Oliver Loves Carson | ✔️

chapter eighteen

Oliver wasn't sure what hell was like, but he figured this was it.

There was so much glitter--and he had never liked glitter. Oliver eyed it as it shone from the pink tulle curtains that hung on either side of the DJ box. Once again, he tugged on his tie uncomfortably. They had arrived late--courtesy of Celia--and it seemed as if the party was in full swing.

Carson was smiling. He leaned into Oliver, whispered, "Isn't this cool?"

"Yeah..." Oliver answered, trying to seem more enthusiastic than he actually was.

Celia came up on his left side, arm woven through Holden's. "Well this looks like a shitshow," she blurted out.

Oliver turned his head to her and glared. "What? No....this seems.... really fun," he said lamely.

Celia furrowed her eyebrows and mouthed, "What?" to him in confusion, but Oliver had turned back around.

Now what? What was he supposed to do, stand there? Watch a bunch of people dance around and make absolute jokes of themselves? It wasn't really his scene.

And who was playing that stupid fucking music? The upbeat, pop-y music that made him want to roll over and die.

"I see the guys," Carson turned to Oliver. "The swim team's over there and-wait, you should meet them."

No, he really shouldn't. There were a few million things that Oliver would rather do.

"Of course," he said instead.

***

Jackson--or was his name Charlie? Albert? Drake?--was in the middle of telling a long ass story about the time he almost got caught driving his brother's car. All of the boys ooh-ed and ahh-ed as if it was really a story worth telling.

Celia must've thought it wasn't either, judging by the little smirk crawling up her lips. "You know," she started, and Oliver rolled his eyes, "I once got arrested."

Everyone's attention turned to her, and Jackson-Charlie-Albert-Drake's pride deflated a bit.

Oliver snorted. "Barely."

"It counts!" Celia defended, "Especially on our records, Livvy."

Oliver's eyes widened and he shook his head furiously, begging her with his eyes to not tell the story.

Carson turned to him, eyebrows raised. "Our......you mean you got arrested too?" he asked, shocked.

"I- no. I didn't. Not really. I mean...I would've been, sorta? Well, what-"

"What Oliver is trying to say is that he would've been if I hadn't saved his ass," Celia interjected.

Oliver scoffed. "You got me in that mess, you should've been the one to clean it up."

"Wait, wait, wait," a boy said, "tell us the story, dude."

"How about no, dude?" Oliver mocked.

Carson elbowed him gently. "I wanna know." There were murmurs of agreement.

Oliver froze. "Yeah..." he cleared his throat and lowered his voice, "maybe I can tell you some other ti-"

"I'll tell you guys!" Celia said.

Fucking Celia.

"Cel, how about you don-" Oliver began to protest.

"Basically, we were standing in my driveway--it was kind of dark and we were kind of bored. So I go, 'Hey Oliver, bet you can't break into my dad's car without breaking the windows.' And he goes," she lowered her voice to mimic Oliver, "'No Celia, that's a bad idea.' And I go, 'Come on, it's fine, it's not like it's a stranger.' And he starts to argue, when I go, 'I dare you.' Now, back then, Olly here couldn't turn down a dare--it wasn't in his capacity. So he stands tall and starts marching to my dad's car," she laughs. "And, you could tell, when he got close to it, he was about to bail. I mean, how do you even break into a car like that? So he turns to me, and I'm totally about to call him out for being a chicken. Instead, though, he picks up this rock and starts walking away from the car, acting like he's about to throw it--he's not. So he's all like, 'Oooh I'm gonna throw it.' And I go, 'Yeah right.' And he takes a step forward like he's about to throw this fucking rock when I trip him--because I mean, it was funny. And guess what? This idiot trips over my foot and lets go of the rock, and the rock flies through the air, cracking the window. So we're panicking, and inside, my dad hears his car start chirping--because it was being broken into--and he calls the cops. Long story short, the cops come and I take the blame and they arrest me--charges were dropped though, obviously," she finished.