Finding Olivia (Trace + Olivia #1) (4 page)

“They’re too overdone,” he finished, setting the glass back down.

I shook my head, forcing my eyes away from his full pouty lips.

“What’s overdone?” I asked. “Oh, right, mainstream restaurants,” I added. I
really
needed to stop looking at his lips, because I was getting flustered.

“You said you’re going to Shenandoah
Universtity, right?” He asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

I nodded, tucking a piece of hair that had come loose from the braid, behind my ear.

“Are you a freshman?”

“Sophomore,” I answered. “Are you in school?” I asked. He didn’t look much older than me, but one never knew.

“Nah,” he let the napkin fall back to the table. “I was never big on school. Don’t get me wrong, I love to read, and history is cool, but I never liked it. I went to a technical school to work on cars, but that was easy for me since I had been around cars my whole life,” he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t like to study,” he added.

“Who does?” I smiled.

“True,” he grinned, and finished off the last bite of his sandwich.

I had only eaten half of mine and I was already stuffed.

“I can’t eat another bite,” I mumbled, pushing my plate away.

“I’ll get a box for you,” he hopped up from the table and headed towards the counter.

A moment later, he returned with a small box, handing it to me.

“Thanks for lunch,” I smiled gratefully, boxing the sandwich.

“It’s no problem,” he mumbled.

I tilted my head and studied him.

“What?” He squirmed under my gaze.

“You have a hard time saying you’re welcome, don’t you?”

He squirmed some more. “Maybe. It’s just…I don’t
expect
a thank you. When I do something, it’s because I want to, not because I want to be praised for it.”

“Hmm,” I mused.

“Are you sure you’re not a psych major?” He questioned.

“I’m sure,” I laughed. “I’m just observant. It comes from being shy.”

“Ah, I see,” he nodded.

I grabbed my purse and the to-
go box before following him outside.

His car was low to the ground, and even though I was short, I felt like I had to perform contortions to get in there. I had no clue how Trace managed to duck
his six-foot frame inside so easily.

“Am I going to see you again
, after today?” Trace asked, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

“I want to,” he confessed, looking at me through thick sooty lashes.

I swallowed. Trace wanted to see me? Trace, with his cocky smile, and those
lips
, wanted to see me, after today?

It didn’t seem possible.

I was plain old Olivia who no one ever noticed. I was a wallflower. A nobody.

But Trace noticed me.

In fact, he saw
me
.

“I’d like to see you, again,” I admitted.

That cocky grin graced his full lips. “Good.”

Trace parked his car in the same spot as it
was before and we walked around to the front of the building. I was surprised to see that Luca and Avery weren’t still against the building. Maybe they
had
moved onto the hood his car. I really hoped they were done, if that was the case.

Luckily, they were sitting inside the small office that was attached to the garage, and all their clothes were in place.

“Avery!” I called, waving her over. “Let’s go!”

“Wait,” Trace grabbed my arm and a shiver skated up my spine. “What’s your number?”

I rattled off my cell phone number and he entered it into his phone. “I’ll call you,” he let go of my arm.

“Okay,” I smiled, hoping he would but believing deep down
, that he wouldn’t.

Avery made her way out of the office
, making sure to sway her hips in a tantalizing rhythm for Luca’s benefit.

I roll
ed my eyes at her and unlocked my Ford Focus.

“Thank you again,” I told Trace.

“It’s not a-”

“Problem, I know,” I interrupted him.

He grinned as I climbed into my car. Before I closed the door, I heard him say, “I’ll see you soon,” and my heart soared.

Avery got into the car, grinning like the Cheshire cat. I gave her a look to keep her mouth closed
, as I backed out of the garage, praying I didn’t hit anything. It
would
be like me to get into an accident while I was still at the mechanics.

Luckily, I managed to get out of there without making a fool of myself, and poor Avery was about to jump out of her skin.

“How’d it go? Did you talk a lot?” She asked. “Or…not a lot?” She waggled her perfectly sculpted auburn colored brows.

“I think it went good,” I told her, but in my overactiv
e girl brain I was already over analyzing everything. “We talked and he took me to lunch.”

“That sounds promising,” she fixed her
lipstick in the mirror. “Did you get his number?”

“No, but he asked for mine,” I bit my lip, hard enough that it started bleeding.

Avery squealed, “This is good news! He asked for your number, which means he’s interested. Since you didn’t ask for his, you don’t seem desperate.”

“What if he doesn’t call?” I continued to nibble on my lip.

“Oh, he’ll call,” Avery smirked.

“How’d it go with Luca?” I asked, desperate to steer the conversation away from myself.

“Let me tell you, that man knows what he’s doing,” she fanned herself. “The things he can do with his tongue.
Wow
.”

“
Avery
,” I groaned.

“What? It didn’t go
that
far. Stop imagining dirty things, Olivia,” she laughed.

“Knowing you, I couldn’t imagine it dirty enough,” I eyed her.

“That’s very true,” she conceded. “Hopefully, I’ll be seeing much
more
of Luca, if you know what I mean.”

I wanted to bang my head against the steering wheel.

How Avery and I had ended up roommates and best friends was beyond me. We were so incredibly different. Sometimes, like now, I wanted to strangle the girl. But I couldn’t imagine not having her as a friend.

“And maybe you can see more of Trace,” she kicked off her heels and then brought her feet up to rest them on the dashboard, “and finally get laid so you’ll stop bitching all the time.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sometimes, I really think you’re a guy.”

“Hey, I have five brothers, so I practically have a dick,” she shrugged.

“It doesn’t mean you should act like you have one,” I reasoned.

“Touché,” she smirked, wiggling her red painted toes.

I parked my car in front of our dorm and grabbed my backpack out of the trunk. “I have to go,” I told her, slinging the heavy bag over my shoulder. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Later,” she called, heading in the opposite direction for her own cl
ass.

My phone vibrated in my back pocket with a text.

I pulled it out and smiled when I saw it was an unknown number.

Is it too soon to ask you out?

I don’t know
.
I replied.

What if I said I want to see you tonight?

Are you desperate
?
I asked.

No.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you
.
I wrote back.

I know. I just wanted to make you sweat a bit. ;)

You’re mean.

No, I’m a guy that you haven’t said yes to seeing again.

Yes
.
I answered, hoping I didn’t come across as desperate.

But he had been the one to text me, not the other way around. Besides, I’d never dated before so I was completely clueless on how these things were supposed to work. Was it normal for a guy you’d just met to ask you out? I’d have to ask Avery later.

Tonight
?
He asked.

I bit my lip. I was eager to say yes, but
I knew that a mountain of homework was waiting for me tonight.

Friday
night works better for me. How about the park
?
I suggested, crossing my fingers that he wouldn’t cancel.

My phone sounded seconds later with his reply
.
Sounds good. I’ll bring dinner. :)

I’m looking forward to it.

Me too
.
He texted back.

I smiled goofily as I stuffed my phone into my pocket. I walked the rest of the way to class
, with a slight skip in my step.

c h a p t e r

Three

I fingered the worn piece of paper in my hands. I wrote it over a year ago, the edges were
torn, and the once white paper had faded to yellow. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to rewrite it. Maybe it was childish, but it felt special, and I didn’t want to replace it. It was my ticket to freedom, if only I would stop being so shy, and
do
the things I had written down.

All the things on my Live List, as I called it, were things I had always wanted to do. But most of them
, I couldn’t, because of my father. He had controlled every aspect of my life, and I let him, because I was scared of displeasing him. All I had ever wanted was to make him proud. By the time I started high school, I knew that nothing I ever did, would please him. He was always striving for perfection, from himself, from me, from everyone and everything. But perfection doesn’t exist, no matter how hard or how long we search for it.

So, why was I still looking for it?

I read over each item on my list like I did every night. It had become a sort of calming routine for me. By now, I didn’t have to look at the list to know what was on it, but I did anyway.

My Live List

1.
       
Get drunk

2.
      
Fly in a hot air balloon

3.
      
Go to the carnival

4.
     
Go to a concert (even if it’s someone I’ve never heard of)

5.
      
Go to a party

6.
      
Lose my virginity

7.
      
Dance in the rain

8.
     
Go roller skating

9.
      
See the ocean

10.
   
Learn to paint

11.
    
Get a dog…or a cat…or a rabbit. Any pet will do.

12.
   
Sing in front of real people. Avery doesn’t count.

13.
   
Make more friends

14.
  
Shoot a gun

15.
   
Smoke

16.
   
Get a tattoo

17.
   
Learn to pole dance

18.
  
Go skinny dipping

19.
   
Pierce my belly button

20.
  
Fall in love

I knew some of the stuff I had written down was silly, but I still wanted to
try
them. It was all about the experience and the chance to do something forbidden.

There were so many things I hadn’t been allowed to do and I felt like I had missed out on a ‘normal’ childhood.

I wanted, desperately, to do these things. But I was starting to believe it would never happen. A whole year had passed since I made my Live List and I had only done four things.

True, four was more than zero, but it seemed pretty pathetic to me, compared to all that was left to do.

I read over the items, yet again, nibbling on my bottom lip.

My
need,
to do these things, was growing restless.