Just My Luck

“So you got into a car with a random stranger? What were you thinking?" Kate interrupted.

Ollie sighed. "Yea, well, I tend to think the best of people. You know, I don't judge. I assume everyone will be kind. I never think, 'Hey, this person probably wants to kill me.' I mean, I'm practically telling you my life story. I have no idea if you're a mass murderer or not. To me, you're just a nice lady, first and foremost."

Kate nodded her understanding. She did get that vibe from the younger girl. She saw that as being a very redeeming quality; not judging others. "That's wonderful, actually. But I'm sure it could possibly backfire one day."

Ollie looked down at her lap. "Oh, it has, unfortunately."

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"What's your name, girl-who-talks-to-inanimate-objects?" The boy who offered the ride asked her.

After getting into the car and being greeted by four other teenage boys, Ollie gave the driver the address of her grandparent's apartment complex. Being surrounded by all those strangers, Ollie felt oddly exposed. They all stared at her like she was some rare species of girl. They probably thought she was crazy, after witnessing her little incident minutes before.

"Ol-" She stopped herself before she actually told them. Something finally clicked in her mind that maybe she should take a minute and think. Did she really want these people to know her name?

"Ol? Short for...?" the same boy questioned.

Oh, what the hell. I'm already in their car. Might as well tell them, she thought to herself. "Olivia. But I prefer Ollie. And you are?"

He smiled. "I'm Louis."

"Well, Louis, thank you for being ever so kind-hearted and offering a ride," Ollie replied, monotonously.

"Is she being serious or sarcastic?" Louis whispered to one of his friends in the seat behind them.

"Hard to tell," a curly haired boy answered. “That could go either way.”

"Who are you guys? You look like some sort of crew," Ollie said, ignoring their comments. The five boys looked at each other then back at her. Ollie raised an eyebrow at them. They were looking at her like she had ten heads.

“Not to sound conceited or anything, but you don’t know who we are?” the boy wearing plaid asked from the other side of Louis.

The younger girl shook her head. “Should I?”

“We’re One Direction,” the same boy replied. Ollie noticed he had extremely large eyebrows. He was pretty cute. They all were actually, and their accents were to die for. To be honest, though, what girl didn’t find British accents hot? They did look kind of familiar, now that she thought of it. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Are you a band or something?” she asked. Louis nodded. “Are you on Disney or Nickelodeon?”

“We were on iCarly once!” the blonde one piped up from the backseat. He had a different accent than the others.

“Oh! My little brother loves that show. I watch it with him sometimes. I’ve probably seen you on there.”

The others nodded their understanding. The curly haired boy stuck his hand out to her and gave her a cheeky smile.

“I’m Harry Styles,” he said, his dimples showing.

Rather reluctantly, Ollie shook his hand in return. The other three boys introduced themselves. She learned that the boy in plaid was Liam, the blonde was Niall (he added that he was Irish with his greeting), and the quiet one with the dark hair and earrings was named Zayn. Ollie learned quickly that they were a hyper bunch. They talked her ear off about anything and everything. They asked the standard questions: age, favorite music, shows, food, where she was from. She didn’t give too much away but she did answer the easy ones. Some of the questions did get a tad bit personal (thanks to Harry and Louis).

“Do you have a boyfriend, Ollie?” Harry questioned, with a rather devious smirk.

“I don’t have time for boys right now,” she countered, rolling her eyes at him. She hoped they would be at the apartment soon. She didn’t know how much more she could take of the interrogation.

“Aw, why not?”

“I have school to focus on, scholarships to obtain, credits to earn. Boys are the last thing on my mind, okay?” Ollie snapped, rather irritated. She let out a frustrated huff and ran a hand through her hair.

Harry dropped the subject at her heated reply. He may have been annoying but at least he was completely oblivious to her annoyance. The rest of the drive seemed oddly quiet. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Ollie felt bad about snapping at him; she hadn’t meant to be so rude, but sometimes she couldn’t help it. She wasn’t usually someone who lay out their whole life story for people she just met.

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“But you’re telling me all this,” Kate added, again interrupting.

Ollie sighed and shook her head a little bit. “I have nothing left to lose, I guess.”

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“Here we are,” the driver stated clearly for everyone to hear, ten minutes later.
Ollie let out a sigh of relief. That car ride couldn’t have ended sooner. “Well, it was wonderful meeting you all. Thank for the ride. I appreciate it.” She genuinely meant that; the last part anyway. She still wasn’t sure what she thought of the boys, though. She didn’t have worry about that, anyway. It wasn’t like she would ever see them again, unless it was from a TV screen.

“Wait, we’ll walk you in,” Louis shouted before she could make it to the front doors of the building. The five boys clambered out of the SUV and ran over to her.

“That didn’t make any sense. I’m already almost inside,” Ollie protested, shaking her head.

“And now we’re here, so we can walk you,” Louis countered with a charming smile. He held the door open for her. “Ladies first.”

Ollie couldn’t help but chuckle as she stepped inside. She was greeted by a smiling older woman, sitting behind the front desk.

“May I help you?” the woman asked, a little too cheerily if you asked Ollie. The guys followed after her as she walked over to the desk.

“Uh, yea. My grandparents, Anne and Robert Gellar, live here. I’m staying with them for the summer,” Ollie replied, politely.

“Anne and Bob, you say?” The younger girl nodded and the woman knit her eyebrows together in confusion. “They went on vacation for two weeks. Won’t be back until then.”

“What? Vacation? Where did they go?”

“Ireland, I believe. You didn’t know?”

“Oh, yes, I did. That’s why I’m here to visit them!” Ollie replied, sarcastically, rolling her eyes in the process. Louis tugged on her arm, pulling her away from the desk. “This is a wonderful addition to my day. What am I supposed to do now? I have nowhere to stay for two whole weeks. Fan-fucking-tastic.”

“You can stay with Harry and I,” Louis suggested, still gripping her arm.

“I barely know you. I mean, I’m alright with taking rides from strangers, but staying in their house is where I draw the line.”