“And you wouldn’t? Didn’t you see the size of his monster just a minute ago? And those tattoos? Damn…even thinking about it is ma—”
“If you finish that sentence, I’m going to deck you, Lucy.”
She laughed and opened her arms. “Do your best, mystery beauty.”
I groaned and leaned my back against the door, just in case. I didn’t want to have a second look at Jameson’s man parts.
“What am I gonna do?”
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing?”
She shrugged and patted the bed. I walked over and sat down, trying not to fidget any more than I already was.
“You, my lovely friend, are going to wait until Jason calls you,” she said.
“What makes you think he’ll call?”
“His people must’ve seen this already. Trust me, he’ll call you when he sees it.”
***
It was three hours later and I was lounging on the couch with my laptop glued to my fingers.
Someone unlocked the door and my head flew up. Seeing that it was just Char, I greeted her.
“Hey. You’re home early.”
“Yeah, Professor Kindley had an emergency and ended class early.” Tossing her handbag and her notebooks into her room, she came to sit next to me. “What are you doing?”
“Blankly staring at the screen.”
“Nothing new, huh?”
“Nope. I start writing a few pages, but then I go back and delete everything I wrote. I think I might be a one-hit wonder. It’s like all my creative juices just dried up. Or maybe I was never creative in the first place, and the one I wrote was just a fluke.”
“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way, Olive,” Char said as she started massaging her temples.
“Headache?”
“Yeah. I haven’t been feeling well ever since I opened my eyes.”
“You want me to cook some chicken soup for you?”
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks though. Do you have any idea of what you want to write, or you just can’t find the first words?”
“Oh, I’m finding the first words, alright, but I can’t get into the story and end up just tossing the whole thing.”
She looked at me with her bright blue eyes. “Then it isn’t the right story for you to write. You’ll know when it’s the right one.”
“I’m not so sure about that. My fingers are itching to write, but I have absolutely nothing. Nada.”
“Let me know if I can help you with anything. Plotting or otherwise.”
I put my laptop down on the floor and got up. “I’m going to make you tea.” I said over my shoulder. “Your voice is starting to crack.”
She groaned and reached for my laptop.
“Did Jason call about the photos yet?”
“Nope.” I filled the kettle with water and while waiting for it to boil, I opened the cupboard to choose from the teas we had. “Do you want herbal tea or just regular black tea?”
“I’ll have herbal tea, please.” She whistled softly. “You should see the comments on these photos.”
I looked up to see Char scrolling through the photos again. Taking down two mugs, I put the tea bags in them. “They’re talking shit?”
“No,” she replied, looking over her shoulder. “Actually they think you guys look adorable together. More than a few say you are his new girlfriend, a new actress or something.”
I snorted. “I’m adding honey to your tea and I don’t want to hear any complaints about it.” Char hated honey with a passion; whenever she got sick we had to practically force it down her throat. I reached for the boiling water and poured it in our mugs.
“Thanks, mother Olive.”
“You’re welcome, beautiful child of mine.” Grabbing the mugs, I walked back to the couch and handed her the herbal tea.
The laptop still on her lap, she extended her neck and sniffed at my tea. “What are you having? It smells better than mine.”
“Just black tea, Earl Grey.” Sitting next to her, I glanced at the screen.
“This one is my favorite,” said Char, scrolling down to another picture, the one where Jason’s hand was out of sight and under my shirt. “You both look lost in each other.”
“Well, we weren’t lost anywhere, I had weird hot smoothie spilled all over me and he was just making sure I was okay. I don’t know what kind of a creep took our photos, but they somehow managed to capture something that wasn’t even there. They are a good stalker, I’ll give them that.”
“I think I’m with Lucy on this one,” she admitted, and I sharply turned to look at her, almost spilling hot tea all over myself, again. “Ok, don’t kill me yet,” she said, lifting her hands as if to ward me off. “I just don’t think you could capture something like this if there was absolutely nothing there. I mean, it’s not like you are still in love with Marcus, right?”
“Of course not. And well, we already know that I’m still in love with Jason so both Lucy and you are seeing that.”
“Olive.” She closed the laptop and placed it next to her. “You probably don’t want to give yourself false hope, but…”
“But…? But, what?”
“Jason isn’t really looking at you as if you are just his best friend’s little sister. At least not in these photos.” She gestured toward the laptop. “Of course I have no idea how he is treating you when you guys are together.”
I waved her off and took a sip of my tea. “He is just—”
My phone starting ringing and Char lifted an eyebrow as I looked at her in panic.
“Where is your phone?” she asked.
“I don’t know, in my room?”
The phone kept ringing.
She tilted her head. “Well, aren’t you gonna get it?”
I shook my head vehemently. “I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
The damn phone stopped ringing and started back up again.
“It could be Dylan. I can’t deal with him right now. God knows what he’ll say. When we were kids, he didn’t like me running around Jason that much so he sure as hell won’t be happy about those photos if he sees them.”
“What if it’s Jason?” she asked.
That was even worse. “Well, if it’s him, what if he’s angry?”
“At you?” She frowned.
“Doesn’t matter at who.”
Thrusting her mug at me, she rose up. “You’re being ridiculous.”
Both mugs in my hand, I yelled after her. “Char, don’t look! I don’t want to know. Please.”
“Too late,” she said. Keeping her eyes on me, she leaned against the door frame and answered my phone.
“Hi, Jason. No, I’m Olive’s friend, Charlotte.”
Making a sad face at her, I shook my head and whispered, “I’m not here. Out! Out! I’m gone. Say I vanished.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Uh huh. Yes, she is right here. Of course. Take care of yourself.”
I groaned loudly.
She dropped the phone next to me and grabbed her mug from my hand.