interview • jalen hurts

015

december 2nd, 2022

olivia awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of glass breaking. she didn't know what was going on, but could assume who was behind it.

she immediately called jalen, she decided against calling the cops.

"someone's in my house, i heard glass breaking." olivia said, trying her best to stay calm.

"what?" jalen asked. she could tell by his tone that he was asleep. "i'm on my way, did you call the cops?" he asked, she heard shuffling around on the other end of the line.

"no, i can't." olivia said. "i'll explain later, i can't call them." she said.

"okay, i'll be there soon, ok?" he said. "stay in your room, and try to stay calm." he said.

"yeah, i'll try." olivia said, she hung up the phone and paced around her room, trying to stay calm.

she then sat on her bed, if someone was downstairs they would be able to hear her footsteps.

she heard more banging around downstairs. "come on, jalen. hurry up." she muttered to herself.

everything went quiet, then she heard footsteps on the staircase. "no, no, no, no, no." she said, she locked her door and hid in the farthest corner from the door.

her bed was blocking her from being seen, she was able to see the door from her spot.

"oh, olivia?" eddie said from the other side of the door. "why don't you let me in, baby?" he said.

olivia didn't answer. "open the door, olivia!" eddie said ramming into the door to try to break it open.

he kept ramming into it, olivia wished jalen would just show up already.

finally, he broke the door and it flew open, olivia flinched at the sudden bang.

"you know you can't hide from me olivia." eddie said looking around the room for the girl.

he looked on the left side of her bed, she was hiding on the right side. olivia had her hand over her mouth so he couldn't hear her breathing.

he put his knee on the bed, the look over it. olivia took this at a sign to run.

as she was getting closer to the door, his hand wrapped itself tightly around her wrist.

"where do you think you're going?" eddie said pushing her up against the wall.

"leave me alone." she said turning her head to the left, putting as much space in between their faves as she could.

"look at me, livia." eddie said. he didn't get to call her that, only jalen called her that. she hated it coming from his lips.

"don't call me that!" olivia said using her free hand to slap him.

he didn't turn his head back to olivia immediately, instead, he let out a sigh. "we don't have to back this difficult, olivia." he said, looking back at olivia now.

"make what difficult?" she said. "what do you want from me!" olivia said. she just wanted him to leave her alone.

she tried to break away from his grasp. "stop resisting me, baby." he said using his hand to make her look at him.

"leave me alone." she said sternly. surprisingly, she was able to remain calm on the outside when a fire was burning her alive on the inside.

jalen finally arrived and came into her room. eddie quickly parted from olivia and cleared his throat.

"what are you doing here, man?" eddie said as if jalen was the intruder. "i'm gonna call the cops if you don't leave." he said.

"actually, i'll be the one calling the cops if you don't leave my girlfriend alone." jalen said, his jaw tightening.

"i don't want any trouble, man." eddie said putting his hands up in defense.

"then leave." jalen said. he pushed eddie towards the door and escorted him out.

while jalen was escorting eddie out, olivia thought about what she could tell jalen. she lied to him before, but lying this time wouldn't be so easy.

"are you ok?" jalen asked walking back into olivia's bedroom.

"i, i'm fine." she responded, plucking fuzz from underneath her finger nail.

"i'm really confused, livia." he said. "who was that?" he asked.

"eddie." she replied, she further explained who he was. "i was at a bar a couple of years ago, he came on to me and i said no. my brother being the brother he is, beat him up and eddie didn't like that very much." olivia explained.

"okay, so why did he just show up at your house today? all these years later?" he asked.

"he's been stalking me for the past month or so. he's been following my car around." she admitted.

jalen was starting to put the pieces together. "so that night when you called me, and told me about a stalker, that was him?" he asked.

"you, you told me that it was some kids playing ding dong ditch when i got here." he said.

"but it was him?" jalen said, he didn't need confirmation, he was just saying his thoughts out loud.

"livia, why didn't you tell me?" he asked. "you could've told me, i would've figured something out." jalen said, he wasn't angry, he was hurt.

"but you chose to lie to me instead." he said. olivia didn't want to look at him or else it would break her heart even more.

"why did you lie to me about that?" he asked. "i, i could've done something, i would've helped you."

"i'm sorry." olivia said, she was more sorry than she could explain.

"you're my girlfriend, liv." he said, olivia looked at him. "i want to protect you," he said. "i need to protect you." he corrected.

"i can't do that if you don't tell me what's going on." he said.

"i'm sorry, jalen." olivia said standing up from her bed. "i'm so so sorry." she said walking over to him.

"it's okay, livia." he said. they embraced in a hug. "is there anything else you need to tell me? did you date an axe murderer or something?" he asked jokingly.

"no, i've only ever had one boyfriend." she says.

"really? you're entire life you've only had one?" he asks, she nods.

"my brothers wouldn't let me date." she said. "i never got the chance because they scared everyone away." olivia admitted.

"who's the one guy you did date?" he asked.

"he is a quarterback for the eagles." she said with a smile as he caught on.

"i'm your first boyfriend?" he asked, a smile present on his face, she nodded as confirmation.

"well travis and jason won't scare me away." he said giving olivia a light kiss.

"we have to tell them by the way." she reminded him, they haven't talked about making their relationship public yet.

"let's do it this weekend then." he responded.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: