The Experimental Avenger

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine- Climb Trees, Not Boys

"I know you're in my closet, Eric! I can hear you breathing. That is creepy on so many levels." I stepped onto the cool tile of my floor and could feel the presence of another person. I wasn't going to fall for Eric's stupid games. I heard shallow, shaky breaths coming from behind the mirrored door. "I'm not stupid enough to come in there and look for you! I'm not that blonde."

I didn't care if the boys had left half an hour ago. I still had a window in my room that I'm sure Eric could figure out how to open. He was persistent and clever, a very frightening mix.

"It's me." I saw a pair of melancholy brown eyes looking out at me from the crack between the wall and the door.

"Olivia? What are you doing in there? Come out." I spoke gently to her. When she stepped into the light her eyes were swollen from crying, and her cheeks had small streaks of water from the tears. "What happened? Why were you in my closet?" I couldn't think of what would make her so upset.

"I can't-" She cut off the sentence with a shaky sigh. "I just don't know how-" She looked at the floor, her eyes welling up with more tears.

"Hey, it's okay. Come sit down. You can't what?" I felt like a teacher talking to an upset kindergartner who had fallen from the monkey bars. We sat on the couch in my room, Olivia seeming to melt in to the cushions.

"I can't talk to boys." When she said it she finally looked up at me. There was a frustrated tone to her voice.

"What do you mean? You speak just fine." I laughed a little without meaning to. I was instantly filled with regret. To Olivia, this wasn't a laughing matter. She was really upset about this.

"I don't know. They're just different. They make me feel small and anything I say will make them think I'm dumb." Her eyebrows pulled together and the frown on her face deepened. "When they pay attention to me, I'm happy, because I know I'm not invisible anymore. Then they start talking and I don't know what to say." A frustrated look claimed her features. "You always know what to do. Just like your father does. I don't have anyone to learn from."

"Wait, what you're saying is, let me get this straight, you like the twins and want to get one of them to like you. Olivia, why didn't you just say that you liked him? Well, I mean, which one?" It came as a sudden shock to me that we were now acting like regular teenage girls at a sleep over. Gossiping about boys and talking about how to get them to notice us.

"Well, they are twins so they look alike. But I, um, Eric..." She looked down and I smiled. She had found someone she liked. I had found myself noticing Aaron as well, so I thought it was perfect. At least until she finished her train of thought. "Eric is too different. He's loud and I don't understand half the things he says. Then Aaron is just-" she didn't finish her sentence, just sighed heavily, staring off and getting lost in space. She smiled dreamily, like just thinking about him made her day.

"Oh." My face fell, but I quickly covered it up. "Yeah. He's really sweet. Are you sure you like him?"

"Well, I think so. Eric seems very taken with you as well. I thought you would be angry if I thought he was better, but I don't. No offense to your choices! I meant no disrespect." She looked at the couch cushions and played with her ring.

How could she be so innocent and naïve? She made it very difficult to be mad at her though. She was so sickly sweet and quiet that when she spoke it was impossible to see anything in her but kindness. She had meant to just be sweet, but of course whatever happened for me that was halfway decent had to backfire. I'd found a friend and two attractive young men. Apparently that couldn't work out the way I had hoped though.