They laugh, shaking their heads as they wander off. “Another night, another round of entitled assholes.” Jess laughs as she walks to take the order from the next customers. I stay where I am for a moment, and my glance moves to Leo and his friends staring at me.
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, I keep telling myself.
I shake it off, refocusing on the bottles in front of me. But as I move, my fingers brush against my collarbone, where my necklace should be. The one thing which normally gives me peace but now it’s not there.
“Olivia!” Jess shouts my name, and I turn to her and she points to the two ladies trying to get my attention for their drinks.
“Sorry, what can I get you?” I ask.
I still have a few hours left of my shift, but my glance keeps moving to Leo and his friends watching me. And who do I have to call when I’m in danger? No one.
“Olivia,” my body tenses up hearing Leo’s voice again. I can’t lose this job, the pay is too good, so I smile and turn to face him, moving closer to hear his order. “Do you still think about me?”
“No, what drink can I get you?” I try to move away, but he grabs my hand and I fight for him to let it go. But it’s not working, until I see one of the security guys and Lincoln, I think his name was, coming up behind Leo. Lincoln grabs the back of his neck and pulls him away.
“You have one warning, the next one you’re out, and never coming back,” Lincoln shouts at him, then pushes him away back to his friends. “You okay?” Lincoln asks, and all I can do is give him a small nod, and smile.
They know where I work, is this the last time he'll be here? No. This is going to be great, well at least until Mr. Cain fires me anyway.
I get back to work, now knowing someone will be watching Leo to make sure he doesn't come close to me again.
Twelve
Hayden
The seatbeneath me is cold, unwelcoming. Kind of like me lately.
I sit back in my chair listening to the teacher giving the class, but since seeing Olivia more and more, I can’t think about anything else but her. And I hate myself for it. I shouldn't be thinking about her, wondering if she still likes cupcakes. Fucking hell, I hate myself at the moment.
The professor’s voice is becoming white noise to me now. It’s like someone hit mute on the world, and all I can see is her, Olivia Banks.
I’m trying to convince myself I don’t care. I’m not sure how many times I can keep telling myself she’s the reason for my hell.
I shouldn’t still notice everything about her, like I always did. Since the first day I saw her I noticed things about her. Like the other day, the way her hands shook when I wrapped her necklace around Jen’s throat. The way she curled inward like a fucking kicked dog.
But I did. I saw everything.
And instead of looking away like a decent human being might— I stared. Iwatched. I hurt her. And not because it felt good.But because it’s the only thing I know how to do with all this venom that’s been inside me since that night.
The night she ruined everything we had. The night I knew our friendship meant nothing to her. The night she picked Leo over me.
I close my eyes and lean back, the chair creaking beneath my weight. But I quickly open my eyes, the moment I feel her. She’s fucking everywhere. She’s always there, laughing under the treehouse, reading some book about wizards and cupcakes and love that always ends with a happily ever after.
I laughed at her for reading all those romance books, but she believed in happily ever after, and the more she spoke about it, the more I started to believe it.
Now?
Now I believe in punishment. In pain. And I’ve got five months left to remind her what heartbreak really feels like.
17 years old
“What are you reading today?” I ask as I sit next to her. Hockey practice seemed to have gone on forever today. It was non-stop, the coach wanted us to die today I think.
“A mafia romance.” She looks up at me with a smile. The other day she was reading the same thing, how many books can you write about mafia romance. “He does so many sweet things for her.”
I lean in closer to have a look if I can see what she is reading. “Like what?” I take the book from her and start reading.
“He didn’t like someone looking at her, so he beat them up, and that’s only the start.” I glance over to her as she digs through her bag, I read the page and laugh to myself. “Mommade you some cookies.” She hands me the box, and I return her book as I take it from her.
