Loving Olivia

Chapter 5 - The Gatinha

Olivia

"Why are we coming here again?" I whine to Gael for the fourth time.

"Because we're young and beautiful, and you simply can't spend the entire weekend without having a little fun," he answers.

I had been about to change into my pajamas at home when Gael unexpectedly showed up at my apartment, claiming that we had to go out. I have to admit I almost sent him away a couple of times, but nonetheless here I am walking into some dude's mansion of a house that is at least forty minutes outside of the city.

I stop short when I see Nico staring back at me as if he had just seen a ghost. His hair is neatly pulled back and it looks darker than his usual blond, and he's also wearing a blue shirt and fitted black jeans. I have to admit he cleans up very nicely, and suddenly I wish I had dressed up more like Gael told me to instead of wearing my regular clothes from the day.

His green eyes shift to Gael for a moment before looking back at me, and it breaks me out of my trance. Why does the air feel so tense?

"Hey, I'm Gael. I don't think we've met before," he says to Nico.

Nico seems to relax and shakes his hand. "Nico. Nice to meet you."

He then turns towards me and quietly says, "Hey, Olivia."

"Hi," I respond as quietly. Okay, this is getting really weird.

"Well, the party is downstairs if you want to get to it. I was just going to the kitchen," Nico says.

"Cool," Gael responds. "Liv, didn't you say you wanted some water?" he says, turning to me.

When did I say that? I look at him in confusion, but he gives me a pointed look.

"Yeah sure, it's just this way," Nico responds before I can say anything, and signals for us to follow him.

We start walking behind him through a corridor and I lift my hands up towards Gael, silently asking him what the hell he's doing, but he just shakes his head sternly and swats my hands down.

Suddenly Gael says, "Actually, I'm going to head down to the party. See you guys there."

All I can do is stare at his retreating form as he leaves me alone with Nico. I swear I'm going to kill him.

I look hesitantly towards Nico, but he just shrugs and continues walking ahead. He finally makes a turn and enters a lavish kitchen that must be the size of my entire apartment. It looks straight out of one of those catalogs from a magazine filled with stainless steel appliances, modern cabinets and countertops, and a huge island smack in the middle of everything.

Whoever's house this is, their family must be loaded. It also seems that Nico is friends with him since he knows his way around. Maybe he's also on the soccer team?

"So Liv, huh? Do you prefer it over Olivia?"

Nico is looking at me curiously, probably at the fact that I've been gawking over the kitchen like an aspiring chef who can't wait to cook up some flan or a similar concoction. "Actually, I like Olivia better," I respond.

He nods, looking intrigued by my answer, and then slides open a cabinet that runs from the ceiling to the wall, revealing a pantry stocked with enough food to last a whole year in the event of an apocalypse.

"Did you want regular or sparkling?" he asks me.

"Um, should we be doing this?" I ask, feeling like it's wrong to be stealing food from an unknown person's pantry. Plus, it's not like I really wanted water or anything.