As her heart was splitting and her soul was falling apart, Olive Snook ran through the hall and down the stairs faster than Pi himself, the horse not the food. She didn't know where she was going, but she couldn't stay anywhere near Chuck, Ned or the Pie Hole. For now, she just needed to escape. Olive could feel tears building in her eyes but she promised herself she wouldn't cry over Ned, he hadn't really been hers to begin with. She shouldn't feel bad about losing someone who she never had in the first place. As she was running and all of these thoughts were running through her head, she remembered she was wearing heels, and four inch heels were not easy to run in. As Olive began to slow down, she saw the ground getting closer and closer to her face.
Clunk! "Ouch," Olive said with a grimace. She had fallen on her arm and thought it might be broken. It was already an unusual color and swelling as she sat there. While Olive was lying on the floor in pain, Chuck and Ned were still upstairs with what they thought was a finished conversation.
"…You know I love you Olive," Ned said, with the deepest sincerity in his eyes. He hadn't even realized the severity of his last sentence.
"What!" Chuck's abruptness startled Ned. He quickly thought back to his sentence, still not realizing he sad said the wrong name. "You know I love you Olive?" she shouted at him, using his direct words against him.
"Chuck, what are you talki-" his words suddenly came back to him. "Oh, oh no." Chuck began to storm out of the room. "Chuck, wait."
"No," she shouted back to him.
"Come on Chuck, just let me explain," he pleaded, not wanting her to leave.
"Ned, I knew there was something happening there with Olive, you guys have been friends for such a long time. I just didn't realize that you loved her. I mean, you never actually said you loved me, but I guess now I know why. I'm sorry Ned," she paused and Ned knew right away what would be said next. "But I can't be with you if you can't say you love me, your own girlfriend, but you can say you love Olive without even thinking twice!"
"Chuck, don't do this."
"I have to go, I can't handle this anymore." She stormed out the door leaving Ned to watch her go. Breakups were always hard, even in these special circumstances. The world always seemed a little bit bigger once you were on your own again.
Olive had slowly gotten up from her fall and was on her way back to the Pie Hole. She wasn't even a block away, but the distance looked much farther to Olive. Her arm was throbbing and she needed someone, hopefully not Ned or Chuck, to take her to the doctor. She was walking slowly this time, being extremely careful not to fall again. Just as she was reaching for the door, it flew open and Chuck rushed out. When she saw Olive she stopped abruptly.
"Hey Olive, I just wanted to say goodbye to you. I don't think I'm coming back, at least not for a very long while." Olive was secretly doing internal cartwheels, but just then another thought popped into her head.
"Why? Are you and Ned going somewhere?" Olive asked, hoping this wasn't the case. There were two possible situations at this point, one was very good, and the other very bad.
"Well no. I'm going away alone, without Ned." Olive felt bad for Chuck, but completely thrilled for herself. By now she had completely forgotten about her swollen arm, which was now comparable to that of Emerson.
"Oh Chuck, I'm sorry. What happened?" Olive was so curious that she didn't care that Chuck obviously didn't want to disclose any information to Olive.
"I don't really feel much like talking about it. Besides, I think Ned should tell you this story…" Chuck took one last look at the Pie Hole and then back to Olive. "Olive, I really will miss you, but I have to go. Tell Emerson I said goodbye too."
"I will."
"Thanks," said the girl called Chuck as she walked away from the Pie Hole for the last time.
As soon as Chuck left, Olive remembered her gigantic arm and walked inside. Ned was in the kitchen with a haunted look on his face. Emerson was nowhere in sight, so Olive had no other choice than her "friends only" boss.
"Ned," Olive inquired from the door.
"Huh?" he looked up. "Oh, hi Olive."
"So, umm, could you maybe…Well, I was wondering…" Ned looked up from his pie, well more like down at her tiny figure, wondering what she wanted. He hoped Olive hadn't talked to Chuck because he really didn't want to have to expand on what had happened.
"Are you busy right now?" she finally asked.
"Well, kind of, I've got a few pies to make. Why?"
"I need a ride to the hospital," Olive had finally caught Ned's attention.
"What happened?" he asked worriedly. She looked down to her arm and her then saw that it was purple and swollen and he quickly walked toward her. "Oh no, how did that happen?"
"Well, it's a long story." It was true, but Olive was more than a little bit embarrassed about the "how" of this story.
"Come on, you can tell me on the way."
Olive and Ned were sitting in the car as Olive was frantically trying to figure out a believable story. Ned was thinking about all that Chuck had said to him, how much of it was really true? He decided to forget about all of that for now and listen to Olive's long story.
"So what happened to your arm?" Olive sighed and decided she would just wing it.
"Well it's a funny story…"
"Really? I didn't know bone-breaking injuries are often humorous."
"Well, you know me, I always like to keep things entertaining." Ned laughed and smiled at Olive. They locked eyes for a moment and Olive completely forgot about the heartache she felt earlier. She realized that she was staring and quickly looked away blushing. "Anyways," she returned to her story. "Here's what happened. I was down in the Pie Hole and then I realized, all of the sudden, out of the blue, like a decapitated puppet, that I, Olive Snook, pie waitress extraordinaire, had…" she paused. Olive had no clue what to say, so she coughed to stall more than she already had. Thank goodness for her talkative nature.
"Olive? Are you okay?" Ned looked over at her.
"Yup," she finally stopped coughing, "I'm okay. So where was I? Oh yeah! I, Olive Snook, needed to walk Digby. So I got him and then when I was walking, I fell! Silly me…" she chuckled.
"You were right, that is kind of funny," Olive let out a silent sigh of relief, "especially since Digby is still in my apartment," Ned smiled back at her.
"Oh," Olive began to panic. "That's because when I fell, I let go of his leash and he ran back home." She smiled and laughed nervously.
"How'd he get in?"
"Through the dog door sill!" Olive continued laughing and Ned looked at her and smiled.
"But I don't have a dog door," Ned replied suspiciously.
"You do now, surprise!" Just as they both began laughing, a nurse walked onto the waiting room and called Olive's name. She looked back at Ned, "I guess this means I got to go."
"Okay. I'll be here when you get done."
"You don't have to stay, you know," she told him, secretly hoping he would anyways. "I can call someone to come and get me later."
"No, I want to stay."
"You do?" Olive said, sounding so hopeful.
"Yeah, I'll always be there for you." Olive smiled amorously and Ned blushed and looked down at the floor.
"Ms. Snook?" the nurse called out again. This time Olive turned towards the nurse. As she was walking with the nurse, Olive looked back at Ned. He was pretending to look at a magazine, but almost everyone could tell that was not the case. Both he and Olive were pondering what it would be like to really be together, just the two of them. Olive took one last look before entering her room, and she was grateful to have Ned in her life in any way at all. He would always be there for her, and that was enough for now.
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter, I temporarily misplaced it. This isn't the end, but I'm not sure how long it will take me to find the next chapter. Please review:D
