summertime - mid90s

the parking lot.

Olivia had never acted like she had at Estee's party. It wasn't like her to be distant and quiet, especially not towards Ryder. She felt bad about it. When she got up the next morning, she went to the phone and dialed his number, he picked up almost instantly.

"Hello?"

"Meet me by the Taco Bell parking lot."

"Okay."

That was all they said until they hung up. Olivia's parents were asleep when she left, they had probably been through a long night as well. She was nervous when she made it to the parking lot. She knew it hadn't been a big deal the prior night, but she wanted to get rid of the awkwardness she had created between them.

When she got there, he wasn't there yet so she sat down on the curb and watched the cars go by.  It didn't take long until she saw him come around the corner and skated towards her. When she got a good look at him he looked hungover with bags underneath his eyes, maybe she had woken him up when she had called earlier. He was still in the same outfit from yesterday, his jeans and grey hoodie over his white baggy t-shirt. 

"Hey... How you feeling?" Olivia asked as he sat down next to her on the curb.

"Hungover but otherwise... What about you?" 

"Same. I uh... I Know I acted weird yesterday, okay? I don't know why, I guess I had too much to drink or something. All I thought about was getting home and getting into bed." What she said wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the truth either. She felt like she had to give some kind of explanation to why she hadn't really talked to him much.

"You sure?" Again, she looked into those eyes that almost made her melt. For a second she wanted to tell him the truth, that she didn't want to see him with anyone else but she quickly pushed down the thought. 

"Yeah, totally. Pinky promise." She smiled and held out her pinky to him, which he quickly connected with his own. His smile widened and he ran his fingers through his messy hair.

"You sounded so serious on the phone that I thought that something had happened." After what had happened with her dad, Ryder was always on guard for it to happen again. Always fearing the worst.

"Sorry, didn't mean to..."

There was silence between them for a moment before she spoke again. She was curious about what had happened at the party with his date. She wanted to ask him but she also knew that she had to swallow down the feelings she had for him. Eventually they would fade and things would be less complicated. Olivia just hoped it wouldn't hurt too much getting there.

"So, how was it really last night?"

"You wanna know?" He asked and she felt like she would probably regret saying yes.

"Of course I do. My best friend was with a girl the whole night! I can't believe Fuckshit got you to follow through though..."

"I knew if I put up a fight, he would just try harder. It was easier to just... meet her and be over with it." His choice of wording made it seem like he hadn't been with her all night. It seemed like he was downplaying it.

"But she was nice?"

"Yeah. Her and Estee went to kindergarten together but now she lives a few towns over apparently."

"Oh okay..." She didn't want to pry but she wanted to know more about what had happened between them.

"We talked about movies and stuff... She's a horror fan too." He said vaguely, not really saying much.

"Me and Ruben kinda... saw you two. He wanted to stand and spy on ya'll but I dragged him off. You're welcome for that, by the way." She replied with a chuckle, looking out over the view. He laughed with her as his cheeks got tainted pink.