Heartache Hotline (Connected #1) | ✔

WHEN WORLDS COMBINE & BURN || The Birthday Shenanigans (part fourteen)

Macy' POV

"B-Bianca?"

Ollie's confused and shocked voice briefly registers in my mind, but I'm too frozen to hear it; too frozen to cover my hurt. I can literally feel my face drain of all the blushing colour that was there moments ago. Heart palpitating, my head spins and I feel faint. I've never once wanted the ground to swallow me up more than what I do right now.

It's her.

"Nice to see you again," She smirks at me, and then looks at Ollie, "You too, Olls."

My face scrunches up in confusion, "You two know each other?" I can't help the disgust falling into my voice.

Ollie seems to shake out of his shock as he glances at me nervously, "This is Bianca," He enunciates, obviously trying to tell me something. The gears in my mind grind for a second before it hits me.

"Your ex girlfriend?" I ask, completely stunned before I scoff, "What are the fucking chances."

Ollie eyebrows pinch together, "Am I missing something? Wait..." He trails off, shooting Bianca a suspicious scowl, "How do you know her? You've never said anything to me before."

The betrayal sneaking into his features have me subconsciously taking a step towards him. Before I can reach out my hand, Bianca snickers.

I glare at her and Jay, who's surprisingly quiet as he chuckles. Turning back to Ollie, I give him a soft smile, "I didn't know her name... She-She's the one who was with Jay when I walked in and caught him cheating."

Mouth hanging open, Ollie takes a step backwards, "What the hell." Then he stares at Jay in disbelief, "So I guess you're the Jason that Bianca was meeting up with and sexting."

Jay actually has the nerve to look smug, "That's me."

Before I can even realise what's happening, Ollie has Jay by his collar, bringing him close to his face with a menacing twitch of his brow.

"I don't even care about that, I'm over the tramp, you can have her. What I care about is the fact that you came here and brought the girl you cheated on Macy with to Macy's birthday. You came to purposely ruin her night and rub it in her face," Ollie glowers as I stand here, shocked, "but guess what?"

Jay doesn't answer so Ollie pulls him closer so that they're only a breath apart, "I said, guess what?"

Looking away with a huff, Jay spits out a 'what'. Bianca shuffles on her spot, looking uncomfortable as she watches the scene in front of us. 

"She's over you, she doesn't want you and she doesn't love you. And I'm not gonna let you do shit to her so you better get out of here before I do something to mess up that smug face of yours." Ollie threatens him, speaking with determination. His voice is calm but if I could see his eyes, I would bet the threat would be visible in them.

Jay almost looks like he's going to roll his eyes before they land on me. His walls break a little and I see the insecurity behind them. Holding eye contact, I stand up straighter and nod. 

"Go, Jay." I suggest softly, giving him a small smile. 

"Fine."

Ollie lets him go but doesn't step away, holding his ground. Jay's eyes dart between the two of us with an emotion I can't decipher, before he grabs Bianca's petite hand. "Let's go."

Letting out a childish huff, Bianca shoots daggers my way with her caramel eyes, "Whatever then, we can just take this back to your house. After all, this is our one year anniversary." Her smirk reaches her eyes, proud of her secret spilling.

I hold myself, not wanting to show any weakness as I smile at her, "Happy one year. Now, please leave, I want to party with the people I love." 

An inaudible sigh leaves my body when they turn to leave - not without more glaring, of course. However, before they can get very far, Jay halts his movement and looks at me for a second, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry and happy birthday."

My response is lackluster, only a nod. But it seems to be enough as he doesn't wait for a verbal reply and drags Bianca away, leaving the hall. 

Once they're completely out of sight, I close my eyes and steady my breathing. I think of Bianca's last words and feel the hurt wetting my eyes. They've been together for a year, since my last birthday. He had been cheating on me for eight months - with her at least.

Before I dwell too much and let the tears fall, I come to a realisation.

My eyes blink open, looking towards Ollie who I didn't notice was already in front of me with a worried expression. 

"Hey, are you okay? I know that must have been upsetting. Especially with what Bianca said." Ollie wraps his arms around me and I melt into his chest. The warmth radiating form his body, embeds into my bones, sending a tingling sensation through my body as I hold on tight. A spicy, earthy scent fills my nose and I suddenly feel light-headed. 

Before I get too caught up in how Ollie feels and smells, I pull away and touch the stubble on his jaw, assessing his hazel eyes, "Ollie, it's not just me. What she said... Are you alright? Sure, that means Jay was cheating on me since my twentieth birthday, but we broke up over four months ago." I lament, watching him closely but he still looks concerned, "You two only broke up two months ago. I'm sorry." 

His eyes flicker quickly with betrayal before he shakes his head and tucks my hair behind my ear, "I don't care if she was cheating on me for ten months with him. Cheating is cheating and either way, she broke my heart. You helped me get over that, get over her. I see her for the bitch she is. I want you to know that I care about you deeply," He explains softly, an intensity shown in his hazel hues, "If you need me, I'm always here." 

I look down as my cheeks flush, "I care about you too. In a way, we should thank them because if it weren't for what they did, we wouldn't have met."

Ollie's eyebrows raise - which I have learnt he does a lot - and his hand links through my free one, "You don't know that."

"I only started working at Heartache Hotline to get over Jay and distract myself," I squeeze his hand gently, "And you only called because of what Bianca did." My hand let's go of his and I trail my fingers up his arm until my palm rests against the side of his neck. His pulse beats against it and his face inches closer, "We connected. I felt drawn to you because of how similar our situations were."

The music filling the room pumps louder as the bass seems to get deeper. Ollie's eyes are focused on mine and I could swear they glance down to my lips. I'm unsure though because it only lasts a second before they're back on my eyes. The air around and between us is charged as our bodies come closer. 

And if it weren't for Ellie and Theo, maybe our lips would have met. 

♡♡♡

AN: This is the longest chapter in the book so far, whoop whoop! Haha hope you guys liked this 🤗

This is the second to last 'The Birthday Shenanigans' part! However, the final part is actually set the next morning! Then we're back to just dialogue until the epilogue - I think 🐾

Are you a dog, cat or fish/turtle/frog (tank required pet) person? 🐕🐈🐠🐢🐸

- Chloe x

P.S. The announcement is after the next chapter! 🔮