SWNOVELS Splintered Ice: Chapter 22
As I pull up at campus, I can see Olivia already waiting outside for me. I knew she would be out here since Stella told her I was coming after her last class. Olivia is predictable like that, but what is unpredictable is how she’s going to react to seeing me again. This is the first contact we will be having since I went and fucked everything up.
She sees me as soon as I pull up and put the car into park. Unbuckling my seat belt, I quickly get out, attempting to walk over to open the door for her, but she beats me to it. Her eyes meet mine from across the hood of the car and she narrows them at me in warning. It feels like a knife to my chest, but I suck back my pride and nod before walking back to the driver’s side.
When I get back in the car, Olivia is already buckled in, staring directly out the windshield as if I don’t even exist. The tension is thick between us, almost palpable, and there’s an awkwardness that hangs heavily in the air. I want it to dissipate, to completely vanish, but I don’t know where to even begin.
A sigh slips from my lips as I shift the car into first gear and pull away from the curb. I glance at Olivia a few times before pulling out of the parking lot, but she doesn’t dare chance a glance in my direction.
“How was your day?” I ask her, my voice strangled as the words get stuck in my throat.
Olivia doesn’t look at me. “Fine.”
“Good,” I murmur softly, turning onto a different street as we head in the direction of my house. Where my damn sister is who decided to send me on this suicide mission by myself. Luckily, she still doesn’t know a thing about what’s going on between Olivia and me. “I haven’t seen you around lately.”
“We don’t have to do this, Sterling.”
Her words are like a blow to the chest and it takes me a minute to recover. “Do what?”
“Exchange pleasantries like we’re friends.” Her voice is flat, void of emotion as she folds her hands in her lap and turns her head to look out the window. “We were never friends and what happened between us was a mistake that never should have happened.”
“You don’t mean that,” I tell her, the words slipping from my lips before I have a chance to stop them. “Don’t say that, don’t diminish what was growing between us. It wasn’t a mistake.”
“Maybe not for you,” she scoffs, and her icy tone sends a shiver down my spine. This isn’t the Olivia I’ve known since we were kids. The sun is gone and all that’s left is a scorned, hollowed-out moon.
Words cease to exist. This is the moment where I should fight her, where I should tell her how I really feel. But I don’t. I keep my lips sealed, locked tightly as I throw away the key. It wasn’t a mistake, but I regret the way I fucked things up between us. She’ll never forgive me and I guess it’s time I accept the cold, hard truth.
Olivia Davis always looked at me like I hung the moon and the stars in the sky.
Now, she won’t even look at me at all.
We ride in silence for the rest of the drive. I’m left feeling completely defeated, like a deflated balloon as we pull up in front of my house. Olivia doesn’t move as I kill the engine. She sits completely still, her gaze directed out the window as she stares absently at the house.
“I don’t want to be here, Sterling,” she admits, her voice crystal clear, cutting through the silence like glass. “I’m here to make your sister happy and nothing more.”
I swallow hard over the knives in my throat. “Okay.”
Olivia lets out a sigh as she undoes her seat belt and climbs out of the car. I’m frozen in my seat, mentally kicking myself for missing my chance. I’ve never been one to talk about my feelings, let alone let myself have them for someone else. Here I am, in love with my sister’s best friend, and I don’t even have the balls to tell her.
There’s something about the vulnerability of completely letting my guard down that terrifies me. If I tell her the truth, she holds all the power. And she has the ability to completely destroy me.
Who am I kidding?
Olivia Davis already has that power…
When I walk into the house, Olivia and Stella are already sitting on the couch together. There’s a bright smile on Olivia’s face as she listens to my sister, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes and I know exactly why. Simon and Vaughn are both standing in the kitchen. Simon’s gaze meets mine as I hover in the doorway.
Taking a deep breath, I walk over to him with my shoulders sagging. We both step into the kitchen, away from the girls, as he practically corners me.
“Dude, what did you do to her?”
My jaw clenches. “Nothing. I just fucked up, all right? I intervened on a friendship she had with another guy and overstepped some boundaries that I shouldn’t have.”
“Well, your sister has asked her like three times already if she’s okay… and she’s only been inside for like two minutes.”
Fuck.
I need Olivia to get it together. What happened is between the two of us and the last thing I need is my goddamn sister getting involved. She can read Olivia and will be able to tell without a doubt that there’s something wrong. And she won’t stop until she gets to the bottom of it.
“I don’t know what to do, bro,” I tell Simon, my voice quiet as I don’t fully trust it. “I told myself I was going to come clean with her and tell her how I really felt, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“You know what you have to do, Barrett,” he says, his voice stern as he grabs three beers from the fridge. He hands one to me, one to Vaughn, and keeps one for himself as he begins to head out to the living room. “Man up and fucking do it.”
He’s right. I need to do it… but I can’t with my sister asking her a million questions.
Twisting off the cap of my bottle, I toss it onto the counter before taking a deep breath. I’m practically walking into the lion’s den, but I need to go face this shit head-on. I need to make things better between Olivia and me.
Or else I need to let her go forever.
“Where are our beers?” Stella asks Simon, her bottom lip stuck out in a pout as I walk into the living room and catch him sitting down on the couch.
Simon shrugs at her. “You guys aren’t underage drinking here unless your brother gives the go-ahead. He’s in charge of you, not me.”
Stella cocks an eyebrow at him, her lips parting like she’s about to say something, but she clamps them shut as she sees me watching the two of them. It’s a weird exchange, but my sister plasters the brightest smile that she can muster as she looks up at me.
“Come on, Ster,” she begs, giving me her infamous puppy dog eyes that have always gotten her, her way when we were kids. “Just one beer each?”
I look between her and Olivia, who is effectively avoiding my gaze as a sigh slips from my lips. “Fine. One beer each.”
“You’re the best!” Stella exclaims, clapping her hands together as she jumps to her feet. Olivia snorts, her face contorting as she rolls her eyes. Stella doesn’t miss a beat, her eyebrows tugging together as she looks at Olivia in confusion.
It feels like she’s twisting my heart in my chest with her reaction. I visibly wince, my jaw simultaneously clenching. My sister is looking at me now, a look of suspicion crossing her features.
“I’ll get the beers,” I reply gruffly.
“Good idea,” Simon mumbles from where he’s sitting on the couch as he flips through the channels on the TV. Vaughn is sitting near him with a look of amusement on his face.
This night is going so well… and it’s just getting started.