What If I Lived a Lie? [You Me at Six]

Chapter Eleven: All These Thoughts Locked Inside, Now You're the First to Know.

It was raining, pouring, really. And Derek had made Olivia walk home from their date—he called himself mad at her. She didn't want to call Hunter, because that would just be an explanation. Somehow, however, she turned up at the house Josh was staying at while he was in LA with the guys, recording the album—they were all staying there, in fact. She was shivering and soaking wet when the door opened to reveal Max Helyer.

"Hey, Olivia, you... look like shit, no offense."

"H-hey, Max. C-Can I come in?" She was shivering so badly, her teeth were chattering, and he couldn't help but notice that maybe her cheeks were tear-soaked. The guitarist felt so bad for her, that he just let her in. When Josh had first started seeing Olivia, Josh specifically stated, for whatever reason, that they were not to invite her over or "schedule"—Josh's word—to see her, or for her to see them, or for him to see her without first clearing it with him. It seemed to be an odd policy for the singer to have for the girlfriend he seemed so into, but the band mates didn't think much of it.

That was, until, Emma popped back into the picture—because, well, then that got the boys thinking, putting things together. Dan and Josh had always been the closest, of all the members of the band, and one day curiosity got the better of the other three fifths of the band.

"Hey Dan?" Max had questioned.

"Yeah?" the drummer replied, between munching on carrot sticks.

"How come Josh is so strict about when 'Liv comes 'round?" the guitarist continued.

"It seems a little peculiar," Chris commented quietly, while Matt just nodded in affirmation. He didn't really care for her, sort of. He knew that she would play a crucial role in swaying Hunter's opinion of him, so, he just had to position himself in this conversation in a way that would reflect positively on him if brought up at a later date.

Despite how pensive the drummer often was, the pause he took before responding was longer than normal, "You know Josh; he's just a control freak, that's all. I think they're still in the early stage of their relationship, so, he wants to make sure he's always in tip-top shape when he sees her."

It made sense, rationalized that way—and spoken in the matter-of-fact tone of voice Dan often took on—but at the same time, it very much did not make sense. Shouldn't the person you're seeing, regardless of how young the relationship is, be the one person you're comfortable being the least polished version of yourself with?

Suddenly, the guitarist was slammed in the chest with the truth—but what the hell was he supposed to do with it? "J-Josh!" he hollered out, the shaking in his voice earning a confused gaze from Olivia.

Nothing, he would do nothing.

***

"Olivia, why are you here?" his voice was quiet and tone thinner than paper.

"Josh," she nearly sobbed in response, "please, can't you just... be a good... pretend," she'd lowered her voice for the single syllabled word, "boyfriend, for once? I came here from the outside, soaking wet, obviously distressed and you're acting like you can't be bothered with me?"

To be fair, if the roles were switched, Olivia would have reacted the same way, though, she would have been more justified—after all, she was the one pretending to be his girlfriend, while all he had to do was mention a few words to his famous colleagues about her bakery with her best friend. The more thought she gave the deal, it was shockingly uneven, yet she still let it stand. Why? A nagging, though easily silenced part of herself said it was because of her lingering feelings for him.

Then, she watched as his chest swelled with a deep intake of breath and he began, obviously angry, though nearly silent, given that his band mates were dispersed throughout the house, and were none the wiser of the true nature of their relationship, "Olivia, we agreed that we would not see each other outside of our... business arrangement," the words rolled heavily off his tongue, though quietly, for obvious reasons, "yet, here you are. What did you expect? A sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on? Why don't you go to your new boyfriend for that?"

Now he'd arrived at the heart of the anger he felt when he was alerted of the fact that she was here. He'd seen all of her tweets with some guy named Derek Sullivan, and their several pictures together; it was very obvious that they were more than casual—as was agreed upon by them, if they were to have partners outside of their "relationship." The question he'd yet to answer was, was he more upset that she'd broken their rules, or that she had been seeing someone else?

"Are you fucking kidding me, Joshua?" Olivia didn't seem to give a damn how loud she was, or that the rest of his band could hear her now. She could pass it off as them having a fight—which they were—about something related to their relationship; no one had to know they were fighting over details pertaining to their fake love.

"No, my darling, I am not," he shot back, just as loudly.

"Not that it's any of your goddamn business, but he's just a friend!" Her eyebrows raised, meaning what she really meant was 'he's just casual' but couldn't say that, in her louder voice, "If you can't trust me enough to have friends of the opposite sex and believe me when I say I'm not fucking around with them, then what's the point in this fucking relationship?"

"I guess there isn't one!"

"I guess not, asshole!"

The tension in the air was heavy, and they were standing no more than three feet from each other—which was about the length of one of Josh's steps; in an instant, they'd be chest to chest. He glanced down the length of both of their legs for a moment, before he closed the gap between them. Their lips touched, and it was like dropping a lit match into a puddle of gasoline—the flames were instantaneous.