Grace's pov
My phone vibrates so I take it out of my pocket. When I see Olivia's name I smile uncontrollably. I make a mental note to change her nickname to something more adorable.
Olivia: grace wanna go bowling w me and my friends tonight?
I love how she always uses my name when she texts me. My heart melts when I read it, I really appreciate that she invites me.
Grace: if ur friends don't mind i can go :))
"Who's that?", I hear, but I don't pay attention to someone's words.
Olivia: no they don't!! come pls
Grace: okay :) who will be?
Olivia: conan, iris, madi and my bf
"Grace!", suddenly my phone disappears from my hand and I'm back to reality. I blink and see my sister, Aurore, holding my phone and reading my and Liv's messages.
"Give it back!", I yell, trying to grab my phone.
"Shhh!", someone silences me, I remind myself we are in the cafe. I roll my eyes.
"Who's Olivia?", Aurore asks.
"My best friend", I shrug.
"I guess I know all of your best friends and I've never heard of her", Aurore squints.
"Jesus, if you really need to know, she's Olivia Rodrigo and she asked me to write a song together. We met a few times and I really like her, actually I'm her fan", I chuckle.
When I say Olivia Rodrigo my sister freezes. She always freaks out when I meet someone from industry, I remember, when we were on Billie Eilish's concert and I had vip tickets to see her after show, when we came in and Aurore saw Billie she truly fainted, I wanted to call an ambulance but luckily it passed quickly.
"Oh God, sometimes I forget that you are in the industry. But... I saw your smile when you both were texting... and how you suddenly forgot about the whole world. Do you like her?"
"Yeah but in this friends way".
Aurore raises an eyebrow.
"Don't lie to me".
"God, Rorie, just look at her pic and say, isn't she beautiful? I know you're not into girls, but admit that she's gorgeous!"
"Don't. Call. Me. Rorie. ", my sister draws through her teeth. "But yeah, I must to admit she's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. But still, I think you have a crush on her".
"I don't!"
"Yeah, we'll see how fast you two will come on the family dinner", the girl says. I roll my eyes at my stupid sister.
I finish drinking my coffee and tell her that I gotta leave, because I have to prepare for meeting with Rodrigo.
I drive home and listen to Taylor Swift, one of my favorite artists, on the radio. I park in front of my house, I see my neighbor pulling a package out of the mailbox. I wave to him, so he does.
At home, I quickly I curl my hair, coding that I need to wash it today, hoping no one will see that it's kinda oil. Then I choose an outfit - a dark red tank top and light jeans, and a leather coat on it.
At 5pm Liv sends me an address and time (I need to leave in one hour), so being prepared faster, I sit on my piano, singing some of my favorite songs.
At 6:15pm I remind myself that I had to leave, so I quickly grab my converse and the coat, then I leave the house.
I drive through the suburbs, finally I find the bowling alley. I take my phone and text Liv.
Grace: i just parked my car
Olivia texts me back after a minute.
Olivia: wait on me im going
I stand next to my car, the bowling alley's door opens and I see the prettiest brunette. Her straight hair are down, she's wearing black jeans and white t-shirt. I hope she had any jacket inside, it's cold.
She smiles at me and runs. I open my arms to catch her.
"Hi!", she crashes into me, I close her in the warmest hug.
"Hi, Liv", I whisper, not letting her go. I feel she relaxes through a hug, so I hold her tighter. "How are you?", I ask.
"I'm okay", she whispers back. I feel that she's snuggling her face in the crook of my neck.
"For sure?", she nods. "Okay, cutie".
She snorts and pull away.
"We should go inside", the shorter brunette says. So I follow her to the door, then we both go inside the club where I see three bowling tracks.
Rodrigo leads me to the couches and I notice black, curly hair and I assume it's Conan. We come over her friends closer and I look at him - yeah, I was right.
"Meet Grace!", Liv shows at me. Then she turns to me. "It's Conan, Madi... and Nate, you've already known him. Iris should be here in a moment".
I hug her each friend, then I take a seat next to her and Madi. Nate doesn't even say hello to me, an asshole. Anyway, he's weird. When he notices that I sit next to Olivia, he immediately puts his hand on her thigh and I feel Liv gets tense.
After a few minutes, Iris joins us, she seems very kind. She takes a seat next to the Conan, in front of Rodrigo.
"Let's put our names on the board!", Conan shows at the board hanging from the ceiling, showing the points from the game.
He and Madi decide to do it, I stay in our place with Liv, her boyfriend and Iris. We just talk, but I try to investigate Liv's behavior because something is not right, why is she so stressed around her boyfriend?
We start bowling, I'm not the best at it, I don't knock anything in the first round. Madi, on the other hand, immediately strikes.
"Liv, it's your turn!", Iris calls her, so brunette gets up and Nate gives Iris angry look, but she doesn't notice. Olivia is so tense again, she seems like she lost the whole motivation to have fun tonight.
Olivia knocks down 7 pins, and before returning to her seat, I gently wrap my arms around her and pull her close, hoping it doesn't look romantic because if it does, her boyfriend will kill me.
She seems confused but she holds me back.
"What's wrong?", I ask, Liv sighs. "You're so tense, cutie".
"Just... I am always tense", she looks around, refuses to maintain eye contact.
"Try to relax, Liv. If you need a hug just come to me", I smile to her, she smiles back, then quickly comes back to her seat, waiting on Nate when he finishes knocking down his pins.
After a few rounds Iris is the one who has the smallest amount of points, Madi wins.
Suddenly I see Liv and her boyfriend stands up and go somewhere, Olivia at the last moment turns to me.
"Play for me if we won't come back", she says, but her voice is literally trembling. I nod, but the next couple of minutes I can't focus on the bowling.
I tell everyone that I'm going to rest room.
I'm visiting the club because I'm really looking for Olivia. Where can she be?
There's some noise down the hall beyond the bathrooms, so I sneak over there to check it out.
"...stop it, please, not in the bowling alley", I hear soft, crying voice.
"Shut up, I don't care where we are. You didn't like it in bed either!", someone raises the voice, and I recognize this one. It's Nate's voice. Fuck, so it's Liv with him.
"You raped me", I hear and I freeze. What's Olivia saying?
"What did you say?!", the sound of hitting the body. God, did he just...
"Ouch!", Olivia moans and cries.
"Shut up!", the same sound again.
"Everywhere but not in the stomach, it hurts, please stop", she begs, and I feel tears filling my eyes. I can't even imagine how she can feel now.
"Fucking slut. Get over it quickly, I'll tell them you're in the bathroom", he snorts and I quickly hide myself in girl's bathroom, I don't wanna even think what would be if he'd see me.
I hide in one stall, after a moment I hear the door opens and ragged breaths. Olivia's here.
Should I leave the stall and tell her that I know? Or stay here and pretend like nothing happened?
I feel like I discovered her biggest secret.
Her boyfriend uses violence against her.
So that day, on her birthday, he had to hit her or did something worse to her. But she said he raped her... I'm still processing that. It's a lot.
The next stall's door opens, I assume Liv got there, I hear her peeing and I decide it's a right moment to leave. I quickly sneak out of the bathroom, taking a deep breath to calm myself down. I would like to kill Nate now.
I calmly take a seat on the couches, we all wait on Liv to start a new game.
Nate is scrolling social media. He really thinks it's okay that he hit her a few minutes ago. What a motherfucker.
Olivia comes back. Oh my God... she looks so sad and broken. She keeps her head down, she sits between me and her fucked up boyfriend, she's all shaking.
Her friends start a new game, and my turn is before Liv's. I get up and luckily I knock down 9 pins. Then I call Olivia.
She doesn't react. She's focused on one point, I don't know if she even breathes.
I calmly walk over to her and gently take her chin, lifting it up. The girl comes back to reality, her eyes are so poor...
"It's your turn, cutie", I whisper.
"Sorry", she quickly gets up.
"Nothing happened", I smile.
She takes one of the heaviest ball and pull it with her all might through the bowling track.
Olivia strikes.
Conan whistles and I lunge at her like crazy to congratulate her.
"Well done, Liv!", I embrace her, she immediately hugs me back, but something's wrong. Because it's not a short, congratulating hug. She hides her face in the crook of my neck, she literally tries to snuggle the deepest as she can.
I know what's going on, she can't handle it.
"Hey, hey, be calm. We'll go to the bathroom, hush, cutie", she sniffles and holds me tighter. "We need to go outside for a moment, we'll be back", I declare and quickly lead Liv to the rest rooms.
We lock ourselves in a stall in case her boyfriend is looking for her. Rodrigo is cuddled up to me. And then she starts crying.
Her tears are running down my neck, it's so wet, she's crying so hard. I try to rock her a little to calm her down, but it doesn't help. I know she needs to cry, it's gonna help her.
My hand goes to her head and I massage her scalp. Her body is trembling, she sticks to me completely.
"G-grace", I hear her sobbing.
"I'm here, it's okay", I say softly, still holding her.
"Don't let go, p-please", her voice is muffled by my neck.
"I won't let you go, Liv. Cry as much as you need to. I'm here, I'm always for you", I press my lips to the top of her head.
Every tear from her, every whimper, the stress slowly leaving her body makes me want to murder her boyfriend. She doesn't deserve being beaten, raped and all of that. No one does. All Olivia needs is love, lots and lots of love. If she was mine, I would treat her like a princess. She would never experience the violence from the ones she loves.
Olivia stops crying, breathing heavily and loudly. Her chest heaves up quickly, and I don't let go of her grip.
Suddenly, we hear bathroom's door opens violently, Liv flinches and clinches into me.
"Olivia, I know that you're here!", I freeze when I find out it's Nate's voice. "Go out, now!"
Liv is shaking again, she hides her face in the crook of my neck, I feel her lips on my skin, she just tries to hold back every sound from her mouth. She tries to breathe slowly and silently, and I cuddle her. She's very scared.
"Olivia, go out, if you don't want to be punished!", he kicks the stall's door.
Olivia hugs me terribly tight, her grip becomes painful, but I forgive her. She's so afraid of him, tears are streaming down her cheeks, when I just managed to calm her down. I can feel her heart beating fast, damn, it can be dangerous.
In the next few seconds he leaves rest rooms. Olivia exhales, crying, and I don't say anything, just hold her.
I know what he does against her, but I need to hear it from her.
"Livvy? I know it's not the best time to talk, but... are you scared of him?"
She pulls away and looks at me with her big, dark sad eyes.
"I got very nervous, can I pee first? It always happens when I'm stressed like that", she asks, I stroke her arms, nodding.
As she relieves herself, I turn around to give her some comfort. She's done, she flushes the water and touch my arm, giving me a sign that I can turn to her.
"Okay, Liv, so you scared of Nate, aren't you?", I ask carefully, watching her reaction.
"Can I tell you everything?", she whispers.
"Yeah, cutie, always", I smile to her weakly.
Olivia doesn't take long to think; she just pushes her shirt up, and that's when I notice her poor battered body.
A lot of bruises on her stomach, and even on her lower abdomen. Some of them are fresh, the others are old. Rodrigo is wearing a white bra, over her one breast there is a wound, like cut. She turns around that I can see her back; it looks even worse than her stomach. Bruises there are bigger, a lot of them are purple or brownish yellow. The bra clasp is where she has another bruise, the tight fabric must hurt so much.
"L-livvy", I start hesitantly, "I don't know what to say, God, I'm so sorry, baby", my voice breaks and I can't help but I start to sob.
"Don't cry, Grace, it's okay", she whispers.
"It's not okay, Livvy. Come here", I open my arms and she snuggles into me again. I hold her gently this time, I don't want to hurt her. "Is it hurt?"
"Some of them do, but don't worry", she mumbles. "It's his work".
"How long he... beats you?"
"2 months", the girl snorts a sad laugh. "Don't ask why we're still together, I have no force to talk about it", I can see that crying and stress exhausted her.
"Okay, you don't have to tell me everything. Do you wanna come back, or still here for a moment more?"
"I just... wanna come home".
"Yes, of course, you should..."
"But I feel like I don't have my home", she interrupts me and looks down. "He will find me anywhere... I don't feel safe anywhere", she shrugs. She looks completely helpless.
But I come up with one idea.
"Actually... we can go at mine. Someone needs to take care of you and for sure I won't let you stay with him".
"Do you really want to still have any contact with me after what you saw?"
"Liv, you're the victim. You didn't do anything wrong. I want to support you", I embrace her small body, then I whisper: "will you stay at mine's?"
"Mhm", she mumbles. "Thank you".
We leave the stall. Luckily there's no one in bathroom. Olivia quickly washes her hands, then we come back to the rest of her friends. Conan immediately runs to us, closing Liv in the hug.
"I was so scared, are you okay? You ran away suddenly", he asks.
"I'm fine. I'm think I need to come back home. I'm sorry, guys", Olivia says yo everyone, I stare at Nate. He narrows his eyes, I can feel him getting ready to attack.
"It's okay if you need to go. Is Grace going with you?", Iris asks, seeing that I just put on my leather coat.
"Yeah, I'm going with her. So bye, you all! It was nice to meet you", I smile, then I grab Olivia's hand and go to the entrance.
We don't even make it, because someone yanks Rodrigo's arm, the girl lands on the wall, and her boyfriend attacks her.
"Are you joking?", she hisses. "You're staying here", he tries to pull her inside, but I come over and try to push him away from her.
"She's not staying here!", I shout.
The boy punches the wall, very close to Olivia's head. God, he's so aggressive.
"What did I tell you, Olivia?! How do you behave?! Come back now!", I notice how he pushes his knee against Liv's crotch. She whimpers.
"Nate, please..."
"Not please, Olivia! I didn't do anything bad to you that you behave like that and avoid me! Who do you think you are, bitch?!", he wants to slap her, but I grab his hand at the right moment and Rodrigo pushes him away. He loses his balance slightly, but Olivia quickly runs out of the club. I follow her, showing her my car, taking the keys and opening them.
The brunette takes a seat next to me, I start driving and with a full speed I leave the parking lot.
After a few kilometers I stop on the side of the road, we both need to rest. I show Olivia at my lap, so the girl unbuckles her seatbelt and moves over to me, sitting on the top of me.
"I'm sorry for him", she mumbles.
"Don't be. How do you feel? I mean, he attacked you again and he...", I show at her lower parts of the body, "pushes his knee there", I point to the confluence of her thighs.
"I'm still stressed, but my intimate place doesn't hurt", she smiles sadly. I nod, then make her hug to me.
Olivia relaxes and when I know she's less nervous, I come back to driving.
After 10 minutes I park in my garage.
We enter the house, Olivia is very insecure. I grab her hand and squeeze it, to cheer her up.
"Are you hungry or do you want something to drink?", I ask when we're done taking off our shoes and jackets. Rodrigo comes to the kitchen.
"No, I don't need anything..."
"What would you like to eat?", when I find out that Liv will reply no when I ask her whatever, I decide to change the way of questioning.
"I told you I don't want to."
"I asked what do you want to eat, not if you want to eat", I speak confidently, Olivia sighs.
"Do you have any cereal?", she asks quietly. I smile, starting to search the cupboard. I finally find chocolate and honey flakes.
"Here you are, choose or mix them. Hot or cold milk?"
"Cold", I come over the fridge and take the milk. I hand it her. "Thanks".
Olivia pours out flakes to the bowl, honey and chocolate, then adds milk. I give her a spoon.
"I'm gonna change into pajamas, I'll bring you it too, eat calmly", I smile to her, then I disappear in my bedroom.
I take off my pants, top and bra and put on a plain white T-shirt. Then I pull down my panties and I put on sleeping shorts.
I prepare white T-shirt with overprint for Liv. Then I open the door and call her.
"Liv! Do you wear panties, sleeping shorts or sweatpants when you sleep?"
"If you don't mind seeing my bruised legs I can wear shorts", she replies. So she even has bruises there.
"Okay".
I prepare clean underwear and blue sleeping shorts for her. Then I take all clothes and a towel and bring it to the kitchen, where Olivia's sitting.
"Take a shower, do your needs, just feel here like in home. When you'll get out of the bathroom come to me, I'll take care of your bruises", I give her pajamas.
"You don't mind giving me your clothes again? I still didn't give you back your hoodie", oh, I miss my hoodie sometimes. But I shrug, smiling to her. She looks very adorable in my clothes.
Liv goes to the bathroom. I hear the sound of the shower, and I prepare ointment for bruises, and bandages if needed. I want to take her of her every bruise and help them heal.
Olivia leaves the bathroom after 20 minutes, when I see her in my t-shirt and shorts my heart literally freaks out. She's smaller than me and probably wears a size S and I'm a M and the t-shirt is huge anyway. Her hair is tied in a bun, the girl has washed off her makeup.
"Come with me to the bedroom".
Rodrigo has never been in my bedroom before, so she looks around a bit and sits hesitantly on the bed. I stare at her legs, there are two bruises on the exposed part of her thighs, but fortunately that's all.
"I prepared the ointment for bruises, can you pull up your t-shirt? I'd like to smear them on you", I say.
"I can do it myself..."
"No, Liv. Just lay down and do what I tell, I promise I won't make you uncomfortable or something, okay?"
She nods and layd down on my bed. She pulls the t-shirt up, reveals only her belly.
I apply some ointment to the dark and damaged parts of my skin, hoping it will help. Olivia asks for the bandage not to be applied.
"Turn on your stomach now", I instruct her, she does what I say. Her back is more hurt than her tummy, that's why I put so much more ointment on her skin.
"Does it hurt?", I ask, knowing that Olivia doesn't even complain about the pain I can do her by touching her bruises.
"No, not so much, I'm used to pain, I could say this one is even nice".
I don't reply on her words, because they shocked me a bit. I'm used to pain.
I push her shirt up tighter to check for bruises higher up her back and notice the girl is still wearing her bra. It seems uncomfortable.
"Hey, will you sleep in bra? It's not comfortable", I say.
"I just didn't know if I can... I'm ashamed when my breasts stick out in a T-shirt, um, and I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, and..."
"Cutie, slow down. You won't make me uncomfortable. I only sleep in a T-shirt, my breasts stick out too, but I don't care, I want to be comfortable", I smile to her. "Can I unzip it?"
"Yeah", I help her taking bra off, I throw it somewhere on my bed or floor, and I come back to caring of her back.
"Okay, done", I finish putting the ointment on her, Rodrigo gets up.
"Thank you, Grace", she smiles weakly but sincerely. I smile to her back, then I look what time is it - 11pm.
"Wanna watch some movie or do you wanna sleep now?", I ask Liv.
"I don't want to bother you anymore, I'm gonna sleep".
"But you don't..."
"Do you mind if I'm gonna sleep on the couch?", she interrupts me.
I sigh.
"No, I'll bring you some blankets".
I grab clean sheets and a pillow from the closet, add another one from my bed, a smaller one so Liv can choose which one she wants. Then I go to the living room, seeing Liv on her phone. She lifts her head when she hears I'm coming.
"Don't you wanna sleep in the bed? It's more comfortable", I ask.
"No, the couch is okay".
I make room for her and lay down the sheets, Olivia puts down her phone, smiles brightly at me then climbs under the duvet.
"Thank you for everything", she whispers.
"All for you, cutie. I'll be in the bedroom, I'll leave the door open so you can come to me at each moment. Sleep well", I speak, stroke her hair and then I go back to my room, deciding to go to sleep too.
ఌ︎
Falling asleep isn't as easy as I thought it'll be. I thought that I would quickly drift off into the land of words through fatigue, but it didn't happen. Also Olivia doesn't sleep - I hear her fidgeting on the couch.
I feel so stupid that I let her sleep there, it's not comfortable and I really hoped she'll give up and come to my bed. She didn't and now I'm worried that she's cold, since I never turn on the heating in the night. And it's warmer in my room.
I decide to get up and go to Liv. I quietly leave the room, but loud enough not to scare Rodrigo.
"Cutie, are you sleeping?", I lean over Olivia, who's now is laying on her stomach.
"No", she mumbles.
"Come to the bed, it's so much warmer", I stroke her arm, making the goosebumps on her skin.
"I'm okay here".
"Liv, please. Get up or I will drag you to bed", I blackmail her, she giggles but doesn't get up. "Oh, Liv, come on", I try to pull her arm.
"Leave my arm!", the brunette laughs.
"Jesus", I put my hand under her belly, turning her slightly to grab her back and ass properly and lift her up.
She squeaks, trying to stand up on the floor but I don't let her go, I carry Olivia to my bed.
I put her on the sheet, lay on my side and cover us with a warm duvet.
"Can I cuddle?", Olivia asks silently.
"Sure", I embrace her as she rests her head on my chest, hugging me. She exhales loudly.
"Goodnight, Grace", she whispers.
"Goodnight, Liv", I close my eyes and try to ignore Olivia's hand under my t-shirt, stroking my tummy.
My heart beats fast through the whole night.