Anyone Else

13. Anyone Else Would Help Her, Right?

Literally the only movie on his phone was high school musical. It's like his phone is mocking him. Sitting in the horribly uncomfortable airplane seat, all he could think about was Olivia. How was he supposed to fix this? He really wanted to believe Olivia. All of his heart was telling him to believe Olivia. Olivia, his best friend, his co star, his everything. But there was this nagging part at the back of his brain that wanted him to consider the possibility that Alice might have been telling the truth. Olivia was an actress so what if this whole time she'd been lying. Did he really know Alice? They'd met in a cafe. They'd spotted each other across the room, he had just started to get over the idea of Olivia. Forgetfully, she'd left her phone sitting on the table. Rushing out the door, he had handed his phone back to her with a smile.

"Hey. You left your phone."

"Maybe you should put your number in it, in case I lose it again." She smirked, twirling her short hair around her index finger. 

"How does that work?" He laughed.

"I don't know. Why don't you call me tonight and we can work it out?" She winked flirtily. And so he had then somehow that evolved into whatever the hell was going on right now. In retrospect, he didn't understand until he went to Salt Lake that their relationship wasn't the most healthy. She was downright emotionally abusive. He felt like he deserved it, she had made him feel like he deserved everything she did to him and told him but one thing he couldn't take was: her doing it to Olivia. Olivia was different to him. She was kind, polite, sweet, beautiful, talented, funny, charismatic, smart and she didn't deserve any sort of pain. And he had brought that pain to her. This was all his fault and she deserved better than him, so he needed to become better than him. The first step: apologise. Grovel, really embarrass himself for her sake. He needed to prove he was incredibly sorry. The second step: somehow fix the situation. He needed to protect Olivia's reputation and stop any hate that she might get. The second step: put Alice in her place. He was completely and utterly done with her bullshit. She crossed a line. He needed to fix this and prove Alice wrong. The only way to complete all these three steps was to expose Alice for the abusive, manipulative bitch she was. She'd messed with Olivia and now she's done. 

Scanning the airport anxiously, he looked for Olivia's mum and prepared him for the fact that Olivia might be there. Spotting her across the room, he blinked sheepishly and strolled over to meet her. 

"Hi..." He whispered, 

"Where's your luggage?" She asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Umm. I didn't bring any. I came straight here from the apartment all I have is my phone and this hoodie." Olivia's mum snorted. 

"Wow. Sorry Josh, but that's kind of stupid." She tried to hold back her laugh with a hand clasped over her mouth. 

"I get stupid when it involves Liv." He shrugged with a small smile. Olivia's mum smiled knowingly and pulled him into a hug. 

"That's kind of sweet, in a way..." She trailed off as she let go of the boy who was significantly taller than herself. "You're going to have to explain everything to me on the way home. And I mean EVERYTHING." Josh nodded, admittedly slightly terrified of the woman in front of him.

Someone across the room, standing haphazardly at a coffee hut, snapped a photo of Josh hugging Olivia's mother and another of her hands on his shoulder, then them climbing into her car. 

"Oh my god..." he whispered with a smirk as he typed into her phone conspiratorially. He titled it: @joshuatbassett spotted in LAX with Olivia Rodrigo's mother, a day after she was there with Olivia. What has happened to filming? Has he come to see her? Will they be making a statement? Is he cheating on Alice with her? Or could they have broken up after the scandal?  Josh is supporting Olivia after his own girlfriend. Anyone else would help her, right? Maybe Alice was right about them... I don't want to believe it but this could really mean it. Jolivia fans might have got what they wanted, but what did it cost?