Chapter 7
CHAPTER
SEVEN
OLIVE
Olive was not above sliding into someone’s DMs, but it would be ridiculous for her to do so now. Charlie had her number, so it was up to her to initiate contact. While Olive had wanted her to, she had not expected it to come in the form of liking an old selfie of hers on Instagram.
To be fair, it was a great selfie, but when she saw @/charlielajoieofficial liked her photo, Olive had no idea what she would find on her profile.
Not only was she a PWHL hockey player, she was also one of the most famous Canadians playing hockey, like ever. Olive should’ve known Charlie was an athlete based on her very impressive muscles, but she had no clue Charlie was a professional athlete. One competing in the Olympics right now.
Of course. There would be no other reason for her to be in Milan right now than for work, and this was the event of the year, or rather, the next four years.
Olive sighed and glanced out towards the town beneath her. There was no reason for Olive to spend this beautiful evening, in a fancy restaurant overlooking Milan, thinking about a woman who couldn’t even muster the courage to text her.
Besides, there was no guarantee that Charlie had received Olive’s note. Maybe it fell out of her pocket? Or perhaps the paper got so wrinkled in the laundry that it was illegible.
The excuses sounded absurd, even to Olive. She so wanted those things to be true, but she knew she had to accept the fact that it was just one night for Charlie, and Olive should treasure it as that. Just one night.
A blue icon informed her that she had a message request in her Instagram inbox. It couldn’t be…
She clicked into message requests, heart hammering. It was just a postless account telling her to DM them to get free necklaces. Spam, of course.
Olive opened her text message app to send a text to Bronwyn for advice. Just when she hit send, she received a new text from an Ottawa-based number, one that she didn’t recognize.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
hey it’s Charlie
from yesterday?
Olive smiled at the message before she could stop herself. Olive knew she could not stay mad long, and this perhaps irritated her even more. Olive had a soft spot for mascs who were secretly soft on the inside, and though the texts were short, she still could hear them in Charlie’s voice.
hey
Charlie
what are you doing?
eating dinner
Olive sent her a photo of the scenic view. She continued eating her pasta as she watched the typing bubbles pop up from Charlie’s side of the text chain.
looks gorgeous
almost as gorgeous as you on top of me
Olive blushed. Of all the things she’d expected Charlie to type, it was certainly not that.
a little presumptuous to be texting that right away, no?
well i am admittedly a little tipsy
and i couldn’t stop thinking about you
Olive tried not to melt at the words, and utterly failed. She knew for her own sanity that she could not see her again today, or she would find herself doing something very ill-advised.
that’s sweet
Olive wanted to ask about her career, but she hadn’t made up her own mind about it.
Olive was not mad about the fact that Charlie had hid it from her—hell, if she was that famous, she surely would not tell anyone else she had just met.
It probably didn’t help that they were from the same city back home; it was not as anonymous as Charlie may have preferred her one-night stands to be.
Though there was nothing anonymous about last night.
It had felt more intimate than a chance encounter with a stranger, more intimate than some of Olive’s past relationships.
That was probably the scariest part of it all.
not as sweet as your taste
Before Olive could respond again, Charlie sent another message.
sorry, i know i should not be saying these things to you with how i had left last night
but i can’t help myself
is that why you liked that old selfie on mine on instagram?
it was stupid of me, but i wanted to see you one more time
you could’ve just texted me, and seen the real thing in person
i shouldn’t, you probably know who i am now
i do, but that doesn’t scare me. if anything, i understand you a bit better now. you clearly take your career very seriously
i do
Olive could see that Charlie was still typing, but soon the typing bubbles disappeared one more time. Olive put her phone down and signalled to the waitstaff that she’d like the bill. The food was delicious, and she was ready to go on a walk around the town before the sun set.
As she walked around, she noted all the places she wanted to go back to tomorrow, and which restaurants had the longest lines. The city was definitely crowded, but Olive was glad for it as she could blend in easily with the crowds.
Olive sighed in contentment as she watched a child run by with gelato in their hand.
I should get some too.
God, a vacation was really just what Olive needed. The sun in her hair, a breeze blowing by her, and no work email in sight.
Olive’s phone buzzed again, and she dug it out of her pocket, hoping it was Bronwyn replying to her angsty text from earlier.
can i see you tomorrow?
Olive could see the text from her home screen on her phone, but she did not click into the text chain, as she didn’t want Charlie to see that she had read the message.
She needed time to process. While her heart, and vagina, longed to agree right away, Olive had to be rational.
She didn’t come all the way to Italy to fall into bed with someone else so soon after her break-up, no matter how irresistible and muscular the person was.
It was probably not the smartest idea for her to agree already, and she forced herself to ignore the text the rest of the night.
“What was with yesterday’s text? Are you okay?
” Bronwyn asked when Olive picked up her FaceTime audio call.
Olive was currently walking around the Duomo di Milano, admiring the cathedral’s stained-glass windows so she hastily tried to find a corner that wasn’t as filled with tourists as everywhere else.
“Hey, how’s your day going?” Olive asked her in response.
“Well, I just woke up,” Bronwyn said, and only then did Olive remember that they were five hours apart. Oops.
“Right. Well, what are you going to do today?” Olive whispered.
“Stop stalling and tell me what the meaning of this text is. ‘Please stop me from DMing this famous hockey player.’ First off, since when do you DM people, and what do you mean by hockey? I thought you hated sports.”
“I do hate sports,” Olive clarified. She looked around to make sure no one had caught her admitting that grave sin during Olympics season in a church. She seemed to be safe, so she elaborated.
“Let me start at the beginning of the story.”
“Please.”
“I may have met someone a few nights ago.”
“A hockey player?! Since when are you into dating men?”
“That’s sexist of you. I never said it was a male hockey player.”
“Ohhh,” Bronwyn said from the other side of the line. Olive could practically hear the gears turning in her head. “So, how did the meeting go?”
“Great. It was casual.” Olive didn’t want to elaborate more. As honest as she was with her sister, talking to her about her sex life was not something she wanted to, in a church or not.
“Then what was the problem?”
“When I texted you, she had my number but hadn’t texted me yet. After I hit send, she basically texted me right then and asked to meet again.”
Bronwyn squealed. “Oh my God, that is so cute. I just knew meeting someone rich was in the cards for you. You deserve it.”
“Slow down. It’s not as if it was anything other than a casual evening. I just don’t know what to do.”
“What do you mean? It sounds like you already know what to do. You did want to reach out to her before she texted you.”
“Right. But…” Olive hesitated before being honest with her. “What if I get my heart broken again?”
“And so what if you do? Life is too short to deny yourself the few moments of happiness when you can find them.”
“Who said anything about happiness?”
“Well, I don’t want to read too much into what you mean by casual, but I am not above encouraging my sister to get some pleasure.”
“Ew. The first one was right. Please never say that to me again.” Olive made gagging sounds over the phone while Bronwyn laughed.
“I’m just saying. There’s nothing wrong with getting some. Go for it! You’re only thirty once!”
“I am NOT thirty,” Olive said forcefully. It seemed to have been too loud, because tourists passing nearby turned to stare at her. She silently mouthed sorry and turned back to her call.
Olive continued with a whisper. “I should go.”
“Of course. Just have some fun, okay? Just go see her.”
“Love you, bye,” Olive said quickly before hanging up. She fled from her spot quickly, blending in with the other tourists who were walking out from the main cathedral and towards the auxiliary buildings, no less beautiful or majestic.
Olive mulled over her sister’s words. Logically, she knew that reaching out to Charlie could be just that—a simple, casual meeting, no more and no less.
But emotionally, Olive knew that if she let herself open that door again, there was a chance she could get hurt.
Olive thought of what her sister would say to that.
She’d probably say something about how Olive could get hurt no matter what she did, and that keeping herself closed off to new experiences because of a shitty ex was letting that shitty ex win.
She’d be right about that. There was no way Olive would let Natalia win. Not after she abandoned Olive to enjoy this amazing place without her.
With that newfound resolve, Olive finally opened the text from last night that she had been ignoring.
sure, same bar?