Olivia rolled over and breathed in the scent around her. With a smile, she opened her eyes and sat up. As she looked around, she noticed Elliot was missing.
She got out of bed and traveled to the door, opening it. Elliot was standing there, holding some snacks and trying to open the door at the same time.
"Hey, beautiful," Elliot said, watching Olivia stand by the door.
A smile crossed the young girl's face. "Hi."
"When did you wake up?"
"Just now," she said, opening the door more for him.
Elliot came in and put what he was holding on the bed. "Right when I get up, huh?"
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Sure. So what did you bring me?"
"What does it look like?"
"Okay, no need to get smart," Olivia joked, grabbing a bottle of water.
Elliot came up behind her, hugging her tightly. Olivia held his arms as he kissed her cheek. "You're definitely smarter than me," he admitted.
"I know."
"Who's the smartass now?" Elliot asked, turning her around in his arms.
"I won't admit to anything," Olivia whispered, leaning into his chest.
"Except to being smarter?"
"Yup."
Elliot chuckled and hugged the girl leaning against him. The gentle pressure provided great comfort for her and she smiled. When she didn't move away, Elliot whispered, "Everything okay?"
Olivia nodded. "Yeah. You just smell good."
The comment only made Elliot laugh. "Glad to hear, I guess."
"Do we have to stay standing?" Olivia whined. "I wanna lay with you."
"Don't gotta beg," Elliot joked, pulling her to the bed.
They laid down, Olivia's head on Elliot's chest, arms around each other. They continued watching their movie, enjoying each other's company. It was nearing the end, where the character Mark is found after running away from home.
"'You said we'd be happier. You didn't keep your promise,' the boy told his father.
'I know,' Tom replied, tears swelling in his eyes. 'I'm sorry.'
The two hugged and stayed on the train, watching the lights of the town go by."
Olivia always hated watching that part. She felt for the fictional character. He was the outsider, the one the other kids picked on, but at the end of the day, he was loved by all of them. Something she didn't have, yet again. A tear rolled down her cheek, but she didn't wipe it. She didn't want Elliot to notice. He did though, because he heard the tiniest of sniffles.
Elliot's hand traveled up to Olivia's back, rubbing small circles. He didn't know if he should say anything, so he didn't. There was so much he wanted to say, however: she deserved all the love in the world and that she would have it one day, she'd get anything she could ever want because the world would give it to her, and, even though he told her she didn't have to be perfect, she already was. To him.
Whatever they had going on right then, neither of them quite knew what to call it. He didn't want to scare her with labels, but he wanted to claim her as his. Things had done a complete turnaround and their relationship had moved fairly quickly. But was it just a part of her game? He didn't think so. He hoped not.
The two had started the movie's sequel and continued to lay together. Olivia kept fighting sleep, but her body was slowly winning the battle. She had gotten plenty of sleep the night before, but her brain still seemingly needed rest. Elliot noticed how her body would relax into him, her breathing steadily leveling out. But then, she'd jump awake slightly, trying to shake off sleep.
"If you want to sleep, sleep," Elliot whispered. "It's okay."
"I don't wanna sleep," Olivia told him, almost stubbornly.
"Well it looks like you're about to pass out. Just take a nap. None of this is going anywhere."
"When is your mom coming home?"
"Around 7. I told you, it's fine," Elliot assured her, making sure the blankets where covering her.
Elliot laid back a little bit and Olivia scooted up to lay her head in the crook of his neck. The brunette felt a kiss on the bridge of of her nose, which caused a small smile to appear on her face. She opened her eyes, batting her lashes at Elliot.
"What?" Elliot asked, knowing she was about to ask for something. Becca had done the cute, innocent, give-me-what-I-want charade so many times that he knew what it meant.
"Nothing," Olivia replied, her voice a little too high pitched.
"Oh, it's definitely something. I can tell."
"What would I want right now?" Olivia asked.
"Food probably."
"If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm rarely hungry."
"I find that hard to believe. But seriously, what do you want?"
She wasn't sure what she was trying to do, in all honestly. She just wanted Elliot to keep looking at her, holding her, kissing her. She loved the feeling. It was odd her her, though. The feeling of wanting someone had never been so strong for her. It was alarming.
"Kiss me."
Elliot had no objections. He leaned over her, putting his lips on hers. It was a gentle, slow kiss, one full of affection and care. Olivia wrapped her left arm around Elliot's neck, keeping him in place. Her other hand held lightly onto his shoulder.
Elliot knew this time to not push anything, so he stayed where he was and didn't progress to any other motions. He has a few fingers against against her cheek, stroking her skin, but didn't want to do anything to scare her.
Olivia could tell Elliot was being much more timid than before. Slowly, she gained the courage to wrap her leg around Elliot's. She just wanted him closer. She didn't understand what she was feeling or what it meant. The only thing that made sense was the fact that she was wrapped up in blankets with Elliot, kissing him.
It was a little surprising when Olivia did that, but Elliot assumed it meant she felt okay. He brushed her hair out of the way with his fingers, then dragged his lips to her neck. The teen was sure to be careful and gentle.
The two didn't stop until they heard a noise downstairs. It made both of them jump. Both still had elevated heart rates, but the little heart attack didn't help the cause.
"What was that?" Olivia asked.
"I don't know. Let me go check. Stay here."
Elliot got out of bed and went out of the room. Olivia rolled her eyes at his comment to stay where she was as she picked up her phone. She had a text from Amanda.
'Hey, it's the week before finals. Know what that means? Haha come to my house at 2 if you wanna join in'
Week before finals. Nerd Week.
Olivia ran out of Elliot's room and down the stairs. She stopped Elliot before he got to the door. Elliot could see a little bit outside, but not everything. There were a few people running around in the yard though he couldn't make out who it was.
"Elliot, stop!"
"Why? What's-"
"It's Nerd Week. I totally forgot. It's a thing the cheerleaders do. I usually tell them who to do but I've been so busy and I haven't really-"
"Woah, wait. What is Nerd Week?"
"I-It's a thing the cheerleaders do. Week before finals. They go around and pull pranks on all the nerds. So you'll probably have windows full of eggs, TP'd house and trees, and a very wonderful note on your doorstep," Olivia explained quickly, panicking. "I swear I wouldn't have told them to go after you! I just don't-"
"Hey, it's okay. It's just eggs and toilet paper," Elliot tried to comfort her, reaching to touch her shoulder. The brunette pulled away.
"That's not the point. The point is they shouldn't do that. And I was a part of it for a long time. I used to love it and thought it was hilarious. I did this to Alex, Casey, John...all of them." The girl was so ashamed. Tears welled up, but she suppressed them. "I-I Should go stop-"
"No! Don't!"
Olivia was already at the door, but turned around. "Why not?"
"If they know you're here, won't that be bad?"
"I can make up something. They're too dumb to realize that I don't have projects to work on anymore."
"Liv, you're wearing pajamas and you've been laying in bed all day. They'll think you-"
"They can think whatever they want. I wasn't doing anything wrong."
"Please, Liv," Elliot still argued. "I've been bullied before. It's not so bad for me. I can handle it. I don't wanna bring that on you though."
"I'm a big girl, El. They can call me a slut if they think I was sleeping with you. They can call me a nerd if I lie and say we were studying. I don't care. I can handle it." She appreciated his concern, but didn't want him to feel bad about what she went through. She'd been attacked by those girls before. She could take that again.
"You know they'd think the former. Being called a nerd is way better than being called a slut. Don't do anything."
As much as she wanted to go out there and stop everything, Elliot had a point. And the fact he went along with her secrecy brought her comfort. They just decided to go upstairs and forget what was going on until they were sure the cheerleaders had left. Unfortunately, they got distracted by the movie playing and completely forgot to go clean up the mess.
•••
Not the best chapter I know but it was more of a transitional part. Leave comments and vote! I love seeing what you all have to say! ☺️