Top Ms. O (Odd Squad)

Chapter 11: Love Triangle

"Hey, you won't want to be here with the night shift arriving," Otis said to break the ice as he entered the beach room. 

Oaklee shrugged where she sat on the sand, facing the ocean, the tide coming in as moonlight shone overhead. 

"Look, I'm sorry. I know things are a mess," he admitted as he sat down next to her. 

He folded his knees as he rested his wrists on them, gazing upwards at the gradually appearing stars. 

"I thought we had something...," she trailed off as she kept staring at her lap. 

"We do have something, Oaklee, but I didn't treat Olympia right while we did," he explained. 

That made Oaklee jerk her head away to the opposite side before she spoke, "That doesn't mean you had to go kissing her." 

His heart sank as he bit his lower lip for a quick moment. 

"She kissed me first, but I think it was long overdue. We've been partners for such a long time, and I had no way of knowing," he confided. 

He sighed as Oaklee continued seeming as sad as ever, not risking lifting her head towards him. "I don't know what to tell you, Oaklee. I don't want to hurt you, but I can't keep hurting Olympia either," he confessed. Oaklee sniffed loudly as she finally looked over at him. 

"I know... I knew it was wrong from the moment we met. No one like you would go for someone like me...," she trailed off, her line of sight dropping to the ground again. 

"What are you talking about? Oaklee, from the moment I met you, you had me. I mean, I ignored my best friend, because of how caught up I was in my feelings for you. I don't know if it was wrong. I think I just handled it wrong," he reckoned as he was now the one studying the shore. 

Oaklee sighed softly as she delicately rested her hand over his, causing him to rapidly turn his head towards her. 

"I understand, Otis. I just don't want to accept it. It just seems sad," she told him as her voice nearly cracked. 

She observed the night sky as her eyes became a little misty. 

"I know, but what's even more sad is the way I treated Olympia. I don't know exactly what my feelings are yet, but what I do know is the timing was definitely off. I jumped into something without even looking where I was landing, or who I was hurting by letting go along the way," he shared. 

"You know, Otis, you're talking about your feelings quite a bit. I thought you weren't very good at that, at least that's what I've heard," Oaklee couldn't help but grin at him, her mouth almost parting. 

Her head was tilted slightly as she looked over at his troubled face. He cracked a tiny smile as his eyes locked with hers for the first time, since their current conversation. 

"Even if I don't know everything, I do know one thing," he stated, Oaklee completely immersed in what he had to say. 

"What," she wondered. 

"You're my new best friend," he promised, squeezing her hand gently that she had placed over his own. 

Oaklee couldn't help but grin some again, although this time there was also a blush spreading across her face. 

"But I like you more than just a friend," she pointed out, her smile gradually falling. 

Otis sighed as he looked her directly in the eye, and responded, "That's the problem. Me too..." 

Oaklee smiled extra sadly as she leaned her head against his shoulder, Otis wishing beyond anything that he had enjoyed the times they were happy together. He had wished them away too soon, and all because he had messed things up so bad with Olympia. Maybe Olympia had been right about people not changing sometimes, because he was feeling the old version of himself creeping in, and he did not want to see him ever again.