Saving the Second Male Lead

Chapter Eighteen

     Song suggestion (aka what I listened to on repeat while writing): Someone New- Hozier

I sat at the edge of Oliver's bed, watching as he now carried the leftover gauze and a bowl of water back to the dresser. He had spent the past ten minutes gently redressing my bandages and listening intently as I explained the events of the night to him. Though he never gave me a reason to be embarrassed, it was only now, when his back was turned as he cleaned up everything, that I could bring myself to apologize for burdening him with my breakdown.

"I'm sorry that you had to deal with this," I said, wiping away a stray tear. "I was totally irrational about what happened with June's family."

"Are you kidding me?" he asked, looking over his shoulder with a quizzical expression. "You have nothing to apologize for. That was an entirely reasonable response to this situation."

My outburst had felt like everything but reasonable, and it didn't help my embarrassment that I'd never heard Oliver express the same sentiments I had felt. I couldn't even remember a moment when I'd seen anything more than a flash of sadness from him. From every angle, it looked like he had adjusted perfectly, never minding that his entire world had been turned upside down.

"How have you been able to handle this so well?" I asked, hints of envy lacing my question. "You've never seemed bothered by this."

Oliver paused briefly before replying, "I've been a total mess, too. I just use my impeccable humor to cover for it." A half-hearted laugh escaped my lips as he sat down at my side, propping himself up on his elbows. "I spent my first day here just assuming it was a dream, but as I was getting ready for bed, I stubbed my toe, and after cursing profusely, as one does, I remembered that you aren't supposed to feel pain in dreams. I started to panic and then I also remembered that clocks aren't supposed to work in dreams. So, I sat down on my bed and stared at the clock hanging in my room, waiting for it to make some mistake. After a few hours of watching each second pass by flawlessly, I ended up breaking down in tears. I spent the next couple of days in a complete haze, feeling more and more dejected every time I woke up back in the same gaudy room. I'd lost all sense of purpose, lost all sense of myself.

"And then... I met you. Everything changed the day you approached me at the Alterio's mansion. I now had a plan to dedicate myself to, and more importantly, I'd realized that there was another person here who was like me. Whenever I'm stressed or upset about all of this, I think about you, and everything feels a little better. So, truthfully, I should be thanking you."

For a split second, his words knocked the breath out of me. It had never occurred to me that I might mean the same to him as he meant to me, and hearing him say those words made my existence here seem a little more bearable.

"It's the same for me," I said, pressing my lips thin to stop my smile. It was true; he was my safety here. There was something so comforting about his presence, his smile. Opening up and crying in front of someone was something I would've never thought I would do, but with him, I hadn't hesitated.

Oliver cleared his throat and looked away, a slight pink creeping across his face. "Do I get to ask a question now?" He asked, changing the topic of the conversation.

Curious as to what he'd want to know about me I obliged. "Go for it."

"What was your life like before all... this?" He asked, gesturing to the room.

My stomach knotted. This was one of the very few things about myself that I actively disliked talking about. My brief stint as a college student hadn't exactly been successful, and after only one semester, I'd decided to take some time off. I chewed the inside of my lip, part of me didn't want to admit to the embarrassing truth that I'd thrown my hands in the air and given up as soon as things had gotten difficult, but part of me trusted him to be kind.