Hello all! Last chapter. Except it's not. I have a very detailed map of how the next fifteen or so years of Ginny's life turn out. It's mostly in drabbles and scenes, not actually in story format, but my bias aside, it could be the next 'The Notebook' ;)
ANYWAY, probably one of my more favourable chapters, it's a sweet interaction between the two. Reviews are love xx
Disclaimer: I am not Maureen Johnson, okay?
Maybe she should tell them? Maybe telling them over the internet seemed so nonchalant, like it wasn't a huge deal ... maybe that's what she needed.
Ginny sat on Richard's couch staring aimlessly at the television. He had come home almost an hour ago from somewhere other than work. She was happy for him, usually he worked non stop and then spent the rest of his time at home.
She was not paying attention to anything. She wanted to go into her room and sleep. And maybe cry. She didn't even hear the doorbell.
"Ginny," Richard said loudly from right next to her, obviously this was not the first time he'd said her name. She looked at him too exhausted from thinking to be embarrassed. "Someone named Oliver is at the door for you."
"What?" her entire body sunk. "Tell him I'm not here. Tell him I'm sleeping ... or in the shower!"Richard tilted his head, looking more than surprised, and like it was plainly obvious he wasn't going to do any of that. She shook her head, "I don't want to talk to him." She begged, "Please."
What the hell was he doing here? She groaned then stood up and straightened herself out. She didn't want to talk to him. She was wearing pajama bottoms and a thin light blue long sleeved tee. It was eight o'clock on Friday. She was leaving tomorrow, she had to get up at five. She went to the door as Richard seemed to reluctantly go upstairs. She would have to have a good explanation as to why strange boys seemed to all know where his house was.
She opened the door after taking a breath. She was clearly over-emotional. He had no way of knowing that she'd spent the last four days moping and sulking over her stupid feelings. Oliver stood wearing his jacket and the nice-looking clothes he always had on. Just looking at him made her remember everything. His hands were behind him, no doubt fiddling, and they had been all over her. They'd touched parts of her body that nobody else in the world had even seen. His most private part had touched hers, he'd been inside her! This was all too real. She said nothing, only raised her eyebrows, intentionally looking not very happy to see him. He was going to do the talking.
"Hello." He nodded, and Ginny gave a half-hearted thoroughly forced almost-smile. "I'm sorry ... to bother you." He sort of announced then took a breath. Even with the stoop slightly lower than the house, he was still taller than her. "Would you ... mind going for a walk?"
"I can't."
Oliver nodded, thinking to himself. "I wanted to apologize." He said, looking right at her. "I saw you were upset when you left, and I didn't mean ... I shouldn't have—" He shook his head slightly, looking down "I was doing everything not to ..." Oliver dared to look up at her, "I don't want you to be upset." He paused, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." He swallowed and knitted his brows together, looking like he was trying not to show emotion.
Ginny felt tears almost poking at her eyes, she didn't look at him, but nodded. It was to his credit that he seemed to actually feel bad. That he didn't she sleep with her and avoid her – like she was doing to him. But she was allowed to. She had been the virgin.
"Why are you apologizing? It was my fault. I started it," She rolled her eyes to stop the tears. They stood for a few moments in silence. It wasn't like they were best friends before ... they were almost friends, who occasionally made out.
Oliver tilted his head down, but looked up at her with warm eyes, "Well I didn't really try to stop it, did I?" He made a good point. "I don't ... do that a lot – and I didn't realise you'd never ..." He trailed off and shook his head. "I wasn't ..." He gave his head a small shake, hanging his head. "Anyway," He looked down, then up at her with some sort of assured gaze.
Ginny didn't know what to say. She didn't want to be standing here. It was nice of him to not just avoid her, she supposed, it was really nice to know he wasn't just using her. But she still felt herself becoming a bit annoyed rather than sad. Why did he think he could come here and drag this out? Did he think things would all of a sudden be better and they would start dating or something ridiculous? Not even dating, just be friends. She wanted to forget about it.
"I think you should go," She said quietly, her eyes watery with tears but she looked straight at him.
He looked away from her with a small nod, "Right." She stood there with her arms folded across her chest, and her heart beating steadily. She could tell he was thinking hard, and that he wanted to say something else. "Maybe when you're at school here we could catch-up ... or something?
Ginny was surprised, but she didn't show it. Oliver seemed to be trying very hard not to let another six months of no communication happen again.
She gave a small, non-committal shrug, "Maybe."
He took a composed breath, looked up at her and with a whisper said, "Please don't hate me,"
Her heart skipped a beat. How was he so nice about this? How was he being such a good guy? He was supposed to be awful! If he were awful, her annoyed and upset feelings would have reason. She felt her eyes blink tears now and gave her head a small shake, avoiding his eyes.
Ginny didn't want to get more emotional, she was thinking way too much about this. She found herself nodding slightly. Oliver looked down and nodded. There was a lot of just nodding going on.
"Well ... have a good summer," He said to her earnestly.
She tried to smile, "You too,"
She leaned against the door frame as he walked down the steps. She didn't want to watch him walk away, so she went inside, holding back tears. Richard walked in from the living room looking sympathetic and she found herself collapsing into his chest in tears.
I don't want to end it here! There is so much more that goes on!
