Both Sides | ✓

Chapter 14

Cleo's POV:

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We settled with cups of hot chocolate in the living room, the heat bringing life back to our fingers. Around me, Olivia's mom and sister were running about the kitchen in an attempt to clean up the milk spilled across the counter.

"Mom, do you need some help?" Via asked from beside me.

"Oh, no, Olivia, " she replied with a smile. "Just warm-up. You two were out there for almost an hour. I don't want you to get a cold."

Olivia glanced at me with a smile that I quickly returned. I had missed this. Not her house- the perfect front lawns, the paneled windows- but Olivia. I never really realized how happy she made me. Whatever went on in my brain when I hurt her existed for only a moment. We weren't exactly friends, and I wasn't sure how long it would take before things felt normal again. I could see this anger inside of Via still and it was beginning to leak out in tiny way. She didn't smile at me as often, or touch me, or try to talk about my personal life. I had messed things up too much for everything to work out right away, but I was more than happy to start fixing them.

"So, Cleo," Ms. Hansen said as she wiped down the counter. "Do you have a boyfriend? Or are you... not the relationship type?"

Her eyes glinted, and I had to stop myself from lying. I knew passive aggression when I heard it, and this was absolutely her way of calling me a slut.

"I just got out of a relationship, actually."

Her brows creased as she looked up from her cocoa covered rag. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, no. It's good that we broke up. He wasn't... so great. I thought he was but... People change I guess."

Ms. Hansen nodded and went on wiping down the countertop. Olivia tapped my knee with her's, pulling my attention back to her.

"You okay?" she mouthed.

"Fine."

"Ollie still hasn't had a boyfriend, " Allison teased.

"Allison," her mother scolded, jerking her head in Allison's direction.

"What? It's the truth."

"Olivia, it's fine that you haven't had a boyfriend. I didn't have my first boyfriend until college, " Ms. Hansen reassured. I glanced at the girl beside me. She had turned about ten shades more red. "Besides, you need to focus on your grades," her mom told her. "Boys in high school are just a distraction."

"Yeah, you're right, " Olivia replied, standing. "Um, is it okay if Cleo and I go upstairs?... It would only be for a minute so I could show her my debate trophy from last spring."

Ms. Hansen stopped cleaning up the spill to meet eyes with her daughter. "Yes, Olivia. Be back down in 5 minutes please."

"Yes ma'am."

I frowned as I stood from the table, following Via upstairs.

"You're... Showing me a debate trophy?" I asked once the door to her room had closed.

"No, but my mom's a little... She doesn't like people in my bedroom."

I crossed my arms. "Why not?"

Olivia shrugged as she carefully straightened her already neat bed. "I'm not sure. She's just protective. Anyway, I needed a way out of that conversation."

I looked out of her fogged window at the snowman we had made just a few hours ago sitting at the edge of her lawn. The snow had stopped falling down but still glistened at the base of her roof and yard. It wasn't melting anytime soon.

"You think we'll have another snow day tomorrow?" I asked.

"Probably. It might start snowing again tonight."

"Maybe I should sleepover then, " I asked, surprising myself with how easily the question slipped through my lips.

My feelings toward Olivia were complicated, but her's toward me weren't. She had moved on so there was no point in us not being friends. Besides, whether my feelings were requited or not, I liked being around her.

"Oh," she said, looking over at me. "I... Might be able to. My mom shouldn't be home after 5."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I think that's okay."

"Cool," I smiled. "I'll let Will know."

She sat down on the edge of her bed and I stayed standing in front of her, not daring to risk overstepping a boundary.

"I'm sorry about what your mom was talking about in the kitchen. With the whole... Boyfriend thing."

"It isn't a big deal."

"Yeah, but it just seemed a little... I don't know."

"Heteronormative?"

"What?"

Via smiled and shook her head. "Heteronormative. It's when the idea of only having a straight relationship is pushed because it's the norm. I, uh... I took a sociology class and we talked bout it," she said. I smiled a bit to myself as she continued. "My mom doesn't have a reason to think I don't like guys anyway, so... you know."

"Oh, yeah. I guess. But, I meant that you don't have to 'focus on your grades' all the time. You're doing fine."

She glanced away before replying, "I'm doing fine now, but I could mess things up. She has my best interest in mind."

"But, you're a lot more than your grades."

"Am I?" she said, almost smiling. "I mean... That's kind of what I'm known for. It's the one thing I'm good at."

"You're good at plenty of stuff, Olivia," I replied.

"Clearly you don't know me that well, then."

"I'm serious. You're a good friend, and a good listener, and pretty much everyone with a brain at our school likes you."

Olivia stood up, straightened her bedspread again, and looked back at me. "None of that can really get you anywhere, can it?"

Before I could respond, Ms. Hansen's voice boomed up the stairs like a warden. "Olivia! Your five minutes is up!"

"C'mon," she sighed, nodding for me to leave first. I heard the distinct noise of her light switch flicking five times before Olivia met me down the stairs.

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A/N:

Happy holidays, guys!