“And she speaks more than a few syllables,” she teased. “Don’t worry about it, Abbygail. I’m working the night shift at the hospital anyway, and I need to stop by my apartment to change and see the man before I get to work.” She stood and walked over to Oliver, leaving a quick kiss on his cheek. “I left dessert for you in the fridge. See you tomorrow, Abby.”
Oliver
“She seems nice,” Abby said breaking the cold silence.
“You should have called,” I replied, sounding harsher than I meant to. I wasn’t really listening to what she was saying. In my defense, though, I had been picturing her kissing Tyler all evening.
“Believe me, I’m sorry I didn’t,” she reciprocated bitterly. She rose from her chair and picked up her dishes, but I took them away from her hands and dumped everything into the kitchen sink myself. By the time I made it back to the dining room I saw that she was sitting on the first step of my backyard deck. It was a warm evening, but I knew that the dampness would be kicking in soon enough, so I went to my room and grabbed a couple of my warmest sweatshirts
“Here,” I said as I joined her outside. “Put this on. I don’t want you to get cold.”
She gave me a tight smile as she took the shirt from my hands and turned her attention back to the open sky.
“I’m sorry about what I said earlier. It’s not what I meant.”
“Whatever. I’m sorry I interrupted your date.”
“It wasn’t a date, Abby. I already told you: Laney is just a friend.”
Not that I need to explain the nature of my relationships to you now that you’re back with Tyler.
“And to answer your earliest comment, she is nice, and she likes you, which is unlike her.”
She furrowed her brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that she isn’t a big fan of the girls that walk in and out of my life.”
“Maybe there is a deeper meaning to her disapproval.”
“Maybe,” I replied as I laid my back on the deck to look at the stars.
But it’s not for the reasons you think.
“How’s your head?”
“Better. But I should think about taking my pills and head-out so I can get some sleep before the pain kicks in.”
“You’re not sleeping in a hotel, Abbygail. This place is big enough for the both of us.”
“Oliver… I don’t know.”
“Just say yes, Abs. I know you’re tired. We’ll just pick up from here and talk tomorrow okay?”
She nodded. “I’d like that.”
“Oh, and we’re returning the rental too, if you need a car while you’re here, use my mom’s.”
I went back to the guestroom expecting to see Abbygail ready for bed, but she was still standing in the exact same spot she had been when I left her.
“Abs?”
“I can’t believe you get this view every night.”
I smiled as I joined her by the window. The night was clear and we could see endless mountain tops and stars that lit up the sky. She turned to me, I could tell she wanted to say something but I cut her off.
“I’m not working for a few days, but I usually go for a run with Freckles early in the morning. So if I’m not here when you wake up, just make yourself at home.”
I could see the confusion in her eyes. They probably reflected my own, except I wasn’t only confused. Seeing her in my house was painful. I stepped closer to her and took her into a hug, breathing in her presence.
“I’m really happy you’re out of the hospital.”
She looked at me. Her blue eyes seemed sad and so did the smile she reciprocated. I gave her a small kiss on top of her head and backed away, stepping out of her room.
“’Night, beautiful,” I said shutting the door delicately behind me.
“’Night, Oliver,” she whispered.
Curveball
Abbygail
It was a little past ten in the morning when I woke up. My little furry friend was waiting for me at the edge of my door, so when I opened it up, I was greeted by her enthusiastic, wagging tail.
“Good morning, Freckles.”
She responded with a loud bark, and I bent down, petting her while she rolled over on her back as if she were still a young puppy.
I expected to see Oliver somewhere in the house but found the disappointing note he left on the coffee maker instead.
Hey, Abs,
I hope you slept well. I went for my run this morning, and when I came back, I noticed you were still sleeping. You seemed comfortable, so I didn’t have the heart to wake you up.
Anyway, I completely forgot that I had a brunch date with my Uncle Jerry and his kids this morning, so I had to leave. Also, Laney and my friend Justin are coming over for New Year’s Eve dinner tonight, so have some errands to run. I might get home mid-afternoon. After dinner, we’re going to Red’s. It’s a club, and you’re welcome to join us if you want.
I called the guy from the car rental company; he should be over around noon to pick up the car. If you need to drive somewhere, take my mother’s car. The keys are in the bowl on the table in the entrance. I left fresh fruit and banana muffins for breakfast in the fridge. They don’t taste like your mom’s, but they’re good enough.
If you need anything else, feel free to snoop or text me.
Later!
Oliver
I sighed. “Okay, pup, I guess it’s just you and me today.”
I spent the entire morning lounging. I felt like the weather: crabby and depressed. I wasn’t expecting to spend my entire day alone in Oliver’s house but figured that’s what happened when you showed up unannounced. I appreciated that he let me sleep, though, because I was exhausted. However, if he had woken me up, then we could have spent the day together and talked. Now, I needed to wait an extra twenty-four hours before we’d be able to spend some time together, alone.
···
“Abby?” I heard Oliver call as I was getting ready for the evening I really wasn’t looking forward to.
“Coming. Just give me a sec.”
I’d just finished blowing my hair and putting on the very short dress Kylie got me for Christmas. I thought it was too much, but she said Oliver would go nuts if he saw it on me. It was worth giving it a try.
“Hey, I’m sorry I’m coming back so late,” he shouted back.
“It’s fine, Oliver,” I replied as I put on my boots. “Don’t worry about it.”
I walked out of the room and spotted Laney standing in the middle of the living room with Freckles. I couldn’t see Oliver, but she was clearly grinning at me. I gave her a wave, returning her smile and walked towards the kitchen where I heard Oliver’s voice.
“I ran into Laney at the market, and we decided that—”
He looked stunned to see me when he turned to the refrigerator with his arms full of groceries. Behind him was a guy I didn’t know. He was shorter than Oliver with dark blond hair, and he was smiling at me exactly like Laney had been. Oliver still hadn’t said a word; he was still staring at me speechless.
One point for Kylie!
I raised my eyebrow, and he shook his head turning back to the fridge.
“Hey, I’m Justin. You must be Abbygail. You have to excuse my douche bag of a friend here. I think his tongue got caught in his throat.”
“Yeah,” I frowned. “I guess it did. It’s nice to meet you, Justin.”
I shook his hand and looked over to Oliver, trying to read his current mood.
“So you were saying?”
Oliver
I spent the entire day avoiding her. I kept busy until there wasn’t anything more to do outside my house. I knew it was a bad call, but I just couldn’t find the courage to face her one-on-one yet. I wasn’t ready for the ‘I-followed-your-advice-and-got-back-together-with-Tyler’ talk, and I definitely wasn’t expecting her to look so luscious when I walked in. She had to be doing it on purpose. The dress was hot and too short, definitely too short, fo
r where we were headed, but she looked stunning.
“Hey, Abs, you need to change,” I said as soon as the other two were out of the house. Dinner ended pretty late and we needed to get to the club and join our group of friends. “You can’t wear that to Red’s.”
She raised her eyebrow in the cute way she always did when she didn’t agree with my opinion.
“Don’t look at me like that. You look gorgeous, but this is a big club; it’s not like back home where everyone knows everyone. I don’t want to worry about you.”
I could tell she was going to fight me about this.
“Please Abby. Just do it for me.”
“Fine, Oliver,” she replied with a sly grin on her face. “I’ll do it for you.”
She went to her room, and I walked out, leaving her the key so she could lock up. I grinned: happy I got my way.
Laney was already in the back seat of my truck when I climbed in, and since Justin had called shot gun before we stepped out, he was sitting in the front. I would have preferred having Abby beside me, but according to Justin, no one on earth was allowed to go against the shot gun rule.
“Where’s Abbygail?” Laney asked as I took a seat behind the wheel.
“Changing.”
“Why? She looked hot in that dress.”
“I agree.”
“Then what’s your problem?”
“The problem is that she looks hot in the dress.”
Justin smirked with an approving grin.
“So? It’s her body and it’s hot. Why don’t you just let her wear what she wants?”
“Because I can’t stand looking at her and keep my hands to myself when she wears stuff like that. She drives me nuts.”
“I still don’t see what the issue is.”
I turned to face her. “Laney, did you not listen to a fucking word I said when I came back from Carrington? The hospital? She’s back with Tyler; I told you that already.”
“So let me get this straight. Because she’s dating another guy, she shouldn’t be allowed to wear anything sexy?”
“Yes.”
“You’re ridiculous. And by the way, I think you’re wrong about her and Tyler.”
I turned back to the wheel sighing in irritation. “Who cares what you think. I saw what I saw.”
God, she’s infuriating!
“I know you think you know what you saw, but I think you should have a talk with her.” She crossed her arms and glared at me through the mirror. “There is more to this story than what you think you know.”
“Why the hell are you still talking about this?”
“Because I think you’re wrong.”
“And I’m telling you to butt the fuck out,” I growled. “God, you’re annoying.”
“And that’s why you love me.”
“Shut up, Laney.”
“Okay you two, that’s enough. Oliver chill out, Laney back off. He’ll deal with this when he’s ready.”
It was a good thing we had Justin in our lives. He was used to our bickering, but sometimes our disagreements got out of hand and he needed to interject. My friendship with Laney was one I couldn’t go without, but it was also one that made me confront aspects of my life I didn’t like to talk about. She was a very persistent person.
Abby never changed. In fact when she finally stepped out of the house, she looked at me through the windshield and smiled evilly.
“Oh, this is going to be good.” Laney mocked from behind.
Justin and I turned towards her and glared, urging her to shut up. Abby locked the doors and walked up to the car. When she neared the driver’s seat I pulled down my window.
“What?” she asked before I could say anything.
“I thought I told you to change.”
“You tell me a lot of things Oliver.”
“But you didn’t change…”
“I did.”
“No you didn’t.”
“Of course I did. I went to check myself in the mirror, and you were right, I had to change. We could totally see the underwear line under my dress. I couldn’t possibly go out with a panty line. I mean what girl wants people noticing her lacy underwear when she’s wearing something hot like this at a big fancy club?” She was mocking me and made a point of showing me her tight ass by turning around, while doing it.
I groaned.
“Anyway,” she continued with a sarcastic smile, “I took them off instead of changing. This way you won’t need to worry about me or my underwear all night.”
Both of my idiotic friends roared in laughter when Abby continued to the backseat and sat down.
“Oh, my God, Oliver,” Laney spurt between her laughter. “Have I told you how much I love her?”
“You don’t own me, Oliver Langton,” she whispered into my ear once she took her seat. The tenderness in her voice traveled all the way down to my groin, making it twitch uncontrollably. She smiled, knowing very well the effect she had on me. “It will take a lot more than your mean, possessive stare to be able to control me.”
I swallowed my words as well as my desires.
“And your eyes,” she pulled back, but never took her eyes away from mine as I surveyed her through the rear mirror, “they’re as treacherous as mine.”
Self-Control
Abbygail
Red’s was a two-story high building with loud music blasting and laser lights flashing everywhere. There was a huge number of people; bodies were rubbing against each other, people were talking, drinking, dancing, and singing. It was New Year’s Eve: time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new.
And Oliver was right, the place was far from the bars we had in our hometown, but it didn’t mean that I wasn’t used to them. I had been to University after all, and I’d participated in my fair share of parties and night-clubbing.
The three people I walked in with seemed pretty at ease with the place, although I had a hard time believing that this was a spot Oliver would come to regularly. There was still a lot of mystery to unravel between him and me, but there was something about this place that didn’t fit his personality.
We made our way to what they called ‘their spot’—I wasn’t sure if it was their habitual place or just the fact that they had friends waiting for them. There, I met Mia, Lauren and Noah who were all high school friends of Oliver’s. The only person who couldn’t be present was Kayden: he was one of Oliver’s closest friends. From what Laney explained, Kayden was a big shot business consultant that traveled everywhere around the world. In December, he got hired by this big company in Dubai and had to stay there for a month. So, instead of coming back for Christmas he flew in his parents, and they spent their holiday together in the sun.
Lauren kind of reminded me of Kylie, taking her physical appearance to heart and making sure that whatever she projected screamed normalcy. She seemed nice and was the first person that introduced herself when I stood hidden behind Oliver and Justin, trying to make myself scarce.
Mia, on the other hand, was her complete opposite. You could tell by just looking at her that she was an exuberant person. She had pink hair, and what she was wearing cried attention. Unlike her friend, Mia didn’t bother with the handshake: she hugged me, invading my personal space without warning—not that I minded… it was just different from what I had expected.
Noah, I could immediately tell, was the group clown. He might have been the same age as me, but he still had that baby face thing going on. He was cute. Just like Mia, he pulled me in for a hug. The only difference was that he grabbed my ass in the process, earning him an evil glare from Oliver, which I found pretty funny!
···
“Okay, so can I ask you something?” Laney asked as we sat at the bar waiting for our drinks. We had been dancing nonstop for the past hour, and I needed a break.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“You and Oliver… what’s the deal between you two?”
God if I knew…
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what’s the nature of your relationship?”
“Um…well let me put it this way, if I had a social media account, I’d put it under ‘it’s complicated’.”
She chuckled. I liked that she appreciated my crappy sense of humor. I liked Laney, she was candid and honest, and I totally understood why Oliver appreciated her friendship so much. “Well if you ask me, I think you’re both making it a lot more complicated than it should be. Have you two even talked since you got here?”
“What do you think? He disappeared this morning and has avoided me all day.”
My attention diverted to where the guys were sitting. A girl was straddling Oliver’s lap.
“Who’s she?”
Laney turned and rolled her eyes. “That’s Sam, Oliver’s ex-girlfriend.”
I furrowed my brow.
I thought Oliver didn’t do the whole relationship thing…
“Why is she straddling his lap?”
She shrugged. “She probably wants something out of him, and knowing her, it’s sex.”
“Okay, let me rephrase. Why is he letting her straddle him?”
“I don’t know, Abbygail,” she replied in a knowing undertone. “Maybe you should go ask him. God knows I’d like to witness that conversation.”
Oh I will… trust me. He and I have a lot to talk about!
“She looks familiar.”
She snickered. “Of course she does. She looks just like you but a bit taller. Oh, and everything about her is fake, her eyes are brown, and she’s a bitch.”
“So basically, she’s nothing like me.”
“Well I’ve heard you can be a pretty good bitch when you want to be.”
I chuckled. “I’m just going to go ahead and ignore that.”
“Hey, I’m just reporting what I’ve heard.” She winked. “But I’m serious: Sam’s evil.”
I shook my head. She couldn’t possibly be that bad if Oliver dated her. “Your biased, Laney. Oliver told me you don’t like any of the girls he dates.”
“That’s because none of them are good for him.
“According to you. Maybe there is a deeper meaning to you hating every girl he brings home.”
Living with Regrets (No Regrets book 2) Page 23