Olivia (42 page)

We make it to the diner with time to spare. We
finish eating by midnight, so I suggest we go to my house for a
little bit. After convincing him my aunt will leave us alone, he
agrees to it.

I’m extra quiet, opening the front door, but realize
Kelly is already awake when we get inside. She’s reading the book
she brought, using a small book light. As I walk by my brother’s
room, I see they’ve pulled out the trundle, and Nikki is curled up
on the second bed with Teddy. She and Trey are both sound
asleep.

“
You’re early,” she whispers,
getting up and setting her book on the side table.

“
Yeah. We were going to go watch a
little bit of a talk show. He’s going to take a cab back to
campus,” I tell her. “Is Matty home?”

“
He’s not coming home,” she says.
“Did you know he was seeing someone?”

“
No,” I say, starting to walk
toward the basement in an effort to escape the conversation. I just
want to get back to more alone-time with Jon. “He doesn’t talk
about that much here.”

“
Oh, okay.” I take Jon’s hand and
start to pull him with me, but Kelly keeps talking. “Jon, it’s good
to see you again. What movie did you see?”

My brain can’t produce an answer. “Breakfast... at
Tiffany’s,” Jon blurts out abruptly. “It was a special engagement
showing. One night only,” he explains.

“
I’ve been trying to get Livvy to
watch that for years! Did you like it?” she asks.

“
You know I don’t really like old
movies,” I tell her. “I dozed off,” I lie, hoping it will keep her
from asking any more questions about the film.

“
I tried,” Jon says as he shrugs
his shoulders. “What can you do?”

“
Well, thank you for trying,” she
laughs. “You two go downstairs. Just be quiet when you leave, Jon.
Trey was a bundle of energy and hard to get down.”

“
Welcome to our world,” I say
back.

“
I’m going to head upstairs, Liv.
I’m not used to late nights like this.”

“
That’s fine, Kel. I’ll make sure
he’s quiet, and I’ll look in on Trey and Nikki once more before I
go to sleep.”

She smiles and waves as she starts to walk up the
stairs. Jon and I go the other direction to the basement. “Great,
now I’ll have to watch that stupid movie,” I chastise him.

“
You weren’t saying anything,” he
reminds me. “Breakfast. That was the only thought in my head other
than
I just got to spend the evening making love
to my girlfriend
. I think we’re lucky that didn’t come out,”
Jon says as he takes a seat on the leather sofa.

“
You’re right.” I take his hand and
pull him back up, pull him into my room with me.

“
This is okay?” he asks.

“
She went to bed. It’s not like
we’re going to do anything, anyway.”

“
Anything?”

“
Everything,” I correct myself.
“What do you need?”

“
I need to kiss you some
more.”

“
Perfect, because I want
that.”

“
Livvy?”

What’s wrong with his voice?

“
Livvy, are you awake?”

And why is he across the room from
me?
I open my eyes slowly, sleep clouding my thoughts. I
blink a few times before focusing on the figure at the door. It’s
much shorter than I expect, and his hair–

“
Trey?” I jump slightly when I
realize who it is. I feel something shift beneath me and realize
Jon is in the bed, under the covers, with me. “Hey, buddy, uh...” I
stall, speaking quietly, hoping Jon doesn’t move. “Hey, don’t come
in, I’m, uh... I’m not feeling great.”

“
Okay,” he responds.

“
What time is it?”

“
Morning,” he says, and my heart
stops beating. I feel Jon’s arm tense under me. He’s awake, but
thankfully, he knows not to move. “I think it’s around
eight.”

“
Are Mom and Dad home?”

“
No. Kelly wants to know what you
want for breakfast.”

“
I’m not hungry,” I tell him
quickly. “Just tell her I’m not ready to get up, ‘kay?”

“’
kay.”

“
And I’ll come up when I’m ready,
all right?”

“
Okay.”

“
Can you shut the door,
buddy?”

He doesn’t answer verbally, but steps in, grabs the
doorknob, and slams it shut.

“
Shit,” Jon says as he gets out of
bed hurriedly. Still not fully awake, I scan his clothes and
realize he’s still dressed, for the most part. T-shirt, jeans... I
remember that we made out, after we came in here, but we were both
tired, and–“We must have fallen asleep.”

Exactly.

“
Uhhh,” I start, not sure what to
do. “How are we going to get you out of here?”

“
You just go up first, make sure
everyone’s preoccupied–”

“
Livvy?” my aunt calls from the
other side of the door. Jon and I stare at one another, completely
silent.

“
Closet?” he mouths to me. I shake
my head just as my aunt opens the door.

“
Oh,” Kelly says,
shocked.

“
Aunt Kelly?” my brother yells from
upstairs.

“
Jackson, honey!” she says,
obviously flustered since she used my brother’s given name. “Stay
up there and play with Nikki, okay, Trey?”

“
Okay.”

My aunt comes in and closes the door. “Olivia
Sophia,” she starts, “what happened here?”

“
Nothing!” we both say in unison. I
start to climb out of bed to explain, and realize I’m wearing only
a camisole and panties. My bare leg, peeking out from under the
covers, raises her suspicion immediately.

“
I swear,” I tell her, pulling my
leg back and sitting up in the bed, hugging the blankets
closely.

“
Did your brother see
him?”

“
No,” I say quickly.

She shakes her head as she looks back and forth at
us. “Jacks is going to murder me,” she says.

“
Dad doesn’t have to know, does
he?”

“
Kelly, I promise you,” Jon says.
“I slept in this, and nothing happened. We kissed, and we fell
asleep.”

“
You said you were going to watch
TV,” she reminds me. “You said he’d get a cab home last
night.”

“
It was an accident, Kelly,” I
plead. “Please don’t tell Dad. Jon can go home–”

“
That would be a great plan, Liv,
if your parents hadn’t called ten minutes ago to tell me they were
on their way home.”

“
How far away were
they?”

“
Fifteen minutes.” Her nostrils
flare in anger as she says it. “And these are just estimates. They
could be in the driveway as we speak. Get out of bed,
Olivia.”

I hop up quickly, holding my hands over the tops of
my thighs. I glance at Jon, who raises his hand to his chin and
covers his mouth as he rubs his morning stubble with his fingers,
obviously hiding a smile.

“
Go take a shower. You don’t
look
like nothing happened,” she says
under her breath.

“
What about him?” I ask, worried
about Jon.

“
I invited him for breakfast,
remember
? You overslept,” she lies,
glaring at me. “Now go get in the shower while I convince your
brother Jon just came in the front door.”

“
I, uh,” Jon says. “I don’t know if
I should stay for breakfast,” he says as he pulls on his
socks.

“
Get your shoes,” my aunt tells
him. “You’re staying, because if my brother finds out what really
happened, you and I will both be shunned from the Holland inner
circle.” Jon picks up his shoes and follows my aunt out of my room.
“Shower, now,” she says one last time to me. I grab some clean
underwear from my drawer and run quickly to the bathroom, starting
the shower immediately.

I can’t believe we fell asleep. We’d been kissing
chastely on my bed, talking about the night. We had made up
completely, with no hard feelings about anything that was said or
done the night before. I was a little uncomfortable, the bodice of
my dress a little constricting, and I’d made a comment to Jon. He’d
suggested I change into something more comfortable, and I did. I
had pulled on the camisole and a pair of flannel pants.

We kissed some more, but the basement became chilly,
and I told Jon I wanted to get under the covers. He’d taken off his
shoes, socks and dress shirt, and crawled into bed with me. His
hands explored my body as the kisses became less inhibited,
and–together–we’d taken off my flannel pants. His fingers...

I sigh under the hot water, becoming turned on again
just thinking about what he’d done. He had to kiss me to keep me
quiet... and the kiss lasted for quite some time.

I was tired after that. He held me close to him,
stroking my hair, lulling me to sleep. As I was dozing off, I
remember thinking that he should probably leave, but I didn’t want
to suggest it. I didn’t want him to go.

I didn’t want him to go, and yet I never intended
for him to stay the night.

I remember suddenly that my parents could be home
momentarily, and rush to clean up and wash my hair. I don’t want to
leave Jon alone with my Mom and Dad. Just as I step out of the
bathroom in only my underwear, my hair in a towel, I hear their
voices upstairs.

I run to my room and pull on a pair of jeans I’d
left folded on my dresser.

“
Livvy?” my dad calls to me, his
footsteps audible, getting closer on the wooden staircase to the
basement. I pull on the only shirt near me–Jon’s dress shirt that
he’d worn last night. It still smells like him... like
us
. The first time we made love last night, he didn’t
bother to take it off of me.

After buttoning it quickly, I tie the ends of it in
a knot. The sleeves had never been rolled back down since Jon had
moved them to expose my hands last night.

“
I overslept,” I blurt to my dad as
he stands outside my door. “I’m coming up.”

“
I heard,” he says with a laugh,
stepping in and giving me a hug and a kiss on my forehead. “You can
take your time getting ready, if you need to,” he suggests.
“Kelly’s holding breakfast for us.”

“
Us?”

“
Yes, she made enough for all of
us. You know how she loves to take care of us.”

“
I know. But I’m ready.”

“
You hair’s in a towel,” he reminds
me. “She invited Jon. He’s upstairs, you know?”

“
Yeah, she told me. It’s fine,” I
say. “He’s seen worse.” I swallow hard, wishing I hadn’t said it.
“I mean, I’m sure–”

“
Whatever you want to do,” he cuts
me off and leaves my room. “See you upstairs.” I return to the
bathroom, pulling the towel off of my head on the way. My wet hair
falls down my back in knots. I think about drying it, but remember
what’s motivating me.

Jon’s upstairs, alone, with my family, after
spending the night in my bed. I have no idea how many lies he’s had
to tell at this point–nor do I know what they are.
I hate this.

After brushing my hair, I quickly pull it back in a
messy French braid. I put some powder on my face and run some gloss
over my lips, then shut off the lights and run upstairs.

“
There she is,” Jon says,
immediately standing up off the couch as soon as he sees me. My
whole family is in the living room with him. “Good morning,
Olivia,” he says with a forced smile, crossing the foyer to get to
me.

“
Hi,” I say, holding my arms out
for a hug.

“
Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” he
whispers in my ear, “and Angelotti’s for dinner. You had antipasto
and eggplant parmesan.”

“
I hate eggplant,” I whisper back,
tucking my head into his shoulder to hide my lips.

“
So I learned,” he says, letting
go. “But you liked it last night,” he whispers, raising his
eyebrows and nodding to me.

“
Gotcha.”

“
Where’d you get that shirt?” Mom
asks. Of course she notices. Jon hadn’t put two and two together
until she poses the question. He lets me answer.

“
Goodwill,” I say, looking down at
it. “I thought I could paint in it.”

“
Goodwill?” Dad asks.

“
What?” I ask, shrugging my
shoulders and leading Jon into the empty kitchen. “They have cool
vintage things sometimes.” I’d never been in a Goodwill before, and
had no idea where there even was one.

“
Ahhh,” Dad says, following us
closely. “And here I thought you were trying to save me
money.”

“
Well, it’s a win-win.” Dad
chuckles under his breath as the three of us take seats at the
formal dining room table. Mom and Kelly bring Trey and Nikki in,
getting them situated before going back into the kitchen to get
food.

“
Emi, please, take a seat,” my aunt
encourages her. “Livvy said she’d help.” I look up at her
surprised, but quickly recover as I jump from my seat and return to
the kitchen.

“
There’s lipstick on the collar of
that shirt,” she says. “You couldn’t find anything
else?”

“
Kelly, Dad was coming downstairs.
It was the first thing I grabbed. Just go with it, okay?” She shuts
her eyes and shakes her head, taking a few deep breaths. “What do
you need help with?”