It's been a while! I've been busy juggling work, working out and writing for other stories while people leave reviews. You've all earned this chapter, so I hope you like it!
Chapter 5
After practise, the whole group sat on the basement floor, drinking and having a few snacks. Everyone noticed how anxious and on edge Olivia seemed. She still didn't find the courage (and appropriate time) to tell she was going on a date with Dean Smith.
"Uh, Livvy, are you okay?" Mel asked her, staring at her shaking hand as she poured in a generous amount of beer in her pint.
"Yeah! Yeah, why do you ask?!" she exclaimed, laughing nervously.
"Okay, the jig is up, girl." Ian looked her straight in the eyes. "Tell us."
"Dean asked me out on a date this morning and I said yes and we're having dinner tomorrow night." she blurted out without hesitation. "Damn it!" she hissed, looking away from Ian's seemingly hypnotic eyes. He had that eerie effect on everyone.
"He what?!" Madison shrieked, grinning. She wiggled her finger at Olivia, who wrinkled her nose. "I knew he liked you!"
"Huh..." Sam simply said, cracking the faintest smile.
"What?" Olivia asked.
"Nothing, it's just... you never mentioned liking him in the first place."
"Dude, chicks who deny ever liking successful men can't help but fall for them anyway." Ian retorted. "It's a well-known life fact... and it's proven in lots of movies."
"So where's he taking you?" Mel asked with sparkling eyes. "I bet he's taking you to a very posh dinner with expensive chandeliers and champagne."
"Nowhere. He's coming over to cook dinner for me."
"Lame!" Mel groaned. "Where's the money in that?!"
"Mel, he's cooking dinner. As in he's going to use food and utensils and stuff." Olivia rephrased for her. "When have Sam or Ian ever used kitchen utensils to cook?"
"We use microwaves." Sam scowled, earning a small yet encouraging kiss from his fiancée.
"That's not a utensil, dummy." Olivia taunted him, sticking her tongue out.
"What are you wearing?"
"I dunno... I mean I'm not going anywhere so I don't have to be too dressy, but I don't want to be too casual because I won't be going anywhere, you know?" She paused and groaned inwardly. "I don't know! A nice shirt and jeans?"
"Yeah that can work." Madison nodded, but Sam intervened.
"But he wears shirts and formal trousers and shoes. You can't wear jeans!"
"He was wearing jeans and tshirt at the mall." Mel shrugged. "He looked like he wears them all the time. Can't picture him in a freaking suit with suspenders."
"So jeans and shirt it is." Olivia rolled her eyes, wanting the argument to be over...
"Make sure you have condoms." Ian winked.
"Ian, I'm not sleeping with him. Not tomorrow, or ever." Olivia retorted, and suddenly had a rather... erotic... image in her head of them having sex. She shook the thought off of her head, even though she kind of liked it. But it was inappropriate, not when she didn't know him enough to have these thoughts! "Never... ever gonna happen."
"Never's too long of a time for you, sweetie." Mel smirked. "You're gonna get in his pants tomorrow."
"I won't."
"But something will happen that will change your mind." Madison chimed in. "By the end of the month, you'd have already slept with him."
"...Whatever." Olivia rolled her eyes, but deep down, she knew she wouldn't be able to resist Smithy.
Olivia looked at her watch and rolled her eyes. This was so typical of the men she'd been on dates with she wished so badly she didn't bother as much. He was over half an hour late and she was slowly panicking. Wasn't he attracted to her? Heck, he must've been if what he showed her the past few days was true. The worst part of this was she was stupid enough not to give him her number.
"Stupid!" she murmured to herself, gently slapping her forehead with her hand. Olivia had gone through the trouble of cleaning round the house—something she only did every month, believe it or not—and let her hair down. Olivia Muhl, hair down... two things that only went together once in a lifetime. She also made Sam look after Stevie for her. You know, have a decent date without dogs to worry about. Okay, maybe the dog thing was Madison's idea so the two could get some "erotic alone time", but who could blame her? The chick wanted Olivia and Dean to have sex, no matter what!
Her thoughts got interrupted by a knock on the front door. She quickly got up and opened the door for him. She put on her most annoyed facial expression she could master despite being surprised by how... ordinary... Dean looked in a simple black tshirt and pair of classic denim jeans. He had two big plastic bags in each hand, and he was smiling apologetically. "Nope, that smile ain't gonna work on me, Smithy. You're late."
"I know and I'm sorry. I was skyping with my mom and she wanted every slight detail on the gifts you bought for my sister and nephew and..." He paused, turning slightly red. 'He had to be adorable!' she thought, feeling slightly sorry for him. Despite not being nagged much by her mom, she had a slight idea how nagging moms can be, so she decided to forgive him. "... other things."
Dean followed her into the kitchen, placing the bags on a counter-top. "I'll let this one slide. But if you're ever late for anything that has to do with me, there will be some serious consequences."
He looked at her and smirked. "Like?"
"Like forcing you to spend the day listening to Kay Garner whine about a chipped nail." Olivia smirked back. She knew she hit home when his eyes opened wide and took a deep breath. She added, "Glad you understand."
"Hey, I thought you had a dog... Stevie?" He took out a few bags of food from the bags. "He's really quiet."
"He's not here... Maddie offered to look after him for the night." she explained. She hoped Dean wouldn't think she was desperate for sex.
"That's nice of her to do." He smiled. "Gives you less to worry about right?"
'He didn't think of sex. One point.' she thought, biting her lip while nodding approvingly. "Yeah. Exactly that." She was about to reach for the other bag, when Dean stopped her.
"You're going to sit down. Now." He told her. "Like I told you yesterday, I'll be cooking you dinner."
"So what, I'm supposed to sit down and look pretty?" she scoffed, sitting down anyway.
"Well... you can do the last part standing up too." He replied. She blinked and blushed. Smiling, he added, "I just want you to be comfortable, Liv."
"So, what cha gonna cook?" she asked, resting her chin in her hands, looking quite curious. Dean gave her a mysterious smile.
"Let's just say you're gonna be blown away when I tell you." he replied.
"So tell me."
"Once you take the first bite."
"The suspense!" she exclaimed sarcastically, making jazz-hands before once more resting her chin on her hands.
"Something you probably never tried." he simply said. "I'll leave it to that.
He looked at her expectantly as she took the first few bites. Silence. 'Just say something, damn it!' he thought frantically. "So?"
"This is really good, man. Five stars." she replied, food still in her mouth. "Is this chicken tikka masala?"
Dean grinned proudly. "That's a meat alternative for vegetarians called quorn."
Silence. Olivia put the fork down, mouth slightly ajar. "Get outta here. You're telling me this goodness here..." she pointed at her plate. "... is actually vegetarian meat?"
"Yep." he replied, smiling with relief knowing she actually liked what she was eating.
"You gotta give me the recipe, Dean. Maybe I can cook it for Mel's birthday."
"I'm glad you like it that much, Olivia."
"You know what? Maybe eating vegetarian's not as boring as I thought it would be." she commented. "My eldest brother's vegan, but being vegan sucks. Means you can't eat chocolate."
Dean laughed. "You're funny." he commented, and then noticed her hair was actually down when he saw her tossing it behind her shoulder as she ate. "Hey, you let your hair down"
"Uh... yeah..." she laughed nervously. "Thought I'd, um, change it up a bit."
"I like it. You look beautiful." he told her shyly. Olivia let out a soft laugh and smiled bashfully, looking down.
"Thank you." She then looked up and pointed at his non-gelled hair. "Hey, your hair's not gelled."
"I only do that for work. You know, to look smart and stuff." he, explained, smiling crookedly.
"You'd still look smart with your hair au naturel, just saying."
"And you'd still look beautiful with your hair down as you do with your hair up."
And that's what started an hours-long conversation on themselves and their lives. It started from how they looked at and outside of work to their personal lives. Dean was especially heartbroken when he found out both Olivia's parents died just a few months apart from each other. As she lightly put it, "It was so Johnny Cash and June Carter.". However he wasn't too surprised when she told him she was previously in a band with her four elder brothers, but then she told him she was the lead vocalist/guitarist.
"Sing something for me." Dean told her.
"No way! I'm more of a backing vocalist now. Besides, I haven't sung in ages!" she insisted, legs tucked underneath her on the couch.
"C'mon! Not even a small verse?"
"Not even half one." she winked.
"Oh well..." he said, staring at the ceiling, sighing dramatically. "Then I guess I won't be singing a verse myself then..."
"Wait." Still looking at the ceiling, Dean smirked. "You sing?"
"Yep. And play the guitar."
"I don't believe you."
Dean glanced at her and sang the first few verses from Johnny Cash's 'Ring of Fire', leaving Olivia not only stunned at how good his voice was, but also how close they were sitting next to each other. "Okay, you proved your point, Smithy. You sing and you're not bad at it. At all."
"Your turn, princess. Sing."
"No."
"You have to. I sang a verse so now it's your turn."
After a pause, she said, "How about you hear me sing at Sam and Maddie's wedding in two months? Gives me enough time to warm up my vocal chords." she winked.
"You're not gonna give in easily are you, Miss Muhl?"
"Nope." she smiled cheekily, and let out a slight yawn. "Whoops."
"It's okay, Liv. It's actually quite late and we both have work tomorrow." They stood up and made their way to the front door.
"You're still gonna come pick me up tomorrow, Smith?" she asked him, opening the front door.
"I always keep my promises, Muhl." Their gazes met and he bit his lower lip, driving Olivia internally insane. "Did I mention you look stunning with your hair down?" he told her huskily, running a hand through her hair.
"You might have said it in different words..." she replied, their gazes now falling to one another's lips. "... but you know..." Their faces inched closer and closer. Olivia's heart couldn't help but beat faster than ever before. "... whatever." She finished the sentence quickly before Dean's lips touched hers.
Dean felt like time froze and it was just them in the whole world. Olivia, seeming to feel the same way, smiled halfway through the kiss and wrapped her arms round his neck, pulling him as close to her body as possible, as Dean's other hand found its way on her waist, gently squeezing it, making the kiss more heated. Before things could escalate, he slowly pulled away.
"Half past seven." she softly and breathlessly told him, their foreheads against each other's, before giving him a small peck on the lips.
"Quarter past seven." he corrected her with a slight chuckle. He took her hand and planted a kiss on the back of it.
"Sure thing." Olivia giggled. Then she remembered the vital thing. "Oh, and in case you decide to stay longer in bed thinking about a kick-ass drummer chick with the name of Olivia Muhl..." She picked up a pen lying just an arms' length away from her on a vanity table and wrote her phone number on his hand. "... give me a call."
"And if you decide to think of that douche Smithy from sales and marketing, give me a call and I'll straighten him up." he replied, keeping up with her joke, taking the pen from her hand and writing his number on her hand. "Thanks for a great night, Olivia."
"You can start calling me Liv. I think you've earned it tonight... in more ways than one." she winked.
"Good, good... then you can start calling me Smithy." he smirked, and gave her one last kiss. "Quarter past seven, Liv."
Olivia laughed as he jogged back to his Prius. "I'll see you then, Smithy."
She waited until he drove off before going back inside. Once she closed the front door, she let out tiny shrieks and danced happily to her bed. The night couldn't have gone any better. She scratched out every little bad bit of thought she ever had about Dean Smith, replacing them with ones she now knew were true: he was funny, hot, very sexy, nice, romantic, down-to-earth, generous, great, fantastic...
… just plain perfect.
Well? What do you think? If you want to see anything else in the story make sure you leave your suggestion in the review section.
New chapters for Baby's Got Blue Eyes and Save Yourself will be up in the coming few weeks; 'Room For One More?' still hasn't had any reviews and it needs five for the story to continue (you know what that means).
Until next time!