Gold, Guns, Girls

The screen door swung, slamming against the door frame much louder than Olivia had intended. When she left Cameron's house that afternoon and noticed all the trucks lined up in front of her house, she knew that Elliott was having his friends over. So, her first instinct was to sneak inside without being noticed, to avoid any confrontations with his seemingly perverted friends. She knew they were joking, but she couldn't help but to be mortified every time they made a joke about her body.

But Olivia never was very stealthy.

The heads of several boys snapped in her direction, and knowing smirks spread on all of their faces. They eyed her up and down, from yesterday's wrinkled clothing, to the make-up smudged beneath her eyes. Her hair was in disarray; her usual ringlet curls were frizzy and sticking up in every direction, and she stared at them with eyes wide, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Where were you?" Joey Callabert asked, raising a single thick, dark brow.

"Ca-Cameron's." She said sheepishly, slipping out of her shoes and bending over to line them up neatly against the wall.

A chorus of 'ooh's erupted from all the boys--All of them except for Elliott, that is, who's expression seemingly darkened at the mere mention of his name. Olivia found it odd, for Cameron and Elliott had been friends up until the summer before she entered the tenth grade. The three of them were always doing stuff together; going to the beach, out to dinner, bowling, bike rides, and now they could barely stand together in the same room. They would bicker back and forth about the stupidest things, and it was seemingly impossible for them to ever agree on anything. Olivia used to be jealous of the bond they had, for she often used to feel left out when it was the three of them, because the boys always had so much in common--But now she couldn't even bring Cameron around for dinner when Elliott was home.

"What were you doing there?" Elliott grumbled, violently slamming down the buttons on his Xbox controller with the pads of his thumbs.

"What do you think?" Randy Smith snorted, sending a sly smirk over his shoulder to the blushing girl. "She was getting laid, obviously. Cameron's a lucky man."

"Amen." Jared Belfast murmured, snatching the second controller from Alex and running his character off the edge of a cliff. This, of course, stirred up some trouble with a few of the boys, and they instantly turned their attention away from Olivia, to the playful fist fight going on in front of them. Olivia quickly crept upstairs, shutting her bedroom door behind her and breathing out a sigh. She grabbed a scrunchy from the top of her dresser and pulled her hair up into a messy bun. She went into the bathroom that was attached to her room and washed the make-up from beneath her eyes, and then changed into a pair of jean shorts and a light blue, pullover sweater.

She originally intended on doing her homework, but the second she sat down at her desk, there was a soft knock at her door. She furrowed her brow and approached the door with caution, half expected Andy Gomez to jump inside and spray her down with silly string. She had no idea what these boys were capable of. She felt some relief, however, when she opened the door to reveal Christopher--Better known as Topher--Stevens. He played with his fingers as he looked down at her with a shy smile on his face. Olivia smiled back. She had always liked Topher the most out of all of Elliott's friends. Though they were all idiots, they had wriggled their way into a special little place in her heart, but Topher more so than the rest. She liked the fact that he was shy, and never said anything perverted when everyone else did. Sure, he'd laugh along sometimes, but if they ever went to far, he'd always say something.

"Hey Olivia." His blue eyes were much different from Cam's, she noticed. They both had blue eyes, but Cameron's were dark like the middle of the ocean, where as Topher's were very light, like the ocean's shore.

"Topher." She nodded, leaning against the door frame. "What can I help you with, Sir?"

His hands found their way into the restricting pockets of his dark jeans, and he shrugged his shoulders. His and Cameron's styles were somewhat similar as well, except Topher didn't look like a rock star like Cam did. Olivia believed it was because of the way that he carried himself. Cameron could be so arrogant sometimes, and it showed in the way that he walked, but Topher was much more reserved. It was like he didn't expect the same instant acceptance that Cam did. He knew that people weren't always going to like him, so he tried to make the best impressions possible. Cameron was convinced that everyone liked him, though, because he knew that he was something special. If they didn't like him at first, he'd be sure to make them, and if he couldn't, then fuck them. It's their loss, he felt.

"Just wanted to apologize for those idiots." He chuckled quietly, playing with his dark, brown hair nervously. "They can be such jerks sometimes."

"They can." Olivia nodded in agreement. "Cameron's just my friend. I would never, uhm, do that with him."

"Yeah." He said softly, giving her a slight nod. He looked up from the floor beneath his feet and cracked a smile, playing with the ends of the hair by his ears. "He doesn't seem like your type anyways."

Olivia pursed her lips, wondering what he could have possibly meant by that. How was she not his type? They had been friends for so long, you'd think she'd portray some of the traits in which Cameron liked in a girl. It would be so strange if she wasn't at all his type because they had been so close for so long.

Almost sensing her distaste to his last statement, Topher started stammering, trying to explain what he had said in a different way. He didn't like upsetting Olivia. In all the years he had known her, he had done everything in his power to make sure he never crossed the line with her.

"I-I just uhm, I just meant that like, he's so... You know, and you're just... Not. You know?" His brows were furrowed, and he was now tugging much harder on the ends of his hair. Olivia felt bad for him, but at the same time, she was very amused by the way a simple look from her made him stumble over his words. She didn't know she had that affect on anyone. All the boys she was surrounded with were all very confident in themselves, maybe even arrogant, but Topher wasn't like that. He wasn't sure of himself when he spoke to her, and Olivia couldn't help but to crack a smile and find his stammering endearing.

"No, I don't know." Olivia laughed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But it's okay, Topher. He's not my type either."

His cheeks turned pink, and he looked down at the floor. "Well, then since there's nothing going on between you two, can I ask you a question?"

She nodded to him, smiling with a curious glint in her pretty, celery green eyes. Topher really liked Olivia's eyes. He really liked everything about Olivia's face. Her eyes were large and almost doe-like, lined with two rows of thick, reddish-brown lashes. She had freckles dotting her nose and the tops of her cheeks and her shoulders. Her mouth was small, but her lips were very plump, and were naturally a colour comparable to that of a cherry Popsicle. Her nose was merely a small, slightly pointed bump just an inch above her lips, but her hair was one of his favourite part. It almost reminded him of a lion's mane when she left it in it's natural orange, ringlet curls.

"Well, like, uhm." He paused, letting his eyes fall shut for a moment. He breathed in deeply, and exhaled slowly before looking back at her with a small smile. "So, like, this Friday... This Friday, there's this party to celebrate our win against West Side-"

"How can you already have a party planned for a game you haven't won yet?" Olivia raised a single brow at him.

"It's West Side." He grinned at her. "They suck. They haven't won a game in seven years, and that was because the other team never showed up and was disqualified."

"That makes sense." She laughed.

He nodded, looking up at her. "So, what I was saying was... I-I would really like it if you went. Y-you know... Like, with me?"

Olivia furrowed her brow. She had just made plans with Cameron before she left for Friday night. They were supposed to make up for the dozens of missed movie nights that Cameron had skipped out on to hang out with Heather. it was going to be the first time in a long time that they would hang out together for reasons other than Cameron needing her help to get ready for a hot date, or to take care of him when he was sick and/or hungover. She didn't want to miss out on that, but at the very same time, giving him a taste of his own medicine seemed very appealing at that point in time. Maybe then, he'd understand what she felt like when he left her hanging like he seemed to do so much lately, and possibly stop hanging out with Heather so much.

So, Olivia smiled at him and watched him from beneath her lashes. "That sounds like fun."

"Awesome!" His nervous demeanor vanished, and he looked much more comfortable than he had before. "I'll pick you up at seven and we'll get some food first, alright?"

"Sounds good." She nodded, watching him as he slowly walked backwards away from her. "Bye Topher."

"Bye Olivia." He smiled at her one last time before making his way downstairs.

Olivia sighed and shut the door, making her way toward her bed and collapsing on the springy surface. She knew she should call Cameron as soon as possible and cancel their plans, but she couldn't bring herself to do it at that very moment. Instead, she curled up beneath her thin, cotton sheets and let herself fall into a light slumber.

She'd call him later.