Duets

(5) I Have Been Changed For Good

"Cait, oh my God." The brunette boy sighs loudly as Caitlin carefully gnaws and the end of his sock before pulling it from his foot. She carries it into his bedroom where she jumps on to his bed to chew on it.

"Um, Drew?" Olive says, looking up at him from where her head is nestled into his side. Drew moves his arms from the back of the couch to her back, moving his thumb in small circles on her hip. She sits bunched up right next to Drew on his couch. After their previous date, Olive knew that the only way they were actually going to have a decent time anywhere out. Their shared love of musicals brought them to Drew's house to watch his elaborate stack of DVDs. Singing in the Rain currently resonates around the small apartment.

"What's up?" He mutters before looking down at his now bare foot. His toenails are painted a bright blue, which is something that he forgot even happened. "Oh, yeah. My friend has a strange sense of humor. She did that when I passed out at her place a couple nights ago." 

"She sounds pretty great to me." The girl laughs. "You don't have any nail polish remover, do you?"

"Well, for someone who doesn't wear nail polish in the first place, no." He replies before Olive pats his chest twice and stands. "Where are you going?"

"I left my phone next door. I'm just going to run and grab it." She explains quietly, squeezing out of the room and closing the door behind her. Hearing the door closed, Caitlin trots back into the room, most likely looking for the short-haired girl who just left. She hops on to the couch where Olive once sat and places the soggy grey sock on top Drew's lap.

"Gee, thanks." He laughs, scratching right behind her ear. He reaches down to take the other off and folds them together before tossing them across the room for Caitlin to chase. Her little toenails make tapping sounds on the hardwood as she runs across the floor to retrieve her new chew toy. He looks over at where Olive and Cait were once sitting and sees the bright blue phone case shoved inbetween the two couch cushions. He recognizes it as Olive's and wonders the real reason that she snuck back home.

"No! No, you have no right!" Olive's voice comes through the wall. Drew immediately stands from his couch. He has heard her voice sound like this before. It was the same way she sounded every time that Ben would be over at her place the past two weeks. She sounds defeated and broken, almost like she is trying to be strong but she just can't bring herself to be.

The Dalmatian finally notices her owner's distraught state and jogs over to stand up on his leg. She licks his hand a few times after he doesn't immediately pet her. "Hey, girl." He mutters halfheartedly. He waits and listens to Olive screaming in the adjacent room, hoping to not hear anything that would make him intervene. Drew knows that she doesn't want him to have any connection to Ben whatsoever.

The brunette waits for three minutes, listening to every horrible name that Ben calls her and every insult she immediately throws back to him. Drew doesn't know why she ever said that they "work" together. As much as he wants to cut in after every 'whore' or 'bitch', he doesn't nudge Cait off his leg until he hears a loud pop. He slides out of his room, not closing the door causing Caitlin to follow after him.

Drew catches the taller boy coming from Olive's apartment and claps a hand on his shoulder to turn him around. "What the hell, man?" He asks.

"You've actually stuck around quite a while, pretty boy. Maybe you're the only that can actually understand that crazy bitch." Ben grumbles, slapping the other boy's hand away from him.

"Don't call her that." Drew says, his voice low. Dangerously low. He used to use the same voice at school when he would get in a fight over something that some jock called his best friend. He has fought a lot bigger guys than Ben, and if it was to protect Olive, he would fight the blonde right here in the hallway of their apartment building. The smaller boy looks over into his date's apartment and sees her sitting on the floor, crying and petting Caitlin who has found her way to her new friend.

"You're going to learn, kid. You're going to get hurt so bad." Ben laughs before pushing both of his large palms against Drew's shoulders. The brunette crashes into the wall right behind him, and Ben begins making his way down towards the stairs. As Drew goes to catch him, a small hand falls on to his arm.

"Drew, don't." Olive whispers, tears still stream down her face. She holds the puppy in her arms while leaning against her door frame. "He's not worth it."

"Are you okay? I heard a sound. It sounded like... a slap, maybe?" Drew follows Olive into her apartment, looking all around it to try to find something that would show signs of a fight. He hates to admit that it sounded like a slap, but it's what he heard despite how much he wishes he hadn't.

"No, we were just having an argument. He's not too happy about my fondness towards you." She tries to laugh, but it's almost as if she doesn't know how anymore. The Olive that Drew met is not the same Olive that sits beside him on the cream-colored couch that's stained with red wine. Ben had changed her in a matter of seconds. He knew how to break her into a million pieces, and he could do it all while still having her wrapped so tightly around his finger.

Drew looks at her eyes when she says the word 'no', and he can tell that she's lying. He still hasn't learned that much about Olive in their two dates, but he has learned that she is a horrible liar. The worst part is that she's lying to protect someone who doesn't need any protection. The brunette doesn't say anything, though.

"Olive, I just... I want you to know that you can trust me, okay? You can tell me anything." He smiles as warmly as he can at her, and she tries to return one.

"Actually, can you do me a favor?" She whispers, letting Caitlin out of her arms to travel around the new environment.

"Anything."

"Can you stay with me tonight? Please?" Her bottom lip quivers, threatening to let more tears loose. Drew pokes a piece of her hair behind her ear and caresses her cheek for a second.

"Of course." He responds before lightly brushing his lips against her. She sits still for a small moment before kissing him back. The kiss lasts longer than Olive would've wanted, but shorter than Drew would've wanted. She pulls away and makes her way through her bedroom into her bathroom.

The boy takes the time to retrieve both her and his phones from his apartment and locks it up before falling back on to her bed, that is actually quite big for one person. Caitlin climbs on top as well as Olive begins singing For Good, very conscious that Drew can hear her. He even sings Kristen Chenoweth's part in the Wicked classic.

When she reemerges into the bedroom, her hair is wet and her pajamas hang loose on her body. She doesn't say anything to Drew as she crawls under the sheets next to him. After almost ten minutes of the pair laying back to back, Olive turns on to her back and reaches for the hand beside her. "Thank you." She whispers quietly, her voice almost being completely masked by the Dalmatian snoring at the end of her bed.