Both Sides | ✓

Chapter 40

Olivia's POV

Cleo didn't look up from the counter when I entered Speedy's. She was scribbling something into a notepad, hair pulled halfway up, eyes concentrated.

"Hey, what can I get you?" she said, still looking down.

"Hm, do you have any girls with dark hair? About 5'8?" Cleo, looked up at me then, smiling and setting her pen down.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she leaned toward me.

"Wanna hang out? You get off in 15 minutes, right?" Cleo cocked a brow at this. "I put your schedule in my phone."

"Control freak."

"Someone's gotta be."

"We should get some food."

I shifted on my feet. "Or, we can do something else."

"Like?"

"Uh, I don't know. Watch a movie?"

"Fine. Then we're getting snacks first."

I nodded a bit before pulling a folded piece of paper from my pocket. "Also," I said, unfolding it and sliding it across the counter to her. I'd made a 100 on my Pre-cal test. Really, I don't know why I'd been so stressed about it.

"I told you you'd ace it," she said, looking back up.

"Guess I should listen to you more, huh?"

"Definitely not," she smiled. "I'm a bad influence."

"Well, I'm the one distracting you from work. Maybe I'm the bad influence."

"You're right," Cleo said. "Let me finish up here and then I'll take you out, okay? I'll bring you a coke," she said.

I nodded and went to the booth in the corner where I could see halfway outside and halfway inside. I was starting to feel that way a lot of the time. Half in, half out.

"One diet coke with extra maraschino cherries?" A girl had walked up to my booth and slid a drink in front of me. She had curly blonde hair, and spoke softly, like her words were slipping out of her.

"Thank you," I said.

"You're Cleo's friend?"

"Girlfriend," I said. "I'm Olivia."

She blinked back at me for a moment. "Uh, cool. I'm Stella. Nice to meet you," she said, giving me a smile before escaping back into the kitchen.

This was becoming my favorite pastime: watching Cleo work. She was comfortable here, knew every entrance and exit. She walked across the floor like it was her house. She had this way of talking to customers that I was starting to know well. The way her smile dipped a little, hands on hips, pen behind her ear. I thought this was when the looked most beautiful- when there was nobody to look beautiful for. I liked the way her apron wrapped around her waist, and how her hair wasn't quite styled. She looked like she could've been a stranger to me- my waitress- but she wasn't. I knew more of her than almost anyone. And she knew the most of me.

A few minutes passed before Cleo came to my table. "You ready?" she's asked, pulling her hair tie out and smiling at me.

"Ready."

We walked to her car, Cleo's arm around my shoulder as we talked.

"I can't believe the election is on Friday. It feels like this shit just started," Cleo said.

"I'm relieved," I confessed. "It's been a little stressful."

"I know, baby. You've handled it well, though," Cleo said as she opened the passenger door for me. I smiled, kissing her jawline before taking a seat in the car.

"What're we watching?" She asked me.

I hummed, clicking on my seatbelt. "Don't make me decide."

"You always decide."

"That's not true."

"Yeah, it is," Cleo started the car and backed out of her spot. "On Wednesday, you turned down every one of my movie suggestions until I said Moonrise Kingdom."

"Well, Moonrise Kingdom is a perfect movie."

"Should we watch that tonight?"

I smiled. "Good choice."

We winded down the neighborhood roads to my house. This drive was familiar now. I had memorized each speed bump, each budding tree and passing stream. It was beginning to feel normal, our routine with one another. I was falling in love with what we'd created. I looked over at her- one hand on the steering wheel and the other behind my headrest. She looked so easily stunning, like she'd never put thought into it. I wanted to touch every part of her face and memorize that, too. I wouldn't mind spending my life studying Cleo.

We pulled up to the drive way and walked inside. Allison was upstairs. I could hear her moving. We took the living room and after popping popcorn, we settled on the couch. The movie had only just started when Cleo got a phone call.

"It's Will," she sighed. "God, if he got himself into trouble-"

"Relax. Just answer it."

She did, and pressed the phone to her ear. "Hey. Everything okay?... Okay, good... No, I got off a bit ago... With Via. Why?..."

There was a long silence as my girlfriend's face dropped. "Okay. I'll be home in a minute," she said, clicking her phone off and shaking her head.

"What happened?"

"Uh," Cleo said, very quietly. "It's my mom."

A/N

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