All Along | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Six

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"She had a weakness for his hand on her neck and his words in her heart. Neither of which did she have the willpower to refuse."

- j m storm

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Luna's POV

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I'm terrified of the way Oli King makes me feel.

Never in my life have I ever felt afraid to be in his presence. I have never felt unsafe around him. And I still don't. Not physically, at least.

It's the safety of my heart that I worry about.

For eighteen years he has been my best friend. The first day I met him, he saved my life and he's continued to save me every day since. Maybe not in the literal sense, but all those times he held me while I cried, celebrated my wins, and taught me what it means to be loved - he continued to save me every day in these little acts.

I had a crush on him when I was a kid. I admitted that to myself a long time ago. It makes perfect sense - he was older than me, he loved me, he cared for me. I also thought he was very cute. It was natural for little me to grow a crush on my best friend. That was never a problem.

The problem started way back when Oli went to college. I was thirteen at the time, and when Oli came back home for the first time, I realised that in the months he'd been gone, my crush hadn't dissipated at all. I'd been crushing on him for years and I continued to crush on him for years to come.

There's many reasons I've been more closed off from Oli, and this is one of the main ones.

When Oli started dating Georgia, it dawned on me just how little a part I now played in his life. He was an NBA star travelling the country with his model girlfriend while I was just his kid best friend he left behind to pursue his dreams. When I say I was happy for him, I mean that with my whole heart. But it's that same heart that absolutely shattered when I heard the news of his relationship.

At nineteen years old, my world came crashing down on me as I realised something huge. That little crush I had on Oli when I was a kid? That never really went away. I suppressed it and suppressed it so much that it was just a little niggle in the back of my mind. It was only when he entered that relationship that reality came crashing down on me and I suddenly knew there was no way in hell Oli and I would ever happen.

I always knew that was the case - I wasn't delusional. But there was always that tiny little sliver of hope. That maybe just maybe when I finally grew up, he would see me differently.

But I was too young, too far away from him, too stuck in the friend zone - the kid zone - for anything to ever happen. Not when there's gorgeous models like Georgia surrounding him.

It was on that day that I decided we could never be the Oli and Luna we used to be. We would never be how we were. He's going to get older and get married and start a family and eventually I'll do the same. That's how it was always going to be and that finally solidified it in my head.

So I moved on from my little crush and started dating Jackson as a distraction. Admittedly, that was a little cruel of me to do, but I did genuinely like the guy. We soon came to the mutual decision that we were better off as friends, of course, which was definitely for the best.

That day I decided that I finally had to grow up. I no longer had that person that would take care of me unconditionally. I only had myself. So I became the independent, strong woman I needed to be. And I never looked back.