Arranged Fate

“Text me when you get home,” Maria says, hugging me tightly. “You have your pepper spray, right?”

“Yes,” I nod, chuckling. “Quit worrying about me. I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.” Maria gives me a look that tells me that she’ll never stop worrying about me. I guess I can’t really blame her. If it were her dad always leaving her home alone, I would be worrying about her too. “Okay, you need to go. Eddie is probably getting impatient.”

“Right,” She nods, starting to walk backwards away from me. “Are we still on for shopping tomorrow?”

“Yep,” I answer.

“Alright, love you!” She calls out before turning around and running for her boyfriend truck. After I see she is safely inside, I turn around and begin my long walk home. I was thankful that this particular spring night was warmer than usual. It would have been dreadful walk home if it wasn’t.

I kick rocks along the sidewalk as I walk. I try to remember when my dad told me he would be coming home from this trip. I think he said it would be three, maybe four weeks. It’s nice he gets to go and travel all over the country for his job. It keeps his mind off of my mom. But it sucks always being home alone and only seeing him every once in a while.

When I’m almost home, I pause as I pass by the park. It’s pretty dark now, probably around 7 o’clock. All the kids have gone inside to eat dinner, leaving the park empty. Almost empty. I notice a boy, probably around my age, lying on a bench with a jacket wrapped around the upper half of his body. Was he actually going to try and sleep here? He must be insane.

“Hey,” I call out, walking across the park to the bench. The boy sits up quickly, turning around to look at me. He physically relaxes when he sees me.

“My god. I thought you were a cop,” He says, placing his hand over his heart.

“Not a cop,” I smile. “Just a girl.”

He blinks, “Did you want something?”

“You’re not seriously going to sleep on this bench, are you?” I ask him, ignoring the curious look he was giving me.

“I am seriously trying to sleep on this bench. And I was almost asleep when some bitch woke me up,” He snapped. “Now get out of here.”

He lays back down and rolls over to his side so that he’s facing away from me. I finally take a moment to take in his appearance. The jacket he was using as a blanket was a black leather one. It was expensive looking. As well as the long sleeved shirt he was wearing and the dark skinny jeans as well. What in the hell was a rich kid doing sleeping on a park bench.

“It’s not polite to stare,” He tells me, still facing away. I cross my arms and continue to stare at his back. “You’re not going anywhere, are you?”

“Nope,” I answer, popping the ‘p’.

He lets out a sigh, turning his head to look at me.

“I could be a killer, you know.”

“You don’t look like one. And I highly doubt a killer would pay $100 for a pair of shoes.” I say, nodding at the shoes on his feet. “I think you come from a rich family and mom and dad did something to piss you off.”

“It’s amazing how correct that was,” He says as he turns around and sits up on the bench. I gladly take the seat next to him, tucking one my legs in as I face him.

“So what happened?” I ask him.

“You really think I’m going to tell a strange girl that walked up to me at 8 o’clock in a deserted park what my parents did to piss me off?” He laughs loudly. “The people in this town are weird.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty weird.” I say with a shrug. “My name is Annie, by the way.”

“I’m Eric. But I prefer to go by Oliver.” He tells me.

“Oliver?” I question. “That’s not exactly a normal nick name for Eric.”

He chuckles, “It’s my middle name.”

“Oh,” I nod. “Okay, so now I’m not just some strange girl. I’m Annie.”

“You’re not giving up, are you?” He asks.

“Probably not,” I smile.

He sighs, “They told me something that I didn’t like. I don’t approve of it and hopefully if I don’t come home for a while, they’ll realize they messed up and fix it. That’s all I’m going to tell you right now.”

“Parents are difficult,” I shake my head. “My dad is constantly on business trips and is always leaving me alone.”

“Split parents?” Oliver asks.

I smile sadly, “Something like that.”

Recognition crosses his face, “I see.”

“She passed away when I was 7. I’m just thankful I got to know her.”

“I wish I could say the same about my mom,” He groans, stretching out his legs. “She’s always been controlling but this was just the icing on the cake! I love her but, my lord.”

“What about your dad?” I question.

“He’s kind of a bum. I mean, he’s a doctor but when he comes home, all he does is drink beer and watch sports. I don’t think he really gives a damn about anything these days.” Oliver says with a roll of his eyes.

“I could never be a doctor…” I shake my head. “I couldn’t operate on someone, even if it would save their life. And if I had to see someone die… I wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

“I think that’s what happened to my dad,” Oliver leans back against the bench and tilts his head back to look at the stars. I decide to do the same. The sky was clear tonight, revealing a perfect view of the stars. “He’s seen so many people die, he just blocked out all emotions.”

“Can you really blame him though?”

“No,” Oliver answers. “I guess I would be the same way.”

“Well, that’s one thing we have in common.”

He laughs, “It’s a weird thing to have in common.”

“It’s still a start.”

“Why did you come talk to me?” He asks suddenly. I turn my head to look at him and find him looking right back at me.

“You really think that I would let someone sleep out here in the cold when I have a perfectly good guest bedroom at my house?” I question, smiling.

“You must be insane.” He says, sitting up now. “You see a stranger trying to sleep on the bench and the first thing you think is ‘oh, let’s bring him home to meet daddy’?”

“My dad isn’t home,” I state, sitting up as well. He looks at me with his eye brows raised.

“You’re willing to let a stranger sleep in your house while you’re all alone?” I nod. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Oh, shut up. If you were some old man that looked like he could kill, I probably would have run the rest of the way home. But you’re just some guy that got annoyed by his parents.” I say simply.

“I still think you’re insane,” He says, grabbing his jacket and standing from the bench. “Which way is this house of yours?”

“I take that as your way of saying you’re taking my offer,” I say as I stand. “This way,” I say, leading him in the direction of my house. He catches up and falls into step next to me as we walk to my house in silence.

I glance over at him a few times as we walk. I had been so fixated on figuring out why he would be sleeping on a bench that I didn’t really notice how gorgeous he was. His blonde hair was gelled up to perfection, showing off all of his amazing facial features. I couldn’t see the color of his eyes due to the darkness but I’m sure they were amazing.

“You’re checking me out,” He breaks the silence, and my thoughts. I jump in surprise, not expecting him to catch me staring at him.

My cheeks turn as red as a rose, “I was not.” I lie.

“Yeah, okay,” He laughs sarcastically. “You’re pretty rich yourself, aren’t you?” He asks, looking around at the neighborhood we had entered.

“Yeah, I guess we are.” I shrug. “My dad owns a few record companies throughout the U.S. He gets paid pretty well.”

“No offence, but you don’t look rich.” He says, giving me a once over.

“None taken,” I chuckle. “I save all the money my dad gives me. That way, I don’t have to mooch off him in the future.”

“You’re a good kid.” Oliver chuckles.

“This is my house,” I say, stopping in front of the tall off-white house.

“Nice,” Oliver comments. “I kind of expected some huge, dark mansion to be honest with you.”

“Oh, it’s far from that. My dad hates the dark, Victorian kind of stuff.” I say, rolling my eyes. “The only thing my dad and I can agree on is stuff that is music related. Other than that, you wouldn’t believe he was my dad.”

“Do you look like your mom then?” He asks me as I dig the key out of my back pocket and unlock the front door.

“I have her eyes, nose, horribly crooked teeth, and I used to have the same hair color as she did, but then I dyed it.” I say as we enter the house. “Welcome to my home.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said your dad hates dark and Victorian stuff.” Oliver commented as he took in the tall ceiling and white couches. A lot of things in the house were white. The carpet for example was as white as white could get. Thankfully, Oliver noticed that and kicked his shoes off.

“So, in there is the kitchen and dining room.” I say, pointing to the right. “The living room, obviously.” I say, motioning to the room in front of us. “Stairs,” I grab onto Oliver’s wrist and lead him up the stairs.

“Someone is a little eager for me to see their room,” He jokes as we walk up the long staircase.

“You’re funny,” I say sarcastically. “There’s the bathroom,” I say, motioning to the first door on the right. “And here is the guest room that you can stay in.” I say, stopping in front of the door that’s right next to mine.

Oliver pushes the door open and lets himself into the room. He tosses his leather jacket onto a chair and then plops down onto the bed.

“Soft,” He smiles.

“I’ll grab you some pajamas,” I say, turning to leave when he stops me.

“No need, I sleep in my boxers.”

I was so glad I hadn’t turn to face him yet, or he would have seen me blush for the second time tonight.

“Right,” I nod, letting the blush fade from my cheeks before I turn to face him again. “I should be getting to bed now, I have… Shit!”

“You have shit?” Oliver chuckles as I quickly grab my phone from my pocket. I glare at him over my phone before quickly typing a text to Maria, telling her that I was home safe. “What was that about?”

“I forgot to text my friend and let her know that I got home safe,” I explained.

“Did you mention you picked up a souvenir on the walk home?” Oliver smirks.

“I think I should keep that to myself. God knows that girl already worries about me too much already. I don’t need to give her a heart attack.”

Oliver just nods, the room falling quiet now. I awkwardly shift from one leg to the other, still standing in the doorway of the room. Then I realize that it’s pretty late now.

“I’ll let you sleep,” I smile. “My room is right next door if you need anything.” I say, pointing to my left.

“Don’t disappear on me, okay?” I try not to beg.

“I’ll be here when you wake up,” He assures me, with a nice smile. “Goodnight, Annie. Thanks for letting me stay here.”

“No problem,” I smile, turning to walk away. “Goodnight, Oliver."