19. Oliver
NINETEEN
Oliver
“You’re thinking about staying?” my best friend, Harrison, asked through the phone.
“For a little while longer,” I said.
“You were all excited about having one hundred adventures or something ridiculous like that. You’re going to slow down after your first one?” His voice was gruff. I knew for a fact Harrison hated phone calls, but unfortunately for him, he was my best friend and I was a yapper. I couldn’t go more than a week without calling him.
“I don’t think I said one hundred . Besides, I’ve only been here a month. That’s hardly any time.”
“I’m surprised, I guess. You went there for the lessons, but I thought you were excited to move on after.”
“I’m having fun here,” I insisted. Even as I said it, the irony hit me that all I was doing tonight was sitting on my couch and eating a slice of pizza. Frankie wasn’t working at Marie’s tonight, so I didn’t have to suffer through another dinner there.
I’d tried convincing her to come hang out with me tonight, but she was too stressed about the job in New York. Her second interview was in the morning and she had been preparing for it nonstop.
Her commitment to getting a job far away from here didn’t exactly thrill me, but who was I to say anything about that? I was, what? A fling to her? It was obvious we liked each other, but our lives weren’t even close to heading in the same direction. Even though it sucked, there was no point in dwelling on it. So I chose to do what I normally did—ignore our inevitable ending and live in the moment. I refused to think about her leaving. Not yet, anyway.
There was a long pause on the other end of the line.
“Did you meet someone?” he asked.
“No,” I said too quickly. How the hell could he read my mind like that?
There was a loud squeal from the background and his girlfriend Lila’s voice took over. “Ollie, you met someone?”
Amusement stirred within me hearing the excitement in her tone. She was the complete opposite of my gruff, burly best friend. In fact, she was a hell of a lot more similar to me. I loved them together. They were two of my favorite people.
“Nope.” I popped the p when I said it, which apparently didn’t make it sound very convincing.
“Are you sure? Sticking around isn’t like you,” Harrison pressed.
“Come on, tell us,” Lila begged. “We tell you everything. You were the first person to know when we got together.”
“You sure you didn’t tell Charlie first?” I teased, knowing that Lila would have told her best friend, who was also my sister-in-law, first.
“Well…” She paused. “Harrison is basically your Charlie. So you should tell us.”
That made me laugh .
“Then why do you want to stay if it isn’t that?” Harrison asked instead.
“I don’t feel ready yet,” I insisted.
“There’s a girl. There’s totally a girl,” Lila repeated.
There was a girl. A girl I didn’t quite know what to do about. But if I told Lila, hopeless romantic that she was, she’d insist we were meant to be and that fate had brought us together. She wouldn’t see that logically, Frankie and I weren’t compatible in the slightest.
“Hey.” I decided a change of subject would be best at this point. “Since I’m not leaving yet, you two should come out for a camping trip.”
“Yes!” Lila squealed at the same time as Harrison groaned, “Camping?”
We chatted for a while longer, ironing out the details of when they’d visit before I finally hung up. I checked the rest of the notifications on my phone. My brother, Nathan, had texted me, and I had a couple missed calls from my mom. I really didn’t want to talk to her right now. Sighing, I cleared the notifications and pulled up my message thread with Frankie instead.
Oliver: Wish you were here.
Frankie: Stop distracting me.
Oliver: You should come over here for a bit. I’ll help you practice your interview questions.
Frankie: Somehow, I doubt you actually will.
Oliver: Or I can at least help you decompress.
Frankie: I’ll come to you for decompressing after I nail this tomorrow.
Oliver: Pleeasseee come over.
Frankie: You’re a bad influence. Turning my phone off now.
I stood from my couch and started to pace. Lessons had just ended and I was already bored.
Without thinking, I headed out the door to my apartment, walked the short walkway to the lodge, and stepped inside the lobby.
To my relief, Bev and Giles were both there, leaning against the front desk and chatting.
“Ollie.” Giles lifted a hand in greeting as I joined them.
“What are you doing here?” Bev asked.
I shrugged. “Figured I’d come see if you need any help since lessons are over now.”
Bev chuckled. “They just ended.”
I shrugged. “And I’m already bored.”
“Of course you are.” She pointed to Marie’s. “You can help out at the lounge if you want. It’ll be slower now that the ski hill is closed, but the last of the seasonal workers are leaving this week, and I’d personally love to take a break from working there every night.”
“You got it, boss,” I said.
Giles smirked. “I think the local female clientele will go up when word gets out you’re bartending here.”
Bev nodded. “Tips’ll go up too.”
I had no experience bartending, but considering Frankie worked there, I figured I’d be fine. She was still messing up drink orders and getting flustered all these weeks later. It was honestly fucking endearing. I loved watching her during her shifts. And now I’d get a front row seat. Honestly, the only thing I really cared about right now was spending every second I could with her, so this worked out perfectly.
“I’m surprised you aren’t gallivanting off to the next mountain town,” Bev said.
“I’ve got a rafting gig lined up in June, but not a lot going on until then. Key Ridge has some awesome mountain biking trails too. I’m excited to check those out now that the snow is almost gone,” I said.
“Right.” Bev had a glint in her eyes. “I’m sure a certain girl has nothing to do with your desire to stay.”
Giles chuckled knowingly and I smiled. “She definitely isn’t a detractor.”
I was hung up on the girl. What did I care if people knew? She was way out of my league and I’d proudly claim her for as long as I could.
When I’d first left Denver to move to Key Ridge, I had all these ideas for adventures. But for some reason, they didn’t excite me like they used to. Sure, rafting sounded fine, but instead of giving it much thought, something else had completely taken ahold of my mind.
Frankie.
She hadn’t outright asked me to stay, but it was obviously what she wanted. It almost broke me when I saw the worry in her eyes that I might be leaving before she did. It was like she wanted me to hang around to keep her company while it was convenient but wouldn’t let it stop her from taking the first offer she could land.
That didn’t make me feel used, though. I kind of understood it. That new job was her dream. And let’s face it, I wouldn’t want to be in this town without her either.