Olivia's POV
The sound of my phone ringing consistently woke me from my slumber; I vaguely remembered falling asleep with Alex but he was no longer beside me, although his scent still lingered. Groaning, I rolled over and grabbed my buzzing phone from the bedside table; the ugly photo of Samuel lit up as it vibrated in my hands. I furrowed my brows a little as I checked the time – wasn't he supposed to be getting on his plane right now? "Hello?" I answered through a yawn, stretching my free arm above my head, waking myself up.

"Hey bitch, what's up?" Samuel responded, not acknowledging my clear concern.

"Aren't you like... meant to be in the sky right now?" I asked, scratching my head. I rolled out of the bed, rubbing at my eyes; I had fallen asleep last night fully clothed again and so I undressed and slipped into a comfortable lace nightgown.

"Oh, yeah, I'm not going home," he stated casually, "anyway, do you wanna get coffee?" Quickly skipping over the part of the conversation I was obviously interested in.

"You're not going home?" I questioned as I made my way down stairs, rubbing my eyes some more; this was too much information to take in when I'd just woke up.

Alex was sat at the dining table, typing some stuff up on his laptop; he looked up upon hearing my voice. "Who is it?" he mouthed to me as I made my way over to him. I wrapped my arms around his bare chest from behind and left a light kiss on his cheek. "Samuel," I mumbled into his skin and he nodded in understanding.

"Oh, yeah, no," Samuel responded down the phone as I removed myself from Alex and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and took a bite, "I decided I wanted to stay... anyway, coffee?" he rambled, again dismissing the issue.

"Uh... sure, when?" I asked. Alex pulled me a questioning look and I just shrugged in response, not really knowing myself what Samuel was talking about.

"Like... now? I'm walking to that coffee shop you took me to yesterday, right now," he answered and suddenly I detected the sound of wind down the phone.

"Uh... is everything okay?" I asked, a little concerned with how distant he sounded. I took a final bite from my apple and handed it to Alex, who seemed rather confused, before making my way back upstairs to get changed.

"Yeah, anyway, I'm here, see ya soon," Samuel continued, again skipping over details, and then hung up. I looked down at my phone confused.

Quickly, I slipped on a rather long shirt-dress, a pair of thigh high black boots and a leather jacket – and of course a pair sunglasses. "Okay, I gotta... go?" I exclaimed out to Alex with a shrug, my voice hinting to how confused I was.

---
When I arrived at the coffee shop, I noticed Samuel immediately; sat at a booth by the window, playing with the lid on his coffee. He'd obviously bought me a coffee too, but it was probably warm at best by now. "Hey," I greeted, pushing my glasses up onto my head as he got up to give me a hug.

"Hey," he smiled, "I got you a coffee," he gestured towards it as we both sat down – me across from him. "It might be cold by now, though," he laughed awkwardly and took a sip of his own.

"That's okay," I shrugged, looking at him curiously, "Are you alright? Why didn't you wanna go home?" I pried, not in the mood for beating around the bush. I took a little sip from my cold coffee and my face scrunched in disgust, causing him to laugh.

"I don't know..." he sighed, resting his head in his hand, looking up at me with his big blue eyes. "Just... when you were showing me around town yesterday, I don't know..." he was struggling to get his words out, "it's just some homely here... like it's so much nicer than LA and I was just thinking... I would get a flight home with you – whenever you leave," he looked like he was nervous to tell me, which was strange.

I smiled wide, I mean, I was a little confused still, but I was excited nevertheless, "That's awesome!" I exclaimed, covering his hand with my own.

Samuel smiled, looking relieved that I was into the idea, "Yeah, I'm just gonna stay in my hotel." He was staying at the hotel that I had been staying in. "Oh, have you spoke to Derek yet?" he asked, remembering the situation I was currently in. Yesterday I had told him everything; everything between me and Alex, Derek's cheating and Alex hitting him.

"Nope," I murmured, taking a sip of my coffee to avoid eye contact, forgetting how gross it was – I grimaced as I swallowed.

"Dude..." Samuel shot me a judgemental look, "you have to soon!"

"I know, I know," I rolled my eyes. I knew I had to speak to Derek, and I knew he wanted to speak to me because he had rang me a million times since the other night. He had to know that Alex would've shown me the pictures by now and I just didn't have the patience to listen to him try to dig himself out of the hole he had dug for himself.

Samuel and I finished our coffees – well, he did – as we just chatted aimlessly about different things; Alex, my friends, this guy he had slept with the night of the party and how he'd love to move to Baltimore. It was a really nice place to live, much more inviting and homely than LA, by far.

---
When I got home it was around 3 PM and already dark outside with it being winter; I was tired and hungry and ready to relax. As soon as I walked through the front door I was confronted with a completely dark apartment with tons of candles sprinkled around; the candle light forging a path and lining the stairs. "Alex?" I let out questioningly, my brow furrowed in confusion as I removed my boots and jacket, "What is all this?" No response. I walked to the stairs, which were also covered with rose petals as well as candles, "What's going on?" I chuckled as I slowly padded my way up stairs; excited and confused.

The bathroom door was wide open, revealing a naked Alex – covered by bubbles – lying in the bathtub, a rose between his teeth and just a bow tie around his neck. Candles lined the edges of the bath and rose petals floated around the water, "Hey," he greeted casually, his voice muffled by the rose in his mouth.

My mouth twitched up into a smirk as I took in the completely ridiculous sight, I let out a small laugh; still very confused. "What's going on?" I questioned, shaking my head, my cheeks burning a shade of pink.

"I'm just taking a bath..." he trailed off, shrugging nonchalantly, removing the rose from his mouth, "You can join me if you want," he suggested, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"You're just taking a bath?" I questioned mockingly, my own eyebrows raised questioningly, "you didn't set this up for me?" I could help but smile – what a nerd.

"Oh, no way..." he shook his head sarcastically, a telling smile on his face. "This is just a regular bath."

"Well, I wouldn't wanna interrupt..." I challenged smugly.

"I know you wanna," he teased. He reached over and pressed play on his phone and some universally known strip tease music began playing, "hmm... none of this is planned I swear," he stated sarcastically and I shook my head, laughing at him. I decided to just go with it, I began moving my shoulders to the rhythm, my eyes narrowed in mock-lust as I bit my finger – trying to be sexy, but also funny.

Slowly, I removed my clothing, throwing my shirt across the landing until I was just in my underwear. I removed my bra and swung it around my head playfully, causing him to chuckle, before I threw it to him and he caught it, wrapping it around his head as he continued to watch me intently, despite the fact I was just messing around. I slid my panties off and kicked them across the floor towards the bathtub, but it was much too cold and so I covered my body and jogged to the bath like a little girl, quickly slipping in across from him. "Hey," I said sweetly, biting my lip as I dragged some bubbles over to cover myself.

"Hey," he smirked. The gimmicky music came to a stop and, luckily, faded into some much more relaxing music – some Ed Sheeran, acoustic covers; mellow and soothing. I laid back and closed my eyes, letting the warm water heat me up and de-stress me. I could feel his eyes on me, watching as I sunk further into the water, my legs layered on his, I heard a light chuckle. "Is Samuel okay?" he finally asked, his hand on one my knees beneath the water.

"Yeah..." I breathed, completely entranced by the floral scent, "he's staying in town for a while longer..."

"Oh?" he replied, like it was a question.

"Yeah," I chuckled a little, thinking back to our conversation together, "he's totally obsessed, he loves it here, he said he was even thinking of moving here," I laughed a little more, but I noticed Alex was totally quiet. I opened one eye and peeked at him, he looked lost in thought, so I used my foot to kick at him lightly.

Meeting my eyes – well, eye – he smiled softy, allowing it to reach his eyes. His chest and shoulders glistened with the fragrant water, the candle light reflecting in his soft, chocolatey eyes. I watched him run his hand through his hair, and it fall across his forehead; all messy and unkempt. Noticing me staring, he hooked his feet behind me and pulled me to him with his legs, grinning like an idiot. He pulled me into his lap and I wrapped my arms around his neck, feeling instantly comforted – also feeling some other stuff against my thigh, but that's not important. For a moment, we just looked at each other, smiling.

Being with him was so soothing and calming; all of the stressful situations in my life slowly disintegrated as I gazed into his irises. His eyes were so vibrant and easy to read, the kind of eyes which couldn't hide anything. The chocolatey hues would melt, showing lighter, caramel tones, whenever he was happy, but they could harden and darken easily when he was angry, nervous, upset. Watching him smile was like watching the sun rising; his whole face changed – his eyes would sparkle, his cheeks pinker, his lips plumper. He was pretty, to say the least, very pretty.

I laid my head on his shoulder and buried my head into his neck, sighing deeply. It wasn't like I had had a particularly exhausting day or anything, but I was dealing with a lot of thoughts at the moment and I didn't really know what to do with them. It wasn't like I was particularly sad, I was just very anxious, specifically regarding Derek. I mean, someone cheating on you is never going to feel great, but I technically had no right to be mad at him, I had being doing it too. I couldn't help but feel like my situation was different – I actually cared about Alex, we had a history, and I had never intended to cheat, it just kind of happened; whereas it seemed like Derek was just having sex with random girls, and who knows how long he had been doing that behind my back, probably a long time.

So, I wasn't really mad at all, in fact I was slightly relieved. Knowing he had been cheating on me not only made me feel a little less guilty; like I hadn't been cheating on some really decent, genuine guy who didn't deserve it, but I also felt relieved because it just proved to me that we were both on the same page. We both clearly no longer felt how we once had towards each other, we had both strayed and fell out of love, and that strangely felt good – no one would be heartbroken.

It wasn't just Derek I was anxious to talk to, though, I was way more nervous to speak with my father. I knew my mother would be fine with the breakup, she'd totally understand, but my father had grown very close with Derek – he'd put him in charge of running the new branch of his firm, for god's sake! I just hoped my father cared more about my happiness than he did his reputation.

Alex leaned further into the tub, taking me with him and soaking more of our bodies. "You feeling okay?" he asked quietly, his lips brushing against my hair. I just nodded and tilted up to give him a lazy smile and he pressed his lips against mine lightly.

As we just laid there, our lips married together, Everything I Ask For by The Maine came on – this song had been our song all through high school. I perked up instantly at the familiar beat, pulling away to beam at Alex, who just smiled knowingly, since he had put this little playlist together. I moved my head to the rhythm and we recited the words to each other; the song bringing back so many memories. "...Because I'm just so lucky..." Alex sang along to the song, his lips moving against mine, his tone meaningful. We shared another kiss, my smile unbreakable.

"This song really takes me back," I giggled, my cheeks pinkening at the thoughts. "Like that time we slept in the back of your truck..." I reminisced, my eyes wandering. Alex had had this lame Chevy truck in high school which was a pile of crap with chipped paint, but he treat it like a child. One night we drove out to this lookout point, which is one of the only places in the city where you can actually see the stars without any light pollution, and we turned the bed of his truck into an actual bed; pillows, duvets and sheets, and we watched the stars together and eventually fell asleep – which is a very dumb thing to do out in the open, but whatever.

That had been such a magical night, not only because of the night sky being so bright and vibrant and visible for once, but because that was the night we both lost our virginities to each other – again, another dumb thing to do out in the open, kids. However, it was such a perfect moment, so sweet and tender and just right.

"Yeah..." Alex breathed, and I could tell by his face that he wasn't thinking about the sleeping we had done that night, "that was such a surreal night." He smiled down at me in a way I hadn't really experienced much; it was filled with love and care and just happiness to be here with me. "Damn, I miss that truck," he joked, ripping through the nice moment with a bit of humour – classic Alex.

I slapped his arm, laughing, "it was a piece of junk," I reminded.

"Yeah..." he trailed off, "...but that baby got us where we needed to be, and none of you motherfuckers ever drove us anywhere," he joked, nudging me.

I flung my head back in laughter, remembering the times when Me, Jack and Rian would always have to squish into the bed of the truck, because Zack was a master at calling shotgun. Jack would always fall asleep, and Rian and I would always mess with him and pile things on top of him, seeing how long it would take him to notice and wake up. "Such a shame the police didn't agree," I chuckled and he rolled his eyes.

I was referring to one time when we were on our way to a festival they were playing at; Zack in the front as always, Rian and I towering hats on Jack's limp face. The police pulled us over due to Rian, Jack and I not being particularly safe just sliding around the bed of a truck and we ended up having to jump in one of the other bands, playing the festival, truck – which was very kind of them but very awkward and embarrassing.

"Whatever, man, you guys were perfectly fine..." Alex tsked, shaking his head sarcastically. "I blame you three for the loss of my Chevy," he teased.

"Well, to be fair, the Chevy was a hell of a lot safer than the van," I laughed, thinking back to the van Alex bought right after the death of his Chevy. It was still a two seater – smart, I know – but now nobody could see anybody slipping around in the back, and plus I had gotten way better at calling shotgun by this time. I thought back and began laughing hysterically, trying to talk through my laughter, "remem...ber... oh my god... when..." Alex was smirking, not catching a word but entertained nevertheless. Once I'd calmed myself a little I tried again, "those three trying to stand... in the back... and Jack face-planting the doors..." I started laughing hard again at the image and this time Alex joined me, remembering back with me.

We reminisced for a while longer, sharing silly little memories and laughing hysterically; it instantaneously pulled me out of my rut and warmed my heart. Alex pulled me further into his lap so that I was now straddling him, sat up on my knees and looking down at him for once, as we laughed at some dumb shit 17 year old Jack had done. He watched me laugh intently, his grin wide as he just chuckled, focused mostly on watching me. I placed a kiss on his soft lips, feeling so connected to him in that moment. It was strange; knowing someone so well and being able to reminisce with them, yet also feeling like you're falling for them and getting to know them all over again.

Deepening the kiss, he snaked his tongue into my mouth, greeting my tongue and fighting for control; I gave it to him immediately, knowing I'd never win and that I didn't want to either. He wrapped his arms around my waist tight and lifted us from the tub, bath water spilling everywhere but both of us too lost in the kiss to notice. I snaked my legs around his hips and my hands began pulling at his hair, as usual. However, this felt a lot different, a lot deeper. The other times we had kissed, had sex, whatever, it was kind of just in the moment, but this, although still passionate, felt more meaningful; us having just spent the past 45 minutes laughing and joking and reminiscing.

He dropped me onto my bed gently and immediately covered my body with his own; our kissing growing deeper, our hands wandering. Leaving kisses down my neck and teasing at my wet, bare breasts, I let out loud moans. Something about how perfectly corny and romantic tonight had been, as well as all of the laughing and sentimentality, had really made me want Alex – both emotionally and sexually.

Just as I felt things were about to progress further, my phone begins ringing loudly beside us. "Ignore it," Alex mumbled into my neck, nibbling at the spot he'd just breathed against. I hummed, acknowledging what he'd ordered, my eyes closed and my head back in pleasure. Whoever was ringing me, however, was not going to be ignored. As soon as the operator cut them off, they rang again, and again, and again. "Put it on silent," Alex demanded, pulling back to look me in the eyes. His lips were swollen and his eyes were glazed with want and need. I nodded, still lost in what we were doing, and leaned over to grab my phone from the table.

The name and picture I was greeted with made my heart sink. Immediately I sobered up from my drunk-on-lust state and sat up, pushing Alex off of me slightly. I rubbed my temple, my heart rate increased massively at the mere thought of speaking to who was on the other line; my father. My father was infamous for never calling anybody, unless it was for business purposes or someone was literally dying. Therefore, this meant one of two things; something seriously bad had happened – which I highly doubted – or he had heard about Derek and I.

I grabbed my phone and left the room, still naked and wet, leaving Alex completely confused and probably frustrated. I could ignore Derek for the rest of my life if I wanted to, but my dad was a relentless, scary man, and avoiding him would only piss him off further – I had no choice but to deal with this now, whatever may be waiting for me on the end of that line.

Notes

olivia's outfit