Olivia // l.t.

Chapter 25

For all I know he may not even be with her still, and I quite frankly didn't care.

I was proud of myself because here we were just like I had imagined many times, yet, I was more concerned about Louis, not whatever Zayn has become, or who he was with.

I knew that the article I published last night was a mess, and I was silently praying Cails deleted it successfully.

Even if the general public read it, at least they would forget in a day or so, the people I wrote about, not so much.

"This your building?" Zayn asked, and I nodded opening the door and mumbling him another quick thank you.

As I walked away, my back turned to him, I heard his voice calling out of the passenger side window. "Don't be a stranger!" I clenched my fist, but kept walking refusing to look back.

I entered the lobby, glancing over at the coffee bar. Niall was absent, most likely on campus for some of his business courses he had been taking.

The atmosphere felt thick, but I wasn't sure if that was just me.

"OLIVIA RHEA"

I looked up, at a frantic Caileigh practically sprinting towards me. I was afraid she was going to topple over with her speed to high heel ratio.

"I deleted the article, but my God could you do me a favor and never ignore my calls and texts like that ever again. I seriously thought you had—"Cails I'm fine, but I have work to do."

I cut her off remembering the reason of my arrival, to conduct a meeting at two. She followed me onto the elevator and I hit the level twelve button.

"Oh right the meeting, here." She handed me a file with what I assumed were notes.

"Thank you." I stated curtly, and dismissed her as soon as the elevator doors opened.

I took deep breaths as I walked towards the conference room, given I had no idea what this meeting was for, but I figured I would do what I do best and wing it.

***

It was almost closing time. So much for calling in sick, I think it's safe to say that I had done more work today than in the past month.

My article was gone, but my emails, they were full and thriving. The amount of hatred Lola was getting was alarming, and I spent the better half after the meeting sending apologies.

Down to my last twenty five emails the deja vu was starting to give me a headache. Then I heard three soft knocks at my office door.

I didn't look up. I knew it wasn't Caileigh because she left an hour earlier for dinner with Niall, my next guess was Harry, but if his child was really just born I doubt he would be here.

"A word." Louis voice filled my ears, and I almost broke my neck as my head snapped up to meet his emotionless eyes.

He looked very disgruntled, angry even. I knew he had read the article, I could hear it in his tone.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it.

"Listen, I don't know what Caileigh saw, I don't know what Niall told her, I don't know what is going on, but I do know, that I would never hurt you the way I was hurt. Holly is a ghost of my past, and I want absolutely nothing to do with her."

He spoke, closing the door behind him as he came in taking a seat on the edge of my desk. I blinked a few times guilt overwhelming my senses.

"Why didn't you just tell me you had spoken with her?" I choked, my eyes never leaving his face. "You always tell me everything."

He sighed. "Because I didn't want you to overreact." He put more emphasis on the t than necessary.

I looked down at my hands, I was a mess, even more so than I thought. "I have a question for you now." His voice was dangerously low, and I was worried.

"What's that?" I didn't meet his eyes, as I clicked out of my emails, my latest and hopefully final revision of "It's okay to fall in love again." visible on the screen.

I was going to let him read it. I wanted him to read it.

"Unlike jumping to conclusions, and overreacting, I'm just going to ask." He clenched and unclenched his fists.

I furrowed my eyebrows not knowing where this was going.

"Who was he?"

His question threw me off guard.

 "Who?" I asked, and his jaw clenched, he was pissed. 

"You know exactly who I'm talking about Olivia. I saw you get out of his car when I was coming back from my lunch break." I let out a shaky breath realizing what he was talking about.

"No one, he is no one Louis." I meant it, Zayn was no one to me. Louis shook his head, chuckling darkly. "It was him wasn't it? Zayn." His eyes burned into mine.

I couldn't muster up the words so I just nodded. 

"I thought about coming up to you right then, but I figured that you didn't want to see me so I left it alone." 

 "He offered me a ride, and I didn't refuse." I admitted

"And you just happened upon him?" Louis threw up his hands, he was laughing, he seemed a bit manic.

"Yes actually." I stood from my seat, rounding my desk so that I could face him. "Do you believe me?" I asked not sure if he actually would or not.

He bit his lip, and looked up at the ceiling. "Of course I do. It would be hypocritical of me not to" He mumbled and I noticed the shininess of his eyes. 

Oh God was he going to cry?

"I read your most recent article you know." He pursed his lips changing the subject, "Is that truly what you think of me? Just another man who wants to waste your time."

I cringed, I hated when he quoted my own words back to me.

I shook my head, tears welling up in my own eyes now. "No, I was just angry and overwhelmed." I reached for his hands and he pulled away.

"Did you know that I decided to tell you that I was in love with you afterI had run into Holly." He was practically yelling now.

"Because I knew, as soon as I could get away from her I knew that I would much rather be fighting with you, than doing anything with her."

I opened my mouth to speak but he kept on. "I showed up drunk because I was afraid, I was angry that she even tried to get near me, and I was terrified to tell you how I felt."

I was crying now, not only was he spilling out everything, I realized that I had learned absolutely nothing the past few months, other than I was still selfish, and stubborn.

"Then you started ignoring me, you wouldn't talk to me, I finally begged Caileigh to tell me what happened, then I really knew why you were upset." He walked towards me.

I craved to hug him, but he was seething. "It was a misunderstanding, and you, as a journalist, I assumed that you would question me, get to the bottom of it."

I reached for him again, and my heart tightened when he for the second time, pulled away from my advances.

"However you did the opposite, you ignored me, you assumed, then you wrote something based strictly on your feelings, that's a dangerous thing."

He reached forward taking my hands finally touching me, and easing my nerves.

"I'm in love with Olivia, not Lola." He rasped.

"I wrote a new article, I want you to read it." I rushed to get in before he said anything else. "What makes this one any different?" He looked defeated and I hated seeing him like that.

"Please." The tears were falling now, and I let out a sob when he shook his head.

"No," he pulled his hands away from mine, as he backed away towards my office door.

"You finally get what you've wanted all along," his voice cracked and he gave me a sad smile.

"You got me to leave you alone."