away; b.e.[rewritting]

Chapter 11

"Hey, I'm Olivia."

"I'm Emilie. I'm sorry but do I know you?" I need to know.

"No, you don't. At least I don't think you do. You might know my dad though, ex-NFL star, Billy Baker. I'm his daughter, Olivia Baker," she says. (I'm sorry, I just love 'All American' literally such an underrated tv show, and it's based on a true story).

"Oh shit, Billy Baker. He's now the coach at Beverly right? I saw the championship game last year, when they went up against south Crenshaw," I say. She laughs and smiles.

"You're cute," she says.

Fuck. Fuck. Abort. Abort. Fucking Abortttttt.

I laugh, "Thanks."

"And you're Emilie Stone, Billie Eilish's personal body guard."

"EX-body guard," I correct. She hums in response. We sat in a comfortable silence, I kept catching her staring a few times, and her face every time makes me want to fucking cackle and wheeze.

"I'm gay," I say, knowing she was trying to tell, as she kept looking at my undercut and slitted eyebrow.

"How'd you know I was going to ask that?" She asks, chuckling to herself.

"I mean, you kept looking at me up and down," I answered. I have the same outfit on as earlier but black sweatpants instead of jeans.

"What're you doing in Chicago? Far way from Beverly," I ask.

"Came here with my mom on a little trip, she left back home yesterday and here I am," she says.

"LA is on the other side of the country from New York, why are you going to LA?"

"Aways wanted to go and now I have the money, so why not?" She nods, then our flight started to board and my group was called up, weirdly enough, Olivia was part of the same group.

"You fly coach? You live in Beverly Hills and you're flying coach?" I'm confused at this point.

"I don't like flashing money or even using my parents' money, it's not mine. So I get what I can afford with my leftover money from work and my monthly allowance which is like a grand."

We board the plane, and Olivia and I ended up having our seats right next to each other. I take my duffel bag and Olivia's carry on and but it in the over head bin since I have a 2 inch height advantage. I sit down at the window and Olivia sits next to me, thankfully there is no one in the aisle seat.

"So, tell me more about you," Olivia says.

"Well, I'm gay, foster kid but emancipated, never met my biological parents, ex-captain of my school's varsity basketball team, been cheated on, a fighter, an ex-underground fight club fighter, and Billie Eilish's ex-bodyguard." She looks taken aback from what I just threw at her, I mean I would be too if I were her.

"I'm sorry, I just don't know what to say. You are a lot of 'ex''s," she laughs uncomfortably.

"I told you somethings about me, and I know nothing about you other than who your brother is, who Spencer is, who your dad is, and who your mom is," I say, turning so I'm now facing her.

"Well, I'm an ex-addict, my brother is the quarterback on the champion team, my dad is an ex-NFL star, my mom is planning on running for District Attorney, I go to Beverly High School, I really like my best friends ex, oh and I'm bisexual," she says, fastening her seatbelt.

"Drugs?" I ask.

She doesn't say anything, just nods. I nod and say,

"Me too. Once tried to overdose on ibuprofen, Tylenol, and some other shit. I know what you're talking about. You feel stuck, alone, it's always dark no matter how  bright the sun shines. I couldn't be without my pills in my pockets, I would always take them, I eventually quit because it risked my spot in previous teams throughout the years. Especially freshman year, I was working my way to the top in the underground fighting shit. I went on drugs to help me focus and to keep me up, so I could train. Adderall was a really bad addiction, I was having really bad withdrawals and...it was just bad," I finish, then it hit me.