A Twist in My Story

Olivia snuggled in closer to the warmth. Last night had been a whirlwind of an experience with a little fun and crazy dashed in. The excitement of running from the cops, something she never ever would have been expected to do in high school, left her on a high. It had been scary and exhilarating at the same time. However, when the buzz wore off, it wore off quickly. Truly the last thing she could remember before passing out was asking Nick to stay with her until Carrie got back.

Nick. He'd been so...different last night at the party. It was like he dropped the jerk facade and let himself be the Nick Jonas she'd grown up with—the one who didn’t mind being seen with her. And talking to him? She learned so many things about him. It was nice to just talk to him, really talk to him, instead of just being blown off by him. Now she only wondered how he'd act when they met again on campus. There was no telling. She just wished...

A spicy scent tingled in her nose, making it twitch. Turning her head to rub it away, she found the scent to be stronger on her pillow. Strange...it was almost like...cologne? And a familiar one at that. One more sniff and she recognized the scent—Nick!

More senses started to come alive. A gentle breeze ruffled her hair, fluttering over her cheeks. Then a soft touch on her waist...She bolted upright, flinging herself off the small bed.

"Liv?" Nick asked, his voice gravelly from sleep. “You okay?” He lay on half of her small bed, her indentation next to him. You could hardly tell where one stopped and the other started. She'd been sleeping with him!

"Nick! Oh my god, what are you...? Why are you...? How are you...?" she rambled. "You're in my bed."

Nick sat up on the bed, started to stretch, then abruptly stopped and averted his eyes from her. "Uh, Liv, your skirt's a little..."

Olivia glanced down at her party skirt to see it had ridden up in her sleep and now only barely covered the necessary parts. With an audible gasp she quickly adjusted it. Her blush couldn't have been any redder. "Thanks," she murmured, humiliated.

"No problem," he shrugged it off, knowing she was easily embarrassed. Facing back toward her, he found he couldn't stop staring at her. Her hair looked sleep-rumpled, her honey brown eyes slightly glazed from her sudden awakening, her lips were plump from her nervous habit of biting them, and her left cheek had an impression of his shirt print. In other words, she looked beautiful. He shook his gaze away from her suddenly. What was he thinking? This was Olivia, geeky pastor's daughter whom he'd known forever. She wasn't supposed to be attractive. She was supposed to be....Olivia.

"What are you doing here, Nick?" her voice broke into his thoughts.

"I guess I kind of fell asleep next to you after you asked me to stay. I didn't mean to, honestly, and nothing happened," he explained.

Olivia looked away, half in embarrassment and half in pain that he wouldn't do anything with her regardless. God, she so needed to get over this crush. "I figured nothing happened," she said quietly. "Well, it's morning so you can go now. I'm sure Serena will be looking for you."

Nick stood, walked towards her, and stopped in front of her. “First of all, Serena is home for the weekend so she won’t be calling me. Second of all, I don’t really want to leave. I want to stay and talk.”

“Why?” Olivia asked dubiously, biting her lip nervously.

Nick flashed her the smile that had been melting her heart since she was a young girl. “Because I had a good time with you last night. Well, running from the cops wasn’t exactly fun, but talking with you was. I really liked it. We’ve never really talked like that before.”

"Yea, we didn’t exactly run with the same crowd in high school, did we?"

"Yea." He glanced away awkwardly. Olivia definitely had a point there.

"Don't feel bad,” she insisted with a light touch to his forearm, not being able to handle how guilty he looked. “I liked talking to you last night too," she added with a shy smile.
Nick wasn't sure what he was feeling at the moment. His brain felt a little sluggish but at the same time very cognizant of emotions. His heart took on a pounding rhythm like it did whenever he was around Serena. Being with her was a rush. But this was Olivia though. He shouldn't have a pounding heart for Olivia Chadwicke. She was the epitome of a good girl and he didn't want a good girl - there was no rush of excitement there. But for some reason, he felt that excitement with Olivia. What was he to do?

"Nick?" Olivia's voice shook him out of his thoughts again.

He turned to face her. Her honey brown eyes inquisitively met his. Her perfect brows arched in confusion. He blinked, reminding himself she asked a question. "Liv, have lunch with me," he requested impulsively.

She leaned back in shock. "Wh-What?"

His hand clasped hers, stopping her nervous fluttering. "Have lunch with me. Please?"

Her eyes darted between his sincere eyes and their entwined hands. He seemed honest but she was having a hard time believing that. He'd hurt her before. So what was different now? Why did he suddenly want to hang out with her?

Then a name came to the forefront of her mind. Carter. She really liked what they had going on. He was nice, funny, sweet, sincere...and he never made her feel bad for being herself, as Nick had done before.

"Liv? What do you say?" Nick urged softly.

"I...I..."

Suddenly her dorm room opened and Carrie shuffled in wearing the same outfit from last night but looking no worse for the wear. "What a night, huh, Liv? The cops were an added bonus. Sorry for losing you. It was such a mad rush-" she turned and saw them standing by the bed holding hands. "Um, what's going on here?"

Olivia yanked her hand from under Nick's and backed up. "Nothing. Nick helped me home last night after the party then...slept here. He was just leaving," she explained, keeping her hands crossed over her chest.

"Right. But not before Liv answers my question. Liv?" Nick looked at her expectantly as he stopped at the door. His eyes stayed on her as if Carrie wasn't even in the room.

"I'll think about it and text you," she said quietly. "Bye." She closed the door after him, paused, then turned to face the firing squad.

"Okay so do you mind telling me what the hell I walked in on? Cuz I'm thinking it's the Twilight Zone or something," Carrie rambled, firmly setting her hands on her hips. "Did you say Nick Jonas was in your bed with you?"

Olivia walked past her to the bathroom. "I told you, Carrie. He walked me back after the police raid, we talked, and then we...well we fell asleep. End of story." She busied herself by examining what was left of her makeup from last night, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"But you didn't...you know, sleep sleep with him, right?"

Olivia spun around, her mouth hanging open. "No! Why would you even-"

"Just checking, Liv. I had to know if I needed to have a chat with him, but now that I don't..."

"Carrie, I'm touched by the thought, but honestly I passed out five minutes after we got in the room. He must've fallen asleep too because we were both just waking up right before you got back," she explained.

"Good, because I don't trust him. He's hurt you before and I don't like that," Carrie draped her arm over Olivia's shoulders companionably. "So what did Nick ask you? What question was he waiting for an answer for?"

"Oh, he wants me to have lunch with him today."

"What? But what about Carter? You two have been hanging out a lot lately."

"We have and I like him, but Nick...well you know our history. I kind of want to see if we can be friends again. Am I crazy?" she asked looking at Carrie in the mirror.

"Absolutely, but you gotta do what you feel best. I'll be here if either of them messes with you. We'll go Brooklyn on their asses," Carrie gave her a squeeze.

Olivia couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks, Care. I think I'll text Nick after I freshen up. I don't know how you all sleep in your party outfits."

"Practice, darling, lots of practice. You'll get the hang of it," Carrie smiled over her shoulder as she turned to leave.

"Wait, Carrie! Where'd you crash last night?"

Carrie's smile turned into the Cheshire Cat's. "At a friend's place."

Olivia's mouth dropped open again. "Oh my gosh, you didn't! You so have to tell me!"

"I will...after you shower. Your boy’s cologne is smelling up the place," she fake-coughed, waving a hand in front of her face. "Make sure you clean behind your ears," she called back before shutting the bathroom door behind her.

Olivia gaped for a minute more, then laughed. God, she loved college. Undressing and climbing into the shower, she let the warm spray pound out the kinks. She would relax here then begin the day which was turning out to be really good.

The rest of the weekend passed by really quickly and before Olivia knew it Monday was here. As she walked across campus to her creative writing class (the one she shared with Nick) she thought back on her weekend. She hadn't accepted Nick's lunch; she cautiously observed the 'once bitten, twice shy' philosophy. Instead she agreed to coffee with him, which had gone better than she'd expected. When Carter had returned to campus on Sunday morning after visiting with his family, he had called her to see if she would like to grab something to eat with him. She accepted with, what Carrie assured her, were rosy cheeks. They'd had a great time as usual and now as she headed to class, her stomach flipped over the thought of both Nick and Carter being in the same room.

"Hey, sunshine," Carter greeted her, bringing her to the present. He'd taken to calling her 'sunshine' because of her ‘hair and sunny smile’ he told her.

"Hey, Carter. Ready for class?" she smiled back at him.

"Oh you know it," he rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't be in this class if it wasn't a Gen Ed requirement. But I'm glad it is. I met you in it." He smiled down at her.

Olivia looked away lest she show him her vivid blush. She didn't know what it was, but Carter got under her skin - in a good way - and she liked it.

Carter grabbed her book-free hand as they entered the classroom and started for their usual seats. Olivia halted them however when she saw Nick waving to her and pointing to the empty seats next to him. She glanced over her shoulder at Carter, asking with her eyes if he minded the change in seats, then proceeded to lead them over to Nick's area after he shrugged an 'I don't care'.

Nick caught sight of their entwined hands and frowned in confusion. He knew Olivia sat next to the guy in class, but he didn't think they were in a relationship. He wasn't her type of guy. At least he didn’t think so—he honestly had no idea what her type was. He pushed those thoughts aside though and plastered on a smile when Olivia reached him and sat down. "Hey Liv."

"Hi Nick. Are you sure we aren't taking someone else's spot?" she asked before pulling out her notebook.

"Liv, this isn't elementary school with assigned seats. You're fine." He leaned forward and stuck out his hand to Carter. "I'm Nick Jonas."

Carter took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "Carter Shea."

"Oh I'm sorry. I should've introduced you," Olivia fretted.

"No worries, sunshine, we are big boys. I learned to play nice years ago," Carter assured her with an easy smile.

Olivia laughed while Nick fought the urge to grind his teeth. "Okay, okay, Mr. Charmer," she teased. "Where's Serena, Nick?"

Her question made him stop glaring at Carter and face her. "Oh she's probably just running late. Rena tends to run on her own clock," he said. Olivia scolded herself for the jealous feeling that rolled through her at the intimate nickname.

Even as he said the words, Serena walked into the classroom and froze mid-step. She couldn't possibly be seeing Nick sitting with...her. And he was smiling at her too. What the hell happened this weekend while she was at home? Stiffening her spine and raising her chin to give her usual air of arrogance toward her classmates, she plastered on a smile and ascended to her spot at Nick's side. "Nick! I missed you so much this weekend," she hugged him tightly, sneering at Olivia over his shoulder.

"I missed you too, Rena. I thought you were going to text me when you got in?" Nick said, resettling back into his seat as she did.

"I forgot. Forgive me?" she pouted.

"Of course. Hey Rena, you remember Olivia, right?" he twisted so she could see past him.

"Uh huh, of course I do," she beamed at Nick sweetly only for the smile to go cold when she looked at Olivia. "Hello."

"Hi," Olivia replied quietly. As much as she hated to admit it, Serena intimidated her. Feeling her insecurities begin to rear their ugly heads, she smiled softly at Carter when his hand covered hers and gave it a squeeze. He had been watching the entire interaction.

Nick noticed, frowning, and just when he was going to say something Serena interrupted. "Have lunch with me? I can't wait to tell you how my weekend went," she cooed softly near his ear as the professor started class. Her hand rested on his upper thigh, rubbing softly.

"Not now, Serena," he whispered, halting her hand movement with his own hand before turning and asking Olivia for a pen.

Slumping back in her seat, arms crossed, Serena's eyes frosted over with anger. Staring at the brunette on the other side of Nick, she knew something happened this weekend and she silently vowed to reverse it.