Love Won't Let You Get Away

For as long as Olivia could remember, she had been very fond of walking. Not only as a form of transportation and exercise, but also as a way to sort out her thoughts. It didn’t matter if she walked along the bustling streets of New York City, strolled between the rows of grape vines at her grandparents’ vineyard in Provence, or hiked along a trail in the mountains; it almost never failed to calm her down.

On this particular day Olivia had been joined by her friend Andrew Parker for a walk on one of the many hiking trails of Minnesota. Andrew was a good friend whom Olivia had gone to theatre school with in England during her childhood. Andrew had recently relocated to the United States after a breakthrough role in an internationally successful film had made him one of the most sought-after young actors in Hollywood.

“How’s your ankle feeling?” Andrew questioned after walking most of the trail in complete silence.

“It’s starting to feel much better,” Olivia replied, “Thank you.”

They continued their hike in silence until they reached the highest point of the trail.

“Do you reckon we should sit down to catch our breaths before going back?” Olivia asked and pointed towards a wooden bench.

“Yeah, that’d be good,” he answered and removed his backpack to retrieve their water bottles out of it.

Olivia and Andrew were currently halfway through the filming of the independent film Blunted Emotions, and had decided to use this day off to get some time away from everybody else.

“Here you go,” Andrew stated as he handed Olivia a water bottle.

“Thanks,” Olivia smiled before leaning back against the backrest while opening the bottle.

“Minnesota is absolutely stunning!” Andrew exclaimed as he wiped some sweat from his forehead.

“Mm hmm,” she nodded before swallowing the water she still had in her mouth. “How are you, Andrew?”

“I’m good,” Andrew faked a smile and took a sip of water.

Olivia smiled softly as she watched as her brown-haired friend tried to act cool.

“’Good’, huh?” she teased.

“Yep,” he replied without turning to look at Olivia.

“There’s nothing that’s bothering you at all?” she inquired with a smile.

“Nope! Nothing at all,” Andrew stated before glancing towards Olivia who raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “Fine! This whole ‘fame thing’ is driving me crazy!”

Olivia giggled as she tried to comfort Andrew by rubbing her hand on his back as he put his head in his hands.

“How do you do this, Olivia?!” he continued. “Whenever you’ve told me what it’s been like for you over here, I just never imagined that it was actually that terrifying. But it is! And it’s driving me bonkers, Olivia! Absolutely bonkers!”

“I know that it’s awful,” she replied calmly, “But everything will work out just fine. You’ll get through this and get used to it just like I’ve had to do.”

“Yes, I know,” Andrew said quietly.

“You do?” Olivia questioned; surprised at how quickly he managed to calm himself down.

“Yes. And do you know why I know?” Andrew spoke as he sat back up to look at Olivia.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I’ve got you as a friend,” he smirked.

“Oh!” Olivia groaned as she scrunched her face up. “That’s such a cheesy thing to say!”

“I know,” Andrew chuckled and playfully patted Olivia’s knee. “You look very unattractive when you do that with your face, by the way.”

“Hey!” she exclaimed as she pretended to have been hurt by the comment.

Olivia giggled as she lightly shoved Andrew’s shoulder with one of her hands. They both returned to admiring the view in silence while resting their tired feet and legs.

“Hey, Andrew?” Olivia said cautiously without removing her gaze from the view in front of them.

“Yeah?” he replied while doing the same.

“Do you know who Seth MacFarlane is?” she questioned.

“Olivia,” Andrew smirked as he looked at her, “I’m a 24-year-old guy. Of course I know who Seth MacFarlane is.”

“What do you mean, ‘Of course I know…’?” Olivia asked, slightly annoyed. “There’s no way that every 24-year-old guy knows who Seth MacFarlane is!”

“Every 24-year-old guy should know who he is, because that guy is super talented, he’s super rich and even I find him sexy. And I’m a totally heterosexual guy,” he explained.

“Are you absolutely sure about that last part?” she mocked in response.

“Ugh!” Andrew rolled his eyes. “If that man can’t get whichever woman he could possibly want in the world, then I don’t know who could. He’s like my God, Olivia!”

“Whatever, Andrew!” she sighed. “Let’s just forget about it.”

“Just tell me what it was that you wanted to say about him, Olivia,” he demanded.

“There was nothing. I just wanted to know if you knew who he was,” Olivia lied.

“Yeah, right,” Andrew snorted.

Andrew sat quietly as he waited for Olivia, to grow uncomfortable enough with the silence, to tell him what was actually on her mind.

“I did something stupid,” Olivia admitted as she tightly squeezed her eyes together to avoid Andrew’s gaze.

Andrew didn’t say anything as he studied Olivia carefully.

“I may have kissed him,” she sighed.

“You may have kissed him?” he questioned, “Are you not sure if you did or not?”

“Of course I’m sure if I kissed him or not!” Olivia groaned as she furiously glared at Andrew.

“So which one is it?” Andrew countered with a slightly raised voice.

“I did,” she admitted shyly.

“Alright!” he exclaimed happily and raised his hand in an attempt to give Olivia a high five.

“Andrew!” Olivia whined. “Can’t you see what a mess I’ve put myself in?”

“Gosh, Olivia,” Andrew replied as he rolled his eyes and lowered his hand. “What’s the big deal?”

“’The big deal’?” she suddenly yelled. “I have a boyfriend! That’s ‘the big deal’.”

“Calm down,” he soothed and took a deep breath as he thought about the subject for a moment. “Does Jacob even know?”

Olivia shook her head.

“When did it happen?” he inquired.

“It was the night of Jared Eng’s birthday party. So… about a month ago,” Olivia admitted shamefully.

“A month ago?!” Andrew chuckled. “Then just drop it, Olivia! It’s too late to tell Jacob now and if it’s been this long without him finding out, I doubt he ever will from somebody else!”

“I wish I could ‘drop it’, but for some reason I can’t. It doesn’t matter how I hard I try; it’s constantly there in the back of my mind… Nagging me!” she retorted.

“Olivia, it was one kiss!” he replied.

Andrew’s smile faded briefly as Olivia ignored his statement.

“Oh!” Andrew laughed slightly mockingly. “It was more than one kiss, wasn’t it?”

Olivia nodded and closed her eyes again as she began to blush.

“You kissed Seth MacFarlane more than once at Jared’s party?” he smiled.

“Well, not really,” Olivia hesitantly admitted. “The first kiss was technically in his car, outside of my house. And well, the second was…”

“Go on, then!” Andrew instructed.

“The second was at my house two days later,” she stated and glanced at Andrew.

“You didn’t sleep with him, did you?” he questioned.

“No! Of course not!” she exclaimed. “I’m not a slut!”

“If you say so,” Andrew teased.

“Andrew!” Olivia whined.

“So, what happened then?” he questioned.

“Uh… We just stopped kissing and then…” Olivia hesitated.

“And then…?” Andrew pressed on.

“And then…” she sighed, “And then Jacob walked into the room.”

“Jake was in the house?” he shouted with an amused look on his face.

“Yes,” she groaned as she furrowed her eyebrows together and blushed.

“Oh! You’re a bad girl, Ms. Bellamy!” Andrew laughed.

“It’s not funny, Andrew!” Olivia whined.

“It is though,” he replied.

“Ugh! Let’s just forget that I ever told you this, okay?” she suggested.

“I’m sorry, Olivia,” Andrew spoke genuinely. “I’m sorry.”

“I feel awful,” Olivia stated quietly.

“I know you do,” he replied and put his arm around her shoulders. “But you shouldn’t. I know that he’s told you that he hasn’t cheated on you with that blond bimbo and he might be telling the truth. But he’s done this to you before.”

“He’s not that bad,” she sniffled.

“Look, I like Jake. You know I do. But he has never deserved you,” Andrew stated truthfully. “I know that it isn’t a nice thing to say, but it is what I believe.”

“Jacob has never wanted me,” Olivia said sadly as she looked down at the ground in front of her; trying to hold back her tears.

“Then you shouldn’t be with him!” he replied. “You should be with someone who wants to be with you. You should be with somebody who wants nothing more than to be the one who gets to make you happy.”

“I’ll be alone forever!” she whined. “Nobody will ever truly want me!”

“Nonsense, Olivia,” Andrew protested before jokingly adding. “If I didn’t like you this much as a friend, I’d marry you this very minute! I mean, we could still give it a try if you really wanted to. But it certainly doesn’t help that we don’t find each other sexually attractive at all.”

Olivia giggled as she rolled her eyes in response and briefly hugged Andrew before sitting back up.

“Seriously though, if you stay with Jacob he could very well block your sight when the man you’re destined to be with walks into your life. The love of your life could appear in front of you, any day now,” he stated. “Maybe that man has arrived already.”

“What do you mean?” Olivia asked cautiously as she looked at Andrew.

“Maybe…” he hesitated. “Who knows, Olivia? Maybe Seth is the one you’re supposed to be with. He seems to have gotten under your skin.”

“Oh, no!” she shook her head profusely. “He’s not the one.”

“How do you know?” Andrew asked curiously.

“Because…” Olivia smiled as she tried to hide her pain. “He’s just like Jacob.”

“In what way?” he inquired.

“Seth doesn’t want me either,” she stated as tears began to fall from her eyes.

“You don’t know that,” Andrew retorted.

“Yes, I do,” Olivia nodded as she wiped her cheeks.

“How?” he questioned.

“He told me so,” she cried.

“Well, then he’s a fool!” Andrew breathed as he pulled Olivia back into a hug.