Single But Engaged ✔️

23: god, he's so going to kill me

Silence is golden. 

Whoever came up with that saying, must have never experienced the kind of silence I’d lived through this past minute. Wait, let me rephrase that – the silence we’d lived through.

Although, to be fair, I wouldn’t say I hadn’t anticipated something like this from the moment Olivia had declared that she needed to get something from her car. 

How did that involve me you ask? Well, in her words: ‘Aria, can you please come with me? I don’t want to walk alone.’

Why she’d chosen me for that task, I still didn’t have a clue. But then considering the fact that she’d been nothing but nice to me today, I figured it wouldn’t be too much for me to do that one thing for her. I mean, all I had to do was just go with her, right?

So, with that thought, I’d found myself saying, “yeah, sure.”

If only I’d known that those two seemingly simple words would be the reason for my current predicament.

Honestly, I’d never been much of a conversation starter. I mean, the first words I voiced to my seat partner back in first grade were: ‘pencils…cool, huh?’

So, yeah, with that memory in mind, I knew I wouldn’t be starting up any conversations to fill in the awkward silence that engulfed us as we walked. But Olivia was another matter. For someone who insisted on having company, she sure didn’t seem in need of it. 

She hadn’t uttered a word since we started towards her car. Plus, I didn’t fail to notice how she seemed quite absorbed in her own thoughts, with her fingers twisting into knots. All day, she’d been so spirited and vibrant, and now, she was more tense and contemplative.

Well, I doubt she was contemplating conversation topics, so I guess we’d be at this for a while. And thus, it continued.

Silence.

More silence.

Even more silence.

A lot more silence.

“I don’t want to pick up anything from my car,” she suddenly blurted, stopping to face me.

Phew, finally!

I could have done a celebratory backflip right then. I’d most likely break my neck doing it, but it’d be totally worth it. Seriously, I was beginning to think I’d lose my mind from the whole silence exercise.

And now, it’s finally over. 

With my initial relief over, I stopped to process the meaning of her words. And I couldn’t stop from voicing: “what?”

“I lied about wanting to pick something from my car,” she repeated, slower this time. 

But while her tone might have changed, my confusion remained the same. “Why” I queried, honestly lost as to why she’d do something like that. 

Unless…

Oh my god, was I about to be abducted? I've seen a few of those shows where you have one character who’s crazy about the male lead, and blames  the female lead for coming between them. So, angry and frustrated, and wanting the male lead all to herself, she abducts the female lead, and keeps her locked away in some unknown location – with the intention of killing her later that is. 

Ok, despite myself, I couldn’t help admitting how silly that all sounded. As if Olivia would actually want to kidnap me. I mean, it’s not like she’s filthy rich, with the ability to orchestrate something like that without anyone batting an eye.