Odette: Choose your own adventure!

I talked to the lawyer until the next period started and students filed into the room to use it. He was certain that not only could he get my things, my car and the house back, but he wanted to go after my uncle for pain and suffering too, for yanking me out of my home physically and putting me on a bus and cremating my Gemma without letting me even be there and when it was in her will to be buried next to her husband and her plot was paid for. I was feeling better about everything. I might even get to go home! Back with my friends and my classes and...

Without Ollie. He was hot and sweet and I liked him, but did I care enough to give up everything for him? To live in a piss smelling tiny room with a woman who didn't want me there? And feral cats?

I would wait to see how it all played out. When the bell rang, Ollie came and found me again. As excited as I was about my news, I didn't tell him. It would bring him down.

"So, babe, I have to..."

"'Babe' is a no-go with me. Sorry."

"Darlin'?"

"Better. Maybe work on something better?"

"Sugar?"

"Nah."

"Punkin?"

I laughed at the silliness of our conversation and he leaned down and kissed the top of my head with a smile. "So, I have practice. I guess I sort of thought you knew what time I got out of practice based on what time I got home yesterday. That ok, or you need to go right now? I can skip practice just once as long as I don't do it a lot."

"Oh, no, it's fine. As long as the stores don't close early, we should be fine. I can look up what closes when and we can go in order. Should I take the bus home?"

"A lot of the girlfriends hang, they sit in the bleachers and talk, do homework, that sort of thing. Umm. Maybe you can tutor someone or something," he joked, leading me to the gym.

I felt alarm rising up. "Ollie..."

"It'll be cool, punkin."

I laughed again, tickled at the nickname for some reason.

"Miranda, this is Det, can you introduce her around?" Ollie asked quickly. Walking backwards to the locker room anxiously.

"Sure Ollie!" a tall girl answered, giving me a smile. She was pretty in a mean girl way, but she didn't seem like a mean girl. More like a bad girl. "Come sit with me," she called.

I sat down and she introduced me to all of the girls hanging around. "And I am Miranda, but my close friends call me Randi. I'm Nick's girlfriend. You met Nick at lunch I am told. Some people call him Nick the dick?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I did. Big guy? Bad attitude?"

"That's him," she grinned, pride showing in her eyes. I wasn't sure why, but I liked Randi. "So We've all heard a ton about you, but no one saw you all day. Ollie said you had to go to a special class? Ollie, by the way. Wow, way to land that hottie. He's been off the market since Stace screwed him over. No matter how many girls tripped him into bed, they couldn't make it stick. Livie especially, he could call her at 3 AM for a bj and she would meet him in his truck in front of her house. He wouldn't even take her on a date no matter what she did for him. I mean, to be fair, he said it straight up. She still went for it."

I felt queasy. She wasn't saying any of it to be mean, she had no idea I didn't know and she was only proving her point. Good job landing the hottie. Still, I felt sick. He had left all the girls out of the history about Stace, leaving it there. Nothin about bagging and tagging girls afterwards. Acting like the shy, innocent, inept country boy.

"So he said you were from Atlanta? What's it like there? I'm from Kansas City, this place was wild when I got here last year."

"You're new too?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. I was the new kid till today."

"I guess Atlanta is probably the same. I wasn't really the kind of girl to be out on the town, I was always in my work. You know?"

"No," she laughed. "No, I don't know! Girl, we need to get you a little party goin! You wanna keep up with Ollie, you'll need to learn to party as hard as he does!"

He was a partier? Of course he was. Because I didn't know him at all. He was a pretty face that swept me off my feet.

"Hey, some of us girls are getting together Friday night. Girls night, you should come!" Randi said, nudging me.

I looked at her and around at the other girls a little wide eyed. "Sure," I answered finally. Why not? It might be fun to make some friends for once and worry less about my grades and getting into Stanford. A sleepover sounded fun. Girls, make-up, pillow fights. That's what happened, right?

I sat with the girls and we all talked about Atlanta and Kansas City and how different it was here. When Ollie came up, smiling and sweating, he looked almost uncertain. "We still going?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's go!" I said, hopping up.

"Don't make plans on Friday!" Randi called. "She's partying with us!"

Ollie looked down at me, his eyebrows high. "You and Randi? Really? I mean, she's a cool chick, but I didn't think you would hit it off so well. That's awesome though. I can drop you at her house?"

"Umm, I don't know. I guess I will ask her for details tomorrow." He tossed his gym bag in the back, then opened the door for me. When he got in, I turned and looked at him. "She also may have mentioned a few other things."

"She did?" he asked, shocked. "It was seriously only one time and it was before her and Nick got together, right after she got here. It wasn't a big thing. I can't believe she told you!" he said, red faced.

"Uh... she didn't. You just did. Umm. She did tell me about Livie? And the other girls."

"Oh," he said quietly, looking away from me, out his window. I felt a little sad at his reaction. He was ashamed, like he knew he did something wrong. He drove past the gas station and I assumed he must have been distracted, but when I looked, his tank was full.

Anger bubbled up.

"Stop!" I demanded. "Stop right now! Pull over!"

"Det!" he said, shocked as he pulled over. "They all knew, even Livie! I..."

I yanked on the door and shoved with all my might. "Let me out!" I demanded.

"Det, come on! I never said I hadn't been with girls!"

"Let me OUT!" I screamed. I started rolling down the stupid hand crank window, then started to climb out. He caught my thigh.

"Det, you are going to hurt yourself! Just hold on and I will come around!"

He came around and opened the door, but caught me by the waist before I could slide out of his truck.

"Det, please. Be reasonable!"

"Me? I asked for one thing! I said if you took me you had to let me fill up your truck, but you did it yourself just so I couldn't! I don't care about the girls, I care about your pride suffocating me!"

He let out a breath. "Det, come on! I don't have it in me to let a girl pay for anything!"

"My errands, my needs, I can take care of it myself! I don't want you paying for any of it! You were helping enough by giving me a ride, but that wasn't good enough! No, Ollie, let me go. I am walking back!"

"Det, I will take you back, just please?"

"No, Ollie. No. This was all a mistake. You know it was. We don't know each other at all and we are not compatible. You were a hot guy and I fell for you for a minute, but it's over. I called a lawyer today, I will be back in Atlanta by this weekend," I lied. I hoped it wasn't a lie, but for now I wasn't sure.

"You did what?" he asked, shocked, finally letting me go as he stepped back.

"I called my lawyer. He is fixing everything. I am going home!" I said, then slipped down and started walking back. I pulled out my phone and opened my Uber app, then decided I would rather walk. I needed air.

After a few minutes, Ollie pulled up next to me. "Get in, I will take you home," he said, his voice angry.

"No thanks."

"I mean it Det, you can't be on this road. It's getting dark."

"I'll take my chances!"

"Det!"

"Piss off!"

I walked, but he rolled right along next to me the whole way. More than once I considered getting in, but I refused to give in to him. It was late when I walked into the trailer and Mabel was snoring loudly in her bed. When I got to my room, the bed was finished and the mattress was up on it, along with a pillow. I had no idea who had done it, or where the pillow had come from, but I didn't care. I caught the cat that had managed to hide away in the closet and put it out, then went to bed, feeling sick and angry.

The next day I rode the bus with Lauri, ignoring Ollie when he pulled up and opened the door for me. He got back in his truck, slamming the door. He didn't show up to get me at lunch, Randi did.

"Hey girl. Guess I fucked things up?"

"What? No. Did he say that?"

"He said you were pissed about Livie. And me."

"He lied. I was pissed about him. It's a long story, but it had nothing to do with Livie, or the girls. I mean, he never told me and it stung a little, but I'm not the jealous type. I was pissed that he broke a promise and that he pretended to be something he wasn't."

I sat down with her at her table with some of the other girls and when I looked passed her, Ollie was scowling at me. I scowled right back. Liar.

"Well I am glad you aren't pissed at me. We should hang tonight, me and you. My dad won't be home till morning and I hate being home alone. We can stay up and watch movies and eat ice cream for dinner."

I smiled. I'd never done that, had a sleepover with a girl friend.

"Thought we was all hangin tomorrow?" Katie asked.

"We are! Hell, we can all hang tonight if y'all can come over on a weeknight."

"I can," Katie shrugged.

"Me too," Hayley said quickly.

"Hey, can I ask Lauri?" I asked, spotting her across the room, sitting off by herself.

"Dirty Lauri?" Katie asked, scrunching her nose.

"Sure," Randi said with a shrug.

I jumped up and hurried to Lauri, then sat with her. "Hey," I smiled. "Some of the girls want us to come over and spend the night. I will if you will. Wanna?"

"Tonight?" she asked, wide eyes, looking around. "What girls?"

"Randi's house, but Katie and Hayley will be there with us too."

"Oh. Ummm. I can ask? Not sure if Daddy'll let me, but maybe?"

I smiled happily and got up and turned around, but Ollie was there. "We need to talk," he said, putting a hand on my back and leading me out of the lunch room.

"I don't have anything to say," I said, pulling away from his hand. "I said all that needs saying."

"I haven't. Look, Odette, I know we are different. I was raised to be a gentleman, never let a girl pay. Never let a girl open her own door, never let a girl carry anything. It's ingrained into me. I can't just do a 180 overnight. You get that, right?"

"Gentlemen call girls out of their rooms at 3 AM for quickies and blowjobs, then leave them hanging?"

He winced. "Look, she begged me to let her do those things for me. Not an excuse, but it's hard to say no when I know I have made it clear I will never date her and she is still begging for it. That's not the point anyway. The point is me and you."

"There is no me and you Ollie. By this weekend, I will be back home. Sunday morning, early, I am taking an Uber to the airport and going home. My lawyer called me today. So there is no us, there is no point in even discussing this," I told him, glad that it was no longer a lie after a call from the lawyer earlier.

"Det," he pleaded. "Stay!"

"Ollie, no! I want my life back. I want my school, my version of friends, my house, my car, my classes. I want Stanton. Thanks for the kisses and the smiles, but I want to go home."

"Det!"

"Ollie, stop. Please? I am going home. I am happy to be going home. Also, you're a damn liar!"

"What?"

"Telling Randi it was her fault we fought. It wasn't. That was all you and you know it. Trying to foist if off on someone else? That was shitty of you."

He sighed and ran his fingers through his curls. "Ok. Yeah. I was pissed and I snapped at her for telling you. I will tell her I lied. Let me take you out tonight?"

"I am going to Randi's house, we are having a sleepover."

"I thought that was tomorrow?"

"Tonight too. She doesn't want to be alone."

"Det! If you are leaving Sunday for real, can't I have one day with you?"

"Why Ollie? Why? No. Sorry Ollie, no. The airport has me on standby in case a flight opens up before Sunday. We can say goodbye right now."

"Det!"

"Seriously. Thanks for showing me around, thanks for the kisses. It was nice. Good luck in life."

He threw up his hands in frustration, anger and hurt, then turned and left.

It shouldn't have surprised me when Randi and I were walking to her house and he pulled up next to us. "Det? Can you get in and we can talk? Just for a few minutes?"

"I have seriously said all I need to say Ollie! Don't you have practice?"

"I skipped, I need to talk to you!"

"I said no. Go to practice!"

He sped away, revving his engine loudly and Randi laughed. "You know he isn't going to take no for an answer? This is Ollie we are talking about. Single minded to a fault."

It stung that she knew him so much better than I did. It didn't matter. I was leaving Sunday. I was going home!

Ollie sped back by us again, rapping out his engine loudly. I sighed, but could only roll my eyes. It was such a male thing to do.

Her house was in sight when he pulled up again. "Two minutes, Det," he pleaded.

"He won't stop till he has his say," Randi said grinning.

Choose your own adventure:

Does Det ignore Ollie and go with Randi? - Choose Odette/A

Does Det decide to skip both and go home to wait for Sunday? - Choose Odette/B

Does Det listen to what Ollie has to say? - Choose Odette/C