They got to school and Olivia mumbled, "Thanks for the ride," before darting off to her first class. Elliot thought about following her, but then decided not to rush. They had that class together anyways. He'd just talk to her then.
~•~
'Just trying to be nice. Damn'
The two had been arguing through their notes for the past twenty minutes. Olivia was embarrassed but tried to hide it, while Elliot was just getting annoyed.
'I get that but I don't need someone to fix all my problems. I'll get someone to tow it after school.'
'Do you know how much that'll cost? Just let me and my dad fix it. He's gonna be over today, tomorrow, and probably Sunday.'
'I have the money. Trust me' Olivia wrote back. She didn't want to be helped any more by them. She already seemed helpless and like a stray.
'I don't doubt that but still. Don't waste a thousand bucks on something that could possibly take a half hour to fix'
'Alright fine. I'm going to need a ride to the train station after school, though.'
'Done. What about after work?'
Olivia looked up at him with an uneasy expression. This many rides? That totally seemed needy. Looking at her, he then wrote, 'Its fine. Take the train and I'll pick you up. Do you work this weekend?'
'I start at 5:45 Saturday night to close and then 9am Sunday. Why?'
'Well in case my dad can't come until later tonight, I might not be able to fix your car until tomorrow. So I'll have to get you to and from the train station.'
'You really don't have to. The train station isn't that far from my house. I can walk.'
'You aren't walking home at night. Forget it'
Olivia rolled her eyes. 'Okay fine.'
He looked at her and smiled, which made her smile too and she looked away.
~•~
"Text me when you're back and I'll come get you. Okay? Don't even think about walking home."
"Fine!" Olivia said to Elliot. "Jeez, you're like a parent."
"I don't want you walking. It's dangerous out even now."
"Okay. I'm gonna be late. Bye."
"Bye," Elliot whispered as she got out of the car. He watched her walk up the stairs and disappear around the corner.
Olivia went up and got on the train, showing her month pass to the conductor as she boarded. She sat in one of the last few rows in the cabin, pulled her homework out of her backpack and happened to finish her English reading and questions on her ride to work. Her shift was rather boring and long for a Friday night. She walked out with less money than she'd have hoped. A fellow server wanted to stay late for her, so she left before expected to. As she made her way into the evening air, she saw Elliot had texted her.
'My dad got caught up at work and might not make it out until like 9:30. If you're out in time, he can give you a ride home'
She checked the time. 9:03
'I'm off work now' she texted Elliot back.
She waited outside the diner for a couple minutes, then her phone dinged. 'My dad got off about ten minutes ago. He'll be by in 5 minutes. He has a white Camry'
'Ok thanks'
Right on schedule, Elliot's father, Joe, pulled up. He even got out of the car so she could see it was him and opened the door for her. She could feel her cheeks get red at the gesture, and kept her head down when they first started driving.
"So how was your shift?," Joe asked her.
"Slow. Only made about $75 tonight."
"That's a lot for a teenager, though. Elliot doesn't even have a job."
"Lucky him," Olivia joked.
"He needs to get one. But his mom, bless her heart, tries to keep him young for whatever reason."
Wish I had a mom like that, Olivia thought.
"When did you get your job, if you don't mind my asking."
"Basically...as soon as I turned 16. My mom sometimes can't work, so she has trouble keeping jobs. She get really bad chronic migraines so people drop her a lot. I used to do a lot of work for my neighbors to help bring in money but now I actually make a good profit. It takes stress off my mom since she doesn't feel the need to get up when her head is pounding and my dad since he doesn't have to shed more money than necessary." All of what was stated was a complete lie. Serena went to work 100% of the time and kept her alcoholism to only at home or in closeby bars. Who even was her dad? And that money was for college. Nobody needed to know.
"We don't have to talk about this, but, why would your dad feel like he needs to support your mother? They are divorced."
"They're better friends than husband and wife. It's weird but...that's how it is. They have joint custody, so he also wants to make sure I have everything I need. They both have to spend a certain percentage of their wages on me and my dad just wants us to be okay."
"That's nice of him. It's the same deal with our family, actually. Bernie works at the grammar school but doesn't make all that much. It pays the bills but not much else. My cut for them helps cover about half the bills, but I still worry. I give El whatever money he needs or wants. Is that bad?"
"Your reasons are understandable, but he should learn to do things for himself. On the flip side, he's at the top of the class with me. So he's mature and probably knows that the life he had now isn't how life really is," Olivia explained.
"Who is number one though?"
"Me, since I have more credits from this school," Olivia said proudly.
"Congratulations. Where are you planning to go to college?"
"Not sure. Probably just a junior college first then transfer. Don't have too many big plans yet."
"That's the first step you seem to have figured out. Nothing wrong with a junior college. Saves a lot of money. Are there any colleges that if you got in you would drop the junior college plan and enroll there?"
"Not really. College was never in the cards for me until recently," Olivia said. It was only partly true. She had dreamed of college her whole life. But she kept her dreams within reach.
"Why?"
"When my parents split, none of them had money. It was a pretty bad divorce. So how they're friends, I don't know. But they both kind of figured things out and we're okay now. Money isn't that big of an issue anymore."
"If any college let's you apply free or for a discount, do it as soon as you get the letter. They send acceptances out early and the longer you wait, the more money they'll offer. Free application means they want you at their school. And colleges get desperate. You still have time though. And sometimes junior college is better for some people. Just keep options open for yourself."
Olivia nodded. "Thanks."
"Have to have these conversations with someone, right? Bernie's got Elliot wrapped around her finger."
"Is that why he's living with her?" Olivia asked quietly.
"Yeah. I'd prefer he did though. Bernie can't live alone. She'd go nuts."
Olivia smiled a little. As far as they knew, her life was alright. But her life was far from as perfect as theirs was. It made her pretty sad, but said nothing.
They drove majority of the rest of the ride in silence. When they got back to Manhattan, a sudden sadness came over Olivia. She didn't want to go home. The last day and a half had been one of bliss.
Her life wasn't as good as she said. Her life sucked. She wanted better. So much better.
"Well, I'm going to bring you by the house because Bernie said you had some other stuff in there. Then I can take you home."
"Thank you."
They got to the Stabler residence and Olivia grabbed the last few things from her car, then Joe brought her home. When she walked in the house, it was cold. Very, terribly cold. The beginning of May was jut a couple days away but the nights still required heat. And there wasn't any.
"Nice going Shit-For-Brains, they shut off the heat because of you!" she heard Serena yell.
Olivia rolled her eyes. Serena paid all the bills. Except for when she wanted to blame her errors on Olivia. So Olivia went online and paid the bill, as well as electricity, which was coming up too. While she was at it, she paid the phone bill too. Just get it all out of the way, she supposed.
Then she showered, claiming all the hot water she could. She kept the water running as she dried off so the steam would keep the room warm until she was in her pajamas. After getting ready for bed, she opened her bedroom door and felt more of the sadness she had earlier.
Getting in bed, she began to cry. Her mom didn't care about her. This house wasn't warm or welcoming. This bed felt like more of a pull out couch, springs could be felt in all the wrong areas. Her blankets were thin and coming undone.
She was coming undone.