My Forever (Canary Series) (3 page)

"
Olivia, please talk to me. Let me know what's going on in your head."

She just looked at him and then gathered her stuff and left. He thought about going after her but figured that she could use some space. All he could do was wait and hope that she would talk to someone, but he really hoped that he would be the person that she would talk to.

***

The next few days were confusing for everyone around her.
Olivia tried to be the old girl everyone knew she could be, but didn't know where it came from. She would hang out with her friends, talk and laugh. Everyone seemed to be fooled and was happy that their friend was back.

Ever since
Nate told her what was in the letter she seemed to be avoiding him. She stopped going to the library and worked on her homework alone. He would see her around school and in class and just yearned to hold her, talk to her and be with her. One day after class Nate pulled Garrett to the side to ask him about Olivia.

"
Nate, I don't know what to say. One day she was in her slump and the next she just seemed to be her old self. It's weird, I have never seen her snap back so fast; and trust me, I have been there through every time she would go into herself and then come out. It always seemed to be a slow process. This, however, is different. I want to believe she is truly back but something tells me this is just a show," Garrett said.

"Then why don't you ask her about it? If you think it's just an act talk to
her about it. Voice your concern. I would do it, but, for some reason, she is avoiding me. This is the reason why I pulled you to the side. I need to ask you a huge favor. Now, I know we aren't friends and don't know each other that well but we do have something in common and that's Olivia. We both care about her and her well-being so can you please give me daily updates on her. I just worry about her and thought about approaching her myself."

"If you thought about it and care about her so much th
en why don't you approach her?"

Nate
laughed, "Do you know Olivia at all? Do you really think she would just talk to me if I approach her? She has to be the one to make that choice not me. I’m just giving her space and letting her take her time to take everything in."

Garrett
looked lost, "What do you mean ‘letting her take time to take everything in’? Do you know something that I don't know? What did you say to her?" He started to get defensive and wanted answers as to what brought this on.

"She didn't tell you?"

"Didn't tell me what? Nate if you know something that could shine light on her sudden mood change you have to tell me."

Nate
looked around to see if anyone was listening before he continued, "I would have thought she would have already told you this because of how close the two of you guys are." He took a deep breath while trying to figure out what all to tell him. He decided not to tell him everything; he wanted her to tell him about her mom. So he decided to tell him about the book. "I’m telling you this because I can trust you. If it was anyone else I wouldn't even bother but it's not, it's Olivia. A few days ago she came into the library and sat down at our regular table. She started to study and got up to get some book off the bookshelf. Something fell out of the book that made her tear up. I hugged her and asked her what was wrong and tried to get her to talk to me but she just remained silent. After a few moments she got up and left without a word."

"Well, what was in t
he book that made her tear up?"

"I wish I knew. She threw it in the fireplace before I was able to take a look.
Just keep a close eye on her and let me know how she is doing daily. I don't ask much but I worry about her. You can't tell her you know about what happened though."

Garrett
nodded, "OK. I promise I won't bring it up and I will let you know how she is doing. I just hope that she will open up to someone. If it isn't me I hope it's you."

"Thanks
Garrett, hopefully she will open up soon."

"You're welcome, now I better get to class. Don't want to be late, the professor will be mad but
Olivia is worse."

Nate
laughed because he knew that was true, "Yeah, we don't want an angry Olivia."

Garrett
laughed and rushed to his next class leaving Nate in the hallway alone. He knew he didn't have a right to ask Garrett to do this for him but he was grateful that she had such a great friend that would do it.

There was a long weekend coming up for the students and everyone was excited.
Olivia knew that this was the perfect opportunity to take off and be alone. She went to an old place she used to go to when she was growing up to get away. Michael, Garrett and Olivia would ride horses through the bright green fields and go swimming in the bright blue water of the lake. She figured that being there and doing all the activities that made her happy when she was young would help and it did. She knew things were going to be better from now on when she went back to school. The only thing she wasn't ready to face was her music.

When school started back up everyone was happy to see Olivia back to her old self again. She had a genuine great day for the first time since school started; she was finally able to pay attention in class and understood what the professor was talking about. Afterward, Olivia hung out with her friends and played card games. She felt like she belonged again. The only thing that felt off was the fact that she hadn't talked to Nate since that night when he told her about her mom. She knew he meant well when he tried to get her to talk about it but she wasn't ready. Plus, how he treated her was a feeling so close to home.

The way she fit into his embrace was as if it was meant to be.
Olivia had too much on her plate to even allow those thoughts to be entertained. So she did what she did best and removed herself from the situation. She just needed to get things figured out before she approached him. She was grateful for the long weekend because it helped her to get reacquainted with her old self without any pressure.

It was close to
seven o'clock when she got to the library. She walked over to the table where Nate was sitting and sat down across from him. He looked up from his book and couldn't help but smile. She looked so amazing this evening, but then again he always thought she looked amazing. "Why hello beautiful, don't you look radiant tonight. You have this glow upon you that has been missing. How are you?"

She returned his smile and blushed a little bit as well, "
I’m doing great. I haven't felt this amazing since last year. How are you doing?"

He reached across the table and took her hands in his as if to make sure it was truly her and that he hadn't imagined the fact that her hand fit perfect in his. "
I’m doing better now that you're here with me. I have missed you so much. You don't know how many times I wanted to talk to you, give you a hug and just be with you."

She looked down at their hands as he brushed his thumb over her knuckles then looked back at him and smile
d, “Why didn’t you?”

"I guess I figured you would need, or more like want
, your space. I had Garrett give me daily updates on you. I kept an eye out for you like I vowed. There's a difference in you now. The long weekend agreed with you. You aren't pretending anymore, you are actually happy. It feels like it's been forever since I've waited to see the real you again." He got up and walked around to where he was beside her and held his arms out. "Welcome home Olivia."

She got up and welcomed his embrace and held on tight, "It's good to be back." She leaned back and looked him in the eyes, "I just wished you did approach me. But I can't hold it against you knowing why you didn't. So thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"Everything," she smiled up at him and his heart just melted. "I just have a question for you, or really it's more like a favor. If you say no I completely understand. It's just the fact that I trust you and know
that you wouldn't let me down."

He took his finger and placed it over her lips to get her to calm down, "What's the favor
Olivia?"

She took a deep breath, "Will you help me stay on track? If I
start to slip away back to where I was will you make sure that I stop before it gets to bad?"

Nate
smiled at her and nodded, "Olivia, I'm beyond proud of you and how far you've come. Of course I will be there to help you stay on track. You can count on me no matter what. You of all people should know that by now."

She gave him a strong hug and then backed away, "Thanks
Nate that means so much to me. Well, tonight I'm going to go and hang out with my friends. Tomorrow we will study, OK?"

Nate
smiled and nodded, "Yeah, we can do that. You deserve some time with your friends and a break from studying. I will see you tomorrow." He took her back into his arms and gave her another hug and whispered in her ear, "I’m glad that you are back. We have all missed you."

She laughed, "Yeah, well, I have missed mys
elf as well. See you tomorrow."

Nate
watched Olivia walk out of the library and smiled at her little skip she had. He looked down at his books and didn't really want to study anymore. He tried to force himself to but it didn't work, all of his thoughts went to her.

***

Everyone was in the living area playing games, listening to music and just relaxing. Olivia went up to a table where Garrett and Christine and some other housemates were playing cards. She pulled out a chair beside Garrett and sat down. He looked over to her and smiled, "I've missed you Olivia."

She nodded, "I've missed you as well," and gave him a hug. The rest of the night they all played games an
d goofed around like old times.

The next morning
Olivia woke up on the couch in Garrett’s arms. She couldn't believe that they had fallen asleep on the couch. She sat up and went up to her room to get changed. When she came down she noticed that Garrett was still asleep on the couch, he looked so peaceful that she didn't want to wake him. So she went to the dining hall and brought him back a plate with breakfast on it and a glass of orange juice. Olivia laid it on the table and shook Garrett, "Jellybean, wake up, its morning."

He jumped up and looked around a bit confused, "What ha
ppened? Why am I on the couch?”

Olivia
laughed, "We fell asleep last night. Don't worry though. You missed breakfast so I figured I would be nice and brought you a plate." He looked at her confused and started to say something when she shook her head, "I didn't wake you because I figured you would need your sleep. So eat up, go upstairs and get ready for classes OK."

Garrett
laughed, "You're always taking care of others Poptart. You're truly an amazing girl."

He started to eat his breakfast and she headed to h
er classes, "See you at lunch?"

Garrett
nodded, "Yes you will." He finished his breakfast and did what he was told to do.

***

The day had gone by smoothly, classes were making more sense than ever before and eating lunch and dinner with her friends was more fun than she remembered. Olivia looked at the clock and realized that she was late for meeting Nate to study. So she ran down the hall and finally reached the library. Nate was already there and she went up to him and apologized for being late. She pulled out the chair across from him and sat down. He couldn't help but stare as she tried to catch her breath and get her books out of her bag.

After they ha
d been at work for a few hours Nate suggested they take a break. She shut her books and agreed. He opened up the big oak doors and looked from left to right, "Just keep an eye out or listen for any sign that Professor Peterson and Professor Murphy might be around. We all know how they like to have a few drinks after dinner every night. Who can blame them though, they deal with us every day.”

“Why are you worried about getting caught?” She asked quietly.

“Well, I was a mentor last year and I cannot, I repeat, absolutely cannot, be seen out past curfew."

Olivia
laughed, "Why yes sir, captain sir." She stood at attention and saluted him.

Nate
laughed, "Oh captain, my captain..." He trailed off, not wanting to make a fool of himself and began down the hall. He never cared if he made a fool of himself in front of people before, but she was different. It confused him as to why he was acting this way. Actually it didn’t confuse him, he knew why he was acting this way he just didn’t want to admit it to himself. He held the door open for her, "Your door my lady." He said sweetly as she passed by. Once she passed him she rewarded him with the sweetest smile he had ever seen.

He noticed that they were both
extremely quiet and it was a bit awkward. "Any siblings?" he had asked her even though he already knew the answer he was just trying to start up a conversation not wanting to talk about anything that dealt with school.

"Nope, I'm
an only child. What about you?"

"Uh yeah, only child back home," he said
. He looked at the portraits as they passed, not sure how to answer that question. "I just hope that Jack is asleep," he said in an almost jokingly fashion.

"Oh I'm pretty sure he is. What time is it?" She asked as she looked at her watch, "
Yeah, he is either asleep or out partying."

He smiled and laughed at the thought of a professor out partying. "I'
m not sure I want to see that."

Olivia
shook her head, "Nope, you don't. I have seen way to many professors party. And let me tell you, it isn't a pretty sight." She tried not to laugh but failed.

"Wow
Olivia, just where do you live? Or secondly, I'm not sure I want to know. You can party with the professors all you want and I'll keep..." he stopped to think, "I'll keep reading my books."

She giggled, "They would be at my parents work parties that I was dragged to. I didn't like it one bit." She smiled slightly, "Those were the times I wished I had boo
ks that I could bring with me.”

"Ah, my father tries to drag me to his
conven..." he stopped short of saying conventions, "...meetings. His meetings are somewhat interesting, but I don't really like to attend them. I always tell him that I have summer work to complete."

"I should have thought about that. I might have to use that sometime this summer. Hopefully it will help
me... at least I hope it does."

All of a sudden she hears a noise and grabs
Nate’s hand without thinking. Not hearing the noise himself he glances over at Olivia with a raised eyebrow suspiciously, "You OK?"

"What?" She looked down and saw what she had done and jerk
ed her hand away feeling stupid, "Yeah, just thought I heard something. I'm sorry."

Olivia
tried to walk ahead of him a bit feeling like a complete idiot, but he caught up to her and took hold of her hand once again. "Then we best stick together," he said with a slight nod and pulled her down a more secluded hallway, taking another way toward the kitchen.

She looked at him and looked at them holding hands, "
Well I guess we should." She smiled and looked around, "Where are we going?"

"The kitchens... cookies and milk... late night snack? Remember?"
Nate smiled over at her and she looked up at him and smiled big.

"Yes
, I remember. I just don't know this way."

"It's a way I learned awhile back when
Jace was torturing the Rosewoods. They were not walking in the corridors, but rather running, so he took the whole lot of them and made them walk the halls fifteen times over until they knew what the proper procedure was, it tied up the kitchen and dining hall so I had to find another route.”

"Oh wow, that's very interesting. Glad I wa
sn't in Rosewood," she laughed.

Nate
smiled and looked down at her once again hating to talk about the horrible lingering feeling of summer approaching, "You have to write me the first chance you get once you hear back from colleges. You know that, right?"

She looked down at the ground as they were walking, "I wouldn't dream of not writing you
Nate, and you better do the same." Olivia smiled and held his hand a little lighter. “How do you think you will do on your end of year exams?”

He walked slightly closer to her until
he could bend down just slightly to whisper, "Perfect scores, all subjects." he nodded. "I already know," and he shook his head, realizing how arrogant he sounded. "At least, that's the way it's always been so far."

She smiled, "
I’m pretty sure you will have perfect scores. I, on the other hand, will be lucky to get average."

"Oh come now, you weren't placed in Mapleleaf for
no reason at all."

"Yeah well, I was placed there for a reason. Maybe, and hopefully, everything wi
ll come to me during the test."

He squeezed her hand gently and continued down the hall, "You're going to do bette
r than you could ever imagine."

"I will keep that in mind. As long as I study with you I'm sure I will do fine. After all you are the s
martest boy here," she blushed.

Olivia
continued to follow him down to the basement where the kitchen was and had him quiz her on facts that they had been studying. He quizzed her on a few things and then stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked at her, "Are you going to pass all of your exams Olivia?”

She looked at him
, shocked at his question, "Of course I am... I think... I hope."

"The first step to passing
is believing that you will and that is the most important step." She leaned up against the wall and thought about what he said. "So what do you say, you still want to sneak into the kitchen for a late night snack?"

Olivia
looked at him and smiled, "Sure that sounds good to me. In fact, I'm in need of a snack right now." She then pushed herself off the wall and headed toward the kitchen.