4
Noah: Probably because they killed her.
Olivia: Why?
Noah: Beats me, but she talks about them as if I’m going to meet them soon. Today she said little Tiger will love me because we have the same color eyes.
Olivia: Anything but bring them to my house. I’ve got enough to deal with.
Noah: Like what? What could you possibly have to do that you’re too busy to help me sack up ten pounds of cat poop every day?
Olivia: Well, I was stupid and gave a super annoying guy my number, for one. He never stops talking.
Noah: Why don’t you just tell him to shut up?
Olivia: Shut up.
Noah: Yeah, that’s not going to work. Nice try though.
Tuesday, November 8
Noah: I know what you said, but are you sure you won’t go out with me?
Olivia: Yes. I’m sure.
Noah: Because I’m intimidating?
Olivia: As if!
Olivia: I could take you in a heartbeat.
Noah: Ha! Dream on, sister.
Olivia: I’m not your sister.
Noah: Thank heaven for that.
“Who is that smile for?” Lexie asked, a knowing look on her face as she came back into her room that Friday night.
Olivia quickly shoved her phone underneath her thigh. “Mind your own business,” she said, though it was without heat.
Lexie crossed to her dresser and opened the top drawer before pulling out a soft blue sweater and a tank top. “Have you told him about the Harrelson Center?”
“Told who?” Olivia asked innocently.
Lexie met her friend’s eyes in her vanity mirror, clearly seeing through the act. “The guy blowing up your phone at all hours of the night. Every night. For a week,” she replied.
Olivia’s phone chose that moment to buzz loudly against her leg, and she swallowed a sigh.
There wasn’t any point trying to downplay the number of times Noah texted her each day.
Anything less than twenty would be a lie, and at least one of those was always an attempt to change her mind.
“It’s not my fault he doesn’t have an off button,” she grumbled.
Lexie only laughed softly. “You’ve never had a problem telling boys to get lost before,” she observed, and she added a pair of jeans to the growing pile of clothing on her bed.
Olivia pursed her lips and picked at a loose thread on Lexie’s comforter.
Her friend was right; she’d never had an issue telling guys to leave her alone—unwanted attention was an unfortunate side effect of good genes, and she’d learned to be proactive about it over the years.
And yet, as persistent as Noah was, she simply hadn’t found the right time to send him packing.
“I just think he might be interested to know you’re going to be interning down the street from the grocery store where he works,” Lexie went on, ignoring her friend’s silence.
“Maybe that’s why I haven’t told him,” Olivia replied. “He doesn’t need another way to drive me nuts.” Her phone buzzed again, and Lexie smiled.
“Is he driving you nuts? Could have fooled me,” she murmured, and she shut her last dresser drawer with a bang. “Alright, I think that’s everything,” she added.
“Everything for what?”
“My mystery date!” Lexie answered.
Olivia looked at the pile of items her friend had selected. “For when?” she asked, confused. The clock on Lexie’s bedside table said it was almost 11:00 p.m.
“For tonight. Jake’s created some kind of all-night surprise for our one-month anniversary, and he said to wear extra layers,” Lexie explained. She picked up her phone from the nightstand and unlocked it before turning the screen toward Olivia .
“Extra layers?” Olivia asked skeptically, reading from the text message. “What kind of romantic all-nighter requires extra layers?”
Lexie shrugged and put the phone down before pulling on a pair of jeans over fleece-lined leggings. “No idea. I’ve tried to get it out of him, but he’s holding this pretty close to the vest. The only thing that makes sense is if we’ll be outside.”
“Outside?” Olivia blurted. “It’s November!”
“Which is why winter layers would make sense,” Lexie answered, sliding the sweater over her head.
Olivia’s phone buzzed a third time. Her fingers itched with the need to check it, but she clasped them in her lap instead. She didn’t need to give Lexie any more ammunition.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the front door as Lexie finished brushing her long hair into a ponytail. “That’ll be Jake,” she said, her voice already full of excitement. “Don’t wait up.”
“Oh, I won’t,” Olivia called as her friend walked away. “I’m going to bed and will be sleeping like a baby.”
“Check your messages first!” Lexie shouted back, and Olivia rolled her eyes. She’d check her messages when she was good and ready.
But, as it turned out, Noah was impatient as well as persistent. Her phone started to vibrate in a relentless staccato almost the moment the front door shut behind her friend—a phone call this time, not just a text.
“Has it ever occurred to you that I might be busy?” she asked the moment the line connected.
“Is Jexie still there?”
Olivia blinked, startled by the unexpectedly strange question. “Is what?” she asked .
“Is Jexie still there?” Noah repeated, slower this time. “You know, Jake and Lexie?”
Comprehension dawned, and Olivia felt her face wrinkle in disgust. “Jexie? Seriously?”
“Yeah, isn’t that what we do these days? We smash people’s names together when they start dating?”
“Ugh, please don’t,” she groaned. “They’re still two separate people.”
“Are you sure about that? The other day, I caught them eating from the same sandwich,” he replied, and Olivia chuckled without meaning to.
“Okay, that is kind of gross,” she conceded.
“But honestly, I’m just glad she’s happy.
” She pushed off Lexie’s bed and padded down the hall to the kitchen.
Then she opened one of the upper cabinets and pulled down a box of popcorn.
She turned it upside down and frowned when only one plastic-wrapped bag fell onto the countertop.
“So, do you know where they’re going?” she asked.
“Of course I do! You know, being the best friend and all,” he answered.
Olivia rolled her eyes. She could almost hear him preening. She tilted her head and clamped the phone between her ear and shoulder while she used both hands to free her snack from its package. “Uh-huh. So, what’s the big surprise, Mr. Best Friend?”
“Oh, I can’t tell you that,” he said quickly. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy—crossed my heart and everything.”
Olivia huffed as she yanked open the microwave door and stuffed the folded bag inside. Then she shut the door and entered the perfect cook time; no true connoisseur ever used the “popcorn” button. “They’re already gone, genius,” she shot back. “How am I going to ruin the surprise now? ”
The line went silent as he apparently thought this over.
“Fair point,” he conceded. “In that case, he’s taking her out to the middle of nowhere to watch tonight’s meteor shower from the back of his truck, complete with picnic basket and extra blankets.
Totally making every other man on the planet look bad. ”
There was a teasing note to his voice, but Olivia got the impression he was secretly impressed by his friend’s ingenuity. She certainly was! Lexie was going to be bursting at the seams by the time she got home.
But that wasn’t the detail Olivia chose to dwell on just then. “Wow! You caved so fast !” she taunted. “I’m gonna have to tell Jake to revoke your security clearance.”
“Wait, wha—”
“Crumpled like a house of cards!” she went on, raising her voice to be heard above the increasingly loud pops of the microwave. “I didn’t even have to beg! Some secret keeper you are.” She grinned, glad he couldn’t see her.
“Wha... Okay, first of all, that wasn’t fair,” he stammered.
Olivia couldn’t help but laugh at the tone of his voice.
“And secondly, I am an excellent secret keeper! You have no idea the kinds of gems I’m hiding in this brain of mine. I am a vault !” he insisted.
The sounds of exploding corn kernels began to slow, and Olivia pulled open the microwave door once they stopped. She waved her hand in front of the appliance, trying to dissipate some of the steam that burst from the opening. “A vault, huh?”
“Yes. Once something goes in here, it does not come back out!”
“With some obvious exceptions, though, right?” Olivia teased.
“Shut up. ”
“Hey! Gentlemen do not tell ladies to shut up,” she pointed out, and Noah made a sarcastic sort of noise.
“Ladies don’t trick gentlemen out of classified information,” he grumbled.
She carried her snack down the hall to her own room, then she sat on the bed and crossed her legs beneath herself. She knew she shouldn’t encourage him like this, but he was just so much fun to mess with.
“Hey, what are the chances you want to come watch this meteor shower with me, since you’re awake anyway?” he asked. “Our backyard is pretty dark; no streetlights or anything. I’ve seen a few already.”
Olivia sorted through her bag of popcorn, searching for a kernel with the perfect butter-to-corn ratio, while she briefly imagined sharing a warm blanket with Noah under the stars. The offer was tempting—more tempting than she wanted to admit... which automatically made it a bad idea.
“Come on, Pix. I don’t bite,” he added after a moment. “Well, not hard, anyway. And not without permission.”
Olivia huffed and pulled a fleece blanket across her lap, as if that would weigh her down. “Give up, Campbell,” she said. “I’m already in my pajamas. I’m not changing again for you.”
“Well, then don’t!” he protested. “Pajamas are always welcome here. Besides, I’ve got a bag of can tabs for you to pick up.”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “I’ll get them later. Just watch your stars,” she warned, though she couldn’t keep the humor out of her voice. “I’ve got an early morning anyway, so I should probably go to bed.”
“Bummer! Well, goodnight then, Pixie,” he answered.
But then, nothing happened .
Olivia glanced at her screen to make sure the call timer had stopped.
It hadn’t.
“Campbell?”
“Yeah?”
“Hang up!”
“No, you hang up!”
“No, you— Agh! You know what, I’m not twelve, so goodnight.”
She could hear him laughing even as she pulled the phone from her ear and pressed the red “end call” button. She snuggled down beneath her blanket and reached for the television remote with no real intention of going to sleep.
Minutes later, her phone vibrated again.
Noah: Just saw one. Wished you were here. Then a bird pooped on my head.
Olivia laughed out loud, the sound echoing back to her in the empty apartment.
Serves him right!