hate is a strong word (bxb)

50

Ben had known Olivia ever since she started working at her current job, which was sometime around her sixteenth birthday. Despite this, he had never gone to her work once. It was a shitty run-down diner called "Sunrise Diner." A few times, Ben and Scar had planned on showing up there to surprise her on her work shift but ultimately that never ended up happening. He never would have imagined his first time going there to unfold like this.

Ben was well aware of the time that Olivia got off of work every night: 6:30 pm. So, right after dinner, Braxton and Ben drove right over there and waited outside of the diner.

Olivia's car was parked in the corner of the parking lot, conveniently in front of a bench. Ben and Braxton sat on that bench, knowing that there was no way that Olivia would be able to slip past them.

For some reason, Ben felt so nervous to see her. They had been on decent terms up until today, and Olivia didn't know that Ben had found out about what she had been spreading. If there was one thing that Benjamin despised with his entire being, it was a confrontation.

He was unsure of what this talk was going to bring. He didn't know if a fight was going to spark from it, or if she was going to apologize, or if he was going to have to admit that he really was gay. He figured he would end up admitting it during the talk. He didn't think that he owed it to her, however, he thought that the only way to put any of this to rest was to confirm the allegations. It wasn't that Ben wanted her to know, it was just that he didn't want to deny it to her and then confirm it to others. That would only spark more gossip and turn the situation into something far more confusing than it was.

Ben didn't want to see Olivia. Even though he had quickly made peace with what had happened, he was hurt by her actions. He knew that he hadn't done anything to deserve it. Ben was almost hoping that she just wouldn't come out of the restaurant.

Unfortunately, this was inevitable.

At 6:32, Braxton is the first one to spot Olivia walking out of the diner. She has a smile on her face, but it's quickly wiped off when she sees both of them waiting outside of her car. She stops dead in her tracks for a moment and shakily looks around her, as if to question whether or not this is actually happening.

Braxton nudges Ben with his elbow and Ben looks up at her, making direct eye contact. In that moment, Ben can almost see a look of guilt in Olivia's eyes. It was as if she knew exactly what was coming—and she probably did.

"Benjamin, Braxton," Olivia greets cautiously as she nears the two, "What are you guys doing here?"

Her voice is shaky and that alone fills Braxton with rage. To him, it's a sign that she knew why they were there.

Ben cleared his throat as Olivia stood right in front of the two, "We need to talk."

"Should I sit?"

Braxton gives her a look up and down before quickly muttering, "No."

"Oh, uh," she fumbles with her hands, "What's up?"

"What the hell have you been telling people about us?" Benjamin questions before Braxton has the opportunity to say anything.

She doesn't bear to make eye contact, "I can explain. I swear I can explain."

"Go on then," Braxton gives her a non-subtle glare, and Ben looks over at him, trying to use his eyes to tell him to cool it.

She explains the situation quickly, as if she had rehearsed this explanation. She had known that it was coming, "When I moved tables after everything happened, they wanted to know what happened and I told them about how you rejected me. It kept coming up in conversations, and so I kept giving them updates. And when you told me that you were in a secret relationship, I told them about it. I never... I never said anything about Ben at first. I didn't even think it was Ben... at first," Ben frowns at this part. It feels weird to him to hear her talking about their relationship. Talk of their relationship only sounded normal coming from Scar's mouth, as he was already so adjusted to the situation. Olivia continues on to say, "When I told them about it, they asked if it was a guy and it caught me off guard a little because I figured that it would've been another girl but it made sense. I mean, why would you keep a relationship secret? I figured that it very easily could've been a guy. So, I said that it could've been a guy. I wasn't even trying to gossip. I wasn't. And then, we all kind of started speculating about who it could be. And that's where I made a mistake."