A/N: It's Friday and it's rainy and it's the perfect setting to write. Work is over for the week, and as Cyndi Lauper cleverly put, "When the working day is done, oh girls just wanna have fun!" This is it! This is my fun. Happy weekend.
Chapter 8
Olive was scared and tired, and more than that she was tired of being pushed around. She had been thinking over everything, and if David could get into her head and make her think that she was eating bugs she didn't want to know just how far they would go. For all she knew they could be the reason why she had slept so long - the reason why she was forgetting things. They weren't just four young men hanging out, but something else entirely. They must have had their own agenda.
With a brave face Ollie pushed off from leaning against the counter and stepped forward to David. He wasn't going to hurt her. Max said that none of them were going to hurt her.
"Are you always this pleasant? Or should I feel like a special exception?" She inquired carefully. Her tone was as even as possible, and she stood tall even though her heartbeat was far from steady. David did not retreat, and instead he cocked his head to the side with a smirk.
"Trust me princess," he belittled confidently, "It's an exception."
He was the worst.
"Thank you for the warm welcome." She bit back, looking anywhere but at David. At least she wasn't the only one not pleased with their current situation. Marko and Paul shared a similar cautious if not curious expression, and Dwayne was looking at nothing in particular, but she could tell that he was deep in thought, his brows drawn together stiffly.
It was quiet. It was too quiet.
"You don't do this often, do you?" Ollie joked dryly, and she looked over to Paul and Marko. Her mood had changed from scared to apathetic to cynical. She needed to change her tactic. "You don't entertain living, breathing people, do you?"
There was a quiet moment, but it wasn't long before a snort of a laugh came from Paul. Ollie turned away from the two stoic men and she could see the light bouncing in Paul's eyes. He nudged Marko's shoulder playfully.
"What gave it away?" Marko grinned, shaking his head. He was playing coy.
Maybe it was the lack of compassion in the way they talked. Or the lack of insight. Or maybe it was the blatant murder. It was a toss up.
"I'll level with you chica, this is so weird." Paul agreed with a breathy laugh. For once he didn't have some witty comment on her overreacting or some bold accusation to throw in her face. "If we knew that you didn't know that we were, you know, we would have -"
"We would have never expected you to come." Dwayne snapped out of his cold spell, his mouth twitching into a frown. There was something disappointing in his tone, like he had a sour taste in his mouth and he had to spit the words out. His eyes were cold and articulate, and his dark hair hid half of his face. Olive couldn't make out the different moods of the group. It was giving her whiplash.
"But here we are." She concluded as a matter of fact with a similar frown. "So what do we do now?"
He lifted his cold gaze and pushed the hair out from in front of his face, and Ollie watched as his hardened jaw slackened and he finally looked over to her. She could have easily gotten lost in his dark stare if he didn't break her out of her trance with his voice.
"We compromise."
There was a certain level of trust that would have to come with it, and that was easier said than done.
David was cold and bitter about the whole thing, and Olive made an effort to stay as far from him as possible, but the others seemed easier to come to terms with their situation. To an extent they knew that she wasn't going anywhere. If she wanted to have her freedoms they would need to trust her. They had the upper hand. She needed to be smart given her situation. Marko told her little bits of what was going on, like how Max was trying to figure out if there was an enemy that Olive's dad would have known. She really was trying to work with them, and she couldn't think of anyone her dad might have known that could about Max or the boys. She needed a break. It felt like an interrogation.
Olive retreated back to her room and changed, brushed through her hair, and brushed her teeth. She needed to feel an ounce like a normal person, and before she knew it they were mulling over ideas of what to do. She couldn't stay in the house forever, and after two Stockholm Syndrome jokes from Paul she could tell the others were also ready for a change of scenery.
They mentioned the beach or the movies, both relatively normal things to do, but she was tired of sitting around. She was going stir crazy. Paul offered the boardwalk would be a good distraction, and with some ground rules the guys tentatively agreed.
Rule 1: They were vampires.
Rule 2: They would not put up with any bullshit.
That was it. Those were the ground rules and there was a lot of gray area.
Ollie had an escort of four vampires that she was certain didn't plan on killing her. She couldn't believe her situation, hell, this should be any girl's wet dream, right?
Not only that, but Olive quickly found out that they had motorcycles too. She could have predicted it. They were the spitting image of every rebel bad boy from any movie ever. She shook her head with an embarrassed smile. It was almost an uncanny resemblance. They pulled out their bikes from behind a set of bushes close to Max's house and David was long gone before the others could get a word in.
"He doesn't like me very much." Olive acknowledged quietly, watching as the blonde cruised off down the road. Aside from the engine off in the distance it was quiet, and Ollie was tired of it. Were they always so cryptic? The three men suppressed a knowing look, and Ollie pushed a hand through her hair in frustration. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Don't take it personally. girly." Paul reassured her with a tap on her shoulder and gave her a lopsided grin. He seemed so sure and carefree, and he quickly revved up his own bike and raced away.
"He doesn't like any of us right now. Give him some time." Marko admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. He seemed to be in much better spirits, just like Paul, and with a wild howl he sped off too.
She was left alone again with Dwayne. It seemed to be becoming a habit, and she didn't know if it was because he was genuinely kinder to her than the rest or if he had drawn the short end of the stick. He silently offered his hand to help her up on his bike, and while his hand was cold, his touch was not unfriendly. Maybe she had been overthinking it.
Ollie eased her leg over the side of the bike and her thighs were brushed up against his, crossing her arms in front of her. She thought about it, and if it were in any other circumstance she probably wouldn't have gotten on the bike. She wouldn't have been sitting so close to him. She would never in her right mind be this close to a vampire, right? It felt dangerous. The rumble of the engine pulled Olive away from her vampire fears and she grabbed onto the sides of her seat to hold on. Her new worry was the motorcycle itself.
She didn't prepare for the speed.
Dwayne raced off, and Ollie quickly adjusted to put her arms around him to not be thrown from the bike. She was used to the slow and steady pace of the boat, and the bike had startled her out of her wits. Olive was scared, but in a different way. She could feel as Dwayne's stomach tightened against her grip and as she turned to look at him his face was strained. Was he that unhappy to be stuck with her? Her thoughts turned sour quickly and she realized he drew the short end of the stick. No wonder why he was so quiet. Why couldn't she have been sitting with someone like Paul or Marko? They at least seemed to be in better spirits. Olive was embarrassed and she closed her eyes tightly. Dwayne must have felt like a babysitter.
She mustered all of her strength to jump from the bike as soon as they came to a dead stop at the boardwalk, staggering to find her footing. Olive figured the faster that she could get away from him the better, for both their sake. She didn't even turn to look back at him. It was just Marko and Paul that had stopped with them, and they were laughing at her landing. David was nowhere in sight.
"Hey hey, what's the rush?" Paul joked walking up to them. "Are you trying to get away from us already?" Olive knew that he wasn't joking about the last part. "Oh come on girly, does he smell that bad?" He added out of the blue, covering his nose and winking at Dwayne.
Ollie laughed, blindsided by his last comment. He was oblivious.
Couldn't they see how uncomfortable Dwayne was being around her? She turned back to them and avoided Dwayne as he got off his bike, his eyes trailing over to her. Ollie didn't want to give him any other reasons to think of her as dependent on him. She didn't need him to babysit her.
She walked ahead of the group and past the front gate, distracting herself with the bright lights. There were so many people lined up for games and for food, and there were just as many people hanging out in groups smoking and drinking. It was an eclectic group of people to say the least. Young and old crowds flooded the boardwalk with laughing and chatting, and there was music too.
There were all sorts of street musicians playing their guitars and trumpets and drums. At one point Olive spotted a young girl, probably no older than ten playing a guitar too big for her and the guitar case was open for tips. She dug into her pockets to find a dollar or two, but instead she was met with...nothing. She didn't have her wallet or her phone, in fact, she didn't have anything! Ollie was filled with a rush of anxiety. She could feel her ears get hot. How could she forget her phone? What if she really got lost? It was thoughtless! She had never forgotten them before.
It was like clockwork that as soon as she could feel her cheeks turn pink Dwayne stepped up next to her, taking his hand in hers. She knew that he was there before she turned to face him. It was a quick, fleeting interaction and when she looked down there were two folded dollar bills in her palm. He was observant. Ollie reached forward to the young girl, gently dropping the money into the guitar case. She was met with a cheeky, thankful grin from the girl, and she turned back to Dwayne, breathless that he could read her so easily. She wanted to express her thanks, but she was at a loss for words. His eyes were a dark abyss. He was unreadable.
"You didn't have to do that." She whispered with an embarrassed smile, hoping that he could hear her over the crowd. Dwayne tilted his head, and she noticed the twitch at the corners of his mouth.
"Do what?" He contested innocently.
She wasn't going to press it.
"How about some rides?" Paul cheered and Marko seemed to be distracted by a group of girls nearby, but a thump to the back of the head made him give an incredulous look to his companion. Marko retaliated by grabbing at the collar of Paul's jacket, earning a low whistle from Paul. He wasn't intimidated, and his smile was reaching from one side of his face to the other.
"Fine, you idiot." His cheshire grin was evident, but Marko was feigning hurt. He turned towards Dwayne and Olive with a sinister smirk. "But you're going to be stuck with our new friend."
Olive's eyes went wide as Paul practically dragged her away towards the bright lights, laughing at her surprise. She was in his territory now.
"You've got to be kidding." She deadpanned as they finally stopped. Paul had bought two beers, holding them up to her with pride. He insisted that this was the best way to start the night, and that it would test her grit to hold down her drinks and go on the amusement park rides. It was just shy of hazing. No, it was hazing. It was a terrible idea, but what was she going to say? No? He was giddy like a kid and gave one to her, holding it out for a cheers.
"Welcome to the club!" He joked, knocking back his beer. Ollie's jaw was hanging open. "Hurry up Ollie." He taunted, prodding her to chug it. It was a terrible idea.
She looked back towards Marko and Dwayne but they just watched on, letting Paul off the hook for his wild antics. She wasn't going to get any help from them. Her attention was redirected to Paul as he tapped on her glass. He was challenging her. With half a resolve to turn it down she groaned, but followed his direction. It was a light beer, and it didn't go down terribly, but at what cost? She wiped the beer off the corners of her lips with the back of her hand when she was done, and no sooner was she swept away in the opposite direction.
"Cyclone, here we come!" Paul sang, putting his arm around her. She made a mistake. She made a big mistake.
Marko and Dwayne watched on, leaning against one of the fences. There were a number of unspoken words between the two of them about the addition to their company, and Marko wasn't going to push it too far tonight. He knew that they did not have the element of surprise on their side and they would have to earn her trust. There was a lot on the line for all of them.
Marko watched the crowd haphazardly, more focused on Dwayne. He was always difficult to read, but even now he could tell the change. He was cautious, tense. Marko knew that he was patient, but he did not know the extent of his restraint. For both their sake he hoped for the best.
"It could be worse." he offered with a grin, folding his arms over his chest.
"She's trapped with Paul." Dwayne reminded him, the corner of his mouth twisting into a smirk. Marko shook his head with a grin and looked back out to the Cyclone, a tilt-a-whirl ride, and he couldn't help his eyes from bouncing around as he watched people stagger and stumble all over the place.
"That is worse." Marko agreed, hiding his grin behind his hand. "Much worse."