Steal You with Hello

For the most part, Olivia stayed at the apartment during the day. Every now and then, we'd go out to do something in the evening like walk around or get something to eat. She'd gone to clean out her stall with the team, but that was the only big outing she'd really made. I didn't expect her to make any, of course. She hadn't even flown home for the summer, something I had a feeling she wasn't going to do at all. Needless to say, I'd stuck around Boston this far.

A few guys I was friends with and I were out at a mall for awhile. I needed some new shirts and shorts and they all needed something apparently. "So..." Jake began as he studied a shirt a little too closely to be normal.

"What?" I thumbed through a rack of shirts to find my size. I held it up once I did. It was a nice charcoal grey color, something I knew Olivia would have pointed out to me if she had been here. I draped the button up over my arm and kept browsing.

"Does Olivia have a boyfriend?" he finally asked. I stopped to look at him. He gave me a smirk. "Come on man. She's hot. You can't blame a guy for trying his luck, can you?"

Yes, I could. He wasn't good enough for her. He couldn't have her. That wasn't okay. She was mine. Well, not really. But I was in love with her first. Maybe not. But I loved her most, I knew that. I'd treat her the best. She would never cry because of something I did unless they were tears of happiness. But I couldn't admit any of that. "She's not seeing anyone," I finally relented.

His smirk only got bigger. How I'd like to punch him in the face and break his teeth... "Any chance I could get her number from you?"

Jesus Christ, he was begging to get my fist in his face. Never have I wanted to hit someone so badly. Except maybe Dougie when she called him her best friend first. I could remember the bright grin on his face, too. Fuck him. "Uh, I can ask her if she's okay with it," I mumbled. I moved to another rack of shirts to hopefully move on from that topic. Maybe I could just not ask her and he'd drop it.

"Are you going to text her now?" Jake asked as he followed me.

Or not. "Um, sure..." I tugged my phone out of my pocket. There was a text from her and one from my sister waiting on my phone. I opened my sister's first. She just wanted to say hi and arrange a Skype call so I moved on after sending a quick response. I opened Olivia's message next. She'd sent a picture of supposedly herself in a nearly completely black room. I laughed at that.

'Looking beautiful today! PS, Jake wants to know if he can have your number. If you don't want him to, I'll gently tell him to fuck off.'

Didn't want her to feel like she had to or anything... I went back to browsing for clothes until she texted back with an okay. I cussed under my breath. Well, I just wouldn't mention it until he asked then. Only then would I-

"Hey, did she respond yet?"

Fuck everything. "Uh, yeah. She said you could have her number," I mumbled.

"Awesome! What is it?" His phone was out in a second, ready to type in her number.

I let out a sigh and recited her number to him. He gave me a strange look for a second when I didn't look it up, but quickly moved on to tell the other guys. This was going to be fucking fantastic. I could hear them talking about her as I walked away towards the dressing rooms, only stopping to grab another button up shirt that I was sure Olivia would approve of.

---

When I got home that afternoon, the house was silent. Olivia wasn't in the living room or in the kitchen. I knocked on her bedroom door before poking my head in. The blinds were drawn, but she wasn't in there. "Liv?" I called out. Silence was my only answer. Maybe she went to get something...

I kicked off my shoes by the door before walking into my room. I stutter-stepped when I opened my door. It was pitch black in my room. I knew for a fact that I'd had my blinds open when I left. The door let in just enough light to reveal a lump under my comforter. I dropped my shopping bags onto my desk and walked over.

Olivia peaked and eye open when I got closer. "Hey," I greeted with a smile.

She returned it as she stretched her arms above her head. "Hey. Sorry I slept in here. It wasn't dark enough in the rest of the apartment and my head was killing me," she mumbled sleepily.

"No worries," I quickly told her. I didn't mind seeing her curled up in my bed at all. Her blonde hair was spread out over my black pillow case and only her head and shoulders could be seen above the matching black comforter. She looked so comfortable curled up like she was. It was almost impossible to not crawl up next to her. "My room's probably better for you. With the curtains and all," I added on lamely.

She nodded her head, though. "What'd you get?" she asked, glancing over to the bags.

"Oh, just a couple shirts and a new pair of jeans," I answered. I picked up the bag and set it on the bed to pull out the new clothes I'd purchased. I smiled, knowing she'd like them. I held up the shirt I had first found.

Olivia grinned at it, reaching out to touch it. "I like it! Very nice," she commented happily.

I smiled even wider at her approval. I knew she'd like it. I showed her the rest of my clothes before putting them all away correctly. "So... your friend texted me," she commented.

Fuck Jake. "Yeah?"

"Mhm... He's very... flirtatious," she mumbled warily.

"Yeah, he is a pretty big flirt, I guess," I agreed. Pretty big? He was the biggest flirt I knew.

She studied the pillow in her lap for a moment. "Should I stay away from him then or..?"

I couldn't stand to see her look like she was. "Jake isn't a completely terrible guy. He just likes to flirt sometimes, you know? He can be a fun person," I allowed. A small smile pulled her lips up again.

"Okay. I think I'm gonna go back to sleep for a little while. My head hurts a little still," she told me. I nodded before leaving my room, shutting the door behind me so she'd be left in the dark. Fuck Jake. Either I'd die by the end of this whole thing or I would kill me.

---

"So guess who has a date with the bangin' Miss Olivia Sunitsch," Jake announced with a smirk as he dropped down onto the couch.

My hand slipped on the Xbox controller I was holding. "What?" It had only been like a week since he'd gotten her number.

"No way!" my other friend, Chris, exclaimed. We were sitting in Chris's apartment playing video games today and Jake had just shown up. He hadn't even said hello before dropping this bomb on me.

I stared at him as he smugly typed on his phone. "Yup. Next Friday night."

"Is she okay to go out? Did her doctor say it was? Because I don't know if-"

Jake cut me off with an eye roll. "She's fine. She even said so. Chill out, papa bear," he snorted.

I glared at him while Chris began digging for details. "Are you going to a club or what? You're probably more likely to get laid if she's got some alcohol in her system," he commented with a laugh.

Jake chucked a pillow at him. "Shut up. No, I was thinking a movie and dinner. Keep it simple, you know?"

Mother fucker. I wanted to punch them both. I'd get sick to my stomach if I thought about Olivia giving into him. He was such a scum bag. She could do so much better. "Why not take her on a date that she'd actually like?" I muttered as I went back to the game. I sniped Chris's character right between the eyes. He let out an unhappy grunt at that.

"Like what? Don't all girls like movies and dinner?" Jake questioned.

I gave him a pointed look, which he definitely didn't catch. "That's just a cop out. Do something she'd actually enjoy doing."

"Okay, like what?" he inquired.

"Well, do something that involves things she's into," I started. I glanced over at him. He looked completely at a loss. I let out a heavy sigh and paused the game. I dropped the controller to the ground and turned to face him. "She's a professional athlete," I hinted.

"Okay..." he responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Jesus Christ," I muttered. If she had a good time on this date, he owed me. He owed me so much for not punching him in the face in the first place, too. "She loves sports. That's what she makes a living doing, playing. So take her to a game."

Jake let out a snarky laugh. "I don't know if you haven't noticed yet, man, but hockey season is over." Chris started laughing behind me.

"No, fuck you," I spat out. "I mean a baseball game. She loves baseball," I reminded him. He looked like he had no idea about that. How could he miss it, though? She had games on almost all the time and wore baseball merch almost regularly. "Take her to a baseball game. Get some tickets and take her. She'll love it. She'll have a blast."

He paused for a moment. "... And take her out to dinner after?"

I would have slapped my hand against my forehead at that. "No, buy her a hotdog when you get there. Then later on in the game, buy her a popcorn or ice cream. She'll fucking love it," I assured him. "She lives for those kind of days." She'd never said so, but I could tell. She always lit up when we went to games with some of the guys or Dougie. She had mentioned that her dad used to take her out to games sometimes when she was little and would buy her a hotdog.

He snorted. "No way. She's a chick. Chicks love going to restaurants and then the movies. She'd be pissed if I took her to a game," he scoffed.

"Trust me. She'd love it," I countered.

"How would you know?" he retorted. "You taken her on dates to games?"

"I fucking live with her and she's on my team. I know what she likes," I spat back.

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence for a moment. I picked up my controller again and hit play. Chris and I went back to roaming around and trying to kill each other. A couple minutes later, Jake spoke again. "So, a game? That's what I should do?" he asked slowly.

"Yup," I responded, popping the p.

He sighed out. "Alright. I'm taking your advice on this one," he warned me. As if he needed to warn me. She'd fucking be in love with him by the end of that game.

"If you hurt her, Dougie and I'll kick your ass," I countered with a pointed look. He rolled his eyes as he picked up his own controller to join the game.