Never Crossed My Mind

Olivia looked herself over in the floor length mirror and hoped the one dress she had brought with her would be sufficiently appropriate for the supper meeting. Although she was sure it would be much more casual than the morning's meeting had been, it never hurt to make a good impression.

"You look lovely," Keith assured her when they met in the hallway.

"Have you been to this place before?"

"Once. You are dressed just fine."

She chuckled to herself; Keith had read her real question spot on. They shared both the elevator and a cab, arriving a mere ten minutes later at the restaurant. A primly dressed host escorted them to a table where Jeff and Johnny were already waiting.

"Bam decided to head back tonight. He did want us to thank you again, Olivia, for opting to back out of the project," Jeff relayed. "We all appreciate it."

"I was glad to do it," Olivia assured them.

The waiter came to take their drink orders, and as the three men ordered liquor, Olivia asked for a whiskey on the rocks.

"I wouldn't have taken you for a whiskey drinker," Johnny commented.

"Southern born and raised," Olivia answered proudly.

"Ah, very nice," Johnny smiled.

Their conversation carried on from there as Keith and Jeff seemed to find common interests in managing. By the time the meal was over, Johnny had learned that Olivia was born and raised in Beulaville, NC. She graduated from UNC Wilmington at the age of 21 and had been working with Keith for three years now, since her graduation. She had a younger brother, and her parents were divorced.

"That's just about my whole life," she laughed. "Guess I got a little carried away."

Johnny shook his head. "Not at all. I think we may have to keep you in mind for future projects, so getting to know you is a must."

"I would really appreciate that." She sipped the last of her third whiskey and sighed. "I don't know what I am more full of ... food or liquor."

"I think we are staying on for a few more drinks," Keith mentioned. "Johnny, would you care to join us?"

He glanced at Olivia, and something about her struck him. "No, I think maybe I will share a cab with Livvy here, see to it she gets safely back to the hotel."

"I appreciate it, but you don't have to do that." She smoothed her long brown hair and tried to hide the nervousness in her hazel green eyes.

"I owe you," Johnny replied. "Please."

Olivia agreed and bid Keith and Jeff good night. Johnny escorted her out to the front of the restaurant where the doorman had a cab ready and waiting.

The ride to the hotel was comfortably silent. Despite the slight anxiety brought on by Johnny's use of 'Livvy,' a nickname only her father used, she now felt relaxed. It was just another car ride with a new work connection. The cab pulled to the hotel door and Olivia pulled out her purse, but Johnny waved her away.

"I'll pay for it when I get to my hotel. Have a good night and be safe going home tomorrow."

Olivia shook the hand he extended and nodded. "You, too. Maybe our paths will cross again in the future."

"Maybe."

She dropped his hand and turned back to the hotel, dialing Julie as soon as she got to her room.

"It's about time you called," Julie teased. "What are you doing?"

"Changing into pajamas and out of these heels."

"So you've been out painting the town?"

"Hang on." She momentarily set the phone down as she tugged on a pair of boyshorts and an old t-shirt. "All right. I was at a dinner meeting, actually, with Keith, Jeff Tremaine, and Johnny Knoxville."

"Goodness, woman! Making all sorts of connections. When does the project start?"

"It doesn't." She ran through the details of their interaction with Hank and Ben that morning. "I am fine with it, really. Like I told Johnny, I would rather my breakthrough documentary not be something like that."

"Very good point. What time do you ..."

The knock on the door distracted her from the rest of Julie's question. Olivia was more than a little shocked to see Johnny standing in the doorway with a somewhat desperate look on his face.

"I got about five minutes down the road and I had to turn around," he explained.

"Jules, I gotta go. I will call you from the airport in the morning." She disconnected the call and motioned for Johnny to come in the room. "Are you all right?"

"I know that I don't really know you, so I don't really know why I came back. I just ... how did you feel when you found out about Ryan?"

She stumbled over her words for a few tries before she took a deep breath and started over. "I was shocked. That feels like an understatement, actually. I was already in my teens when Jackass started, but I kind of grew up watching you guys. Obviously I never knew Ryan personally, but it was like this person that I kind of always thought would be in the background of my life wasn't there anymore. Look, I know that seems ridiculous compared to what y'all have to go through ..."

Johnny shook his head. "I have been around people on my level for the last ten days, since we all found out, and somehow I still felt like I was alone. I just needed to hear someone outside our circle was hurting, too."

"Oh." Olivia crossed her arms in front of her, not sure what else to reply and also suddenly aware of her minimal clothing. Before she could decide what to say or do next, Johnny had crossed the room, placed his hands on her hips, and crashed his mouth into hers. Olivia was startled at first, but when her mind processed what was happening, she placed her hands on his shoulders and returned the gesture.

"I'm sorry," Johnny said, gripping her arms and pushing her away. "That was a little inappropriate."

She shook her head. "No ... I mean yes, it was. I'm not filing any lawsuits or anything."

He sat down on the bed and let out a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to come on to you like that, I swear. I’ve just been so overwhelmed, and you’re so beautiful. You’re amazingly easy to talk to, and somehow, you just get it. Maybe I just thought it would be a distraction. I’m sure you’re not that kind of person, and … I apologize. Sincerely.”

Olivia’s hand was still touching her mouth where his lips had just been. She couldn’t explain how she felt; her work had consumed her for so long, she hadn’t stopped to even allow herself a one night stand. Not that she was a one night stand kind of girl, but men were just a hindrance to achieving the the career she wanted. But here was this man, another one she’d always just expected to be in the background of her life, except now he was more towards the forefront. Was it so horrible that maybe she wanted him to be a little inappropriate? And where did that even come from? They’d been more or less professional all day, until now. Running the day’s events back through her mind, Olivia realized maybe the attraction had just been building throughout the day.

“I’m not that kind of girl,” she confirmed. “And I don’t want to jeopardize the working relationship we’ve started, it’s just that, well, honestly, it’s been a few years and I’ve been so concentrated on work, work, work, and well, that’s kind of a lonely state to be in. I don’t expect anything from you, I just … how horrible would it be if I wanted to be a distraction?”

Johnny held out a hand to her, and she took it. He pulled her closer, and she straddled herself across his lap. His face closed in on hers again and he nodded. “It would be somewhat horrible.”

Olivia was the one to start the kiss this time, holding his face in her hands. After a couple of minutes, she moved them to the buttons on his shirt, quickly undoing them and letting her hands roam over the bare skin of his chest. Johnny’s hands snuck up under her shirt and floated over the smoothness of her back.

It was again Johnny who gripped her arms and slowed things down. “Livvy, I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

He flipped them around so that she was sitting on the bed and he was standing. He repeated his apology, and then disappeared from the hotel room, leaving Olivia feeling confused and unwanted.

***



To top off Olivia’s awful evening, her apartment key wasn’t working. She’d been begging the landlord for a few weeks now to fix the lock, but nothing ever came of her pleas. Finally giving up, she called Julie to come open the door.

“Hello, sunshine,” Julie greeted.

“Sorry to wake you. My stupid key still isn’t working.” She kicked off her shoes and plopped down on the couch.

“No worries, I was still awake. You’d think with my nights off I’d catch up on my sleep, but what’s the fun in that? I much more like seeing you come home from these awful dates and hearing about it.”

Olivia laughed. “You’re a trip, Jules.”

“Oh, so this one went that good, huh? Do tell.”

She threw her head back on the couch and groaned. “He was completely full of himself. That’s all we talked about throughout dinner. We went to the movie, and he still wouldn’t stop talking. I wanted to vomit.”

“You made it out fairly early, it seems.”

“I told him I was feeling sick so that I wouldn’t have to go back to his place with him. Which wasn’t a lie.”

Julie nodded. “Yeah. You know, Liv, I’m really glad to see you dating again and all, but do you think maybe you’re harder on all these suitors because they’re not, I don’t know, Johnny Knoxville?”

“You’re really making me regret telling you about that,” Olivia groaned. “It was a year ago. Maybe it sucked at first, but not because it was Johnny. Getting turned down is harsh.”

“Whatever you say.” Julie turned the volume back up on the television set. “I can’t believe it’s been a year since Ryan Dunn died.”

“Me either,” Olivia agreed, watching the memorial program on MTV. “And I can’t believe this isn’t my piece.”

“Relax. It’s just something they put together themselves. No interviews or anything. Kind of last minute, it seems. Besides, you’ve got that E! thing coming up, right?”

“Day after tomorrow. It’s sad that I’m more excited for a break from all these dates than an actual thirty-minute program slot.”

“Hey, you get to do the history of The Soup. You get to meet Joel McHale. Lots of girls would be jealous of that.”

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t want any distractions,” Olivia mumbled. “I’m going to bed. Don’t stay up too late.”

She shut the bedroom door behind her, sighing as she looked over the room. Clothes weren’t spread everywhere like the first few times she’d come home from dates when she returned from New York City the previous summer. Olivia had quickly stopped caring if she looked perfect or not when going out with these guys. They could either accept her as she was, or they could not accept her. It was what it was.

She changed into her usual bedtime attire of boyshorts and a t-shirt and settled in to bed. Just as she did every night, she dialed her voicemail and listened to the one message she had managed to save there for the last ten months.

“Hey Livvy, it’s Johnny. I don’t expect you to want to speak to me or anything, I just wanted to explain some things about the last time we saw each other. So, uh, call me back, will ya?”

She still couldn’t quite get over how that nickname had stuck, or the fact that he had called at all, two months after their almost-tryst in New York. She had saved his number to her contact list, but never could make herself call him back. Johnny didn’t call her again, so she figured it was just best to get over it. Really, there was nothing to get over, except for the fact that he had gotten under skin more than a little bit.

She’d never told Julie about Johnny’s call or the voicemail. Her cousin saw right through her as it was, so there was no use in fueling her fire. Olivia wished she could talk to her cousin about it, but what was there to talk about?

“Nothing,” she said out loud. “Not a thing.”

Hitting the button to save the message again, Olivia disconnected the call and settled back against the pillows. It was just time to let this thing go.

***

“Knoxville! Get in here!” Bam called from the other room.

Johnny looked at Jeff and shrugged. They were going over skits for the new Jackass movie that would soon start filming, and the whole crew was around in LA. The both of them walked to the next office where Bam was sitting with Chris Pontius, watching TV.

“What’s up?” Jeff asked before looking at the screen. “Oh, hell. That’s Olivia.”

Johnny’s eyes quickly snapped to the television set. Sure enough, the girl who’d interrupted his thoughts at what seemed like even intervals throughout every day of the last year was there interviewing Joel McHale, talking about the history of Joel’s show, The Soup. Except maybe for longer hair, she didn’t look any different. It was strange to see her like this after so long.

“She’s good,” Johnny mentioned, sitting on the arm of the couch. “Maybe we shouldn’t have let her back out of that project.”

“Oh, please,” Bam laughed. “You just say that because you’ve got a wicked hard-on for her.”
Johnny laughed with the rest of them, but didn’t deny it. He knew he hadn’t done the best job of hiding his attraction to Olivia, but everyone seemed to dismiss it as a crush, so he never said any more on the subject.

He and Jeff stayed to watch the rest of the bit, and then walked back to Jeff’s office. They went over the rest of the skit list and talked over the start of filming.

“You know, what if we still did the behind the scenes stuff? I mean, different from from point-five movies and all that. Like we had talked about before.”

“You just want to see Olivia again,” Jeff teased.

“Hey, she had some really good ideas, and you saw how well she executed that E! bit. Let’s call her up.”

Jeff shrugged and pulled Olivia’s card from his file. “We’ll put her on speakerphone.”

“You don’t have to,” Johnny assured him.

Jeff eyed him suspiciously, but didn’t take the call off speakerphone. It rang a few times before connecting.

“Olivia Moore.”

“Olivia, it’s Jeff Tremaine.”

“Hey,” she returned cheerfully. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going well. We were actually going over some stuff for Jackass 4, and we came across your E! bit with Joel McHale. Knoxville’s here with me and we were thinking of the ideas you had for the treatment last year, so we’re just wondering if you’re available to maybe put some of that in motion.”

“Uh, yeah, that would be great. Everyone’s in on the idea?”

Jeff looked at Johnny to add something to the conversation. “Hey, Livvy, it’s Johnny.”

“Hi,” she replied politely.

“Yeah, Jeff and I are in, and Bam and Pontius are in the other room.”

“No, we’re not,” Bam interjected. “Hi Olivia.”

“Hey Bam,” she replied. “Have they filled you in on this?”

“I overheard. I’m down. When can we get you out here?”

“I’m in New York right now, actually, and I’m catching a flight home in a few hours. Anytime after that is fine.”

“All right, perfect. We start filming in a couple of weeks, so give me a call when you get back home and we’ll get it all set in stone.”

“Great. Thanks guys, see you soon!”

Jeff ended the call and nodded. “I think this is going to be good.”

“Me too,” Bam agreed. “Her ideas were killer.”

“But she’s cool and stuff, like she’ll fit in with the group you think?” Pontius asked.

“Without a doubt,” Jeff answered. “When we were all against the project last year, she stepped up and got us out of it.”

“I think it’ll be fun. If Knoxville can keep it in his pants, anyway,” Bam joked.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Johnny returned. “Won’t be a problem.”