Whaat! Another chapter so soon!?
Chapter 7
The bottle was slowing down, it was finishing its last full rotation and finally came to a stop on.. Maria. To Viorel it was better than having to kiss Eunice or Olivia. Maria on the other hand was stunned, she looked over to Olivia apologetically. Internally Olivia was screaming and wished her eyes could just blast the bottle in front. She did well in masking her true emotions and maintained a calm face. Maria could see behind her facade, she was pissed. Vio's friends whistled and nudged him to get up. Maria led him to the closet and he shut the door behind them.
The lights were off and the room was silent, the only thing that could be heard was the music from down stairs.
"Maria?" Viorel said softly as he took a step to where he last saw her standing. He reached over and found her shoulder, slowly he came closer. Maria still hadn't said anything and he figured she was just shy. With his other hand he slowly caressed her head and used it to help guide his as he cautiously leaned forward. He felt warm air near his upper lip, his just barely began to brush upon hers and she suddenly jerked away.
"I'm sorry" she finally said "I can't" she felt a bit embarrassed having taken so long to say something
"It's fine" Viorel reassured her "we don't have to do anything"
They both just took a seat and waited until someone finally knocked on the door.
"Hey time's up love birds" Andrew said as he knocked on the door. The two quickly got up and walked out. The group clapped as they exited the closet
"How was it?" Duke asked as Viorel walked next to him
"I don't kiss and tell" he replied, before he took his seat he noticed Olivia was no longer in the room
"Where's Olivia" he asked Duke who also hadn't noticed her gone
"I didn't even know she went out"
"Huh well I actually wanted to go get a drink. You want anything?"
"A coke would be great"
"Alright"
He left and went straight down stairs to the coolers. On his way back he got pulled into the room across the hall.
"Whoa" was all he said as he tried not to spill his drink. The lights were off and it was hard to distinguish who the person was that pulled him in.
"Who are you?" He asked as said person walked over to the lamp on the opposite side. She turned it on to reveal it was Olivia.
"Olivia why'd you pull me in here?" He settled the drinks down on the drawer and turned back to her awaiting an answer.
"Did you really make out with Maria?" Was all she said. The question felt almost like an accusation and caught him off guard.
"Uh why do you want to know?"
"Because she's my friend" she said with a flicker of annoyance and slowly started walking back to him
"Well you'd have to ask her that" was his answer
"But I want you to tell me" she was now standing right in front of him. He felt her eyes burning through him. Was she angry at him? he wondered.
"I don't see what the problem is if I did or didn't" his defensive approach was not helping.
"Are you really that dense" she snapped
He just looked at her confused
"I'm sorry Olivia, but I'm not sure what I did" feeling bad he decided it better to confess "Fine. I didn't kiss Maria. Are you good now?"
"Honestly, you don't get it do you?" She grabbed his shirt with both hand and yanked him down to her level and crushed her lips onto his. He was stunned to say the least. As she continued her assault he started to reciprocate the kiss. He circled his arms around her and she soften to his touch. The kiss became more gentle and they slowly withdrew to get some air.
She remained in his arms and looked up to his face. He lowered his head and rested his forehead on hers. He suddenly just couldn't help chuckle.
"What's so funny?" She asked defensively
"You're jealous" he said with a smile. She rolled her eyes and felt her face suddenly heat up.
"Shut up"
He used his hand to tilt her head up toward him so he could look at her eyes "I think it's cute"
She tried to turn away, annoyed by his teasing
"Really" he said as he leaned in for another kiss. This one was more passionate than the first. Olivia motioned him towards the bed next to them. He followed her movements and laid her on the bed as he positioned himself on top. Olivia placed her hand on his back and the other on his side. She slid both around feeling the muscles on his body. He similarly used one hand to feel up her leg. His other arm helped maintain his body above hers.
Suddenly they heard the door abruptly open. They both quickly turned and found a male figure standing at the door. The figure came closer and practically picked Viorel up from the bed. The man shoved him away from the bed and turned to Olivia. Now closer to the light they both realized it was Duke standing between the two. He looked at Olivia hurt and turned back to Viorel. Viorel felt awful, Duke was his friend and he betrayed him. His look of hurt quickly turned to anger as he quickly walked forward to him.
"Listen Duke, calm down" he said but Duke hit him square in the face. Viorel almost fell back, but caught himself. He never knew how much getting punched in the face hurt. He wondered if Duke broke his cheekbone.
"Okay maybe I deserved that, but Duke we-" he got cut off as Duke grabbed his shirt and pushed him back against the wall. Olivia tried holding Duke back, but he paid no mind. Olivia called for help and in came Toby and Andrew who pulled Duke off before he continue doing any more damage to Viorel. Duke pushed their arms off of him as he retreated back not uttering a word to them. He stormed out of the house with his two teammates following behind.
Olivia rushed over to Viorel's side and helped him to the bed. He sat down holding his head. His face burned and his head was starting to hurt as well. Duke managed to strike twice at his face, blood was starting to make its way down from the corner of his mouth. Never in her mind did Olivia think Duke could be so barbaric. They barely even went out once, he had no right to barge in and hit Viorel. Maria had just entered and saw Viorel's swelling face, she quickly ran out to get a first aid kit. Later she went down to end the party early. Everyone was disappointed to leave although they knew why. The news that Duke had beat Viorel senseless because he took his girl was running like wildfire. After everyone finally left Maria and another close friend of hers started cleaning up as Olivia continued to aid Viorel.
O-O-O
It was now Sunday afternoon and Viorel was still in Maria's house recuperating from last night. Luckily for them Maria's parents were on vacation and he was able to stay over in the guest bedroom for the night. He wondered how it was going to be back at school and his dorm. That is if Duke didn't throw his stuff out too. The bruising wasn't as bad as he initially thought, although Olivia would have disagreed. His face wasn't too swollen, he had been icing it a couple times since last night. Today he really wanted to go back to see if maybe he could clarify a few things with Duke. Maybe it was still too soon, but he wanted to try. He found Olivia and Maria on the sofa watching tv.
"I wanted to thank you both for your help and letting me stay over" The two turned towards him noting that he was planning to leave
"It was no big deal, but Vio are you sure you wanna leave now?" Maria asked
"I have to eventually" he replied
Olivia got up and walked towards him. She wanted to go with him, but she knew he would say no. She just looked at his bruised face and felt terrible. It was her fault.
"Stop" he said putting his hand on her shoulder "It's my fault too" he comforted, he looked at her watery eye and felt bad for the situation they were in.
"I'll talk to you later, okay?" She only nodded in response. He let her go and waved to Maria as he left.
O-O-O
As he arrived to his dorm everything for the most part looked the same. Surprisingly Duke's bed was even folded too. He laid down and placed an ice pack on his face as he waited for Duke to return. He started dozing off to sleep when suddenly he heard the door opening. In walked Toby alone. He turned and was surprised to find Viorel. He looked over his face and cringed a bit.
"Man that gotta hurt" he said "I think Duke overdid it to be honest. Maybe just one punch would have been fine" he joked
"Where's Duke?"
"Oh uh well we kind of switched rooms. He's still pretty upset, I think he's more sad than angry. What happened? Andrew and I asked him, but he would just start cursing you out"
Viorel looked down feeling bad "Well last night as I was coming back to the room someone suddenly pulled me into the one you found us in last night. It turned out to be Olivia and she was upset with me because she thought I made out with Maria. Point is she ended up kissing me and well.. I kissed her back. Duke came in and found us in a compromising position"
"You were having sex with her!" Toby gasped
"No! No, no. We were making out on the bed"
"Ohh.." it was quiet for a bit before anyone spoke again
"That's not that bad" he retorted "although.. you were his friend and he had a crush on the girl for like 5 years… but then again we've only known you less than a month and Olivia only went out with him once.." Toby contemplated
"Listen Toby I wanna talk to Duke and explain myself. Either way I still to some degree betrayed him"
"That is true" Toby agreed aloud
"but like you said Olivia wasn't his girlfriend. Plus I didn't go looking for her"
"True, true" he agreed again
"I took his punches and I just want to clear the air. I know he probably won't forgive me any time soon"
"No he is not" Toby said shaking his head
"but I wanna try" Viorel ended getting a bit tired of Toby thinking aloud
"Hmm I don't know about today. He might still wanna punch you. Give him a little more time"
Viorel reluctantly agreed, just a little more time.
"So wait.. You didn't kiss Maria?" Viorel groaned and tossed his pillow at him
O-O-O
The next day in class..
As Viorel came in everyone inside grew silent and turn their heads to him. He felt everyone's eyes on him as he quietly took his seat by Olivia. Everyone then began whispering. The late bell rang and everyone still continued.
"Okay!" The teacher shouted "Everyone be quiet! And open your book to pg.79" he directed
Class felt like an eternity, Viorel didn't know what to say to Olivia. It all felt so awkward now. Yesterday he only texted her that he wasn't going to talk to Duke yet and that everything else was fine. That aside he wanted to talk to her, but not around people that could hear.
After school had ended for the day he headed over to practice where he was meet with a very hostile Duke. Today the coach decided to split everyone into two teams for a friendly scrimmage. It seemed anything, but friendly. Duke took full advantage of his tackling ability to consistently attack Viorel and steal the ball. Eventually Viorel did the same in return and basically the whole team followed suit brutally tackling and fighting for possession. Dinklage eventually called the game to an end seeing it highly plausible someone would come out badly injured. He yelled at everyone for being so reckless. The rest of practice he had them do conditioning drills.
After a nice hot shower to ease his sore muscles Viorel went to go meet up with Olivia. They found a secluded spot behind the school's baseball field.
"Hey" he greeted
"Hey yourself" she replied
"So um part of the reason I wanted to talk to you was to kinda clarify uh what exactly is going on between us" he waved his pointed figure to and from her.
"I'm not entirely sure. What do you think it is?" She asked nonchalantly
"I don't know.. We're not exactly dating or together, we haven't even gone out on a date"
"Then ask me" she simply replied
"Uhh.. w-would you like to go out?"
"Nah" she responded and started walking off
"Wait, what?" He turned and followed her
"No?" He said in disbelief "Are you joking?"
"No" she said
"But.." he sped up and stopped in front of her "wait, after all of that? Why not?"
"Because you still haven't spoken to Duke. Fix things with him. If you start dating me he's going to find out and that'll just make things between the two of you worse"
She had a point, he thought to himself.
See, I did post another chapter this year.
