Olivia

Wednesday, July 24th, 10:45pm.

I can scarcely breathe on the ride over to Mila's house. It feels like I'm a passenger in my own body, like I'm floating outside of it and am barely aware of what's going on. My lips feel numb, making it impossible for me to try and say anything to Paxon

I'm detached up until the point Paxon's headlights cut across the closed garage door of Mila's house. A gate opens on the wooden fence that surrounds her house as she jogs up to the truck, her hand making a slicing motion over her throat as she shakes her head at us.

I roll down my window as she approaches and pokes her head in.

"Park down the street," she whispers, "my brothers are playing video games and my grandmother is sleeping."

I nod as Paxon puts the truck in reverse and starts to back down the driveway. Elijah nearly rear-ends us as he pulls in behind us and Paxon slams on the brakes as he glares up at the rearview mirror. I can faintly hear an unkind word or two muttered under his breath, but I don't blame him.

Elijah took that video of you and uploaded it.

For Derrick.

All so Derrick could get his revenge on me.

I'm still reeling from it, not quite believing it. But I think it's because I don't want to believe it at all. That I can't possibly be betrayed by a friend like that and then have them smile in my face and pretend like nothing ever happened.

"Olivia."

Paxon's voice brings me back to the present, like a drop of icy cold water dripped on the back of my neck as I come to my senses and realize that we've parked down the street. The truck is off and it's just Paxon and I in the dark silence of the hot cab.

"Yeah?" I croak.

It hurts for me to speak, my voice feeling unused and dry in my throat.

"I don't know how to make this better," he admits helplessly, his hands still gripping the steering wheel, "Livy...what he did...I want to beat the shit out of him for it."

I reach out a hand and gently place it on his as I squeeze his fingers gently.

"I do too," I mutter.

And it's the truth.

He laughs at this, but it sounds strangled as he shakes his head and gets out of the truck. I follow him, making sure to shut my door softly but I doubt it matters much. We've come over here plenty of times after Mila's grandmother had gone to sleep so we could party in the backyard and her grandmother has slept through it all. Which even includes the time I dropped a lit bottle rocket and it hit the side of the house.

I dare to smile for just a moment as I remember it, the memory quickly soured when I hear Eli walking behind me. I open the gate for Paxon before he can and we step into the backyard.

The hot tub is on and the quiet burbling of the water greets us as we walk up to the wooden porch. I curl my lip at the thought of sitting in warm water right now, since my tank top is currently sticking to my lower back. A couple of lawn chairs have been set up next to the hot tub along with a cooler that Mila walks over to and rummages around in as we approach.

"What does everyone want to drink?" Mila asks as she opens a bottle of Jack Daniels whisky and offers a cup of it to Eli.

He takes the cup from her and his eyes dart from her to Paxon but never land on me. I want so badly to talk to him to fully understand why he would do something so terrible to me. But at the same time I don't want to know what went through his head, I just want to pretend that nothing ever happened to me.

That to me, May seventeenth doesn't exist.

"Olivia?"

I startle back to the present to see that Mila is watching me.

"Uh, I just want a soda," I mumble and she nods a bit too eagerly.

"One soda, coming right up," she says as she digs a can out of the ice and pours it into a cup.

I take it from her and stare down at the brown, bubbling liquid. My stomach twists uneasily at the thought of caffeine this late at night but Mila continues to stare at me expectantly so I take a sip.

She smiles as I lower the cup from my mouth and it unnerves me for just a second.

What's going on with her?

She blinks and starts flitting about from bottles to cans as she prepares a drink for Paxon and another for Elijah.

"Sit," she says as she beckons to a couple of chairs.

"Mila-," Paxon begins to protest, but she fixes him with a glare that could melt his face off.

"Sit," she repeats, her expression suddenly so cold and unreadable the breath stops in my throat.

I obey out of fear that she'll throw one of the many glass bottles of alcohol at me. Something in her face has changed since we've arrived, like she's on the brink of outright screaming at us and it's something so typically unlike her that I'm immediately uncomfortable.

She nods approvingly once I've gotten settled and she sits down across from me. Paxon follows shortly behind as he sits next to me while Elijah chooses to pull up a chair and sit past him.

"Let's get something straight," Mila begins to say as she twists the cap off a bottle of water.

I wonder for just a moment why I didn't get the option of water as she takes a swig, but I shake the thought off as she continues to talk.

"I know that people think I'm a gold digger," she says with a smile but I can see the anger in it as she stares us all down, "but honestly, I don't care what people think of me anymore."