Saturday, September 6th

Today is the day that me and Oliver are supposed to go on our second 'date' and boy am I nervous. I'm not sure what this all means. Why do we keep going on dates? He doesn't even like me. Yes he does he told you! Ugh life is so difficult.

"Hey mom, dad" I say giving them both a hug.
"I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you two." I tell them.

"I know sweetie. We've just been so caught up in work." My mom explains.

I give them a smile and grab a plate of cheesy scrambled eggs. I sit down at the kitchen table with my mom and dad.

The silence floats around the room, nobody trying to break it.

"Can I still go to the fair this evening?" I ask my parents.

"That's fine." Dad says.

"Is Renee going?" My mother asks.

"Hopefully." I tell her.

She nods her head and I walk back to my room to call Renee. She had left early this morning. Renee answers on the first ring.

"Hey. Are you going the fair with me and Oliver?" I ask Renee.

"I don't know. I'd rather not be a third wheel." She says and sighs.

"Well I can stay home and hang out with you." I offer.

"No it's fine, mom was wanting to do a movie night tonight anyways." Renee explains.

I feel so bad cause I know she needs me right now. But her families having a movie night anyways so it wouldn't be terrible of me, would it?

"Are you sure?"

"Yea. Go have fun Mads. I'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay. I love you. When I get back maybe we can hang out?" I propose.

"I love you too. That would be okay as long as I'm not asleep, you know how I am when it comes to nappy time." She says and lightly laughs.

"Oh yeah. You're always asleep."

"Have fun. I want the details when you come over." She speaks.

Little does she know she has a lot to catch up on.

"Okay mom."

She laughs which makes me think I'm doing a decent job at cheering her up. I'm not sure if I'll tell her the details though because won't that be selfish? She just went through a hard breakup. I need to find Jason and talk to him. I wish she would come with us though.

"Don't come to my house without ice cream. Bye mads." She says and hangs up the phone.

I feel like I should go talk to Jason to clear things up but that's not really my place, is it? Screw that, I need to go talk to him.

I grab my keys and head into the kitchen. My parents are still at the island eating.

"Is it okay if I go to Gelato Gathering?" I ask them.

"By yourself?" My dad asks.

"Yeah."

"That's fine hunny. Be careful, please." My mom says.

I walk out the door and the smell of pollen hits me. I hope Jason understands the situation and Renee doesn't get mad at me for talking to him.

Renee's POV

I never expected myself to be so upset over a guy but here I am, laying in my bed and moping around all day.

My mom wanted us to all have a movie night tonight probably for my sake. I don't really feel like it but anything it takes to see my parents not worry about me I will do.

My German Shepherd, Callie, jumps onto my bed and lays on top of me. She smells like a fart and she sure isn't a lap dog.

I pet her coarse fur, to pay me back she licks me on my cheek. I love how dogs can sense when you're sad, so they feel the need to cheer you up.

"How are you feeling?" My mom says coming into my room after lightly knocking.

She sits on the edge of my bed causing the bed to dip down.

"I'm okay."

"Do you need anything?"

"No thank you." I tell my mom.

Her blonde hair falls over her eye and she moves it back tucking it behind her ear.

"Okay. Yell for me if you do." She says and leaves my room, shutting the door behind her.

"You're heavy Callie." I say to my dog.

My mom and Pops bought Callie for me for my 13th birthday. We got her when she was two, she's about seven now.

I was so excited to have my own dog, but I didn't realize how much responsibility came with it. I almost got her taken away from me, but I stepped up my game and started being responsible.

My phone starts to ring from my bedside table. I assume it's Maddie so I just pick up my phone and put it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Um hey." Jason says from the other line.

My heart picks up its pace and butterflies arrive in my stomach. It's such a weird feeling for me to be head over heels for a guy.

"Jason?" My voice comes out as a squeal.

"Maddison came by and talked to me."

"She did?"

When did Maddison go talk to him? Why would she go to talk to him?

"I'm so sorry Renee. I should've let you explain yourself before jumping to conclusions." He utters.

"I would say it's okay but it's not." I speak my mind.

"I know. It was foolish of me." Jason admits.

"It was."

"Just know I'm sorry, okay? If you can't forgive me that's fine but I am sorry. It was just so hard to see another guy kissing you. We've only been dating for a little while, but I really like you, Renee. It just looked like you two were holding each other and I was heartbroken." He explains.

"I would've been upset also, I understand. Let's just start out as friends, yeah?" I suggest.

I can't be with someone who doesn't trust me. I didn't think I could be with anyone period. Here I am though, head over heels for this guy.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's fine." He agrees with relief flooding his voice.

"Thank you for calling me. I hope we can work this out."

"Me too. I really like you Renee, I'm still so sorry."

"I know you are. Let's just put the past in the past, okay?" I declare.

"Okay. Bye Renee." Jason says and hangs up the phone.

I used to be awful at forgiving people, you could look at me the wrong way and I would hold a grudge on you forever. Maddison taught me how wrong that was. She explained to me that God forgives everyone just by us asking, so we should forgive people too; forgiving doesn't mean being best friends or close again, it just means you're being mature and putting the past where it belongs: in the past.

Maddison has taught me a lot in my life. She basically helped me to be more mature and to grow up. I'm glad she cleared things up between me and Jason. I'm willing to forgive him but I can't pick up where we left off; we have to start over.

Maddison POV

Oliver should be here any minute to pick me up so my anxiety is going crazy and giving me every reason why I should be nervous.

What if his truck explodes and we both die? What if he decides he doesn't like me no more? What if we ride some ride and get stuck at the top of it?

I hate my mind. I would gladly sell it to anyone willing to give good money for it.

"Maddison! Oliver's here!!" My mom yells.

Oh god. My heart starts beating faster than it was before, I didn't even know that was possible.

I settled on wearing a grey T-shirt with a black bralette that wraps around the back of my neck and some dark jean shorts.

I slip my converse on my feet and head to the kitchen. Oliver is seated on the island with my mom and they are talking.

He turns around and meets me eyes. He gives me a smile then walks up to me. Oliver wraps his muscular arms around my small body.

And again, my heart speaks up even more.

I hug him back but before he lets me go, he whispers "Hey sweat pea. you look beautiful."

I can already feel my face betraying me and turning red like I had asked it not to. I hope he doesn't notice.

"You kids have fun. Please don't come home to late." My mom says.

I walk up to her and give her a hug.

"Bye mom."

Oliver opens the door for me, and we walk to his truck. He opens the door for me again allowing me to step up inside of his truck.

His familiar smell engulfs me. I could stay inside of this old truck forever as long as his smell stays with me. I think I like him a little too much.

"Thank you for coming with me. I really wanted to go but no one would come with me." He says backing out of my driveway.

Who else did he ask to go with him?

"Of course."

"Renee didn't want to come?" Oliver asks.

"She's uh... she's not feeling well."

Technically I'm not lying because Renee isn't feeling well mentally. I hope Jason called her like he said he would. He felt so bad for doing that to Renee. I still want to kill Griffin though.

"Well, that sucks." He comments.

"You don't know?"

"Know what?" He asks looking over to me for a brief second.

"What happened between Renee, griffin and Jason."

"Nobody told me anything. All I know is Renee ran out and went to the pond."

"It's not really my place to tell you but some crazy stuff happened between them." I explain to Oliver.

I don't want to put Renee's business out there for everyone to take and make what they want out of it.

"Oh. Okay."

"Sorry" I tell him.

I'm not sure why I feel bad, but I do. I look out the window and watch all the streetlights whiz past us.

"S'okay. Ya know, sometimes I'm convinced Renee's actually crazy." He says and laughs.

I turn to look back at him.

"And you've only been friends with her for like two weeks. Trust me, she is crazy." I say smiling at him.

"How did you and Renee become friends?" He asks me.

"Well fourth grade was when we met. I was walking to class one day and these girls were telling me my hair looked ugly and it made me upset because I thought my hair looked great. Anyways Renee came up beside me and punched the girl in her nose. She punched her so hard it broke her nose."

The day me and Renee met was one of the best days ever, I think back.

"Damn." He says and laughs. "Even when she was young, she was crazy."

I watch the way he throws his head back when he laughs hard. It makes his Adam's apple pop up more below his skin.

"She's always been crazy." I state.

"How come your mom and dad aren't home much? Not to be nosey or rude, but I'm curious." He asks cautiously.

"My dad's a homicide detective, as you know, so he's usually out on a case and my mom's a dentist, I'm not sure why she's always at work but she is."I explain.

He looks over at me and just nods his head.

"How come your parents aren't ever home?" I ask Oliver.

"Well, my mother works 2 jobs so she's always busy. She works as a teacher during the day and in the evening, she works as a waitress. My father is a truck driver, so he stays out on the roads." Oliver explains.

I see a little bit of sadness in his eyes as I watch him speak.

His family seems like an average family. I wonder what it's like to have a stable family like that.

"I love to travel. I might just have to buddy up with your dad and take his job." I say and laugh.

He looks over to me and laughs. His eyes are so full of life and happy now.

"I like to travel too but truck driving sucks. I've went out with him a couple times and it's so boring, trust me."

"What's one place you would love to visit?" I ask him.

"Texas. I heard everything is bigger in Texas."

He looks over at me and winks. Some guys just make me want to slap the daylight out of them.

"What about you?" He asks.

"I want to visit England." I say confidently.

I've always wanted to go to England. It's supposed to be so beautiful there, at least I've heard.

"I've been there." He says, rubbing it in my face.

"That's where you were born. No fair." I say crossing my arms over my chest.

I remember the night we met he told me he was from Birkenhead, England. Oliver looks over at me and laughs.

"What's it like there?" I ask him while looking at the side of his face.

I take notice to has nice jawline that has a little stubble on it, idincating that he hasn't shaved in a while. He looks over at me and our eyes meet for a slight second and then he turns back to the road.

He is so beautiful. Everything about him is just too perfect. It's too good to be true.

"It's so nice. It's a beautiful place and the people are great." He states.

I study the way his face moves when he says certain words. His eyes light up at the mention of his hometown. I'm really falling for this guy.

I have to tell him how I feel, he needs to know; he deserves to know. My stomach starts to churn and my anxiety thinks of all the reasons I shouldn't do this.

All it takes is three seconds of courage. He already likes you so nothing can go wrong, right?

Okay talk now!...

now?....

Okay really this time...

"Um Oliver?" My statement comes out as a question.

"Yeah?" He asks and looks at him with his brows knitted together.

"You know how the other night you said you liked me?"

No going back now. Just keep going. My stomach is making me feel nauseous.

"I vaguely recall that." He says and starts stroking the stubble on his chin.

"Um...well... I-i likeyoutoo." I say fast to get it over with.

He whips his head and looks at me. His grip tightens on the steering wheel making his knuckles turn white. Did I mess this up? I'm so scared right now. My heart rate has to be at least 300.

"You do?"

"Um yeah. I do." I say awkwardly.

Oh god. Did I really just do that? This is like a milestone! I just told a guy that I liked him, oh wow.

"I was pretty convinced you didn't like me after that talk." He says and nervously laughs. "I was scared I messed things up by saying that but this is great!" He says and smiles big.

I didn't expect him to react like that. I was ready to be dropped off on the side of the road and told to find my own way home.

What if he really doesn't like me though? He just said that to mess with me and now I said I liked him, oh god. I'm gonna embarrass myself! How does he even like me? he doesn't. I mean, I'm not that pretty and my personality isn't that great. What is there to really like about me?

"What are you thinking about sweet pea?" He asks.

I feel goosebumps raise at my nickname. Should I tell him the truth? I already threw myself under the bus tonight so I might as well. might as well go die in a hole too.

"Well.... I'm just confused." I admit.

"About?" He pushes me on.

"Why me?" I ask him.

"What do you mean?" He chuckles. "You're beautiful, funny as hell and you're so nice. The real question is 'why not you?"

Oh bajesus. If I wasn't falling for him before I definitely am now. I feel the heat traveling up my neck to show off his effect on me.

I hear him chuckle, vibrating the bench seat. That's what I like most about his truck, the bench seat.

"What?" I ask him.

Why is he laughing? Is he laughing at me? Probably, you're making a fool of yourself. Ugh! I think this is the scariest thing I've done ever in my life.

"It's just that I can make you blush so easily."

"Well that's because nobody every says these things about me." I admit.

Why would you say that?!? He's going to make fun of you now! Oh gosh! I'm so stupid!!

"That really surprises me." He says.

"Why? It's not like all guys are chasing after me or anything."

"That's what surprises me. You're so beautiful, people should be calling you that everyday."

"Yeah well most of the guys are under Emily's influence so they believe all the rumors. Plus I don't really catch people's eyes." I tell Oliver.

I look over to him. I watch the way his hair bounces around in the wind and the way he tries to tame it but fails. He looks over to me and our eyes lock for a couple of seconds.

"Did you... Did you ever believe those rumors?" I ask

"Not for a second" he reply snappily.

"I hate..." He grips the wheel tighter and his knuckles whiten. "I hate that you talk about yourself that way. I hate that people talk about you that way. I hate all of it! You're such a good person Maddison." He rants.

I just stare at the side of his face. I hate it too Oliver, but there's nothing we can do about it.

"You're so nice to me. It's a great change. Not many people are too nice to me."

"I really, really like you Maddison. I couldn't be anything but nice to you."

I turn my head away from Oliver and look out the window. I let the wind run through my hair, making it even more wild than it was. I can see the carnival lights in the distance, glowing in the dark and lighting up its surroundings.

One thing I've always love about the carnival is how I can just forget everything that's happening to me. I love the adrenaline rushes I get on the rides and how nobody can mess with me when I'm up that high.

Oliver pulls his truck into the parking lot for the carnival.

Knots form in my stomach and I'm not sure why. My anxiety just decides to pop up at random times and gives me silly reasons to be scared but I give into it.

I can't help the smile that forms on my face as I look around at all the flashing, bright lights and all the fast spinning rides.

"Ready?" Oliver asks me.

I look over to him. The lights reflect on his face, making him look like a young kid as he smiles.

I shake my head and jump out of the old truck. The smell of funnel cakes fill the air along with people screaming on the fast rides.

My smiles gets so big that my cheeks start hurting.

"You really like the carnival, huh?" He asks me as he walks towards me.

Oliver has his hands casually stuck in the pocket of his blue jeans. He takes one hand out of his pocket to tame his unruly hair.

"Yeah." I tell him.

"Let's go." He says as he walks towards the entrance.

I trial behind him while looking up at all the bright glowing lights; red, blue, orange, any color you could think of is here.

The closer we get the more food you can smell.

"How many?" The person in the ticket booth asks.

"Two please." Oliver says and hands the guy a twenty.

"That's fine I can get mine." I say and try to stop him.

"No. I've got it." He says and smiles down at me.

That's give us our wristbands and we head through the entrance.

"What should we do first?" He asks.

"Well we cant eat and then ride because I'll promise you I will throw up. Let's go ride zero gravity!" I say and smile.

He smiles back and we start walking towards rides. Oliver takes my hand in his and laces our fingers together which catches me off guard and causes me to flinch. I quickly recover and look up to him and smile. I get butterflies in my stomach by his action and it makes me feel nauseous. His hands are calloused and rough but it's such a good feeling up against my small, soft hands.

Heat starts traveling up my neck and to my cheeks. It's crazy that just us holding hands makes me blush. Why do I have to blush at everything? It's so annoying I swear.

Oh my gosh; I'm holding hands with Oliver Hansen. It shouldn't be making it a big deal but it's Oliver for hecks sake!

I've never even held hands with anyone before, it is very embarrassing.

The circular ride appears in front of us with lights flashing around the word 'zero gravity.'

Zero gravity is by far my favorite. Me and Oliver walk into the entry way of the large ride.  The guy operating the ride looks like he's been to jail a few times. He checks our wristbands and lets us onto the ride. We pick out spots to stand by each other and strap ourselves in; the only security you have is the strap strung across your waist which doesn't seem the safest.

A couple of more people walk in and the ride starts spinning in circles slowly.

Oliver grabs my hand once again making me feel even more nauseous. The ride speeds up and starts to tilt slightly. I feel Oliver squeeze my hand from beside me. I look over to him and he's already looking at me. He looks like he's going to throw up.

The ride tilts more to where it's completely sideways and we're basically laying down. I love this part so much because I'm seeing the world from a whole different perspective. My feet are lifting off the ground and I feel as if I could easily fall out of this ride.

Zero gravity starts to slow down and eventually stops. I unstrap myself and try to start walking but I fail miserably and almost fall because of how dizzy I am.

"Wow! You okay?" Oliver asks as he grabs my arms to steady me.

"How are you even walking right now?" I ask him and laugh.

"I barley am."

We walk down the steps and back onto solid ground.

"Man I'm dizzy. Did you like it?" I ask Oliver.

"It was awful." He says with a disgusted look in his face.

"You don't like it? That's crazy I love that ride!"

"I don't see how." Oliver states and laughs.

"Fine you pick the next ride then."

"Hmm lets see." He says tapping his chin and looking around.

"The 360." He says and looks down at me.

"No way! Zero gravity isn't half as scary as that ride!"

I've never ridden the 360 before because it looks awful. It just throws you around in circles but up and down; I'm not a huge fan of being upside down.

"Please?" He says and pokes out his bottoms lip.

"Fine" I say and huff.

"Come on." He says in a teasing way and grabs my hand again.

4011 words
Revised and edited 9-18-24