You Distract Me

Out Of My Dress

Olivia's POV

Twenty-four hours of self-therapy, of convincing myself that what happened the previous day hadn't happened at all.

That all goes down the drain when I look across the massive pool and my eyes meet intense hazel ones, shamelessly looking me over with approval.

Among all the people, the whole lot of them, my stupid eyes had decided to land on what made my tummy flip and what made the joints in my knees momentarily useless.

Even as I had been getting ready to come here for the barbeque, my subconscious had been praying that I wouldn't see Shayne here.

But here she was. Looking so hot it was sinful.

"Honey, are you sure you don't want to stay with us?"

I almost forgot about my parents as they stood on either side of me, my mother looking a little too nervous.

I tore my eyes away from Shayne and subtly placed my palms against my cheeks in an attempt to hide the blush that obviously showed.

"Don't worry, mother. No one's going to eat me alive."

"Tell that to the hungry stares that are coming your way."

I rolled my eyes at her and turned to my dad, making sure to avoid bumping gazes with a specific pair of hazel ones.

"Dad, would you please talk to her?" I said as I looked up at him. He seemed a little distracted, but I figured maybe he was also worried for no reason like my mother.

In the next second, I was pulled away from my parents by an excited Christina.

"Hello, Mr and Mrs. Ryans," Christina said, not even waiting for a reply from them before rushing me back into the mansion.

We half-ran up the stairs, through the wide hallways and into her room.

"What's wrong?" I asked breathlessly as she closed the door.

"Nothing, Miss. Melodramatic. What happened yesterday?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I've got every reason to be melodramatic. What you said wasn't any of Shayne's business, and you know that."

"I know and I'm sorry. But did you have to leave like that?"

"Actually, yes, so I'm not apologizing for that. Now can we please go back to the barbeque." Even as I said it, the dread of going back out was prominent. 

"Sure, but I was just making sure you were okay. I'm sorry again."

"It's fine."

I wasn't planning on dwelling on this matter for too long before I'd have a panic attack over realizing that it couldn't be erased.

She hugged me. "Thank you. Before we get back to the barbeque, will you please wait here for a minute? I've got a couple of errands to run before I actually start to enjoy this party."

"Do you need my help?"

"Not at all, you're my guest. Mom would kill me if she knew I let you help. I won't be long, don't run off."

"Cool, I'll be here."

Barely five minutes passed before I started to get incredibly bored and decided Christina would just have to forgive me.

I got up and left the room, walking down the hallway that led to the grand staircase.

When I reached the first step, I froze when I noticed Shayne standing with some guy at the bottom of the staircase.