My Way Home is Through You

“Never again will I eat that much ice cream!” Ollie tossed the empty ice cream container in the direction of her waste basket. It bounced off the corner and landed upside down on the floor.

“I agree,” as I stretched out on the bed and rubbed my swollen ice cream-filled belly.

We were currently sprawled out on Olivia’s bed. I stared up at her white stucco ceiling casually glancing over at Ollie, who had her head hanging off the side of the bed.

“What now?” I asked and sat up. Ollie pulled her head up and sat up as well.

“You tell me what happened with you-know-who at the dance,” she said and poked my belly. I groaned in protest.

“Nothing happened!” I exclaimed and tried to hide the blush that crept onto my cheeks.

“Liar, something did happen,” this time after she poked my stomach she didn’t stop. “Tell me!”

“Fine, fine, if it’ll make you stop poking me,” I said and pushed her hand away.

“Scout’s honour!” she said and placed her hand over her heart.

“Weirdo,” I said and crossed my legs.

“Mac! No changing the subject,” Olivia whined.

“Gerard asked me-“

“I already know that.”

“Do you want me to tell you or not,” that made Ollie be quiet and sit as straight as a board, she then proceeded to pretend to zip her mouth closed and lock it, throwing away the key. “He asked me to dance, I agreed. We talked. The end,” I smiled.

Ollie let out a huff and fell back into the millions of pillows she had on her bed. “That’s not the whole story,” she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Obviously,” I said. “Because there is nothing else to the story, it was no big deal.”

“Then why won’t you tell me what he said?” she looked at me and raised her eye brows.

“It’s not important,” I got up from her bed. “I’m going to go brush my teeth.”

“Alright, but I expect some explanation when you get back,” she reached over and grabbed the remote control for the TV and turned it on.

“Okay, detective Ollie,” I said and left her bedroom, toothbrush in hand.

I entered the family bathroom just a few doors down from Ollie’s bedroom. I rinsed my toothbrush and applied some toothpaste and began brushing my teeth.

“Sorry Ollie, need to grab-“

I turned and my eyes locked with a tall, muscular boy. His dark, messy black hair fell into his deep brown eyes. I would’ve looked away if I could tear my eyes away from his body. I blushed when I remembered that I was only in a tight tank top and pyjama pants.

“Oh you’re not Ollie,” he said and smirked.

“No I’m Mackenzie, Olivia’s friend.” I said, thankfully I had finished brushing my teeth before he came in.

“Jason, Ollie’s brother,” he smiled and walked over to the sink. I could feel myself blushing more. “I just need to grab this,” he reached over and grabbed what looked like a glasses case.

“Mac, how long does it-“she stopped like she hit a brick wall. “Jason, stop harassing my friend.”

“No, it’s okay. I was just coming back,” I said and grabbed my toothbrush and walked towards the door. “Come on, Ollie, you wanted to hear the rest of the story.”

“I’ll be with you in a minute, Mac,” she said and waved me off.

I left the bathroom, but waited outside the door. I could only catch bits of what they were saying.

“I told you to stay…you always…you never…” I could tell that was Ollie’s voice.

“Whoa, settle down…needed to grab…I didn’t” I decided that I heard enough and quickly made my real exit. I quickly jumped onto Ollie’s bed and pretended to be interested in the movie that was on TV.

“Since when did you watch Ninja movies?” Ollie asked as she entered the room.

“Since always,” I laughed nervously, but turned the TV off anyways.

“If you wondering, that’s my older brother Jason, he’s visiting from school.” she said and sat down on the bed.

“Oh what school?” I tried to ask, hoping that my voice didn’t tell her how curious I was.

“He goes to NYU,” she said with little to no interest. “But anyways. Enough about him, aren’t you supposed to be telling me something?”

“Right, Gerard just asked me how I was doing, and if I could ever forgive him.” I said.

“And you said?” Ollie asked.

“I told him I was fine, and I don’t know.”

“You don’t know…” Ollie looked at me like I had three heads.

“Yes, I don’t know. What else was I supposed to say, he broke my heart Ollie.”

“I know, but you could’ve said something else, anything,” she looked down at a loose string on her bed. “You still really like him, don’t you?”

I nodded. I couldn’t deny that I didn’t, Gerard was still special to me, even though he hurt me.

“Wait, what about Benji?” Ollie suddenly piped up.

“What about Benji?” I asked.

“He wanted to talk to you before the dance, what did he say to you?”

“He um asked me to the prom,” I said and looked away.

“Already?” she said more to herself. “Isn’t it a bit early, prom isn’t for another 3 months or so.”

“Yeah, but that’s the way Benji works,” I let out a yawn. I couldn’t believe I was already tired.

“Tired already?” Ollie said and then tried to hide a yawn.

“Yeah, the dance was pretty crazy,” I laughed. “Especially for someone who had a tongue wrestling tournament all night, right Ollie?”

“What are you talking about?” she said, a look of panic spread over her face.

“I told you high school dances was like Cinderella’s ball, I saw you with Bob!” I said and laughed when I saw her face turned four shades darker.

“Did you really see me?” she said in a horrified voice.

“Don’t worry Ollie, I was the only on that saw,” I laughed and hugged her.

“You scared me for a minute!” she said. “You may have saw us, but you didn’t hear what he asked me!”

“Are you keeping things from me, Olivia?” I said and gasped.

“Of course not idiot, I’m telling you right now aren’t I?” she laughed. “Bob asked me out! And I said yes!”

“Ollie, I’m so happy for you!” I said and tackled her into a hug.

“Yeah, but you can’t tell anyone, not yet at least. We want to keep it on the down low at least for now.” She said and let out another yawn.

“Okay, but I have a great idea,” I smiled.

“Yeah, what’s that?” she asked.

“Let’s get some sleep!” I said and got underneath the covers.

“I think that’s one of the most brilliant things you’ve said all night,” she got under the covers as well and reached over to turn off her lamp.

The room was silent, which allowed my mind to wander.

“Hey Ollie, you still awake?” I whispered.

“Not anymore,” she said in a raspy voice.

“I was just wondering, how old is your brother?” I hope she was tired enough so she wouldn’t remember me asking her this.

“He’s almost 20, why?”

“No reason, just wondering,” I turned around and faced the wall.

“Goodnight Mac,”

“Night, Ollie.”