The Absence of Olivia(7)
“Love you too. Bye, Dad,” Jax said, mouth full of pancake.
“Thanks again, Evie. I’ll see you this evening.” His voice was back to being friendly, but his words were still a little cold. That made me feel guilty. I was trying to help him, but he wasn’t comfortable taking it from me.
“Have a good day.” My voice was quiet and I didn’t bother looking at him. I knew what I’d see – a man who missed his wife.
Chapter Three
Last Day of Freshman Year
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much alcohol in one place.” My eyes swept over the counter in the kitchen of the Beta house, which had been transformed into a temporary bar. At least fifty bottles of liquor were all lined up, and a few of the freshman Betas were manning them.
“Betas take end of the school year extremely seriously,” Liv said, her voice already a little deep, her words slurred, the alcohol having its desired effect.
“Ladies, welcome to our little get together.” My head turned toward the voice, and I smiled when I saw Elliot walking toward us. Since Liv and Devon had started seeing each other, we’d spent a lot of time at his house and I’d gotten to know quite a few of the brothers. I knew I was only accepted because I came with Liv, and without her, I would have been painfully out of place. However, a few of the guys genuinely seemed to like me, Elliot being one of them.
“Hey,” I said, my smile brightening at his familiar face. “How’d finals go?”
“Well,” he laughed, “I probably could have done better. My statistics class kicked my ass.”
“But everything else went well?”
“I think so.”
“Elliot, what exactly are you going to do with a sociology degree?” Liv’s words were a little sharp, but he didn’t seem to pick up on her tone.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. I’ve still got another year to figure it out.” He gave her a wink with his answer, which made me smile, but didn’t amuse her.
“See, that’s why I like Devon. He already has a plan. Business major then on to his master’s in business. His track is all laid out for him. None of this uncertainty you seem to thrive on.”
It had become obvious to me as I watched Liv fall for Devon, that his ambition and direction in life was something she latched on to, something she admired. His strong current down the river of his life pulled her right along with him. They balanced each other out in that way. She had been a free bird. She did what she wanted, when she wanted – not to mention whom she wanted. Now, she was his free bird and she followed him around. As long as she was with him, she felt like she had direction.
“I’ll figure it out eventually,” Elliot said, not unkindly. In fact, he’d never taken an annoyed or angry tone with Liv. Not even when she’d been completely out of line. That was one thing I really liked about him. “How about you, Evie?” His eyes found mine, his smile still friendly. “How did your finals go?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Liv’s voice rang out before I had a chance.
“Evie’s finals were a piece of cake because she was taking mostly art courses where all the answers are subjective. How do you feel about this painting? What did this sculpture make you feel?” Her voice was exaggerated and haughty, making a show out of impersonating my professors. She wasn’t far from the mark, I had found my finals kind of easy, but they were intro classes and hadn’t been too difficult to begin with.
I laughed but then answered when she was finished.
“I think I did all right.”
“Well then, let’s get you a congratulatory drink.” He held his hand out to me and offered me his ridiculously cute smile and I found myself putting my hand in his before I gave it a second thought. He immediately palmed my hand and then twined our fingers together as he pulled me through the crowd gathered in front of the bar. As we got closer to the liquor, the crowd grew thicker, and I pulled myself closer to him, my front pressed up against his arm. It felt nice to have my body pressed up against a man.
He made it right up to the counter and I saw his brothers nod at him in recognition. “Just get me a beer,” he said, and then turned back to me. “What’ll it be?” he asked, his lips moving closer to my ear. The movement of his breath on my skin sent prickles down my spine and I couldn’t ignore how much I liked the feeling of them.
“Can I just have a vodka cranberry?”
“You can have anything you want.” His eyes sparkled as he spoke, and I found myself smiling at him, feeling particularly punchy even without any alcohol in my system yet. He gave me a wink and then told the bartender my order. After a moment or two, and a much shorter wait than anyone else in the room had, we were handed our drinks. Elliot nodded toward the sliding doors, indicating he wanted to go outside, and I nodded in agreement. He then led me through the throngs of people, like fish swimming upstream, until we were finally outside.
I thought, since we weren’t surrounded by people, he’d want to let go of my hand, but when I started to release his, he strengthened his grip and pulled me closer. It was impossible to hide the smile that stretched over my face. We walked to a bench overlooking their house’s underwhelming yard – a large patch of grass with one sad, sagging volleyball net stretched across it, drooping in the middle. I sat first and then inwardly warmed when he sat down right next to me, even though it left plenty of empty bench on the other side of him.