Love Won't Let You Get Away

The bright green drink slipped easily down Olivia’s throat as she sat comfortably perched on a barstool. She was having too much fun to even acknowledge the slight discomfort that was brought on by the incredibly stuffy air of the overcrowded bar.

Ever since first being introduced to Mila Kunis, by Justin Timberlake, Olivia had been in near constant contact with her through either phone calls or text messages. They were becoming fast friends and when they were both headed to San Diego for Comic Con, they finally got the opportunity to spend some actual time together.

“And so I told him, ‘Fuck, no!’” Mila slammed her fist down on the wooden surface of the bar as she feverishly retold an early career story to Olivia. “I mean, how disrespectful can a guy be? Should I have to take whatever kind of possible shit just because I’m a woman?”

“No! You shouldn’t!” Olivia exclaimed before downing the rest of her drink.

“God! He was such a sleazebag, that one…” Mila scoffed before signalling to the bartender that they were ready for another round of drinks.

“Now, don’t you worry your pretty little mind,” Olivia stated happily as she went to dig up some cash from the pocket of her jeans. “This round’s on me.”

“Thanks,” Mila smiled as she abandoned the task of retrieving money out of her purse.

“Actually, you won’t have to worry your pretty little head either, Olivia” the young bartender smirked as he placed their drinks down in front of them. “This round is on the house.”

“Oh, wow. Thanks,” Olivia spoke dryly.

“You’re welcome, gorgeous,” the bartender smirked as he kept his eyes on Olivia.

Olivia squinted with her eyes as she studied him suspiciously. Her eyes widened with slight disbelief as the bartender lingered even further and went to lean closer by resting his elbows on the bar. Olivia turned her attention to Mila in an attempt to signal her discomfort with the situation before hesitantly returning her eyes to the bartender in what had turned into some kind of a staring match.

“Um, yeah. Thank you,” Mila said with a somewhat clipped tone; ever so slightly motioning with her head for him to move on.

The obnoxious smile that was plastered on the bartender’s face faltered as he straightened up and returned to his work mode.

“Uh… I’ll be right over there if you need me,” the bartender said; as he motioned towards a group of new customers who were beckoning for his attention at the other end of the bar.

“Great,” Mila put on a smile as the bartender began walking away. “Thanks.”

“’Little mind,’” Olivia wheezed through gritted teeth once the bartender was out of earshot. “The quote says ‘little mind,’ not ‘little head.’ Ugh! What an imbecile.”

“Really, Olivia? An hour ago, you were pretty much getting ready to hump that guy’s leg,” Mila giggled drunkenly as she shot an incredulous look towards Olivia. “And the minute he shows interest in you he turns into a disgusting scumbag?”

“Eh, well… What can I say? There is just something so much more attractive about a man when he’s unattainable,” Olivia shrugged before taking a sip of her new drink.

A few moments of silence passed between them and it gave Olivia the time to feel the drunkenness take over her senses as she took in her surroundings and evaluated the situation.

“Oh, no! Oh my God! No!” Olivia’s voice pitched higher as her eyes turned slightly frantic. “Please, tell me I’m not becoming one of those women!”

“Wait, what?” Mila furrowed her eyebrows; her foggy mind struggling to keep up with the hasty turn in Olivia’s behaviour. “What women?”

“The kind of women who tortures themselves by yearning for a man they can never have whilst living unhappily their entire lives until they die alone,” Olivia rambled hastily. “And I’m not sure I want to an-.”

“Hey, stop it!” Mila interrupted her with the slightest of slurs. “You’re being overly dramatic… I don’t like it. I know we’ve had a quite a bit to drink tonight, but let’s try to be reasonable here. I’m like totally in love with you, in a completely platonic way unfortunately. So let’s put like a great guy into the equation of your awesomeness and we’ll have magic!”

“Yeah, I hope you’re right.”

“I am right,” Mila stated confidently. “Who knows? Your perfect guy might be in this very bar.”

“Ha! Don’t say shit like that because I don’t know if I’ll have enough self-respect to keep myself from giving guys like that a notch in his belt just because I think there’s the slightest possibility that he’s the one,” Olivia nodded her head in the general direction of the bartender. “Did you hear that he called me Olivia, by the way? I never gave him my name!”

“He clearly didn’t know how to play it cool,” Mila snickered. “You can do better than a little boy who clearly just wants to bed someone famous he can tell his little buddies about.”

“Oh, I really hope so,” Olivia sighed. “You’re so lucky you’re seeing someone.”

“Don’t I know it!” Mila giggled as her cheeks flushed.

Olivia could not help but smile at the way even the slightest mention of her new love sent Mila into a state of complete delight and giddiness.

“Well… Cheers to that,” Olivia raised her glass.

“Cheers,” Mila smiled as their glasses clinked together.

They soon felt someone coming to stand a little too close behind them and they both prepared themselves to tell off the creep who had come to flirt with them. But when they turned around they were surprised to be met by a familiar face causing them both to perk back up. Mila hurried to swallow the sip she had just taken on her drink in order to speak.

“Oh, hey!” she said cheerfully.

“Jessica’s been whining up a storm for the past two hours,” Robert Clark frowned as he moved to stand next to the girls at the bar. “Save me!”

“Where is she?” Olivia laughed as she scanned the crowd for her friend.

“We’re sitting over there,” Robert pointed towards a large booth at the back of the bar. “If the two of you don’t come over to join us, then you can both consider yourself blacklisted from all my future productions!”

“Oh my!” Mila rolled her eyes sarcastically; though keeping her smile in place. “The guy becomes a big shot movie producer and all of a sudden he thinks he can boss people around.”

Olivia snickered at Mila as they slipped out of their seats and collected their belongings before making their way to the more secluded booth. It was not until they were stood in front of the table that Olivia paid enough attention to realise who the people they were joining actually were. Her eyes travelled from Jonathan Howard to Jessica Watson until it landed on him.

“Hello, Seth!” Olivia grinned widely.

“Hello,” Seth beamed in response. “How are you doing?”

Olivia’s eyes left Seth’s for a moment to see Jonathan as he moved further into the booth before patting the seat he had just been in with his hand; signalling for her to sit down.

“I’m so great,” Olivia sighed with a smile as she flopped down next to Jonathan.

“That’s great,” Seth chuckled; clearly humoured by Olivia’s state of intoxication.

“Why are you never that excited to see me?” Jonathan questioned Olivia light-heartedly.

“Oh, shut up, Jonny!” she smacked his arm playfully. “I see you every day. You’re getting quite tedious to be honest.”

“Ow!” Jonathan placed a hand where she had hit him while feigning both physical and emotional hurt; causing amusement and laughter around the table. “You wound me.”

“Hey, have you met Mike?” Mila nudged Olivia before she motioned towards a man sitting next to Seth that she had failed to properly notice until then.

“Oh! Hello!” Olivia smiled as she extended her hand across the table. “Olivia Bellamy.”

“Mike Henry,” the man smiled kindly; accepting her hand and shaking it in greeting.

“You’ll have to forgive me,” Olivia continued. “I can be so caught up sometimes.”

“Don’t even worry about it,” Mike chuckled. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too,” she smiled genuinely in reply.

“Hey, scooch over, won’t you?” Mila spoke to Mike as she repeatedly nudged his shoulder.

“Oh, yeah… Sorry!” Mike said as he moved to make room; bringing his drink with him.

“Clearly you’re not the only one who can be caught up,” Mila playfully rolled her eyes at Mike as she spoke to Olivia who giggled in reply.

“I’ve got more drinks for my buddies!” Robert declared happily as he returned to the booth with a tray full of various drinks.

“Oooh! Mine!” Mila called out as she hurried to get her favourite drink from the tray.

“Easy there,” Robert chuckled as he sat down next to her.

The arrival of Robert forced the group to squish closer together for everyone to fit in the booth. Olivia was unable to stop the feeling of disappointment from washing over her when she saw how closely Jessica had to press herself to Seth. Olivia had to tell herself repeatedly to shake it off and after a few more drinks fogging her mind; she thought that she was beginning to see the world much more clearly. If Seth did not want her, then she would have to be happy if Jessica was lucky enough to catch his fancy.

The night ran smoothly from then on with more drinks and lots of time to get to know more about their new acquaintances or to share memories with old friends. The group shared stories of their Comic Con experience so far and the group laughed as Mila was very careful not to exclude any details about the bartender that had tried to seduce Olivia as she talked about their night. Olivia’s own laughter faded when she met Seth’s gaze from across the table. She could not place the look he had in his eyes as he watched her. What was he thinking about?

Her worries were soon pushed back in her mind as Olivia could not help the amusement she felt when she saw how Jessica seemed to latch onto Seth’s arm even more, as if to mark her territory, whenever he spoke to Olivia or in any way made an acknowledgement towards her existence in the group. The move was often followed by Jessica sending Olivia an annoyed look; most likely in an effort to tell her to back off.

Jessica’s behaviour made Olivia silently wish that she could have rolled her eyes and laughed out loud at how unnecessary her actions and looks were. Olivia suspected that if Jessica only knew how misdirected her jealousy was she would even laugh at her behaviour herself.

Seth was not interested in Olivia and therefore she was not Jessica’s opponent in the race to win his attention and affections. She made a mental note that she would tell Jessica exactly how she knew that as soon as the two were alone together. Olivia was suddenly overcome by guilt. Why had she not told Jessica, her best friend, about Seth sooner?

“Hey, Jess? Do you think you could come with me to th-?” Olivia began.

“You know, I think I better get going,” Jessica said casually as she put the phone back into her handbag.

“What? Why? Are you not feeling well?” Olivia asked; surprised by her friend’s sudden urge to leave the party – and Seth. “Do you want to go back to the hotel?”

“Oh… No, I’m going to meet up with somebody,” Jessica replied indifferently.

“Oh… Really?” Olivia’s tone became somewhat higher as her curiosity perked up. “Who?”

“Just some guy, okay?” Jessica replied.

“Oooh!” Robert crooned teasingly; earning him a death glare from Jessica. “Somebody’s got a secret lover!”

“Do I know him?” Olivia pushed the subject further while she complied with Jonathan’s silent urge for her to get out of her seat so that he could move and allow Jessica to leave the booth.

“Look, Liv… He’s just a guy I’ve been seeing. It’s not a big deal,” Jessica spoke dismissively as she stood up from the booth and ended up standing face to face with Olivia.

The look in Jessica’s eyes forced an uneasy feeling to grow in the pit of Olivia’s stomach and it made her feel sick. Her inability to identify the reason for the feeling infuriated her and she could not help the anger she was beginning to feel towards her friend who refused to give her some answers that might ease her mind.

“Then why won’t you tell me who it is?” Olivia asked harshly.

“Jesus, Olivia! Just drop it, okay?! What are you?! My mother?!” Jessica yelled out furiously. “Do you always have to be such a little nosey bitch about everything?!”

To Olivia it felt like the entire bar became death quiet at Jessica’s outburst, but she came back to her senses and realised that it had probably only silenced their company who was now twisting uncomfortably in their seats. Olivia was convinced that the dizziness she was now feeling could not solely be attributed to the alcohol she had consumed during the night. She was convinced that the humiliation of being yelled at in public made her feel physically ill.

“Will you be coming back to the hotel tonight?” Jonathan asked Jessica cautiously; wanting to relieve Olivia of the discomfort of having to find something to say yet afraid that he would come into Jessica’s line of fire.

“Nah, I don’t think so. I’ll probably stay over at his place,” she replied.

The tone in Jessica’s voice made Olivia warily glance over in her direction. Was her mind tricking her or did Jessica seem to be sharing Olivia’s feeling of discomfort and shamefulness? Her eyes seemed to find the floor almost endlessly interesting just like Olivia’s had just a few seconds ago. And the redness of her cheeks seemed to match the burning feeling of embarrassment in Olivia’s cheeks. Or was that just caused by flaring anger?

“Okay, well… Be careful, alright?” Jonathan spoke softly to Jessica.

All he received in reply was a slight nod from Jessica who made a clear effort to avoid meeting Olivia’s eyes again as she sheepishly turned to look at the rest of the group.

“Bye, guys,” Jessica uttered sheepishly before quickly turning to leave the bar.

The feeble attempt, by Mila and Mike, to act like nothing had happened by calling out a friendly goodbye to Jessica fell on deaf ears as she had swiftly made her halfway through the thick crowd towards the exit before they had gotten their wits together.

The group fell into an awkward silence where no one really seemed to know what to say or how to act to return to the state of normalcy they had been in just a short while ago. Olivia knew that they were probably waiting for her to lead the way, but she did not know how. So instead, in an attempt to look cool and collected she let her gaze wonder across the bar; hoping it would appear like she was just casually observing the crowd.

“Is it just me or was that Jessica chick bitchier than she usually is tonight?”

Olivia thanked her lucky stars when Robert drunkenly broke the silence to give voice to his thoughts with a slur. She could almost feel how everybody’s eyes left her to look at him and it felt like she could breath more freely again. When nobody in the group made any attempt to reply Robert simply shrugged his shoulders before returning to his drink.

Olivia could feel Jonathan’s eyes on her as he had made his way to back to sit down in the booth. There was no doubt a healthy amount of pitying in his eyes. Olivia hated that she was vain enough that even the smallest possible dent to her pride could leave her in tears.

Normally Jonathan’s gentle and caring nature was what Olivia loved most about him. But right now it was making her blood boil and her eyes began to burn with tears that were threatening to appear. She quickly whipped her head towards the booth to tell him off only to find that she had been wrong. Jonathan was not even looking at her, but Seth was.

The eye contact startled her and it felt like her stomach flipped with excitement. But the feeling was soon pushed out of the way by her mind. What was going through his mind? Was he the one that pitied her? Once again for the night, the expression in both his eyes and on his face was too neutral for her to read so she quickly averted her eyes from him and the booth.

“I think I should go now,” Olivia spoke quietly as she turned her eyes to the floor.

“Are you alright?” Mila asked her gently.

“Yeah…” Olivia nodded without looking up. “I’m just tired.”

“I can come with you, if you’d like,” Mila offered.

Olivia’s eyes shot up to met Mila and with a shake of her head she replied, “No, no. You should stay and enjoy the rest of the night. I’ll be fine… I am fine.”

“Alright,” Mila nodded; not at all convinced that she was fine, but wanting to give Olivia space if that was what she felt that she needed.

“You’ll call me, right?” Mila smiled softly.

“Yeah,” Olivia forced a faint but genuine smile to Mila before addressing the rest of the group. “Enjoy the rest of your night, everybody.”

Olivia repeated Jessica’s departure and left the scene so quickly that the people she had been with did not have any chance to reply. She had already made her way quite far down on the street before she heard the sound of a familiar voice that was calling out for her.

“Hey, Olivia! Wait up!”

Olivia spun around on her heel and felt nothing but bewilderment as she watched Seth hurry down the street to catch up to her. He appeared to somewhat slow down his steps once he was convinced that she would wait for him. Seth smiled as he came to stop right in front of her; taking a few moments to catch his breath before he spoke.

“Can I walk with you?”

“Sure.”

Olivia heard the word tumble out of her mouth before she even had time to properly understand his question. If his smile had not widened as soon as he registered her reply then Olivia would certainly have inwardly panicked as soon as her mind caught up to her mouth. She would have tried desperately to come up with an excuse to retract her answer and get rid off Seth. But now she could not help the wide smile that broke out on her own face.

“Great,” Seth smiled as he slowly began to walk again; encouraging Olivia to follow suit.

Neither of them spoke and Olivia tried to discreetly glance up at Seth by her side to decide whether the silence was an uncomfortable one or not. Her attempt at discretion failed every single time and Seth turned to meet her eyes with a smile. Why was he even there with her?

“I was just thinking about heading back to the hotel when you left. And since your hotel is on the way to mine I thought that it could be nice to walk together,” Seth explained as if he had read her mind.

“Oh… Okay,” Olivia breathed.

Olivia nodded slightly as she replied, but she did not turn to meet his eyes again even though he could him watching her with from the corner of her eyes. They continued to walk in silence for a few minutes before Seth sighed deeply as he stopped and turned to face her.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “Did you rather want to be alone?”

“No,” she shook her head.

“Okay, then,” he smiled and once again encourage them to continue their walk.

“Oh,” Olivia spoke casually as she stumbled on her own feet.

“Woah,” Seth exclaimed as he safely caught her before she lost her balance. “Those last shots must finally be catching up to you, huh?”

“Ugh… I don’t even know why I had them,” she whined with a slight slur as she shook her head in an attempt to scold herself. “This kind of behaviour is so disgraceful.”

“It’s not that bad,” Seth chuckled.

Olivia smiled at him and thanked him after he had safely tucked her arm into his own in order to help her keep her balance as they continued walking. The silence enveloped them again and even though Olivia found it more comforting than she had a while ago that feeling could not stop her mind from spinning again. What was he thinking of her? What had he thought when had watched her back at the bar? When he had seen her quarrel with Jessica?

“You think I’m a bitch, don’t you?” Olivia broke the silence with a slight slur.

“What?” Seth exclaimed as he turned his head to look at her; genuinely surprised by the question. “What makes you think that?”

“Well, you know… You saw what happened back there at the bar,” Olivia said. “I mean, my best friend thinks I’m a bitch. My ex-boyfriend thinks I’m a bitch. Hell, I even think that my mother thinks I’m a bitch. So why wouldn’t you?”

“Look, I don’t know anything about the relationship you share with Jessica. And sure that everybody had their right to keep their private things private if they wish to. But her little outburst back there was uncalled for,” he spoke. “You’re not a bitch, Olivia.”

“You don’t even know me,” she retorted.

“I think I know enough,” he said confidently.

“I think about you a lot.”

Her confession came out of the blue and it made Seth’s mind come to a halt as he moved to stop Olivia from walking further by standing in front of her; asking for her full attention.

“I’m sorry… What?”

“I just think about you and I don’t know how to stop it. It’s like I can’t help myself,” she spoke honestly as she looked into his eyes. “There is something about you, and I don’t know what it is, that almost makes it impossible to stop thinking about you even when I want to.”

Seth tore his eyes away from her with a shake of his head as he struggled with what he should make of what she was telling him. He had longed for this moment, yet Olivia’s state of intoxication was making it difficult for him to rejoice in her revelation.

“You don’t know how happy it would make me to hear you say this if you had been sober,” he spoke quietly as he looked at their feet in an effort to compose himself and his feelings.

“Don’t you trust me?”

“You’ve had a lot to drink tonight.”

The feeling of Olivia’s soft hand on his own made Seth turn his eyes back to her face and the look in her eyes made his heart skip a beat.

“I like you, Seth,” Olivia spoke sweetly. “I mean, I really, really like you.”

“Olivia,” Seth breathed as he closed his eyes in the hope of being able to think straight. “I…”

His struggle to find the right thing to say disappeared the second he felt Olivia’s wet lips on his own. Her hands were soon placed on his shoulders for support as she stood up on her tiptoes to deepen the kiss. His hands instinctively placed themselves on her hips, but the taste of alcohol on her tongue soon forced Seth to come to his senses.

Their lips parted for the fraction of a second as Seth made a move to break away, but they were soon joined together again as Olivia locked her arms around his neck to pull him back. And he could not fight the temptation of allowing himself to get lost in the moment.