Chapter 27

The lounge seemed huge. Couches that looked as if ten people would fit comfortably and a television that couldn't fit into one focus. Ceilings and walls that seemed to stretch for miles. Or maybe it was just that to Haley, Ollie looked so small.

With her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped tightly around them she looked so overwhelmed and helpless. Taking a deep breath she approached Ollie and set the tissue box down gently beside her. Ollie didn't turn to look or respond in any way to Haley's presence; instead she just continued to stare blankly at the opposite wall.

Haley sat down beside her, "Ollie?" she whispered.

The younger girl tore her gaze from the wall and rested he cheek on her knee so that she was facing in the direction of Haley. Still though, she wasn't looking at her directly.

"I don't want a divorce from your father. I never have." Haley began.

"Then why?" Ollie asked weakly, all strength gone from her shaky voice.

"For Nathan. I thought it was what he wanted."

Ollie shook her head.

"Yeah I know that now. Nathan came around before and we talked. We're going to try get along though, take things slow. Does that sound alright?"

Sniffling, Ollie shrugged; not really seeing how all this could turn out alright.

Reaching over and brushing a strand of dark brown hair out of Ollie's eyes, Haley smiled kindly at her "You can trust me Ollie. I promise I don't want to hurt you or your dad."

Ollie's mouth twisted uncertainly, as much as she liked and wanted to trust Haley, something was still stopping her from being able to let her all the way in. "You hardly know us though, how can you even know if you'll want to stay or not. You shouldn't make promises you don't know if you can keep."

Haley ran her eyes slowly over her daughter, taking her in. Ollie was right, they did hardly know each other, yet for some reason Haley still felt a bond to her that she couldn't even describe, she just didn't know how to make Ollie see that.

"OK, no promises then." She began, "Nathan and I will just wait and see what happens between us. But, you're right about me and you, we do hardly know each other and I know it might be a little strange at first, but, well, you are my daughter and I do want to get to know you and be a part of your life, even if you can't believe me right now."

Ollie's eyes briefly flickered upward to directly meet Haley's and within them she saw nothing but honesty. It was odd, even though Ollie had known for a while, it was the first time Haley had explicitly referred to Ollie as her daughter. In fact it was the first time anyone had really said it outright to her like that.

"You're my mother," Ollie stated, finding it almost as strange to say as it was to hear. The truth was though, even though she sort of liked the idea of it, in reality, she had no idea what it was like to have a mom.

"Yes I am." It felt strange and new to actually be able to call Ollie her daughter for Haley too. "It's all kinda weird, isn't it?" Haley smiled, trying to lighten the mood by softly nudging her.

A small smile broke through onto Ollie's face as she heard that Haley seemed to be thinking pretty much the same way she was, "Yeah. Just a bit." Ollie agreed, playing it down a bit sarcastically.

Haley chuckled, "So you're ok?"

Shrugging, Ollie said "I guess, umm thanks though."

"What for?" Haley asked without a clue of what Ollie could possibly be thanking her for.

"I dunno. For caring." Ollie answered completely genuinely without a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Haley smiled, "Of course. Any time you need someone other than your dad. I'm here, Ok? And you're welcome at my house any time. I just want you to know that."

Ollie nodded, a hardly noticeable smile appearing on her face, "Really?"

"Yep. No more bottling all this stuff up, okay?"

"I wont" Ollie reassured Haley, meaning it.

"Good" Haley grinned, "And we'll try to stop giving you things to bottle up in the first place.

Ollie let out a small laugh. She didn't know how, but Haley seemed to understand exactly how she was feeling. Now she just hoped, Haley and her dad would be able to see things eye to eye from now on. Thinking of which,

"Haley?" Where is dad? Because, I mean he went to your house to talk to you, but you're here."

Haley chuckled, "We talked and then Luke showed up. I think, well I hope they're making up."

"'Bout time" Ollie said rolling her eyes. "This has to be the most stubborn family in the world."

"You're definately right about that Ollie"

In his room, Ephraim was idly beating at his drums, wondering what was currently happening with his friend and her mother. While he still tried to play a lot and pour his soul into his music, since Ollie, his musical partner had stopped playing, it hadn't quite been the same. Sure, he had found playing a full length performance with Jeremy at Tric amazing, but he'd also missed having his best friend up there with him.

Distantly, he heard the snap as a door shut and then a second later heard a knock on his own door. Setting down his drumsticks he called,

"Come in."

The door slid open and Ollie entered before slumping down onto his bed.

"You Ok?" he asked.

"Yeah." She smiled leaning back against the headboard. "You?"

Ephraim frowned, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Isn't it hard, talking about your birth parents and everything?" she asked, having over heard him before.

He shrugged and picking up the drum sticks began to absentmindedly tap them to the cloth on the drum, "I don't really think about it. I just said what I had to, to get Haley to go back in."

"Really?" she asked not fully believing that was the truth.

"Sort of," he said with a small chuckle, shaking his head.

Ollie could tell it wasn't really something he wanted to talk about, "Ok" she nodded.

He smiled, silently thanking her for not keeping on about it, "Come here" he beckoned.

Puzzled she stood and walked over to him, he had shuffled over on the stool so there was room for both of them to sit at the drum kit. She sat down beside him not sure what he wanted.

"Here" he said placing his sticks in her hand.

"What?" she asked still puzzled.

"Bang them." He told her gesturing to the kit, "You'll feel better."

"I dunno" she looked at him uncertainly; music was still something she wasn't so sure about.

"Come on. I'm not asking you to sing, or to play the guitar. Just bang it. Trust me Ollie."

Hesitantly she raised one of the sticks and brought it down on the hi-hat, causing a high ding to ring out. A thump below her caused her to look down and see Ephraim's foot operating the bass drum. He raised his eyebrows at her, telling her to continue. Grinning, she brought the sticks back down again forming a rough beat over Ephraim's bass.

Admittedly, she wasn't very good and there wasn't really a steady or tuneful beat, but it was still music. Playing it felt good too. Ephraim was right; something about repetitively banging on a mix of cloth and metal was actually making her feel a lot better.

Without really knowing why, Ephraim began to laugh. Perhaps it was a mixture of the look of determination on his friends face, or the uneven beat they were churning out together. Hearing his laughter, Ollie glanced up at him developing a small smile before laughing too, simply because he was laughing.

So, the two friends sat side by side, letting the mix of self made, uncoordinated music and laughter melt away their troubles.