Alex didn't go back to the tour bus, instead he walked all the way to his house. He had a lot on his mind. He always seemed close to kissing her, the thought crossing his mind constantly whilst talking to her, but last night was the closest he had come. He wasn't even sure if she noticed the way he leaned in slightly or looked between her eyes and lips.
He was sure she did, the way she awkwardly backed up. Clearly he was the only one who felt any sort of feelings for the other - he had often wondered if Olivia felt the same and he now had his answer.
He was disappointed in himself. He spent the entire walk home regretting ever even considering them being together - clearly he had read too much into their interactions, he felt something that wasn't ever there. It's easy to manipulate situations to make them how you want and that's what he assumed he had done.
He poured himself another drink when he got home but didn't manage to finish it as he fell asleep on his settee, the remainder splashing on to his floor. He woke up confused and groaned as he looked down at the floor.
He really had to sort his feelings out if they were still going to be friends. It was either that or ignore her completely, block all contact. Though he didn't want to do that. That's also mean Katie and Breana not seeing Olivia and why should she have to suffer just because he couldn't constraint himself? He had decided that morning, as he wiped up the splashed whiskey, that he had to get over Olivia.
After a sleepless night she went to go meet Katie and Breana and on her way, as she walked past a new stand, the image on the front page caught her eye.
She saw Alex first, thinking it was about their tour, and then quickly she realised that she was stood next to him. Conveniently at a moment where they had been walking behind the rest of the group as they walked to Olivia's house. She hadn't even noticed someone taking pictures but the evidence was right in front of her.
She read it as she walked down the street and when she arrived, before even saying hello, she dropped the newspaper onto the table. "Have you seen this?" She asked them.
Katie laughed with raised brows, "Hello to you to." She chuckled as Olivia sat down in the spare chairs with a frown on her face.
"No, what is it?" Breana said at the same time whilst grabbing the newspaper, her face falling when she saw the picture, "Well at least you look good!" She said trying to make the situation better, especially because of the glare Olivia was giving.
Katie shrugged as she leant over in her chair to read the title, "I'm sure they'll drop the dating thing after a week." She reassured.
Olivia's frown dropped momentarily in confusion before she shook her head waving Katie off, "What? Oh, I don't care about that. They got my fucking name wrong!" She scoffed.
"No way!" Breana blurted with a laugh as her eyes darted back to the page as she re-read.
Olivia nodded, "Yeah. Arabella Warren wears cheetah print coat. Who the fuck is Arabella?"
They both burst out laughing, Katie covering her mouth with her hand. Katie shook her head with her mouth open in disbelief. "How have they got your last name right but your first name wrong?" She laughed.
"Who knows." Olivia shrugged with a annoyed sigh. "I need coffee, it's too early." She said before quickly ordering a drink at the counter. She sat back down at the table, now wait an iced latte.
Katie lifted the newspaper, "Do you mind if I take this? I don't think they'll believe me if they don't see it." Olivia nodded, she wouldn't be needing it anyway, and Katie slipped it into her bag to show everyone else later.
Breana took a sip of drink before hesitantly asking, "On the topic of Alex, did something happen last night?"
Olivia's eyebrows furrowed momentarily and she hoped that her cheeks hadn't gone red. She pretended to be confused as she asked, "What do you mean?"
Breana shrugged before beginning to explain, "He didn't come back until this morning and we all just assumed he had stayed over at yours and you two finally fu-"
"God sake." Olivia interrupted with a disgusted scrunched up face.
Breana laughed at her reaction giving her an eye roll for being dramatic before quickly apologising and carrying on, "He came back this morning all grumpy and moody. He didn't talk to anyone and just started practising for tomorrow's concert."
Olivia hoped that her face didn't show the concern that she was feeling, it was never her intention to hurt Alex. "Oh. Well he didn't stay at mine, he left soon after all of you."
Katie shrugged, "Must've just gone home or something."
"Are you sure nothing happened? Like did you have an argument or something?" Breana asked. She was confident that the only reason Alex would be acting so upset would be because Olivia rejected him.
Olivia nodded, "No he was fine when he left." She lied, "I have no idea. He's probably just having a bad day or being his usually moody self."
The topic was quickly dropped and they continued to talk about what they had been up to, random topic and their plans for the next couple of weeks. Though Olivia had been distracted all breakfast and her mind kept flickering back to Alex.
She was sure that she had been overreacting about the whole situation - she hoped that the alcohol made it seem worse than it was. However, hearing about Alex's change in mood only confirmed that it was all just as she had remembered it.
If she memory of that moment was turned into a fill half the scenes would be missing because she couldn't decide what was real or what she had made up. They were standing close to each other, that was the only thing that she was sure of. After that all she remembers was Alex leaving.
It was like she forget that she was meant to be avoiding him. But his eyes, the way they would flicker up and down her face, made her forget everything she tried to remind herself of.
She had never been in a situation like this before. She had never been attracted to someone like she was to Alex but she knew that dating him would only lead to heart break and she selfishly liked having him as friend too much too lose him to a failed relationship.
As soon as she got home Olivia called Lauren for advice. Initially she rambled, talking in a speed where Lauren could process the information given. "Slow down!"
Olivia took a deep breath, rubbing her hand across her forehead, "I think Alex is mad at me."
"Explain."
"Well I went to get coffee with Katie and Breana this morning and Breana asked if anything happened between me and Alex. She said that he never showed up last night and when he came back in the morning he was all moody."
Lauren asked, "What's that got to do with you?"
"Well once you all left yesterday Alex stayed for a drink and there was this . . . Weird moment, I don't know. Nothing even happened, it just felt very . . . Heavy? Like we were staring at each other and we were stood close and I was already drunk so it all felt even more tense. But I obviously tried to act like it was nothing and change the subject and then he just left. He wouldn't even let me walk him to the door."
Lauren sighed. She could predict something like this happening, "So you rejected him."
"No. He didn't even try anything. We were just, caught up in the moment and I felt like he was going to kiss me so I just stepped back. There was nothing to reject." Olivia explained.
"Yeah, so you rejected him." Lauren confirmed.
Olivia groaned in frustration, "I just would rather be friends. I like being friends." She tried to explain.
"Maybe try to talk to him?" Lauren suggested deciding she'd probably give some actual advice instead of shaking her head at Olivia.
"They've already left."
"That's why they invented phones." Olivia could practically hear the eye roll coming off the tone Lauren said it in.
"I don't know what to say." Olivia complained. She mainly just didn't want to call and tried to find any excuse she could to avoid it.
"Call him. Trust me it'll all be fine and it'll make you feel better." Lauren reassured her.
Olivia sighed trying to calm and prepare herself "Okay. Yeah okay. Thank you."
"You'd be hopeless without me. Okay Love you see you later."
"Love you, see you later." Olivia replied before hanging up. She swiped off Lauren's contact and swiped up to find Alex's name.
After contemplating calling, pacing back and forth around he room with her phone in hand whilst she stared at his contact, she finally sighed and abruptly pressed the contact name. The ringing was deafening and she thought about hanging up when he answered and the ringing stopped. Before he said anything Olivia blurted out a quiet, "Hey."
The was a moment of silence, she heard a door clicking then Alex asking, "Alright?" He sounded confused.
When Olivia's name popped up on his phone a million thoughts rushed through his head. His first thought was to ignore it but not only did he want to hear her voice again but he had already told himself that he was going to try just being friends with her instead of avoiding her - trying to do the mature choice for once.
He picked up his phone told everyone he'd be back in a second. They were all sat around the main area of the bus practising their songs. He got up and locked himself into the bus bathroom, hoping that none of them would be able to hear him.
Olivia bit her thumb nail and nodded (she was naturally expressive and even though he could t see her it had become a habit to react physically), "Yeah I'm fine." She told him.
She could tell that he was expecting her to say something and realised she should've prepared a reason for her calling. Cautiously he asked, "Do you need anything?"
Olivia bit her lip as she thought of an excuse but couldn't come up with anything as she shyly admitted, "Erm, No."
". . . Okay?" He said slowly, slightly confused and with a slight laugh. Hearing his laugh made her instantly feel better, like she had been overthinking the situation.
"What are you up to?" She asked as she sat down on her sofa, no longer feeling the need to nervously walk around in circles. She looked out the window at the bright summer sky as she talked to him. She often doodled whilst talking on the phone, not being able to sit still, but with Alex she just enjoyed listening to his voice, trying to picture his face as she heard his voice.
"Just practising some songs." He told her.
"Oohh, let me guess what you were just playing?"
Alex laughed, "Why?".
"I wanna see how good my intuition is." She didn't she just wanted an excuse to keep talking to him and to reassure herself that everything was okay between them, "erm -" she hummed before guessing, "I'm going to go with . . . She's thunderstorms?"
"Nope."
"Reckless Serenade?" She guessed again.
"Wrong again." He laughed.
Olivia laughed too and sighed, "Damn, okay give me a clue."
She could hear Alex laughing to himself before saying, "Alright . . . it's something that you put in your mouth."
Olivia groaned in disgust, "Did you have to word it like that?" He laughed and Olivia shook her head at him, "It's Black Treacle - right?"
"Don't think it counts if you get told the answer." He teased.
Olivia rolled her eyes, "I was going to guess that one next anyway."
"I don't believe ya."
"Well I got it right so you'll never know."
They both laughed and Olivia realised how awful it felt to feel like they had lost their friendship - just another reason to never complicate it. Talking to him, the awkward tension of yesterday gone, felt like a weight lifted off of her shoulders.
It went quiet as their laughs quietened down and Alex broke it by apologising,"I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly yesterday."
"It's okay. I just thought that I upset you or something."
"Of course not."
Olivia sighed in relief, "So your not mad at me?" She asked again to make sure.
"I could never be mad at you."
"Okay, good. Just so you know, I do miss you. I just think I was drunk and tired but I don't want you to think that I don't miss you because I do."
Alex smiled to himself, "I know."
Olivia knew that she could talk to him for hours about anything and everything but didn't want to keep him from practising any longer so she told him, "I'll talk to you later, yeah?"
"See you later Arabella." He said casually that Olivia almost missed it but she did and her mouth fell open with a gasp.
She pinched her nose between her eyes as she clenched them close, "Oh god, Katie showed it to you then." She knew that Katie took it to show everyone but she was worried for Alex's reaction, "I know you don't like press and rumours and stuff so I'm sorry for them speculating shit."
"It's alright. Think we look quite good together. She couldn't wait to show me. She shoved in ma face as soon as she was back."
They did look good, naturally so as if they were meant to be stood next to each other. They complimented each other perfectly. Olivia with her usual smile as Alex smirked down at her, his hands in his front pockets and aviators hanging from his neck.
"Of course we do but I'm still mad they couldn't even get my name right."
Alex laughed, "I dunno, Arabella has a nice ring to it." He knew it would annoy her but the way she sighed in annoyance (though he could still imagine her smiling as she did so) was too addictive for him to not tease her a little.
Olivia groaned, "I swear to god if you start calling me Arabella I'll call you Alexander." She warned knowing his hatred for it.
"Oh god I hate my full name.", he complained.
"Exactly."
"See you later, Arabella." He said and Olivia could tell that he had that smirk on his face.
"Bye, Alexander."