22. Chapter 22 #3
“If all you were wanting to do is read books, I may or may not have a solution to that problem, though.” He says in an odd display of playfulness. Olli is always so serious that seeing him be anything other than that always seems strange. He’s not really been himself lately, though.
“I’m listening,” I reply curiously as I sit back up in the chair.
He crosses his arms and leans back in his chair, pinning me with a stare of annoyance.
“First…” he starts smugly. “You’re going to tell me who that was you were talking to.”
I plop back in my seat, rolling my eyes as I groan in annoyance. “It was no one. Seriously.”
He stares at me knowingly until I finally cave.
“Fine,“ I relent begrudgingly. “It’s this guy I’ve been chatting with on the app for a while. Happy now?”
“His name?” He asks with a raised brow, completely ignoring my question in lieu of asking for more information.
I shake my head. “I don’t know his name, and he doesn’t know mine either. We both agreed not to share our identities with each other.”
“What sense does that make? You guys are going to meet eventually.” He says condescendingly.
“No, we aren’t. We’re agreed not to meet each other. We’re just friends and we plan to keep it that way.”
He narrows his eyes at me, clearly confused by the whole scenario.
I don’t need him to understand though. Sure…
it’s not conventional. It’s what works for us, though.
There’s no pressure, no need to please, no need to do…
anything. We can just be ourselves with one another and that’s something that’s really hard to find these days.
“But the two of you talk all the time? How long has this been going on?” He asks as he sits forward, watching me carefully. It makes me nervous. What is he getting at here? What’s his point?
“Yeah… We started talking a few days after the app launched. Why?” I ask as I squirm uncomfortably in my seat.
“And Roman hasn’t intervened?”
“He’s talking to someone too, so why would he?”
Now I’m even more confused. I know that Roman is usually overbearing when it comes to me, but he has absolutely nothing to do with this.
“No reason…” he says as he leans back in his chair again, trying to seem casual. I’m already on high alert though, and I know Ollivander. He’s either digging for information, or trying to hint at something, and I want to know which it is.
“What are you getting at Ollivander? Stop beating around the bush, you prick.”
“You guys agreed not to meet at the start of it, but what if he changed his mind? Would you meet him then?”
Umm… I scowl at him. Kind of shocked that he’d even ask that.
If SeeYouClearly decided that he wanted to meet, then that could change the whole dynamic of our relationship.
Knowing who I was talking to would be nice, being able to imagine his reactions and his voice, but what if it wasn’t the same anymore?
What if it got awkward and we eventually stop talking to one another?
“I… That’s not— I don’t think that’s going to happen, Olli.” I stammer out. I really don’t know how I would feel about that. I like things the way they are, and if I lost him as a friend, then I would be devastated.
“Hypothetically?”
“I guess,” I say with a shrug. “I mean… of course, I would. I don’t know if I really want that, but if he said that he wanted too, then I probably would.”
“Mmm,” he replies with a nod before leaning down and opening the drawer of his desk. He fumbles around in there before slamming it closed and handing me something. I turn the box over and nearly have a freaking heart attack.
“An e-reader!” I yelp as I jump from my seat. “Are you freaking kidding me?”
My eyes dart up to him, and he’s looking as smug as he possibly can.
“Instead of continuing to order books, I convinced Maven that this was a more cost-efficient way to provide you with the books you want. Not to mention, more reliable, considering the state of our shipments lately.” He says with an eyeroll before scooting himself closer to the desk and turning his attention back to his computer.
“How am I supposed to get books on this thing without internet?” I ask as I read the back of the box.
“You can use the Wi-Fi we have here. It’s connected to the business account, and Maven approved a hundred bucks a month. You should be able to read plenty of books for free with the membership. So, use the hundred dollars wisely.” He explains without looking away from his screen.
“This is amazing,” I say as I rip open the top of the box and pull everything out. “Do you know how long it takes to download books? Do you think I have time to get a couple on here before we leave tomorrow?”
“I have one,” he replies. “Once you have everything set-up and actually find a book you want, it only takes a few seconds to download. You’re leaving at eleven in the morning, so you better make sure you have everything together before you start playing around on that thing.
” He says sternly as he glances over to me and then gestures to the office door.
Alright, alright.
I switch over to my text and check to make sure that I sent the message to the right person.
Again. It’s been hours and Roman still hasn’t replied.
I even checked to see when the last time he texted me was.
It’s been two hours longer than the biggest gap between messages since before we stopped seeing each other.
You can’t possibly tell me that I waited too long, right?
Right?!
Me:
Please?
I really am sorry, Roman.
I barely wait all of sixty seconds before I’m typing out another message. This desperation I’m feeling, it has to be what’s he’s been going through all this time. I feel ridiculous, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I just… I need him.
I tried not to. I tried to push all my feelings away. I tried to ignore what was happening. I tried to pretend that I didn’t care about him, from the very fucking beginning, but it never worked. None of it worked.
Me:
Please, Roman?
I can bring dinner, if you want.
Whatever you need me to do to prove that I’m in this, I’ll do it.
Just please talk to me.
Dinner time comes and goes.
He doesn’t reply.