What Once Was, Is No More

Olivia sat at the table, mindlessly chewing on her cereal; just moments ago she had let Courtney out. She figured there was something between the two of them, but she never thought it would unfold to what she knew what happened last night. It was feelings like this that made her want Jason to come home already.

“Morning…” She looked up and saw Brendon rubbing his eye and scratching the back of his head as he walked towards the table.

“I think you mean good afternoon.” She said with cereal still in her mouth.

“Seriously? Fuck. I’ve got the worse headache right now.” He said rubbing his temples.

“That’s a sign of a great night. You did have a good birthday right?” She asked staring at him.

“One of the best I’ve ever had, maybe even better than my twenty-first. I can’t thank you enough. In fact, it helped a lot, with everything. I think maybe another week or so and I’ll be able to head back to LA.” He said smiling at her.

That soon? She thought as she smiled a little at him, but if he was happy, so was she. Maybe it was best if he left sooner, so she could let all these feelings go out the door with him.

“Well, I think I’m gonna stay in bed all day, at least ‘til this headache subsides.” He said getting up.

“Okay. Too bad we don’t have any menudo around. That will cure your little hangover.” She said smiling at him.

“Ugh…” He groaned, walking away.

After taking a long hot shower, she wrapped her hair in a towel, and sat on her bed. She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and called the one person she needed to talk to

“Charlotte?” She asked.

“Olivia, how’s it going since the last time I saw you?” Charlotte asked.

“Surprisingly okay.” She said laughing a little.

“Really? Well that’s good then. So, what’s the problem?” Charlotte knew her all too well sometimes.

“It is good, a little too good. Char, it’s happening.” She said lowering her head.

“What’s happening? What are you talking about?” Charlotte asked confused.

“Char, I’m falling in love with him all over again. I-I don’t know what to do. All those feelings I had for him five years ago have suddenly resurfaced. I even told him I loved him, but I said I didn’t mean it, which wasn’t true, ‘cause I did meant it. Ugh…” Olivia said falling back on the bed.

Brendon smiled his million-dollar smile as he heard her tell Charlotte everything. It was all he needed to hear to know that he still had a chance to be with her again. Call it fate, a coincidence, kismet, call it whatever you want, but Brendon didn’t care, he was going to take any opportunity to have her back in his life, for good.

“Oh boy, Liv.” Charlotte said sighing.

She sighed. “I know, I know. I don’t know what to do. I can’t exactly ignore him ‘til he leaves.”

“I guess you just gotta deal with it. You should call Jason, just to hear his voice, a reminder that you two are together and in love?” She suggested.

Olivia looked down at her phone after she heard the call waiting tone. “Speaking of the devil. It’s Jason. I’ll talk to you later Char. Thanks for listening.”

“Bye cuz.” Charlotte said as Olivia hung up.

“Hey babe.” She said speaking to Jason.

“Hey sweetie. I miss you like crazy.” He told her.

“I miss you too. I wish you could come home already.” She said removing the towel from her hair.

“Me too. So, I’m guessing you guys had a pretty good time last night? When I called Brendon to wish him a happy birthday, he already sounded like he gone haha.” He said laughing.

“Yeah, it was…it was great. His friends came up and we went out, and had a few drinks. It was nice.” She said remembering parts of the night.

She could hear him yawn. “Well, I think I’m gonna take a nice, long nap. Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.”

Brendon stared at himself in the mirror as he brushed his teeth. He rubbed several red lines on his chest, still stinging from his shower. He could only think of one event that led to them being there. It was a pretty shady thing to do, especially with Olivia in the same apartment, but it was only a onetime thing. Now that he knew how she felt about him, nothing would get in the way of the two of them being together.

“Gah, Brendon. Don’t you ever watch where you’re going?” Olivia asked rubbing her arm.

“Haha, sorry. Where are you going?” He asked looking her up and down.

“Just out. I don’t know. I’ll text you if I grab something for dinner.” She said putting on her jacket.

As she stepped outside, she inhaled the crisp air. She looked up and saw the clouds cluttering around and knew that only meant rain. She walked a couple blocks before sighting a park. Something inside told her to go and so she did. There was an unoccupied old stone bench on the opposite side of where she stood. There was something about those kinds of benches that Olivia absolutely loved and could not explain. She sat down, stretching her legs in front of her and placing her hands on her knees.

Brendon saw her walk across the pathway to a bench; her back was turned to him. He slowly walked towards her, making sure not to make noise so she wouldn’t turn around. He sat down opposite of her and saw a smile form on her face.

“Did you follow me or something?” She asked keeping her gaze straight ahead.

He chuckled and smiled. “You can say that.” He said as he arched his arm over her legs.

She followed his movement and then looked up into his brown eyes. “You heard didn’t you? What I said over the phone?” She asked.

He side smiled and nodded his head. “Yeah. Are you mad?” He asked, hoping she wasn’t.

“I should be, but I’m not.” She said in a whispered tone.

“So, tell me. Say it to me, right now, to my face.” He told her, both never breaking eye contact.

She slowly shook her head. “This isn’t right.”

He placed his hand on her cheek, gently stroking it with his thumb. He leaned in close to her face about to kiss her, when she spoke.

“I love you.” He had finally heard what he wanted to hear from her.

He smiled and kissed her. They kissed and kissed, even when the rain started to pour down on them. He kissed her more passionately with each second that passed by; it was as if they were teenagers again, more in love than they had been those years ago. Brendon broke the kiss, took her hand in his, and they both ran back to her apartment. They continued to kiss all the way to her door.

She started to laugh. “Hold on…” He kissed her. “…lemme open the door.” Another kiss.

She fumbled with the key trying to open her door and she finally did, she grabbed Brendon by his jacket and pulled him inside with her.

“What now?” She asked.