than a bonk,” I reminded him.

            Dougie looked at me and grinned. “I don’t know, I can’t remember what happened,” he joked.

            I shook my head. “Play stupid with me, but don’t you dare do that with Claude,” I warned him.

            “Don’t you worry,” he assured me. “I know well enough what Claude could do with me.”

            I laughed. “You’re better than others,” I said. “Tyler got into a bit of crap with Claude the first couple months as a Bruin.”

            Dougie stood from the couch to fetch himself a glass of water. “What’d he do?”

            “I can’t say, I took an oath to my uncle and Claude to never tell anyone what happened,” I explained.

            As Dougie poured his glass of water, he brought up another point, “It’s been two months and I still don’t know the remaining parts of our relationship. You still haven’t told me.”

            “I still don’t feel comfortable,” I told him. “I’ve told you time and time again-”

            “Yes, you tell me over and over that you aren’t ready. But when will you be? When I’m on my death bed ready to die? Will you tell me then or are you going to continually blow me off every time I ask you to tell me?” he inquired.

            “I don’t blow you off,” I attempted to reason.

            He snarled, “As if!” He stood up from the couch and headed into the kitchen. “If you aren’t willing to tell me what happened, I don’t want to know the rest of the secrets you’ve been hiding from me.”

            I furrowed my eyebrows and rose from the couch as well. “What other secrets?”

            “Exactly.” We took a moment to stare at each other before he shrugged his shoulders. “I’m going to Brad’s,” he told me. He grabbed his coat and there he left the apartment.

For the past hour I’ve been sitting on the couch blankly watching the hockey highlights. I’ve watched the same play by the Sedins probably about three times and it was getting less interesting every time I watched. I stood up from the couch and took a short walk around the apartment.

            My phone rang from the bedroom and I walked to get it. Brad was calling me. I declined the call and headed back into the living room without my phone. As I took a step out of the bedroom, it rang again; surprise, surprise, it was Brad. This time I answered it.

            “Yeah, Brad?” I inquired.

            “What the hell did you do to Dougie?” he demanded in a hushed tone.

             “I haven’t told him about how Dougie and I ended it,” I told him.

            “Wait,” he said, “are you talking about when you cheated on-”

            “Yes, yes then.”

            Brad sighed. “When are you going to tell him about it?”

            I groaned. “I don’t know. I hope never.”

            “Like that’s going to happen,” Brad informed me. “He’ll hound you for as long as you live. You’ll avoid him, he’ll find you. Or he’s going to ask around, specifically Adam.”

            I took a seat on the bed and sighed for a long period of time. “What do you think I should do, Brad?” I inquired.

            “Tell him,” he said. “Tell him or guilt’s going to kill you. Which it might actually will.”

            “But I don’t want to tell him, Brad.”

            “Olivia it’s better to tell him than keep it a secret forever,” he pointed out.

Although there was still snow lying around all over the ground in the Boston Park, I was still camping out on this cold park bench. I’ve been waiting patiently for the past ten minutes, I wasn’t even sure if he was going to show up to talk to me yet; I was praying he would. My neck was beginning to cramp up because I was moving my neck so frequently.

            Finally I spotted a strawberry blond-haired man walking down the sidewalk towards me. I didn’t stand to greet him, I stayed sitting on the bench. He sat beside me, soundlessly. “So?” he inquired.

            “I thought it would be in your best interest to know the end of the story,” I told Dougie.

            Dougie shifted in his seat. “Finally came around did you?” he questioned.

            “What’s a book with an ending, right?”

            “Go on,” he said.

            “After I left to go back to Boston, Adam was injured and Claude thought I should help him. Check up on him during rehab, do some simple drills, get him to play the best he can again. You didn’t really trust me with him and threatened to come out to Boston to make sure nothing happened.”

            “People aren’t too easy to trust these days, Olivia.”

            I looked at Dougie but he didn’t return my gaze. “I’m aware.” We sat in silence again; I turned my gaze away from him again. “Adam and I were having a one-on-one practice with each other. We were going through drills and some one-on-one. I took a break because I was getting too tired. Adam began to manipulate me-”

            “Don’t lie,” warned Dougie.

            I took a deep breath. “I forgot about you and I did some stupid things. I flirted with Adam, he attempted to kiss me but I dodged it. He left me alone and I felt bad and went after him. I don’t know what came over me, guilt maybe but I puckered up and went head first. That’s when you showed up…”

            Dougie stood from the park bench with no warning and walked further away from me. There was no point in trying to get him back to explain why I did it. The damage has been done.