1.1 | When In Rome ✓

03 | cars

03

c a r s

Olivia was lounging in her hotel room with her breakfast, eating the pancakes slowly, and picking at them, while Skyping her best friend, Anita. 

"Olivia?" Her best friend's Indian accent was more obvious as her worry peaked through. "You still with me?" 

No.

"Oh, yeah, I'm totally okay." Olivia lied, stabbing a strawberry. 

Anita raised an eyebrow but didn't push it. "So, how's Rome been going for you? Is your hotel okay?" 

"Well, yeah, it's amazing." Olivia started. 

"I sense a 'but' coming on," Anita said, rubbing at her eyes, and blinking. 

"Yeah, but, everything here reminds me of Jackson. And it feels so wrong just staying here, at that one place he never tried to take me too, and there's so much stuff of his, I'm scared to sneak around, and I'm terrified of what I might find, what made Jackson not want to show me this place." 

Anita smiled sympathetically and opened her mouth to speak. While the girl was great at giving advice, Olivia felt bad that this was the only topic they talked about. Before the accident, there would be so many topics they would talk about. Now it was just one. 

"I think you should go out and meet some new people," Anita said. "It'll be fun; making new friends, hanging out, not having to FaceTime someone at 3 in the morning because you're lonely." 

"Oh, god, I didn't realize it was 3. You can go back to sleep?" Olivia suggested, wincing. 

"No, I'm awake already. Just keep talking." Anita said, her head resting on the palm of her hand. 

"I did meet someone. They're nice, but it feels like I'm an open book, because they're studying psychology, and they seem to know everything about me. It's kind of scary." 

"Well, they sound nice enough. I would rather have a friend who knows what I've been going through over one who turns a blind eye." Anita suggested softly. 

Olivia tilted her head, finally shoving a bite of her pancake into her mouth. "Okay." 

"Okay? You're not going to fight me?" Anita jokes. "Who are you?" 

Olivia forces a smile. "How do you know I'm going to listen to you?" 

Anita grins. "Fair." A crash sounds from her side of the screen, and she looks worried. "I better check that out." She says, already jumping out of bed. "Bye, Olivia!" 

"By-" The call disconnected, and Olivia sighed, closing her laptop. Her phone buzzed, and a text from her mom came on. 

Olivia, I hope you're enjoying Rome so far. I got you a car so that you don't have to keep getting a taxi to get place to place because that builds up a lot of money really quickly. I gave the keys to the hotel concierge for you to pick up, so, go get them when you have time. 

Olivia read over the message, once, then twice. Her mom wanted her to drive a car? Olivia guessed it was so that she could try to get over the incident, but even Olivia knew it wouldn't work. Grudgingly, she got up, so that she could at least tell her mom she'd tried it. 

Internally, she realized that what she'd been doing was mostly for other people's benefits. She didn't want to go to Rome, she didn't want to stay in this hotel, she didn't want to drive this car, but it still happened anyway. Because that was all that Olivia could do right now. 

Walking down to the front desk, she stopped by the concierge to get the keys, then followed their instructions to the parking lot where the car was. She scanned the lot a few times before finally spotting the car. She walked over to the shiny, silver Porsche, and she grinned at it. Even though she wasn't in the mood for cars, she couldn't deny that this was a really good car. At least, to look at. 

Olivia slowly walked over to the driver's side and pulled open the door. Taking in a deep breath, she put her hands on the steering wheel, and her feet on the gas and brake pedals. Slowly, she backed out of the parking lot, and into the street. 

At first, she was driving slowly, not wanting to risk crashing, but soon she started to get the feel of it. By this time, she was in a less populated area, and all she saw was trees. But, she was doing it! She was actually driving, and she was doing it well, and-

Suddenly, an 18-wheeler appeared in her vision, and Olivia made a sharp right, in shock. The new car, the new, beautiful Porsche that probably wasn't cheap slammed into a tree and dented the silver metal bending, but the airbag didn't come up to slam Olivia in the face and send her into another coma. 

I need help. Olivia thought in a haze. And I need it now.

Her first thought was to call Anita, but her art class probably already started, and Olivia couldn't make Anita skip another class. And, Anita was 4,000 miles away, so she probably couldn't help Olivia. 

Fingers trembling, she picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she reached the "A" section. Shakily, she clicked on a contact, and almost immediately the person picked up, their voice on the other end. 

"Olivia? What's up?" The boy asked, acting like they were already friends, and she was just calling to talk about something random. But, it wasn't that. Not at all. 

"Alan, I need your help," Olivia says, stuttering on her words.