Arranged Fate

“I’m so tired,” I sigh, falling onto the couch right next to Oliver. He chuckles, shaking his head ever so slightly at me.

“How many times did I dunk you again?” Oliver asks, obviously trying to gloat.

I tilt my head back so I could glare at him, “Fifteen too many times,” I tell him.

After we had a bit of a moment in the pool, Oliver made up a new game that involved dunking me under the water a total of fifteen times. I didn’t even get to dunk him once because he was really, really strong.

Damn his muscles.

“You’re such an ass,” I tell him as he laughs at me. I force myself off of the couch and head into the kitchen to start dinner. Maybe I should make just enough for me. That would show Oliver.

But then his muscles came into my mind again. Even though they were perfect, they would easily be able to take my food away from me, leaving me with nothing to eat.

I better make him food too.

As I search through the cupboards, I hear Oliver change the channel to an On Demand movie and turn up the volume.

“Hey, Annie! I hope you like scary movies!” Oliver shouts from the other room.

“Love them,” I practically sing, a smile growing on my lips. I’ve never really been scared of horror movies. Well, unless I’m home alone. Then I’m a bit scared. “Which one are we watching?”

“I don’t really know,” I jump at how close his voice is. I turn around quickly, seeing him standing at the entrance to the kitchen. He chuckles, leaning against the archway. “I just picked one from the horror section.”

“Okay,” I say with a small nod. “What should we have for dinner?”

Oliver hums, “We should order pizza.”

“Good,” I sigh, closing the cupboard I had been looking through. “I really didn’t want to cook.”

He chuckles, pushing off the wall and picking up the home phone that way lying on the island in the middle of the kitchen. He types in a number and then holds the phone up to his ear.

“You know Pizza Hut’s number by heart?” I ask, amused.

“Shh,” He says, shooting me a smirk. “Yeah, hi. I need a large pizza; half cheese, half sausage. And a small order of mild buffalo wings.” Oliver pauses. I wonder how he knew I liked cheese pizza… “For delivery. I’ll pay in cash.” Oliver pauses again and then turns to face me, covering the mouth piece on the phone. “What’s your address?”

As I tell him, he recites it to the person on the other line. Once they get the information, Oliver ends the call.

“It will be here in 30 minutes. Until then,” He reaches out for my hand and then drags me into the living room. “We’re watching this movie.” He pushes me towards the couch as he takes the spot he was in earlier. This time, he hooks his arm over the back of the couch, patting the spot closest to him. “I’ll protect you.”

“I’m not scared,” I laugh, but take the spot next to him anyways. I try and push the thought of him kissing me out of my mind as I cuddle up to his side.

“Yeah, you say that now,” He says with a smirk, pressing play on the remote and starting the movie.

Apparently he had chosen The Woman in Black. I had heard a lot about the movie, but I had never seen it before. And to be completely honest, it was a little spooky. And I jumped once when something came out of nowhere.

“I thought you said you loved scary movies,” Oliver taunted me, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me closer to him. It’s normally supposed to be a comforting gesture. But he was only doing it to make fun of me.

“Shut up,” I tell him, my eyes focused on the TV screen. “I was focused. That jumped out at me.”

“Uh huh,” He chuckles, patting my hip lightly. I shivered at the touch from his cold hand. My shirt had come up just a bit from me moving around in Oliver’s arms and I hadn’t realized it until now. But his hand stayed there. Resting on my bare skin. Oh god.

I jumped again when the doorbell rang, meaning the pizza was here. Oliver paused the movie and slid out from under me to go get the door.

“Annie!” He called out to me. I looked across the room to see him peeking around the corner. “I forgot my wallet upstairs. Will you go get it?”

“Fine,” I groan loudly, getting up from the couch and dragging myself over to the stairs. Oliver watches me in amusement as I do so. “Stop staring.” I tell him as I walk up the stairs to his room. Thankfully, his wallet wasn’t too hard to find. It was lying on his bed side table.

After grabbing it, I sluggishly walk back downstairs. I was too tired for this.

“Here,” I say to Oliver, handing him his wallet. He and the delivery boy had started a conversation about movies while they waited for me to get the money.

“They always say they love horror movies,” Oliver continues what he had been saying as he counts out the correct amount of money. “But they always end up in your arms, covering their eyes.”

“I did not cover my eyes,” I mumble at Oliver as I turn to walk away. But he catches me by my waist, pulling me to his side.

“Thanks, man,” Oliver says, getting the pizzas from the boy and then closing the door. “Come on Annie, you can’t deny that you love being in my big, strong arms.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, “Yeah, sure.”

Oliver chuckles, “Let’s go finish that movie.”

“As long as I get my cheese pizza,” I say, reaching over to the boxes he was balancing in his free hand and grabbing the wings off the top. “And my wings, of course.”

“Those are not for you,” He whispers in my ear, letting go of my waist and snatching the box out of my hands before I could react. He smirks over his shoulder at me as he walks away with the pizzas and wings.

I stare after him for a moment, watching him set the food down on the coffee table and then settle into the couch. After opening up the pizza boxes, he turns his head to look at me.

“Alright, fine,” He sighs. “I’ll share my wings.”

I smile happily before hurrying off to the kitchen for napkins and drinks. When I get back into the living room, Oliver had already un-paused the movie and dug into the pizza. Handing him the pop that I grabbed for him, I shake my head at the way he stuffs his face.

“What?” He asks, a mouth full of food.

“You’re such a pig!” I chuckle, sitting down next to him and grabbing a piece of the cheese pizza. “But then again, what guy isn’t?”

“But,” He says, swallowing his food before talking. Thank god. “I’m hotter than all of the other guys.”

“I’m sure Zac Efron beats you in that category,” I joke, smirking.

His eyes narrow, “Oh really?”

“Really,” I nod, biting off a piece of my pizza. Oliver stares at me for a moment before he takes the pizza out of my hand and slams it into the pizza box. “Hey! What the- Whoa!” I sputter out before being pinned down onto the couch. Oliver’s face hovers over mine, a teasing look in his eyes.

“So you’re into Zac Efron, huh?” He asks.

“What girl isn’t? No, I’m sorry. What human isn’t? He’s gorgeous!” I say, looking in in the eye. He has me right where he wants me, doesn’t he?

“This human isn’t, thank you.” Oliver scoffs. “If I were the one playing Troy Bolton in High School Musical, no one would know who the hell Zac Efron was.”

“You’re just jealous,” I chuckle. “And I really love how you know the name of a guy in a Disney Channel movie.”

“After you graduate from high school and have no plans to attend college, you find yourself having a lot of free time.” He chuckles.

“Sure,” I roll my eyes. “That’s what it is.”

“You’re really asking for it.” He glares at me.

“I bet I am,” I smile back.

Oliver opens his mouth to say something, but the ringing of the doorbell interrupts him. I tilt my head back to look at the door. Who the hell comes here this late at night?