Never Crossed My Mind

Olivia was just about to pee her pants from nerves and anticipation when the doors to the conference room opened. Pontius was the first one out; he stood in front of her for just a few moments before wrapping his arms around her in a huge bear hug.

“I’m so sorry, Liv,” he mumbled against her face. “You can punch me if you want to.”

She gave a small smile and hugged him back. “It’s all right. You give me a free Party Boy dance and we’ll call it even.”

One by one, they all filed out of the conference room. Dave, Ehren, Preston, Wee-Man, and Steve-O – they all hugged her and apologized. She forgave them easily; that’s all she really wanted anyway, for them to believe her. After a couple minutes of more apologies and some talking, Jeff and Johnny came out of the conference room.

“Well, Liv, I guess I owe you a pretty big apology. We should have done some more investigating before assuming what we were told was correct. I think what you three have going so far is really good. Maybe if you’re up for it, you can meet me at my office tomorrow just before lunch and we’ll talk details?” Jeff offered.

It left her feeling a little less than reconciled with the director, but it would do for now. “Sure. We’ll be there.”

“Good deal. See you then.”

Jeff left out the front door of the building. Olivia knew he was going to have a busy rest of the day; he’d have to release a statement about the whole thing, no doubt. She sighed as she watched him go. Maybe one day he’d trust her again. She looked up when she realized it got quiet and saw Johnny standing awkwardly, hands in his pockets. Everyone else seemed to have moved down the hallway to give them some privacy.

“I rode with Jeff, so I probably shouldn’t be too far behind him,” Johnny offered.

Olivia gave a slight nod. “You’re right. He can be kind of impatient when it comes to getting somewhere.”

“This all seems to have happened pretty fast,” Johnny said. “It’s almost still processing. I know I owe you an apology for believing that you’d do something like that … there’s a lot we need to talk about, I guess.”

“Yeah, I guess there is. Are you free tomorrow afternoon? I’m supposed to meet with Jeff before lunch. Maybe you and I could grab a bit to eat after that.”

“Sure,” Johnny agreed. “That would be good. I’ll see you tomorrow, Olivia.”

She offered a weak wave as he walked away. His continued use of her full name still stung. Perhaps like Jeff it was just going to take time for him to trust her again.

Julie walked up and hugged her. “You did it! Look happy, Liv.”

She did her best to smile. “Yeah, I am happy. Of course. Should we celebrate tonight?”

“Of course,” Pontius confirmed, walking into the conversation.

“Let’s see if we can get kicked out of a hotel tonight,” Bam suggested, putting his arms around the two of them. He looked over his shoulder to see that everyone was following.

“I’m just going to speak with the lawyer really quick,” Olivia piped up. She broke away from Bam and Pontius.

“I’ll wait behind,” Julie offered.

Olivia gave her a grateful look, then ducked back into the conference room. “So it’s done?”

The lawyer nodded as he filed away some papers. “They’ve dropped the suit against you, and I’m meeting with their lawyer in the morning so they can join the suit against Nick. Unless you want to sue Dickhouse for lost wages or anything … it’s done.”

“No, I don’t need to do that. I’ve ruffled enough feathers, I think.”

Olivia thanked him and promised to be in touch. She gathered her own things and walked out front with Julie. The men, except for Jeff and Johnny, were already causing a rowdy scene on the sidewalk.

“All right, y’all,” Olivia spoke over their noise. “What kind of trouble are we getting into today?”

They all cheered and hugged her again. Olivia went along with them, listening halfway as they made plans for lunch. She was going to be spending the rest of the day with the Jackass crew, and that was just fine with her. She would enjoy the time for the most part, she was sure – except for the nagging voice in the back of Olivia’s mind that kept reminding her that Johnny wasn’t going to be there.

***

“We’ll keep it going all night, boys,” Julie said triumphantly. She and Olivia had just successfully beat Steve-O and Pontius in a game of flip pong – a glorious combination of beer pong and flip cup – which made it their eleventh win in a row.

“Who’s next?” Olivia asked in a sing-song voice, taking a swig out of her Jack Daniels bottle.
“Mind if I take a shot at it?” a voice spoke up from behind her.

Olivia turned around and grinned. Jeff was standing just inside the door of the huge suite they had all chipped in on for the night. He had a six pack in one hand and a bottle of Jägermeister in the other. She nodded.

“A six pack? You think that’s enough beer?”

Jeff just smiled. He set down the liquor, wrapped an arm around her and shouted, “Noogie!”

Olivia laughed as she pushed him away from her. “None of that, Tremaine.”

She and Julie took on Jeff and Dave; the girls showed them no mercy and won with ease. Jeff was ready for another go-round, but no one else was. He had a lot of catching up to do, so they started pouring shots for him.

A few hours later, everyone was starting to quiet down. They hadn’t managed to get kicked out, much to Bam’s dismay, but there were several beds and couches that were waiting for anyone and everyone to pass out. Olivia had wandered out to the balcony with the small remainder of the whiskey. She looked out over Los Angeles, thinking over everything that had happened in the last few months. She hadn’t been out there but a few minutes when Jeff followed.

“Pretty out here,” he commented.

Olivia nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

“We’re cool, right, Liv? I mean, I know I was kind of cold earlier. I was just feeling really stupid. I mean, I don’t know how easily you forgave all of us.”

“We’re fine,” Olivia assured him. “I just wanted you all to believe me – to know that I wouldn’t ever do anything to fuck things up like that for myself or for any of you. It was really difficult having us all torn apart like that. I told Bam it felt like, starting with Ryan being gone, none of this was supposed to happen and Fate finally got tired of us running the show.”

“No,” Jeff replied, earnestly shaking his head. “Absolutely not. I agree, it doesn’t feel like Ryan should be gone. But you, Liv, you were always supposed to be part of our team. With or without Ryan.”

She showed a small smile. “That’s pretty much what Bam told me.”

“More often than not he’s an idiot, but the guy has his moments,” Jeff laughed. “Ryan really would have loved you, you know.”

Olivia’s smile turned sad. “I think about him a lot at times like this. Ryan and I would have been close, I think. I never met him, but I miss him.”

Jeff put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her in a half-hug. “I think that he would have never let you and Johnny go a year without speaking to each other after you first met.”
“Johnny said the same before,” Olivia sighed, taking another swig from the bottle. “And yet, there’s still one jackass missing from the bunch.”

“Give him time, Liv. He was really confused, and I’m sure he still is. He loves you though, and I know he’ll come around.”

Olivia shrugged and turned to look inside. “I better go save Julie from Ehren and Bam before they all three pass out in the same bed – although that might be a fun prank in the morning.”

Jeff laughed. “You’re evil, Olivia Moore.”

She laughed too, opening the slider and approaching her cousin. “All right, boys. I’m taking this one with me.”

“This isn’t Arkansas, Liv,” Bam slurred out.

She rolled her eyes. “Neither of you are taking her to bed tonight. Jeff, I’ll see you in the office tomorrow. The rest of you … try not to piss on the carpet.”

Julie giggled as Olivia helped her to a separate room they claimed for the evening to avoid any more shenanigans. There was enough they were having to answer to; the less drama, the better – way better. The boys would be comfortable in the suite.

Once Julie was safely in a bed and sound asleep, Olivia took a shower and then crawled into the other bed in the room. She checked her phone, hoping for the off-chance that Johnny might have called. She had nothing – no messages, no texts, no missed calls. Feeling more than simple disappointment, Olivia turned off the light, buried under the covers, and tried to get some sleep.

***

Julie made coffee in the room for them the next morning, and the scent woke Olivia. She’d brought along one change of clothes – they hadn’t stayed in the hotel that was currently her home just in case they did get kicked out – so she pulled on those clothes and poured herself a cup of coffee. Julie emerged from the bathroom, body and hair wrapped in a towel, and thanked Olivia for rescuing her the night before.

“My little love triangle is done,” she commented.

Olivia raised her brow. “So Ehren doesn’t know that you Bam fucked since all this happened?”

Julie shook her head. “No, he doesn’t. It’s probably better to keep it that way. They’re both great, you know, and maybe we’ll be friends, or at least acquaintances. If you stay on here, I’m sure I’ll see them again. I just think it would be better if I go back to Jacksonville and start to normalize my life again.”

“If you say so,” Olivia muttered under her breath. “Thanks for making coffee, by the way.”

“No problem. What are you doing today?”

“Well, assuming that Jeff is up and around, I need to figure out what time to meet with him. Then I’m having lunch with Knoxville.”

Julie looked up from making her own cup of coffee. “You are?”

“Yes. We agreed on it yesterday, and I think it’s better to just get it over with. Not necessarily me and him … I still want to fix things with him. Thing is, I don’t know what he wants. Jeff thinks he’s pretty confused.”

“Well, make sure you call me after that. I’m just going to hang out with the guys, I think. Try and find a flight back in the next couple of days.”

“You sure you’re ready for that?” Olivia asked. “This new news is going to break and just because it’ll be positive attention doesn’t mean the hounding from the media is going to be any easier to take.”

“I have more confidence about it now,” Julie replied. “Really. Being out here, seeing how you and Bam handled the whole situation … it’s helped me. Shit, if you guys can do it, I can do it.”

Olivia smiled and hugged her cousin. “That’s the spirit. I’m going to see if I can rile these guys out of bed.”

“Be careful,” Julie warned. “You never know who’ll be naked.”

“Oh, trust me,” Olivia sighed. “I may have only been out here for a few months, but there’s not much about these boys I haven't seen.”

***

Her meeting with Jeff went better than she thought. It was a lot easier, knowing he was one hundred percent on her side again. They decided to break the news of her documentary, but not to release it until around the time of the movie release. That way everyone could know the whole mess had been straightened out, she wasn’t some crazy psycho bitch just trying to make a buck and have her fifteen minutes of fame, and maybe she could feel like herself again. Julie had been right; she was herself here.

After her meeting with Jeff was done, she took a deep breath and took her time going down to Johnny’s office. She wasn’t sure how this lunch was going to go and it made her nervous.
Olivia stopped in her tracks and frowned; no, she wasn’t going to do this anymore. She wasn’t going to let everyone else decide how her life went. She was going to take control. For once in their relationship, Olivia was going to push to have Johnny see her things that way. She was going to take the first step.

Deciding it was now or never, she took a deep breath and forced herself to go at a normal pace towards his office.

***

Johnny was in the middle of reading Jeff’s email regarding the meeting with Olivia and how everything was going to go down. As of then, Olivia was officially employed with Dickhouse; more or less, Jeff was saying to hell with the investors and producing her behind-the-scenes documentary himself.

“Hey there, Knoxville,” Olivia greeted with a soft smile. She leaned in the doorway, stuffing her hands in the front pockets of her jeans. “Still up for lunch?”

He felt both his face and his heart soften towards her. He felt stupid for any confusion he might have felt over the whole situation. This was the girl he’d thought about for a whole year, day after day. This was the girl he had worked so hard to be with. This was Olivia – no. This was Livvy. His Livvy.

“Sure,” Johnny smiled. “Your choice, pretty girl.”

A grin spread over Olivia’s face. They didn’t make contact, but they both knew that this lunch was going to end well. Everything else was looking up, and their relationship was going to fall into place, too.

***

“Olivia said once when everything was crazy that we had tempted Fate for too long and that’s why everything fell apart,” Bam said. He shook his head. “No. No, I think more Fate was testing us, trying to make sure we were going to fight to keep things the way they’re supposed to be. We all have our individual families and we have friends other than the Jackass crew, but this is the core of it. These people here, this is the family we belong with the most. And, whatever it takes, no matter who comes in and tries to fuck that up, we’re always going to fight for this family. You know, I think Nick should have thought about that before pulling that stupid bullshit.”