“All the world is made of faith, trust and pixie dust.”
- Peter Pan
20| sweetheart
I look up at Oliver. His eyes meet mine. I let go of Owen’s hand immediately.
“There’s your prince charming.” Owen nudges me, smirking and looking at Oliver.
In reply, I stay silent.
Oliver is glancing away, gazing at the people in the parking lot.
“So, I guess, I’m gonna go join my friends now,” Owen says, pointing at where his friends are hanging out around the parked cars. I can see Woody among them. He is wearing my cape.
I nod affirmatively, but Owen says, “What, no ‘Thank you’ for saving you in there?”
“For the times you screamed like a little girl and scared me?” I ask. “I think I’ll pass.”
Owen chuckles and then says, “See you around, Bradbury.”
He leaves to join his friends while I turn around and look at Oliver. He was silent when Owen and I were talking. He’s been silently waiting for me.
My heart squeezes as I look at him. I take a deep breath in and clear my throat.
Oliver glances at me and then glances over at the exit. He starts to leave. I follow him silently.
We walk out of the haunted house area and head towards home on foot. It’s almost 1 in the morning. The streets are empty. The night is silent, although there are noises coming from some houses due to late Halloween parties. There are not many people outside.
I try to come up with something to talk about. Silence with Oliver has always been comfortable. I remember the day we biked around the whole town. We were silent. But it was comfortable. It felt like we didn’t need words to fill up our silence. Just us being there in the moment was enough.
Today, the silence is heavy. It coils around my throat, making it hard for me to talk.
“So...,” I try. Oliver keeps walking on by my side.
“Did the haunted house haunt you?” I say, remembering Oliver telling me it wouldn’t haunt him.
Oliver doesn’t answer right away. I did not expect him to. I know him that much now.
“No, it didn’t,” after a moment, Oliver replies.
“Oh,” I reply. Then I have nothing to say.
I wish I was someone who comes up with ideas to completely turn around a situation. Yes, I can be random sometimes. But tonight doesn’t seem like a time when you talk about unicorn poop.
“But,” Oliver starts. I glance up at him and find him looking at me.
“After you disappeared through that mirror, and I couldn’t find you, it didn’t make me feel so great about the fact that I lost you there,” Oliver continues. “I was looking for you, calling your name, and...”
Oliver stares deep into my eyes.
“The people of that haunted house, the actors, they heard me, and wherever I went they kept telling me I would never find you, ever again,” Oliver says with his face hard, as he clenches his jaw.
Oliver’s eyes roam over me as if to check that I am really here with him right now, like he has never seen me before. “And I know it was absolutely ridiculous but those bastards...”
Oliver pauses. He inhales deeply. I have never heard him curse like that before. Oliver never shows strong emotions.
“They just kept repeating. It’s like they try to find your fear, and when they catch one and know how to terrify you, they don’t seem to stop,” Oliver says accusingly.
I want to say it’s their job, but I stay silent and let Oliver take out his anger. Oliver snaps his head towards me. “Do you have any idea how it made me feel to hear that I’ll never find you again, on repeat?”
Oliver takes a step forward and threatens me. I step back.
“I-”
“Yes, you. How could you just leave like that? And do you even know how ridiculous were those actors?” Oliver fumes. “I hated your haunted house. We are never going to go there ever again.”
“O-Okay,” I stutter.
Oliver closes his mouth and steps back. He runs a hand through his hair frustratingly, and then looks at me like he wants to murder me on spot.
I need to add the point that one of the strands of his hair, following the pull of gravity, falls on his forehead, despite the rest.
That moment, Oliver looking at me so angry and frustrated, does things to me my celebrity crushes never did.
“I didn’t plan to leave you alone. I just accidentally opened the mirror door and fell on the floor.” I gulp.
“You fell on the floor?” Oliver booms.
“Face first,” I add.
Oliver’s eyes go wide and again he takes a step towards me as if to check my face.
When he is close enough, I say, “Actually twice.”
Oliver looks at me like he would have felt better if he could just pick me up and toss me. I can’t stay serious, so I suddenly boom out in laughter.
“And look at you, you are laughing! What did I expect?” Oliver shakes his head and huffs to calm himself down.
I lean over holding my stomach and laugh as Oliver keeps sending me hate stares.
I have to tell you, when Oliver looks at you that way, you have no choice but to feel these weird somersaults in your stomach.
“It didn’t hurt,” I say.
“When does anything hurt you? You might even fall from a two story roof doing something ridiculous and say, ‘Oh it didn’t hurt me,’” Oliver replies, faster than I thought he would.
“What do you know? Maybe it doesn’t hurt me because I’m Wonder Woman.” I shrug.
Oliver’s eyes skim over me from head to toe. Then he makes a face and says, “Yeah, right.”
“Wonder woman who’s dressed up as a vampire,” I add. “Wonder woman needs to dress up for fun. It’s Halloween.”
“Totally,” Oliver agrees mockingly and glares at me.
“Hey,” I step towards him and punch him in the arm, “I know how to take care of myself. I’m not a kid.”
Oliver snorts. “Yes. Because kids don’t trip and fall face first, not once, but twice. Not even three years olds.”
I gape at him, mouth wide. I’m a three year old?
“IT WASN'T MY FAULT!” I say. “It was the haunted house, damn you.”
I push him, placing my hand on his chest. He grabs my wrist and tries to stop me. Although I’m pushing him as hard as I can, he doesn’t even move an inch.
What a surprise.
“What are trying to do here?” Oliver narrows his eyes at my futile attempt.
“Nothing,” I say, “Just tryna make sure your butt says hello to the ground.”
And then Oliver does something I never thought he would do. He places his hands on both my shoulder and pushes me back. My eyes go wide and I fall backward with help from the pull of gravity. Before I can touch the ground and make my gravestone there, I feel a tug, and I’m hanging, with Oliver’s arm looped around my waist as he is leaning over my face.
I breathe hard, and he says, “How did that feel?”
“You son of a-,” I say.
Oliver smirks a little, leaning over me. I can see his eyelashes. Do I need to tell you his eyelashes are longer than mine? I need to glue fake eyelashes on, and he has the perfect length.
Damn those boys that have beautiful eyelashes. What would they even do with them? Flutter them towards girls?
I can’t even imagine Oliver batting his eyelashes at me. I would die, twice. Once in shock, next time due to bursting my stomach out while laughing.
“You are not going to leave me like that ever, do you understand?” Oliver says, threateningly almost.
I snort. “It was not intentional, but okay.”
“You think this is a joke?” Oliver says and suddenly loosens his arm around me. I start to fall.
Before I even know I’m screaming, Oliver tugs me upwards. “What the heck?!”
“Now you see. You know what, the haunted house did serve you right, making you fall face first on the floor.” Oliver shrugs.
When he shrugs his hands move a little. I grab his shoulders for leverage like my life depends on it.
“Let me stand up, what are you doing?!” I squeal.
Oliver tilts us up. I’m still holding on to him for support. When we are finally standing straight, I’m in his arms, with my hands around his neck.
My heart is beating too fast, probably because of the fact that I was threatened with death a few minutes ago.
Or maybe because Oliver just seems really close.
“We were supposed to be together, Gwen. You were supposed to be with me,” Oliver says softly.
I know what that means. I can see what this is about, and when he says we are supposed to be together and I was supposed to be with him, like that, I can’t blame my heart for rising my throat and making me feel like I can’t talk.
But I do, because I need to make a point. Because Oliver needs to know he is not the only one who thinks that.
“I wish it was you with me in the haunted house. I went there with you, to be with you. I hate the fact that we went in different directions,” I say. “I wish you were with me the whole time.”
Oliver nods like he understands. He lets his arms go and releases me. I step out of his personal space and step aside.
I tuck my hair behind my ear and start forward on our way. Soon we reach the cross section, where one street leads to his house, and another leads to mine.
I turn to him and say, “So, I guess that’s it. I had fun tonight. Happy Halloween.”
Oliver gazes at me in reply.
“See ya,” I say as I turn to leave towards my house, as the party at his house is already dead. Besides, it’s almost too late to not return home.
When I have gotten a few steps ahead, I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around to find Oliver, who reaches me and falls into step beside me.
I give him an inquiring look. He sends me the same look in return.
“I think your house is that way?” I point towards the other street.
“Yes,” Oliver replies calmly, as if he’s not just following me.
“And my house is this way,” I say.
“I know that,” Oliver replies.
“So, um, why are you following me?” I ask the question finally.
Oliver shrugs,“I am not following you. I’m walking with you.”
“Okay,” I say and look forward. I clear my throat. “And why are you doing that?”
Oliver gives me a look. “Why am I walking? Because I have legs?”
I glare at him. I will say, I have successfully rubbed off on him so much that he is annoying me the way I would have annoyed him.
Wow. Gwen does wonders, doesn’t she?
I roll my eyes as I see a little smirk on the corner of Oliver’s lips. He likes this. Of course, he does.
I flip my hair and keep walking as Oliver accompanies me all the way to my house. As we reach our—or my—destination, Oliver stops on the front porch and says, “See you tomorrow.”
Then he turns around without so much as a glance and vanishes into the night.
Remember the night when we came back biking and he left me at my house? Yeah, he didn’t say anything then.
Tonight he at least said he will see me tomorrow. What a development, Oliver. I appreciate it.
I roll my eyes and go inside, smiling and shaking my head. Heading upstairs I reach my bedroom. I look at myself in the mirror. I look worn out, with my heavy makeup and costume. So I slip into the washroom and take the makeup off, rubbing my face vigorously.
The sooner the makeup comes off, the sooner I can get into my PJs and sleep.
Then suddenly I stare at my neck, which has a little, almost unnoticeable, red mark.
I blush almost instantly. I can’t believe that happened. Did he really...?
When he said, ‘We are supposed to be together, Gwen,’ did he mean all of that?
I realize that I’m grinning like an idiot. I shake my head, and I wonder what version of Oliver I’m going to see tomorrow.
Not gonna lie, I liked the vampire one.
*****
The next day, when I walk in the hallway of our school, I find Oliver leaning against the locker beside Jason’s, as Jason is rumbling about things. Oliver looks so bored, like he’s going to fall asleep.
So I step in and smile. “Hello!”
Oliver doesn’t so much as acknowledge me, besides glancing at me once, while Jason throws one of his arms around me as he gives me a side hug.
I turn to Oliver and say, “Wow, thanks for the nice greeting. Nobody will be able to tell you were crying out for me yesterday just because I left you alone.”
Oliver glares at me while Jason chuckles. “He was crying for you?”
Oliver rolls his eyes while I reply, “You should have seen him. He practically went crazy looking for me in the haunted house.”
Oliver gives me a look as if to say ‘Will you shut up?’
I mean, I can, but why would I want to? Oliver looking for me and going crazy over it doesn’t happen everyday.
“You guys went to the haunted house without me?” Jason pouts.
“Well, we did look for you, but it seemed you had already vanished into someone else’s house,” I nudge him and raise my eyebrows.
Jason grins,“I was just telling Oliver about that.”
“And he looks really bored,” I glance at Oliver, who is still glaring at me. So far he has managed to say not a single word. He must have had some word limit for everyday. “But when doesn’t he look bored?”
“He was not looking bored when we were talking about you,” Jason says and points a look at Oliver, who stands straight suddenly and gives Jason a warning look.
“You were talking about me?” I ask, beaming at the thought that Oliver was talking about me.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Jason replies and smiles as he looks at Oliver, who is still warning Jason.
“We were talking about how-” Before Jason can finish Oliver interrupts hurriedly.
“I was telling him how you fell face first on the floor twice,” Oliver replies.
“Oh yeah, we were definitely talking about that,” Jason says and gives Oliver a pointed look. Then he narrows his eyes at my face as if to check if I injured myself.
I open my mouth and show him my teeth.“Look at them, all intact.”
“Unfortunately,” Oliver adds. I turn to him and smack on his arm.
“So, where did you vanish to last night, Darth Vader?” I enquire.
Jason glows as he answers, “Mhm, places.”
“Ooh, places as in beds, or something else?” I nudge him.
Jason chuckles. “Oh yeah, remember the girl I was trying to talk to? Well, I guess we did.”
“So you guys talked?” I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively. Oliver besides me makes a gagging noise. That makes me laugh out loud.
“Well, yeah. It went well. But the thing is she lives in the next town and she was here for a getaway. I’m just a getaway,” Jason says and sighs.
“Aww, sweetheart,” I say. “It will be okay.”
I pat Jason on his back sympathetically, while Oliver rolls his eyes. Jason shakes his head.
“It was just one time fun, I guess,” Jason says, and he shrugs.
I smile, thinking how Jason has a crush on that girl. She looked nice.
We start for our class. Jason is walking ahead, and I am walking beside Oliver. Suddenly he yanks on my sleeve, I raise my eyebrow at him.
“It’s not the 90’s. Is it?” he asks,
I press my lips together. “No, why?”
“Then why are you calling him sweetheart?” Oliver says.
“He is my friend, I’ll call him whatever I want. What’s your problem? You’re not my friend, are you?” I say.
Oliver looks at me with the eyes of a predator and says, “yeah, and you need to remember that.”
“Remember what?” I say innocently.
“That I am so not your friend,” Oliver replies and I swear to God I see his eyes flicker down to my neck for a fraction of a second before he moves and walks away.
*****
A/N: Oops, I'm like an hour or two late?! I was doing work and then I went like aren't I supposed to be updating?
Next chapter will be so much fun, I promise. You guys are gonna love it.
They are going to go somewhere to have fun. I don't know about Oliver but Gwen sure will. We might even see Oliver snap a little ;)
And maybe something sweet will happen too ;p
Mwahahaha.
(I don't have a cliffhanger in this chapter so I decided to write that in author's note. I know I'm evil.)
Stay safe.