Present

Ollie: If you don't answer my next call I am going to fly back home, I swear to Christ, Muriel.

I scoff and shove the phone into the back pocket of my unbuttoned jeans. He can come back to London all he wants but I have no intention of seeing him.

I'm much too confused and every time he's in my face everything becomes even more muddled and amatory. Things that should be straight forward, for example, keeping Ollie out my heart becomes entangled.

If I knew coming here would throw a wrench into my plans I never would have come here to begin with. All that's happened has made everything even messier than what it already was.

And every time he speaks to me with those perfect words and sweet gestures only causes my resolve to unavoidably thin.

With space comes clarity. And it is so clear to me now. I have no business in being with Oliver Thomas.

With one toss I throw in an armful of clothes into my suitcase spread open on my unmade bed.

Rushing back to the closet I rip off more clothes from the hangers and come back to the bed stuffing them into the suitcase then close the flap and zip it closed.

My pocket vibrates. Once, twice, three times informing me it isn't a text but an incoming phone call.

My stomach twists and churns and I fish my phone from my back jeans pocket and read Ollie's name blinking on the screen.

My conscience tells me to stop what I'm doing and answer it.

I know I should.

But all he's going to do is talk me into being a stupid girl. The stupid girl who is blind to her dad being an adulterer and a girl who is blind to her ex-boyfriend's clear unhappiness. The stupid girl who waits for a man while he's out with this actress or that model. Me, Muriel, always the blind and stupid girl.

"Not happening," I tell him as well as myself and disconnect the incoming call and to add salt to the wound set my phone to airplane mode.

I knew the Uber would be here in five minutes to pick me up. I don't need my phone turned on for any reason.

Hell, when I had no phone on my mission trips I was so much happier anyway.

With that thought, I immediately feel much better and stuff my feet into my white shoes and lace them. I hurry into the bathroom and throw my things into the toiletry bag and zip it up and return to the suitcase on the bed and stuff it into the front pocket of my suitcase.

I turn the lights off and leave my room silently.

Everyone is asleep and the Thomas house is dark and silent so I slip out without being heard and climb into the Uber that is waiting for me across the street...

🦋🦋

"Lassie? We've made it." The uber driver says in a hushed voice. My eyes open and instantly I feel as if I can breathe and think straight.

I'm back in Cornwall. Clarity. 

The relieved smile that pulls at my mouth fills my face as I look down the long dirt drive with the Thomas Family manor in the background. 

This time there wouldn't be anyone surprising me and tempting me with perplexing confusion. This time, I'd be alone and I'd have my time to breathe and collect myself. No temptations. No Oliver Thomas.

Lifting the corner of the outdoor mat I dig around and find the hide-away key, then unlock the mudroom door. It swings open creaking, and I step inside noting the green Hunter boots lined up beneath the long bench and smile. I lift my suitcase up onto the bench and leave it there and plop down, untying my shoes, then shove them beneath the wooden bench and stretch my legs out and yawn. The sun was rising, and I was due for a long uninterrupted sleep. 

I pad through the house and swing up the banister. My footsteps echo quietly through the house, and I slow once I get upstairs. 

Stopping in the hallway I look at the open door to the room I'd stayed in the last time I was here. My eyes glance to my right at Ollie's room.

I bite down on my molars and gulp wondering what he was doing right now. Had he given up trying to reach me and decided to end his night with his costar? The most beautiful girl in the world.

I mean, why not? I'm sure she's got herself figured out. Me, I can't even decide which fucking room I want to sleep in.

Sucking on my bottom lip I inch towards Ollie's room and peer inside unsure if it's my mind playing games on me because the second I cross the threshold to his room I can smell the faint smell of pine and him. 

Does Thylane enjoy his smell as I do? 

Finding myself standing beside his bed I take a seat on the side and within one motion curl up on top and fight the urge to not breathe in the smell of him like some creep. 

He's not even here and I'm still being swayed by him.

I don't understand how this is even happening. I don't get distracted and I don't run from my problems. I'm not insecure and I'm always sure of what I want. But, since walking in on my dad it's like I can't find sure footing. I'm constantly trying to collect the falling pieces of my life and I can't catch a break. 

All I want is for everything to go back to normal. I want my dad to be a good, honest person. And I want to be in a secure relationship and I want to be secure in myself. And I want Ollie...Well, I don't want to go back to how it was with Ollie because he was nonexistent for the last five years. 

What I do want from Ollie is to look at him and not get butterflies. I don't want to melt involuntarily like everyone else seems to do. I want things to be straightforward and clear and easy. I want us to be friends like we used to.

I remove my glasses from my face and set them on the side table then lift my hips and unbutton my jeans and kick them off my legs. I climb into the cool crisp sheets and snuggle into the pillow that smells like pine and woods then shut my weary eyes. All I want is to sleep for a week and maybe the mess that is my life will be cleaned up by then.

A desperate girl can dream, right...

Bang, Bang, Bang!

I sit up, still half asleep but wide awake when the noise is felt down my spine. 

What the hell is that-

"Oi! Muriel! You here?!"

My eyes go to perfect circles as Ollie's loud and angry voice booms from down the hall.

Lifting the sheet's I see I'm literally in my underwear and a shirt and like an idiot jump out of the bed, then back in when I hear him stomping towards the door.

I jolt and gasp when I hear the slam of a door close by then a half-second later his door flies open and slams hard against the wall. "You've got to be jokin'?" He barks glaring at me sitting awkwardly in his bed.

"Uhh, everything okay?" I ask sweetly hoping to avoid the fight he so clearly brought all the way from Italy.

______________________________________

Oh boy, someone is pissed LOL

How do we think this is going to go? I mean, everyone knows I'm team Ollie. I've always been team Ollie.

I think I'm about halfway with this story! I can't wait to finish it!

How is everyone? Tell me everything! What are you reading on Wattpad? Give me some goodies! Feel free to put your own stories here for others to find!

Happy reading, Happy Writing!

CC