White Noise (The Inadequate Experiments 1)

10. Playing with Fire

A.N: That crazy moment when your favourite group release a song with the same title as your book that might as well have been written for it...
"I can't see you but I can hear you, all I have to do is
Close my eyes and find you among all the noise in the world..."

Calliope

Oliver didn't notice me leaning against the side of the refrigerator as he said goodbye to Sera later that night. He didn't notice he had an audience as he hugged her goodbye, his hands balled into fists at her back. He didn't try to hide the wanting – the desire – in his eyes as he watched her walk away, or the anger behind that look.

An anger that was reserved for me.

"You're getting in over your head, Ollie." I told him after he had closed the front door.

He jumped, then narrowed his eyes. "You should have told me you knew." He said. "You had no reason to spring it on us like that – especially not when your main intention was just to hurt Sera."

"The plan wouldn't have worked unless everyone knew. It was better to get it out in the open now."

"And you say I'm in over my head." He scoffed. "Sera was right. This 'plan' of yours is a suicide mission."

"If that's what it takes to find out the truth of what happened to Libby, then so be it."

"Damn it, Calliope!" He swept his arm across the kitchen counter, sending a stack of – thankfully – plastic cups flying to the ground. "We already lost Libby. We lost the theatre. We've practically lost mum and dad along with them – how many days has it been since they came home? We're nothing, Calliope. Nothing! And here you are, planning some damn suicide mission, spouting all this righteous bullshit. When will you get it through your head? We can't afford to lose anyone else."

I flinched. "Ollie..." I said carefully, "have you taken your—"

"This has nothing to do with that." He snapped. "It has everything to do with whatever the fuck is going on with you."

I blinked. "Right now, I'm just worried about you, Ollie." I told him. "I haven't seen you this bad in a long time... Have you ever thought that this thing with Sera is only making things wors—"

"Sera is the only damn thing in my life that is some form of stable right now." He said softly.

"She's not even your Soul Mate, Ollie." I reminded him.

"Why can't she be?" He asked, his voice breaking on the last word. He took a breath to steady himself. "Who says she can't be? Who decides? Maybe the Watch gets it wrong sometimes, Calliope!"

I shook my head. "Ollie, listen to me. Your Soul Mate died. Sera belongs to someone else. You just need to—"

"And what am I meant to do?" He cried. "What am I meant to do for the rest of my damn life? Be left alone? To not be loved? Why am I denied what everyone else is given? Who do the damn Scientists think they are?" He shook his head. "Why can't we just choose, Cal? Why did they have to complicate things? Why can't Sera be my Soul Mate purely because I want her to be?"

I sighed. "Ollie, you just have to trust the Scientists on this one – the Watch saved us from extinction after the Third World War and The Depression. It made us all stronger. That has to mean something."

He sighed, turning away. "Sometimes I'm not that sure anymore, Cal."

I stared at him, incredulous. "Thinking like that is dangerous, Ollie." I said slowly. "Hell, this whole Sera thing is dangerous. You don't know what she can do, Oliver. It's—"