So Be It // o. maatta

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-One: Alex's POV

In all honesty, I was probably pretty unreasonable with Olli. Hey, guess it just ran in the family.
I knew he was right, though. We had agreed to wait, and I wasn't thinking clearly, and almost blew that idea.
Anyways, I sat in the Duquesne book store, on the floor, in the aisle Olli and I had met in. I had always been a sentimental fool.
Suddenly, an idea came to me.
I crawled over, towards where Olli stood that very day, and ran my fingers across the book spines, searching for a specific title.
Eventually, my fingers fell upon it.
I dragged it out of its slot, and dusted it off.
The book was 'Nail in the Coffin' by Timothy Burke.
I smiled, thinking back to the way we had met...

I eventually ended up in an aisle with one other person in it. A tall, lanky, blonde haired, baby-faced guy who looked to be about my age. He had a book in his hand, and appeared to be examining it. I caught a glimpse of it, and noticed it was the book 'Nail in the Coffin' by Timothy Burke.
"That's a really good book," I told him softly. "I'm sure you'd love it."
He looked up, saw me, and blushed deeply. "It sounds," He cleared his throat, " It sounds like it."
He took a few steps closer to me, and stuck out a shaking hand. "I'm Olli."
I shook his hand. "I'm Alex."

From the moment I had laid eyes upon him, I knew he was someone special. I knew I wanted to be with him. I was incredibly lucky that he actually wanted to be with me.
I stood up, slowly, and approached the check out counter. I was going to buy the book for him.
I paid thirteen dollars, and nineteen cents for the fucking hardback, but Olli was worth it. Beyond worth it.
As I walked out of the store, I began thinking of where to head to next.
My plan was to make a gift bag for Olli, full of shit that symbolized moments of our relationship, and to give it to him as a way to say 'sorry' for acting like such a brat, earlier.
I decided that my next stop would be the downtown Dollar General.
Inside, I was looking for one thing, and one specific thing only: swim goggles.

We walked across a street, and ended up down along The Allegheny.
"Oh, and I can't swim." I told him.
He looked at me, eyes wide. "You can't swim?!" He began laughing, hysterically.
I glared at him, trying to look angered, but deep down, I was having a hard time not laughing. "No. I cannot swim. Does this mean you no longer want to go out with me?"
He shook his head. "Oh I wasn't making fun of you, I was laughing because I can't swim either!"
I looked at him, shocked. "You can't swim? But you're a professional athlete!"
He chuckled. "Yeah, so?"

I stumbled upon a pair of navy blue goggles, and purchased them.
My next stop was the dorm.
Once I got there, Molly was gone somewhere, so I didn't have to worry about answering any of her questions about where I had been the last three days.
I walked swiftly, towards my laptop, and threw myself into the desk chair. I waited as my laptop booted up, then immediately logged into Safari, and searched 'Soldier Gavin DeGraw lyrics'
Soldier was the song Olli sang to me when I was nervous about going to school...

"I can't do it, Olli." I whispered.
"Shh." Olli hushed, stroking my hair. "Yes you can, ok? I believe in you." He began humming, softly.
"What's that you're humming?" I asked, my voice muffled by his legs.
"Soldier, by Gavin DeGraw." He whispered. "I'll get it if you need it, I'll search if you can't see it, you're thirsty, I'll be rain, you get hurt, I'll take your pain. I know you don't believe it, but I said it, and I still mean it, when you heard what I told you, when you get worried, I'll be your soldier." Olli sang to me, gently. His voice cracked, and he sounded terrible, but I didn't care. It meant the world to me that he cared so much.

I printed out the lyrics, and folded them. I slipped it into my pocket, and left the dorm, this time heading to a music shop downtown. I had spent hours in that place, since it was where Molly worked.
I strolled up and down aisles, until I came across what I wanted: A cassette tape with just Bust A Move on it.

My eyes grew wide, but then I wrapped my hand around his wrist, and began to pull him up.
"Olli and I are going to head to the dance floor. He's been just dying to bust a move." I informed them, earning him a few eyebrow raises.
I locked my fingers with his, and headed towards the dance floor in the middle of the banquet room the team had rented for the night. Tanner and Emily were dancing, as was Olli's teammate Geno, and Geno's girlfriend. It was a slower song, so he pulled me in tight, resting both his hands on the sides of my stomach. My arms found their way around his neck, and my face in his shoulder. We swayed together, for a bit, before I whispered, "I love you."
"I love you, too." He replied.
Just then, the song ended, and I noticed Jussi headed towards the guy who was controlling the music. They chatted for a short bit, before Jussi turned around, and headed towards the dance floor, himself. He grinned at us, just as the new song was starting.
"It's your jam, Olli!" He called out, while passing Olli.
Just then, the infamous guitar chords hit my ears.
It was the song 'Bust a Move.'
I erupted in giggles, before taking my arms off his neck, and grabbing both his hands.
"Let's do this!" I grinned.
The drums then started playing, and soon the lyrics came in.
'This here's a tale for all the fellas, trying do what those ladies tell us.'
Olli and I began speeding up. Before I knew it, he was twirling me.
I spun under his arm, just as Tanner came up behind us.
"You've got quite the moves, for a rookie!" He joked.
Whoops and hollers came from the table Olli and I had been sitting at.
I began belting out lyrics, giggling hysterically.
'Next day's function, high-class luncheon.'
"Remind me to kill Jussi, later." He told me, grinning.
We grabbed each other's arms at the elbows, and started swaying.
We probably looked ridiculous, especially with my off-key singing, but neither of us cared. We were together, enjoying each other's company, and even though we only started dancing to get away from James, we really were having a great time.

I smiled at the memory of that night. We may have been acting like fools, but we were one another's fools.
After checking out at the music shop, I wandered down the street to the local pharmacy to pick up a box of mac-and-cheese.

"Oh my god!" he exclaimed. "What can you do?"
I shrugged. "I make a mean mac-and-cheese." I looked up at him, and could not stop thinking about how adorable he was.
"I enjoy mac-and-cheese. We should make it, sometime."
I nodded. "We will."
His eyes twinkled as the Pittsburgh sun hit them perfectly. "That can be our second date."
My face burned, knowing he wanted to go on more than one date with me.

I meandered down the aisle, towards the mac-and-cheese. As I did so, I thought about when we made it together.

"You sure you know what to do?" Olli asked, skeptically watching me prepare the mac-and-cheese.
I turned to face him, and pointed to the apron I was wearing, that I had just bought a half an hour ago.
"Darling, if I'm professional enough to wear an apron, I think I'm professional enough to know what the fuck I'm doing." I waved a plastic, long white spoon at him.
"Fine." Olli surrendered, tossing his hands into the air. "But when it turns out to be cheesy pasta soup, fully expect me to say 'I told you so.'"

That mac-and-cheese turned out to be the best mac-and-cheese I had ever made.
After selecting a box from the shelf, I moved towards the section that was home to gift bags.
I selected a pale yellow bag, and headed towards the checkout.
Within ten minutes, I was back at my dorm, stuffing the gifts I had gotten into the bag.
It was noon, so he would still be at his apartment. He didn't have to be to Consol for their game until 5:00.
I slipped out of the dorm, bag in hand, and headed towards their apartment complex.
After the five minute walk there, I made it inside, and to the elevator. I rode it up to the third floor, and approached their door.
Gently, I laid the gift bag in front of the door, then knocked rather loudly on it. Before they could answer, I scurried down the hall, so I'd be out of sight. Just as I stepped back into the elevator, I heard the door open....