Forgive Me

Brian’s car parked in front of the guys’ house.
The trio exited the car.

“I’m nervous.”, Maddy stated.

“You should.”, Brian said, which caused Zacky to roll his eyes.
He cupped Maddy’s face gently.

“Everything will be alright, sweetie. Just explain yourself to her, and apologize. You guys will eventually be okay.”, he smiled.

“Thanks, Zack”, she smiled back. He pecked her lips softly.

Brian cleared his throat, tapping his foot on the ground, his arms crossed over his chest.

“What did I say about the lovey-dovey thing?”, he said.

Both Maddy and Zack laughed at him, and the trio entered the house.

Brian stopped dead in his track when he saw Ollie, cuddled up to Matt, the both of them watching TV.
Yeah, you could call that jealousy, but Brian was too proud to admit that.

“We’re back!”, Zack almost shouted, causing both Matt and Ollie to jump.

“Oh… hi guys!”, Matt said, smiling.

Ollie’s eyes widened when she saw Maddy standing in the living-room. She couldn’t speak. She didn’t expect her to be here, at all.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Sis’. I’m not dead,… yet.”, Maddy joked.
The girls’ eyes locked, and Ollie smiled because she knew, just by looking into her sister’s eyes, that everything will be alright.

“I think we should let the ladies talk.”, Matt suggested, getting up from the couch.

Brian hadn’t said a word since the moment he saw Matt and Ollie together. He was too busy telling himself that it was nothing more than two friends watching TV together, but he couldn’t help but feel this jealous feeling in his stomach.
He followed Zacky and Matt outside.

“We… we can talk in my room, it’ll be more… private.”, Ollie suggested.

Maddy simply nodded, and they headed upstairs.

They both sat on Ollie’s bed, in an awkward silence.

“So… how have you been?”, Maddy finally spoke.
Ollie was surprised with this question, but she answered it nonetheless. Small talk was better than nothing.

“I’ve been good, actually. The guys are really nice to me, and I feel safe here.”, she said, looking at her lap.

Maddy nodded. “Look… I’m sorry, sis’… I couldn’t imagine my own father being such a monster and … I just couldn’t believe you. But I talked with Mom and she explained everything. You have no idea how bad I’ve felt during all this time. I feel ashamed for not believing you in the first place, and I feel guilty not to have noticed what Dad.. Joan was doing to you…”

“It’s okay, Maddy, … Mom didn’t notice either. Joan did everything he could for you not to notice…”, Ollie cut her.

They remained silent for a while, and Maddy finally pulled her sister in a tight embrace. Ollie hugged her back, and they stayed like this for God knows how many time. It was almost easy. But anyone who knew the girls well enough would have say that they could stay mad at each other for a too long time. They were too close for that. They were so different, but they definitely complemented each other.

“I’m glad Brian and the guys were here for you while I wasn’t..”, Maddy said. “I know that you’re safe here with them now. And that’s all that matters to me now. I… I hope one day Mom will have the courage to dump my Dad,… because he’s just a monster. I can’t believe he did that to you.. I mean, of course I believe it, but I never thought something like this could happen to us, to our family. You see what I mean?”

Ollie nodded. “Yeah, but look, it’s over now. I’m here with people protecting me and caring about me. I’m still afraid that one day Joan will come to get some kind of revenge or I don’t know. And I’m afraid for Mom.”

“Me too, sis, me too. But I’ll have an eye on them. If anything happens… We’ll run away or something. Don’t worry.”

Ollie smiled. Maddy was always the determined one, she wasn’t a weak girl, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t sensitive or something. She simply didn’t want to be bothered by things that weren’t worth it.
It was a good philosophy, after all.
Philosophy.

It would have been a lie to say that Ollie was fine without studying, like she was before. Sure, she could still read some books on her own but it wasn’t the same.

“What’s wrong?”, Maddy asked.

Ollie chuckled. “You’ll laugh at me.”

Maddy smirked. “You’re used to it. Common, you can tell me!”

Ollie sighed. “I miss my philosophy lessons.”

Maddy busted out laughing. “Haha, Ollie you’re definitely something else. I mean, you’re here, alone in a nice house with the five sexiest men on the face of the Earth and you miss your philosophy classes?!”

Ollie laughed. Her sister was right. “Yeah, that sounds silly but philosophy is what I’ve been doing for years now, and I’m not used not to be studying.”, she confessed.
“Well, now you’ll just learn to live. I bet you enjoy yourself since you’re here. The guys are fun to be around, aren’t they?”, Maddy asked, grinning.

“Of course they are. You know what? I played video games with Matt this morning. It was the first time of my life that I played those things. It was funny, and Matt is really nice and funny.”

Maddy raised her eyebrow. “Matt, huh? Please don’t tell me you’ll start to have a thing for him…”

Ollie’s eyes widened. “No, no, no! I don’t see Matt this way. He’s like some kind of big brother to me, nothing less, nothing more.”

“Good.”, Maddy said, looking satisfied. “ So how are the things with Brian, by the way? I know the boy is caring a lot about you. He came at home this morning with Zack, it’s thanks to them that I’m here now. I was too ashamed to show up just like this…”

“I’ll thank them for that. They… They’re so sweet.”

“Yeah. But Zack’s mine!”, Maddy laughed. “Anyway, back to my question. How is it going between you and Brian?”

Ollie looked at her lap. “Things are okay. He’s really nice and caring. I really appreciate what he’s doing for me…”

“And..?”, Maddy pushed.

“And that’s all.”

“So, you’re not going to let him a chance?”, she asked, a bit of accusation in her tone.

“We’ve already talked about this. Sure, I like him, but I’m scared and not ready for that kind of things.”

“After all he did for you, you shouldn’t doubt of his sincerity.”, Maddy reasoned.

“I know but I can’t help it. And… You think he did all of this just to have a chance with me?”, Ollie asked, quite worried.

Maddy shrugged. “I don’t think it suits him, but who knows?”

“And after that, you criticize me for being prudent?”, Ollie laughed.

Maddy sighed. “Did you two talked about this?”

Ollie shook her head. “You should, then.”, she responded, stretching. “You should go talk to him now. I’ll just hang out with Zack.”, she added with a wink, before exiting the room.

Ollie made her way downstairs.
Arin was on the couch, watching TV.
“Where is everyone?”, Ollie asked.

“Johnny went out to buy stuff to make a barbecue, Matt and Zack are outside, probably in the pool. And Brian is still in the music room.”, Arin responded.

Ollie frowned. “Why did you say ‘still in the music room’? How long has he been there?”

Arin shrugged. Ollie thanked him and headed to the music room. She knocked at the door and waited for an answer. She never get one, so she opened the door slowly.
She could here Brian playing a random melody on his guitar. She entered the room and Brian stopped.

“Hi…”, he simply said. It was strange because he sounded so… cold and distant.

“Hi…”, Ollie answered, a bit unsure. “Something wrong?”, she questioned.

“Just some difficulties with a solo.”, he lied.

“Okay…”

To say that the awkwardness and the tension in the room were flagrant is an understatement.

Ollie couldn’t understand why Brian was acting like this. He was always so sweet, he was always smiling at her. And she doubted that his solo could get him so down.

“I think I’ll just leave… Maybe you need concentration to work on your solo. I’ll go… hang out with Matt, or something, if you need me.”

Brian rolled his eyes. Ollie started to be quite pissed, so she exited the room, shaking her head.

“That’s it, go hang out with Super Matt!”, Brian mumbled once Ollie was out of sight.