what it feels like - Austin Butler

twenty-eight - olivia

"Austin!" Olivia exclaims, coming to our table, leaning down to give him a hug. I want to hate this girl so bad.

"Olivia. Great to see you," Austin responds, hugging her.

She lets go quickly, heading over to me, "Isla Dempsey! Oh my lord, you're even more beautiful in person." She pulls me into her arms, and as much as I want to hate her, I can't help but hug her back.

"Olivia," I say, sweetly, "It's so nice to finally meet you."

"I could say the same for you. Your cover in the film was phenominal." Okay maybe I really can't hate her. She's just so nice. And gorgeous. I mean, can you really blame Austin? "Do you mind if I sit?" she asks.

"No, of course, sit." I can't help but invite her to join us. I pour her a glass of wine. "I assume you're staying here as well?"

"I am. How long are you in France?"

"We're here until the 28th, then back to LA."

"You're not coming along to London?" I give her a confused look.

Austin answers her question, "I didn't want to ask her to follow me around the world." This makes me remember the press tour he'd told me about. I wouldn't mind coming, but he didn't ask, so I didn't invite myself.

"I probably would've," I joke, making a mental note to talk about this with him later. But I don't have to because he asks, "Will you?"

"Of course," I smile, leaning across the table to peck his lips.

"Ugh, you two are so cute I might puke." Austin and I both laugh at her, and suddenly she doesn't seem like such a threat. I might even call her an acquaintance. She turns toward me, "Isla, I'm absolutely in love with your style. Soooo, what are you wearing tomorrow?"

"One second." I pull up a picture of the red Celine dress and turn my phone so she can see it.

"Oh my gosh, I love it. Simple but elegant."

"What about you, Olivia."

"Okay, it's like... a lot, but, I don't know. Tell me what you think." She shows me a mirror picture of her in the frilly, long green-teal dress.

"It's perfect. You're going to look so great." She and I continue talking about clothes as Austin and I get our dinner served. The two of us have basically become best friends in the past 30 minutes, it feels like kindergarten. I'm sharing my pasta with her, and she orders another bottle of wine for the three of us.

Austin suddenly speaks, after listening to the two of us girls talk for the whole dinner, "You two surprisingly," he shrugs, "Seem to be getting along well, so I'm going to go back to our room. Let me know when you're on your way up." He pecks my lips and tugs on his jacket on my shoulders. "Don't forget this."

"Won't," I say, kissing his cheek and leaving a lipstick mark.

After he leaves, Olivia takes his seat across from me. The two of us talk through two more bottles of wine, and at this point we're both drunk and decide we're going to make a tiktok. I pull up the app and pick the first audio I find, which is a sped up version of 'Bad Habit' by Steve Lacy.

I've never posted on TikTok before, but drunk me thinks that this is a good first post. I'm sitting and Olivia is posing, standing behind me, as the two of us lip sync. I caption the post "sorry livvy I found a new olivia," joking to my best friend, Olivia Oh, and post it without a second thought.

Afterwards, I realize it's already 9 and Olivia and I have been talking for hours, and I should probably go upstairs to Austin. Olivia and I say our goodbyes and I head to my hotel room.

**********

back from the dead lol