Stay with me

Chapter Nineteen

“Even the darkest parts of us

become beautiful when seen

through a different set of eyes.”

—Oliver Masters

“IF WE GET CAUGHT, the plan is I kidnapped you from your room and held you prisoner.” Ollie walked in circles with his hands on his hips. “Don’t stray from the plan, love.” I pressed my lips together as I watched him pacing about the dorm. Worry caught in his features as he chewed his lip. “And if they interrogate us in separate rooms, which I know they will, just remember what I said. I’m the one who lifted you out of the room and kept you here. I’ve seen it on the telly so many times, and they will separate—

Ollie paused and glanced over at me, one hand still clinging to his hip bone and the other in the air. “Why are you laughing? This isn’t fu

My laughter doubled as I rolled back over the mattress. “We … we will be fine!” I gasped out. Ollie only shook his head with an unconvinced grin.

Once calm, I continued, “They don’t even do a security check in the morning. The doors will open at six, and I’ll sneak back to my room before anyone notices. I’ve done it before.”

Ollie raised a brow. “Oh, yeah? When was this?”

“The night Bria almost had her way with you. I sat right there while you slept until the automatic locks opened.” I pointed to the spot beside the mattress.

Ollie dropped his arms to his sides, his voice soft. “You stayed with me all night?”

“I didn’t touch you, Ollie. I wouldn’t take advantage of you if you didn’t have a choice. No one should,” I said defensively. I couldn’t believe me, a girl, was saying that to a boy.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just … I can’t believe you did that for me.”

I lifted my shoulder in a casual shrug. Ollie’s smile beamed as he walked toward the bed, leaned over, and kissed the top of my head. “You’re incredible.”

He sat over the edge of the mattress, thoughts still circling his mind. “Perhaps you’re right … I’ll set the alarm on the mobile just in case.”

“You sound so proper for someone who just fucked their girlfriend in front of four other people.”

Ollie cocked his head back in my direction. “One, don’t ever say I fucked you … Two, it wasn’t in front of everyone. You were covered, and they haven’t got a clue and … did you call yourself my girlfriend?”

It had rolled off my tongue so quickly, I hadn’t even realized I said it. “Yeah, I guess I did, didn’t I?”

“It sounds so … downplayed, underrated for what you are to me. I don’t like it.”

“Friend a better term?”

Ollie picked up a pillow off the floor and chucked it at me. “Get out of here …”

“Partner?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Companion?”

He pulled his brows together. “You’re not a bloody dog, Mia.”

“I give up,” I said, throwing my hands up.

Ollie crawled over me and attacked my neck with his lips. “We don’t need a title. All we need is each other.”

And he was right. What we shared shouldn’t and couldn’t be defined by a single word.

Tuesday morning should have been like any other Tuesday morning, but it wasn’t. It was different, and not the bad different. With Ollie, it wasn’t just comfortable. It was a delirious state of captivation. The whole time, it was Ollie. He was the drug I kept taking during my time here, and I would gladly overdose on him.

A foreign buzzing of an alarm woke me, and I quickly shuffled around to turn it off before it woke Ollie, who slept soundlessly beside me. After finally hitting snooze, I lay back down and stared at the ceiling with his legs still intertwined with mine and an unbidden smile on my face—exhausted, sleep deprived, but smiling.

“Why are you smiling, love?” Ollie whispered, his voice sleepy and tired.

Glancing over at him, I saw his eyes were still closed as he lay on his side, facing me. The room was still dark this early in the morning, but the moonlit morning sky cast a soft glow over him.

“How did you know I was smiling?”

“I can feel it.”

Turning on my side to face him, I ran my thumb across his lashes. “Because I’m happy.”

He exhaled before the corners of his lips turned up. He was the one who made me happy, and he knew it. His dimple said so.

“Open your eyes, Ollie.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“If I open my eyes, it means you have to leave, and I’m not ready for you to go. When my eyes are closed, I get to pretend it’s a Sunday morning and we have no place to be.” A bigger smile grew, and his dimple deepened. “Go on, close your eyes ….”

“Why?”

“Just close them …” His hand moved up my side and behind my back. “Are they closed?”

Letting out a light laugh, I closed my eyes. “Yes, Ollie. My eyes are closed.”

“It’s a Sunday morning, and I already made your coffee before sneaking back in bed with you. You smell it?”

“Mmhmm …”

“The whole day is ours, no work, no obligations … only you and I. The sun is coming up, Mia. You feel the warmth coming through our bay window and the darkness behind your eyelids slowly lifting? Do you feel it? The sun?”

The smile on my face is inescapable as I lose myself in his imagination. “Yes, Ollie. I can feel it.”

“We can take your coffee to the water and finish watching the sunrise, or we can lay in this bed all day. I have a few books on the bookshelf I haven’t read to you yet. Or, we can put on our trainers and walk along the boardwalk, hand in hand, because that’s what we do in the summer on a Sunday morning. What would you like to do today?”

“Mmm … all of it.”

“Good thing we have all day.” He slowly exhaled. “Now, drink your coffee before it gets cold.”

My eyes opened to see Ollie’s still closed, lost in the world he’d created for us. And when he opened them, his smile returned. “One day, yeah?”

“One day.” I wrapped my arm around his waist, and he brushed his nose against mine before kissing my forehead. “What do you want to do when you leave here?”

“You mean after I steal you and take you to the ocean?”

I smiled. “Yeah, like for a living?”

Ollie wet his lips, which I noticed he didn’t only do before he wanted to kiss me but also was a habit when he was in deep thought. “I have three passions, Mia. One is literature, two is helping people and making a difference, and my third, and most important, is you. If I do get out of here, I want to start a non-profit charity.”

“Really? Charity for what?”

“I have this idea of traveling the world and meeting people from all walks of life. Learn their stories, write them, turn the collection of short stories into poetry—into a work of art, a novel. Allow the world to see the beauty is in all of us, even in the most devastating circumstances. This world needs to know what others are going through. You understand?” I nodded. His eyes glowed. “Sometimes even the darkest parts of us can become beautiful when seen through a different set of eyes.”

“What will you do with your novel?”

His grin resembled the flicker in his eyes. “So, each year I’ll make a new novel about people’s lives, their struggles, their hopes, and defeats. Then give the profits back to those who truly need it.” He shrugged like everything he’d just said was no big deal, but I was affected by his vision. “I never needed much, Mia. I hope you’re not in it for the money.” He laughed, and I wanted to kiss him for it. “Well, what do you think?”