~Olivia's POV~
“Where should we eat?” Amelia picked me up in Chris’s old car.

“Uh, doesn’t he have a nicer car?” I folded my arms. “Maybe something that doesn’t have a roof rack made to hold a News camera?”

“Just get in Ollie.” She sighed. It looks like I’ll be ignoring the sass all evening.

“How about Happy Diner? Let’s go try to figure out who’s on a date and who’s having an affair.”

“We haven’t done that since junior year.” She rolled her eyes.

I put my seat belt on and rolled the window down. “Well we’re doing it tonight.” I looked out the window to show her I’d made up my mind.

“Fine.” She started the car and rolled the windows up. “But use the air conditioning. I hate having the windows down.”

“Ugh. You’re just like Andy.” I looked at her from the corner of my eye. She still winces at the mention of his name.

“And you’re just like Chris.” She smirked like Andy does when he’s trying to upset me.
“I wish I had a boyfriend on campus. Or, you know, in the same city.” I sighed.

She giggled. “I know right? What’s the point if you never see him?”

“Andy’s not coming back until the end of the semester. I told him that if he doesn’t at least visit me on Thanksgiving it’s over, it’s like he doesn’t even care about me anymore.”

“He cares about you Ollie. I’ve never seen him care about anything more than he cares for you.” She sighed.

“Thank you.” I smiled. “But he’s never there anymore. He’s all about college now and he just wants to do homework.”

“Have you told him how you feel?” She accused.

“Yes.” I answered before thinking. But then I thought about it for a few moments. “No.” I corrected. I haven’t really tried to talk to him since he left; it feels like I just saw him a few days ago. “I miss him always being there for me.”

“He follows you around like a puppy.” She laughed.

I turned to her. “Excuse me?” I laughed. “Like you and Chris are any different?” My words hung in the air for a few minutes.

“When did our lives become all about our boyfriends?” She asked.

I laughed. “When did our boyfriends become all about us?” I held my hand up and she high fived me. “I’ve missed hanging out with you.” I added. Besides Andy, she’s my only friend now.

We parked outside Happy Diner which had a full parking lot for some reason. “Let’s hang out more often?” For a moment she sounded like a little girl asking me to be her best friend, and I felt like we were in dance class searching the room for a partner to do stretches with. She was giving me the same look Andy gave me when he asked me out, wide eyed and hopeful. I felt guilty for ever wanting to take Andy from her.

“Amee?” I asked.

“Uh huh?” She seemed confused. But if I don’t say it now, I never will.

“I’m sorry for taking Andy away from you.” I had to break eye contact.

She laughed. “Ollie that was years ago.” She folded her arms. “I would’ve never met CC if you didn’t.” She said warmly.

“Ugh.” I rolled my eyes and opened the car door, setting my foot on the ground.

Another car blasting really loud music suddenly roared down the street, skidded around the corner into the parking lot and nearly didn’t give me enough time to pull my leg back in to slam the car door shut. I couldn’t open the door again since they parked too close so I jumped out of the driver’s side and glared at the driver.

“EXCUSE YOU LOSERS! YOU ALMOST TOOK MY DOOR OFF!” I yelled.

The driver got out of the car and crossed his arms over his chest. “No I didn’t.” He said calmly.

I stepped closer to him, “JACKASS!” I yelled.

One of his buddies in the back of his two door douchemobile yelled something and I glared at him.

“YOU GONNA TAKE HIS SIDE?” I pointed.

“YOU ALMOST TOOK MY DOOR OFF! WTF IS YOUR PROBLEM?” Amelia yelled, standing at the front of her car and folding her arms. I looked at her and smirked.

“Better watch it. Her dad’s a cop.” I tensed my face up like I was about to spit on him.

He remained calm and smirked back at me.

“Ooh you better watch it, her daddy’s a cop.” A guy jumped out of the car from the passenger’s side.

“SCREW YOU.” I shouted at the passenger.

“I don’t think I’m the one that needs to get screwed.” The passenger shouted back.

I stepped back from the driver and stomped around the front of the other car toward the passenger, my heels making the least fierce sound ever against the pavement. “You wanna throw down?” I puffed my chest up and stood in front of him, careful not to break eye contact.

His friends laughed at him and his entire face flushed bright red.

“Bring it, little lady.” He challenged.

I took one of my earrings off and placed it on the hood of their car as though I would take off all of my jewelry and put up a fight like he’d never seen before. I was working on taking out the second earring when the passenger seat popped forward and a third guy stepped out.

“What is this, a freakin’ clown car?!” Amelia shouted.

The driver laughed at the third guy “Told you that makeup makes you look like a clown.” He scoffed.

I glared at the driver as I set my other earring on the hood of his car and took a step back from the passenger. I balled my right first and prepared to swing.

“Did you seriously not see her trying to get out of their car before you almost ran her over?” The third guy shouted at the driver.

I turned to glare at him but when I saw his face my mind drew a blank. He had eyeliner drawn past the edges of his eyes and in a line pointing up toward his forehead and down his cheek. “What are you, The Crow?”

He smiled and held out a hand toward me cautiously. “I’m Jinxx.” He said, his green eyes meeting mine. "Love the Louboutins" He complimented my heels.

“Love the scene hair.” I smiled and shook his hand. “Ollie.” I added.

“Awesome name.” He nodded.

“Likewise.” I was still smiling and holding onto his hand.

“That’s Casey.” He pulled his hand away and pointed to the driver. “I believe he’s buying you ladies dinner.”

“The hell I am!” Casey shouted.

“If there’s a place to sit.” The passenger said, looking around. I noticed there wasn’t anywhere else to park.

“Shall we check?” Jinxx waved a hand toward the restaurant and smiled. I tucked my hair behind my ear and picked my earrings up from the hood of their car. Casey and the passenger walked away, Jinxx followed. I stood for a minute putting my earrings back on and looked at Amelia.

“He’s cute.” I whispered.

“I’d buy him dinner for stopping that fight.” Amelia watched them walk inside and bit her lip hesitantly.

I smacked her arm. “What are you talking about? I totally could’ve taken that guy down.”

We started walking away from the cars. “You and what army?” She laughed.

“Me and your cop dad.” I giggled.

“Yeah where did that come from anyway?” She smacked my arm.

“Pfft, we’ll probably never see them again. Let’s order the biggest pizza, I’m starving.” I felt embarrassed when I noticed Jinxx was holding the door open for us. I stepped inside and shot Amelia a smile, mouthing the words ‘total hottie’ silently after checking him out.

The restaurant was packed and apparently it’s Happy Hour judging by the pitchers of beer at the end of every table. We all sat in a huge half circle booth. Jinxx and I sat awkwardly avoiding eye contact on the ends of either side of the bench. I watched him for a second, until I caught him glance at me then place a hand on the back of his neck.

“So, you play guitar?” I asked, batting my eyelashes and biting my lip.

“Huh? Yeah. How’d you know?” He avoided looking directly at me.

I reached across the table and let a fingernail lightly scrape against his collarbone as I picked up his guitar pick necklace. “Nice pick.” I winked and dropped the necklace. I could feel Amelia death glaring at me.

“We’re in a band.” The passenger said.

“That’s Scott.” Jinxx pointed.

“Ollie.” I held out my hand.

I noticed his hand was clammy when he shook mine. They like us. I smiled at Amelia. I’ve started my final project, we’ve escaped campus and a cute guy is buying me pizza. Best night ever. “This is Amelia.” I said loudly. “Her fiancé is a drummer.” I smirked at her.

“He’s out storm chasing.” She beamed.

“Jinxx is a storm chaser.” Scott nodded to Amelia. “He sold a pic of a cat 5 tornado for three grand.”

Ugh, another storm chaser. What’s with these guys? “We’re in university.” I bragged.

“Jinxx went to USC.” Casey scoffed.

Jinxx glared at Casey. “I play violin.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Ollie plays piano.” Amelia chimed. “You guys could write concertos.” I glared at Amelia. “She plays beautiful Tchaikovsky.” She added. I glared again.
“I love playing with Tchaikovsky accompaniment.” Jinxx sighed.

I smiled proudly at him. “Really?” I asked, tucking my hair behind my ear again.

He nodded. I tried to picture him with a violin.

“So uh, pizza and beer?” Casey snapped his finger in front of Jinnx’s face.

I didn’t realize we were staring at each other. I was thinking of him playing violin, was he thinking of me playing piano?

Jinxx looked at the table, covering his blushing cheeks with his hair. “Lady’s choice.” He said quietly.

“Beer! Awesome!” Amelia said loudly. I looked at her in surprise, what is she a biker? Chris is really rubbing off on her.

Casey ordered for the table and I caught her eye. ‘Beer? Really’ I mouthed.

‘Yeah’ She mouthed back and gave me a rock salute. Where was my quiet Amelia?

“You and Jinxx seem to have a lot in common.” Amelia said. “You guys should jam sometime.” She added. Jinxx and I glared at her at the same time.

“Just saying.” She put her hands up and looked around the group.

I looked around at the other tables. Everybody seemed to be having beer and pizza, laughing and having fun. Or maybe they were drunk. I wish I was drunk. Amelia’s giggling brought me back to focusing on our table. “You still drum your fingers when you’re zoning out.” She said. The guys were talking about music. “Ceese does it too.” She elbowed my side. “I never realized how alike you guys are.”

“And you notice little things like.” I looked up at Jinxx. “Someone I used to know.” I finished. Andy is probably hunched over a keyboard right now dreading the moment I sign into video chat and tear him away from coding or whatever he does all day.

“Hey.” She whispered, leaning closer to me. “You’re here now. Live in the moment.” She added.

Wow where did that come from? Was I brooding over Andy too much? A pitcher of beer and a pile of mugs had covered the table at some point. I was the only person who hadn’t taken a drink yet. “Okay Amee.” I said quietly as the urge to let go and have fun began to rise within me.

“Go for it.” She nodded. “Hey can we get a couple of shots?” She asked the waitress sweetly.

“I'll have a whiskey double.” Jinxx added.

“All around.” Casey added and waved around the table.

We exchanged anticipating grins like Vikings gathered after a long day of battle. When the shots arrived, Amelia raised hers in the air. “To fights in the parking lot.” She announced triumphantly. We laughed, clinked glasses, and that’s one of the last things I remember about that night.


~Emily’s POV~
I awoke to my vibrating phone scaring my eyes open. It was three AM, my room was dark and I was in the midst of a sleep coma. “How is he?” I slurred into the phone.

“Alive.” Chris said quietly. “He’s asleep. The nurse said he has to stay in the Hospital for a bit.”

I sat up and hugged my knees. “Can you put the phone to his ear?”

“Yeah, absolutely.” He sounded exhausted.

When I heard a rhythmic beeping and Andy’s slow heavy breathing I started to cry. “Andy?” I asked.

No response.

“I know you’re asleep baby.” My chest heaved as I sobbed harder. I should be there right now, I could be holding him. “I love you Andy. Please be okay.” I sat listening to his breathing for a moment until I lie down and let my tears soak into the pillow. “I’m so sorry we fought.” I whispered. His breathing didn’t change; I half expected some sign of response from him.

“I wish I was there to hold you.” I covered my face with my hands as more tears spilled forward, the phone slid down the pillow.

“Hello?” A tired voice called out from the space next to me.

I picked up the phone and wiped my face with my blanket. “Hey.” My voice wasn’t working. I cleared my throat.

“He smiled in his sleep.” Chris said.

My face broke into a smile. “Really?” I was filled with hope.

“Really.” He teased.

“Thanks Chris I didn’t think I’d ever hear his voice again.” I whispered.

“It’s been a long day for all of us.” He said, his voice was deep and soothing. “I'll be here for a while. I’ll probably be sleeping in a chair next to him if you want to talk.”

“You’re the best.” I took a deep breath and stopped sobbing.

“Take care.” He hung up.

I calmed myself and fell asleep thinking of Andy’s breathing.

Notes

Thanks for reading :3