Cold Outside

24 - For the sake of five

The encounter with Beth had left Oliver off balance. He had pretended for weeks he didn't have feelings for her. He left the proverbial ball in her court. How had he kept control during that kiss? He felt their connection throughout his entire body, but it settled in one specific spot.

He searched the internet for apartments on the Portland peninsula. He found two that could work and arranged to see them on Monday morning. He didn't care what the penalty was for breaking his lease, but he would wait until after the gala to tell Lucas.

The best remedy for his confused state was to keep busy. On Saturday nights, he had no choice, but to be busy. Thankfully, the winter weather didn't stop diners from coming on Saturday nights - short of a snowstorm. The gala was in one week, then his work with Bethany would be over. It was Saturday night, and she was with Lucas. His mind went in circles around and around. He had to convince himself not to text her. He had stated his intentions, and it was up to her to decide. He just hoped she was smarter than him because when their fate was in his hands, he failed.

It was his last week before returning to school. It was strained between Oliver and Bethany. One moment, she wanted to enjoy every moment with him and the next she was annoyed because he wouldn't talk about after he left. She had pleaded. "It's not that far. I can go down and you can come up. Plus, we can call and chat."

He kept thinking it was one thing if he wrote it off as a summer fling, but quite another if it continued as the leaves started to fall. Hayley was still his girlfriend, and she had patiently - well mostly patiently, put up with him being gone all summer. True, he was not happy with the spoiled way she acted when she visited. She was miserable and made sure he'd known it. Oliver tried to keep her happy when he wasn't working, but he felt guilty sleeping with her. He was generally messed up, because it felt like that summer belonged to Beth and Hayley was the intruder. Beth had known about Hayley from the beginning, but by the end of the summer she had definitely hoped he would break up with Hayley. He was young and stupid enough to enjoy having two girls love him and honestly believed that he loved them both.

The night before he left they made love. It was slow, sad, and beautiful. Beth lay with her head on his shoulder and Oliver felt his shirt getting wetter. He thought of his parents and of Hayley's parents who loved that they were a couple. Her father, Stu, called him 'son'. He thought of prom with Hayley and high school football games watching her cheer and feeling so happy that her smile was for him when plenty of other guys were interested in her. He thought of the crazy fun they had sneaking wine from their parents. Then he thought of how she'd snapped at Beth over sprinkles and how she wasn't very gracious to her hosts, Jake and Sarah. Oliver was more confused and held Bethany all night hoping for an answer.

In the morning, just before he hugged her goodbye, he said, "I've got to go back to Hayley and see if that's what I want."

"What about what I want?"

"We agreed to six weeks. I'll come back and let you know what I've decided. In order for this to work, we can't talk. We'll meet at the beach at one that Saturday afternoon. You'll only call that day if you can't be there. Okay?"

"No! But I knew what I was doing when we got involved." She suddenly sounded strong. Still she clung to him one last time and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too."

Oliver drove away.

It was one of those moments when a crystal ball would have helped. He was a stupid romantic. What idiot would set up a future meeting like that? His biggest mistake was the day he drove up to say goodbye to her.