Page 5

“No, Olivia, I don’t carryholy waterin my pocket.” He turned back to the poster in front of him, shoulders notably tense. My attention had already latched on to something else, though.
My name.
It was the first time he’d said it in over ten years, and the way the four syllables had rolled off his tongue sent a shiver down my spine.
I shook it off.
The feeling, my confusion.
“I’m sorry. That was a rude question,” I said, the betraying words falling from my mouth before I knew what to do with them. But I think…
I think I meant them.
I looked up at the ceiling, waiting for it to open up and swallow me whole. Because surely, the end of the world was about to happen. The apocalypse, Armageddon, doomsday, Y3K a few centuries early, the Hunger Games,something.
I was in a state of shock, really. My mouth was hanging half open. My thoughts stunted and crashed together. My lungs forgot how to breathe. Because…Olivia Davis did not apologize. For anything.
What waswrongwith me?
And why had I found myself asking that question far too many times these past few days?
Neil’s soft laugher pulled me from impact, from the collision of thoughts in my mind. “They’re just two little words, Liv. They aren’t going to kill you,” he said. Somehow knowing my thoughts, my feelings.
It made me feel more seen than I was prepared to be.
I swallowed past a rush of new thoughts. Ones that terrified me. “Yeah, well…” I said, and I left the words hanging, reaching to pick up and put away all of our supplies before the bell rang.
He did the same, closing lids on paint cans and collecting pencils and unused brushes while I moved our posters over to the counter by the windows.
When the bell rang, all my traitorous brain could think about was one thing. One stupid, small, inconsequential,interestingthing. A single word.
Liv.
From one pair of lips.
Nobody called me that besides my mother. It was different when Neil said it, though. Laced in humor, a mischievous and knowing gleam brightening his eyes.
Like I’d said,interesting.Because maybe Neil wasn’t what he seemed to be at all. Not even close.
One point for Neil, who was still definitely,definitelya Hufflepuff.
Or was he?
By the time I got home, I’d completely lost track of points and had given up altogether. I’d thrown in the towel somewhere arounddock three points for stupid questions, and two more for making an ass out of yourself, Olivia.
Either way, it was clear to me that Neil had somehow gained the upper hand, and that was just… weird, and wrong, and didn’t make any sense whatsoever.
“Mom!” I called out, even though I knew I’d only be answered by silence. She was never home. Like, ever.
I threw my things onto the kitchen counter and pulled open the fridge, which (to no surprise to me) was mostly empty. I called in an order for pizza, recited my mother’s credit card number from memory, and then dialed Sydney.
“What’s up, Olli?” she greeted.Olivia, Olls, Olli, Ol, Liv, Livvy… Olive.Some of the many names I went by, apparently.
“You want to come over? I just ordered some pizza,” I asked.
“Do I evernotwant to come over?” she scoffed.
I jumped up onto the edge of my kitchen counter, toeing off my shoes. “Then get your ass over here.”