Olivia (30 page)

“
You, too. Is Mom coming
down?”

“
No, you two are coming up. Right?”
His question is a suggestion.

“
Right,” we both say together. Jon
grabs my bag and follows me up the basement stairs, where my mother
is waiting with my brother and a suitcase.

“
Happy New Year and Happy
Anniversary,” I tell her, giving her a hug.

“
Are you okay with this?” she asks
quietly in my ear. I pull away and smile reassuringly.

“
I haven’t given it a second
thought,” I tell her. “Knowing you’re okay makes me okay,
Mom.”

She kisses me on the cheek before hugging Jon and
wishing him a happy New Year, too. “Take care of my baby girl,” she
says to him.

“
Yes, ma’am,” he answers
her.

“
There’s no alcohol at this club?”
she asks her sister-in-law.

“
Not tonight. Don’t worry, we won’t
take any chances, I promise,” Anna says.

“
We’ll call you when we get home,
sis,” Chris adds.

“
Okay, that will put my mind at
ease.”

“
Poppet,” Dad cuts in, “please
don’t worry about a thing tonight. If you’re going to spend the
entire evening wondering what’s happening with Livvy and Trey, we
might as well just stay in with them–”

“
No!” my brother, Anna and I all
yell at the same time.

“
Momma, don’t worry!” Trey
instructs her, pointing his finger at her. She kneels down and
kisses him on the cheek and hugs him tightly. When she stands up to
leave, I see her eyes watering, and I feel a lump grow in my
throat.

I wondered how she could be so strong, but seeing
that makes me realize she’s just putting on a brave face for us.
Mom leads Trey to the car as Anna whispers something to my dad. He
asks her to repeat it, not hearing what she said the first
time.

“
Give her lots of wine,” Anna
reiterates loud enough for all of us to hear. My dad laughs as he
shuts the door behind him.

The band we came to see is only on their third song
at eleven-thirty, but I’m completely out of breath and sweaty from
jumping around in the crowd. I know for a fact I haven’t stopped
smiling since they came on the stage, and Jon and I have been
taking turns yelling the lyrics at one another.

“
I’m so hot,” I say loudly in
between songs.

“
Want to take a break?” Jon
asks.

“
No, I don’t want to lose my spot!”
I’d finally found people my height or shorter to stand behind, and
we’re less than ten feet from the stage.

“
Want some water?”

“
What if you can’t get back to
me?”

“
I’ll elbow my way in. Lord knows
everyone’s been doing it to us.”

“
Okay,” I sigh, anxious to get a
little relief as I wipe some perspiration off of my forehead. Jon
looks at me with a salacious grin before grasping a handful of my
sweaty hair, pulling it with just a little force and pressing his
lips hard against mine. “So thirsty,” I whine to him when he pulls
away.

“
I’ll be right there. Can you see
the bar from here?” He points to the left of the stage as the band
starts to play again and the crowd screams. I glance briefly and
nod. “I’ll be able to see you, okay?” he yells.

“
Okay, fine!” I holler back before
beginning to shout the lyrics in sync with everyone around me. I
start to jump again to the beat, as if I was the only person in the
room. The only other concert I’d ever been to was at a dignified
concert hall, and I was still a little shocked that Mom and Dad let
me come here. I wonder if they have any idea what a concert like
this is like.

An older guy pushes through the crowd, but when his
shoulder starts to get in my way, I nudge him back, not letting him
block my view. He turns to me and smiles.

“
Sorry,” he says.

“
It’s okay,” I yell
back.

“
They’re my favorite band,” he
tells me, his lips so close to my ear I can feel his breath even
though I can barely hear him.

“
I love them, too,” I say loudly,
not wanting to get as close to him. When they start in on the
chorus, we both start singing with them. I glance toward the bar
and see Jon watching me as he waits in line. I wave at him before
turning my attention back to the lead singer.

“
Are you Livvy Holland?” the guy
asks me, and my heart falters a little. I smile shyly and simply
nod, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.

“
Adrian,” he says, extending his
hand. As his hand closes around mine, I feel another hand sliding
up the back of my thigh. I know immediately Jon couldn’t have made
it through the crowd that quickly, and swing around abruptly to see
who’s behind me.

“
Warren, it’s her!” Adrian yells to
the other guy as I step into the two girls in front of me to escape
his hand.

“
Watch it!” one of the girls yells.
I turn around to apologize to her, and again feel an unwelcome hand
on the small of my back, moving lower. Adrian grabs my
wrist.

“
Let go!” I yell, pulling my arm
back hard, escaping his grasp. I turn back around to his friend and
push him away. “Get your hands off of me.”

“
I just want to know what you’ve
got on under that,” he says. “Is it the black thing? With ruffles?”
Fortunately, my face is already red from the heat, so he can’t see
me blush further.

“
I don’t know what you’re talking
about.” Looking toward the bar, I see that Jon has left the line
and is pushing his way toward me.

“
Baby, what’s going on?” asks
Jon.

“
Nothing,” I tell him as both of
the guys stand up straight, pushing out their chests. “These
assholes
were just about to
leave.”

“
Nice,” Warren says, raising an
eyebrow. He cocks his head and turns his attention to Jon. “Does
she always talk dirty to you?”

“
Let’s go, Liv.”

“
No!” I argue with him.
“
I’m
not leaving.
They
are.” I wait for them to move, as if my
suggestion will magically make them turn around and walk away.
Adrian crosses his arms in front of his chest. I realize quickly
I’m putting Jon in a bad situation. “Just ignore them,” I tell him,
pulling him next to me and turning back around to face the stage.
Once more, I feel a hand that doesn’t belong to Jon on my
hip.

“
Leave! Me! Alone!” Instinctively,
Jon puts his hand on Warren’s shoulder, pushing him away, but he
shoves him back, and the crowd starts to part. Someone grabs my arm
and pulls me away, and I turn around to see my tiny aunt putting
all of her strength into it.

I don’t see my uncle, but I hear him threatening the
guys. A security guard shows up and breaks them up. Chris tells him
that we’re leaving, which just makes me angry that my night has to
be ruined because of these guys. Jon looks at me, his expression
apologetic. As he walks away, I hear one of the guys yell to
him.

“
Take some more pictures, man!” I
glare at Warren when I realize it was him that said it, and only
see his expression as he doubles over in pain. My uncle raises his
hands over his head, backing out of the crowd and keeping his eyes
trained on the two guys. The security guard tells Chris to get out.
Needless to say, we don’t need to hear his instruction.

Jon puts his arm around me when we break free of the
other concertgoers. I turn around to make sure my uncle made it
through okay. He finally turns toward the door, taking his wife’s
hand in his and walking briskly behind us toward the exit.

“
You could get arrested!” Anna
yells at him as soon as we hit the sidewalk. “That was stupid.” She
lets go of his hand and walks quickly down the street toward the
parking garage.

“
I wasn’t just going to stand there
and let him say those things,” he explains to her, catching up with
her.

Jon looks uncomfortable, pulling me to a stop. “I’m
sorry,” he says. “I should have done something.”

“
No, you shouldn’t have,” I tell
him. “For one thing, I was fine.”

“
He was touching you, Olivia.
That’s not okay with me, and it certainly shouldn’t be okay with
you.”

“
Of course it wasn’t okay, but we
could have moved. Fighting definitely wasn’t the answer, because
look where it got us.” I check my watch, seeing that we have three
minutes until midnight. “Now we get to bring in the new year in the
middle of a dirty Hell’s Kitchen street. How fun for us,” I say
sarcastically. “Plus, no offense, but those guys were a lot bigger
than you.”

“
For the record, I have no doubt
Chris and I could have handled them. Feel that,” he says proudly,
moving my hand to his bicep.

“
Wow, that’s new.” I squeeze his
muscle, feeling new terrain. “When did this happen?”

“
Lifting weights helps me get out
some of my...
frustration
,” he says, his
insinuation obvious. “I’ve been doing it a lot.”

“
I’m not a proponent of violence,”
I say to him softly, “but I think the fight would have been pretty
fair after all. That’s kind of sexy,” I admit. He smiles, clearly
pleased with my reaction.

“
You, just now realizing this,
though?” he starts. “That just confirms that it’s been way too
long.” I look up at him and sigh.

“
How many days?” I ask
him.

“
Six weeks, exactly.”

“
I’m sorry.” I know an apology
isn’t what he wants, but it’s all I can give him.

“
Me, too,” he whispers, leaning
down to kiss me. I can still hear my aunt and uncle arguing some
distance away from us, but they’re soon drowned out by people on a
nearby patio, counting down as they watch the Times Square
celebration on large televisions. “I’m sorry about the picture. I’m
sorry about those idiots in there. I’m sorry that we’re displaced
on New Year’s Eve,” he laughs as he looks around. “Come with me.”
He takes my hand and leads me up the steps to a shop entrance. The
lights are off and a CLOSED sign hangs in the window. As the nearby
partiers count the last five numbers, he kisses me again, as I hold
his body hard against mine.

His hands never leave the sides of my face, which
just makes it that much more romantic to me. He’s so tender and
sweet, and puts so much thought and attention into every embrace.
Every kiss is new; is different. We stay entangled through the
entirety of Auld Lang Syne, and continue until my aunt and uncle
stumble upon us. Before I let him pull away, I capture his bottom
lip, scraping lightly with my teeth. He opens his eyes, filled with
need and desire. He’s out of breath.

“
Are you guys ready?” Anna asks,
her voice more relaxed. When I see her, she’s smiling and holding
my uncle’s hand. I guess they made up.

“
If we have to,” I tell
her.

“
We’ll go back to the house for
awhile. Maybe you can play some of that band’s music. I was just
getting into it,” my aunt admits.

“
Sure,” I agree, tucking my hand
into the back pocket of Jon’s jeans. He puts his arm across my
shoulders, and we follow Chris and Anna to their car.

“
Don’t tell my dad about tonight,”
I say as we get into the car. “I don’t want him to
worry.”

“
Little Liv,” Chris says. “I can’t
keep secrets from him. If you’re not safe, he needs to
know–”

“
Oh, my God, Chris, I was fine. We
were in a crowd with a ton of people. Realistically, what could
have happened?”

“
Don’t ask that, baby,” Jon says
softly, lightly running his fingers up and down my leg. “There are
a lot of things that could have happened.”

“
I’m glad one of you recognizes
that,” Chris says. After a few minutes, he speaks up again. “I’m
sorry we had to leave, Liv.” He looks at me through the rearview
mirror. “I know this wasn’t how you wanted the night to go, Jon. I
can pay you for the tickets.”

“
No way,” my boyfriend says
nonchalantly. “I’m with Olivia, and really, that’s all I wanted.” I
weave my fingers between his and look up at him. He runs his other
hand through my hair and angles my face to his. We kiss until we
get to Chris and Anna’s house, and after nearly ten minutes
navigating through crowded streets, it’s certainly awkward when we
have to get out of the car.

Once at home, Anna goes next door to get Eli from
their neighbor’s house. A few kids from my teenage cousin’s school
had gotten together for a chaperoned party. Chris, Jon and I go
inside, grabbing some drinks from the refrigerator and settling in
the family room. My uncle turns on the television, but hands the
remote to me. I immediately pass it to Jon.

“
I don’t know why you wouldn’t tell
us,” I hear my aunt saying as she comes through the front
door.

“
Because it’s none of your
business,” Eli says.

“
Elliot, you get in here this
second!” Chris calls to him. My cousin appears in the middle of the
archway, dressed in jeans and a black concert t-shirt. His hair
hangs in his eyes, which peek through in a glare at his father.
He’s clearly annoyed. Anna stands behind him, and it’s the first
time I’ve noticed how much Eli’s grown. He’s about six inches
taller than his mother. “Don’t talk to your mother that way, do you
understand me?”