I was grateful for weekends--Saturday in particular. It was what I liked to call my sit around, be lazy, drink tea, and read Twilight day. Or, in a summary, my favorite day.
I sat cross-legged on my couch and sipped on the tea in my hand, finally at ease after the stressful week I'd had. If I really narrowed it down, it was all Shane's fault. A nice kick to the groin could be my payback for not one but three encounters with the mystery boy, or Styles rather.
But, as per usual, my lovely kickback day was short-lived as a sharp knock at my door alerted me. I suppressed a groan as I reluctantly set down my tea and book, tossed off the blanket snuggled around me, and shuffled to the door. Fully aware that I looked like a dying cat with bad bedhead, I opened the door and was thoroughly surprised to see Olivia standing there.
"Um, hi, Olivia, what are you doing here?" I mumbled, scratching my neck awkwardly.
"Hi Alice! Oh! Did I catch you at a bad time? I'm so sorry, it's just..." She continued to ramble on but my mind went blank and I effectively spaced out on whatever she was rapidly trying to tell me. After a long minute of the endless rant I held up my hand and grimaced. "Hold on, please, one question. How the hell did you get my address?"
I felt almost bad for my harsh response to whatever she was saying, but it didn't seem to bother her. Nothing could bring this girl down. She had no off switch.
"Oh, remember your housewarming party? Or should I say flat-warming party...?"
"Okay, um, I don't know," I muttered. "So why are you here?"
She eyed me critically, an expression I rarely saw on her. I began to feel self-conscious as her eyes raked over my face, looking for something I noticed. She leaned a bit away from me after a moment and asked a rather unexpected question. "How are you feeling?"
"What?"
"Have you been feeling okay lately? Anything weird going on?"
My skin prickled with goosebumps as she spoke, the normal happy light in her eyes replaced by something more intuitive. I realized then that I had never looked past Olivia's cheery exterior to see that underneath her joyful bubble she was really very observant and clever. I fidgeted nervously, unsure how to answer her question.
I could lie and say no, nothing had been going on, when really there had been several weird occurrences in my life recently, or I could come out with the truth. I had always been quite pleased with my honesty streak, but I feared questioning if I told the truth. And besides, was meeting a gang member a few times really all that out of the norm, especially for someone with a brother like mine?
"No..." I trailed off. "Why?"
"Ah, so you don't know," she murmured, exhaling loudly.
"Don't know what?" My voice was aggravated. I was sick of Olivia's odd cryptic tactic she was taking. It made me uneasy and impatient.
"About Seth."
His name being said out loud like that brought a shower of memories flooding to the forefront of my mind, but I pushed them back quickly. My eyes shut briefly as I choked back the tears threatening to spill over my cheeks. I subconsciously rubbed at my arms as I stared at Olivia. She was waiting, gauging my reaction and giving me a moment to process what she'd just said.
"He's in town," she continued slowly, her eyes suddenly wary. "He came by the office today looking for you."
"W-what did you tell him?" I stuttered out, attempting to force some calm into my voice.
She hesitated before replying, and I felt like she was editing something out of what she was about to say. "I explained that you weren't in the office, but that you should be back around Monday."
