We Die Soon

Seven

A/N: i know i just posted Six yesterday buuut i finished this really quick. i actually already had some of it written, so...

and THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE COMMENTING AND VOTING. wouldn't be posting so soon without that. love y'all!!

hope y'all like this cause i think it's probably my favorite chapter :)

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"Well, there's something else about him I forgot to tell you," Olivia said, talking about Ray.

"What?" I asked, but I barely wanted to know. I actually kind of wanted to stop talking about him altogether.

"Well, after my birthday, like that same night as the party, but after all y'all left, it was just me and Ray, and he told me he didn't like that I was so close to you," she said, looking down at her hands as she picked at her hot pink nail polish. She felt bad.

"What made him think we were 'so close'?"

I didn't mean for that to come out rude, but we hadn't been 'best friends' for some time, and I didn't see why he would think we were. But the way her head snapped up and her eyes met mine after I asked that, I could tell she was hurt. It didn't show on her face really, and before I would have thought she wasn't reacting at all, but after talking to her for so long that night I began to notice her subtle ways of expression. She was odd.

"I talked about you all the time," she admitted, her voice empty, but somehow defensive at the same time.

All I could think to say after that was: "Really?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, Leo. I'm just as close to you as I am... Natalie. Or Gracie. Or Jordan. I've told you stuff I've never told anyone else. I think that intimidated Ray."

The idea that I was on the same level as her best friends in the world was totally absurd, but she seemed so genuine when saying it that I was convinced. In some weird way, I was one of them. Even if our relationship wasn't usual.

"What kinda stuff did you tell me that you've never told anyone else?" I asked, sure she would say she didn't remember or something, but too curious not to ask.

Olivia thought. "I worded that wrong," she said after a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not that I told you stuff I've never told anyone else. I don't really have any huge big secrets. It's more like I talk about stuff with you that I wouldn't talk about with other people."

A silence followed that, so I said, "Why?"

She thought again. "Hm. I don't know. You just understand stuff, I guess." She paused before giving an example. "Do you remember that time we were at the fair? And we got on the Ferris wheel?"

I smiled at the memory. "I do."

She nodded. "That was the first time I think I really got to talk to you about something... deep. And after that, I liked talking to you like that because you always understood."

I thought back to that night to try and figure out what exactly she was talking about.

We were at the fair with Olivia's parents and her little brother, Cade. She wanted to go on the ferris wheel, and Cade didn't because he said that was slow and boring. I really agreed with him, but the idea of going on one with Olivia was not at all boring, so I happily told her I would ride it with her.

They locked us into the little pod, and my hands started to sweat, sitting next to the prettiest girl I'd ever seen in person. Then it started to spin, slow as hell. But I didn't mind it because Olivia was smiling.

We were at the top when she said it, just out of the blue, just looking down at the ground and the people, all rushing, eating, laughing.

"We're gonna die soon."

With that, I looked at her like she was insane. "What?"

She met my eyes and shrugged. "Life goes by so fast. I mean, we've already been through fourteen whole years, and it just feels like nothing. Time isn't real because life never stops. We'll just keep getting older and older but it'll never feel like a long time. We'll be eighty soon. Then we'll die. We'll die soon. Everything is soon." She paused. "And you know, when we're eighty, and old, and bald—"

"I don't think you'll be bald, Olive," I pointed out, interrupting. "Girls don't go bald, I don't think."

She laughed, but then stopped and when she looked back at me her smile faded. She looked right into my eyes. "When you're old and bald, your grandchildren will only have ever known you that way. They won't even know how you are now. How you look, like young and beautiful. But I'll remember. I'll be able to remember you this way." She smiled. "I think that's really special."

She reached over and put her hand on top of mine. I still remembered the warmth that made me feel. She almost kissed me, I think, from the way she was staring into my eyes, but before she could the ride came to an abrupt stop and our bodies lurched forward. I heard Olivia laugh.

I wished that ferris wheel had gone on spinning forever.

I wished we still were on that ferris wheel, just sitting and talking about everything. Her hand on mine and my life simple. Peaceful. Just us and no time to worry about losing.

"Leo."

Olivia said my name, bringing me out of my memory to see that the ferris wheel was long gone, and I'd never get to be there again, because we weren't those people anymore.

"Yeah?"

She looked down at her hands like she was nervous, but she couldn't have been because she never got nervous. "I have a question."

"What is it?"

She met my eyes again, and her eyes were wide like a kid's. "Why don't you ever call me Olive anymore?" she asked quietly, yet still perfecting her emotionless tone.

I thought about it for a minute. I hadn't noticed that I didn't anymore, but when she asked, I knew why. I knew exactly why, but I couldn't tell it to her because I could only imagine it
making her feel bad.

The truth was that she wasn't Olive anymore. Olivia was Olivia. Olivia Holt. She was famous and breathtaking, but closed off and cold, while Olive was my pretty best friend who told me everything and laughed at my jokes.

Realizing that was sad, yet at the same time it occurred to me that maybe it wasn't so awful, because I wasn't her best friend either. Not really. We were both different. We both changed. And maybe that was the way it was meant to be.

"I don't know," I answered her, lying. "I kinda forgot about that."

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A/N:'please comment/vote if you're still reading, let me know what you're thinking ;)