Mine for the Year

Chapter 11

The next day, I woke up early - earlier than Damon. I packed all of Emma's things as well as a ton of food for Ash. The less work she had to do, the better.

I made oatmeal for Damon, leaving it out for him. I may have been mad at him, but I could make him feel bad about what he said without starving him. I don't know how that poor man survived before I got here. He couldn't cook for shit.

As it got closer and closer to 8:00 am, I got more excited. I couldn't wait for Matt to come home. It had been so long since he'd left the hospital. Eventually it became 7. I grabbed all of my stuff for the day, not planning on returning until tonight. I changed Emma's diaper, put on her coat, and locked her into her stroller. As we walked down the narrow streets of the city, I felt myself relax.

Emma babbled to herself, playing with her stuffed animal. Ashley got so lucky that she wasn't a fussy baby at all. It made our jobs 10 times easier to take care of her.

Ashley looked so well rested for the first time in a while. She opened the door smiling. "Hey Olivia!"

Emma, noticing her mom, grew fussy and reached up to be carried. Ashley laughed. "Aw Em, I missed you too baby."

I put all of the food I had brought in the kitchen, organizing everything for her. "I would stay, but Matt's getting out of the hospital, so I gotta run."

Ashley's eyes lit up. "He is? Let me know how he's doing. And if he needs anything, tell him my doors are always open."

I smiled at her. "Of course Ash. Love you." I kissed her cheek before walking out the door.

The walk to the hospital was quick. Before I knew it, Matt was ushered into a wheelchair and I was signing him out. And obviously, he was complaining. "Olive, you know I don't need this wheelchair. What if there are some hot girls around."

I pushed his blond hair out of his face. "Well then, maybe you'll get a pity date from them."

He grumbled about how annoying I was as I continued to fill out the paperwork. I laughed and held out my hand to him. "Come on, Matt get up. Let's go home."

He grabbed my hand and pulled himself out of the wheelchair. "Man, I sure could use some new clothes. I had to wear these again after my shower today."

I winked at him. "Matt, have you ever known me to be unprepared." I tossed some clothes toward him. "Go change bro."

He came out looking like a whole new person. His hair was slicked back, probably with water, and he looked so much more...normal.

I smiled at him. "So what do you want to do first?" I had already told him about me and Damon, so he was pretty up to date.

"Olive, let's go see a movie. When's the last time you saw one?" I shrugged. At least a year ago.

I let him lead the way as he continued talking excitedly about what it would be like to go back to school. He was complaining about how he wouldn't be able to do wrestling this year because of his injuries. He also played lacrosse, so hopefully he would be much better by spring.

Time flew by. Before I knew it, it was already 4 in the afternoon. I missed this. I smiled. I missed being able to do something as simple as talk to my brother without having to smell antibiotics or see needles. I checked my phone for the first time that day - I still wasn't used to having it.

I groaned as I saw 13 texts and 4 missed calls from Damon. Oh my god.

I turned abruptly to Matt. "Do you wanna go back to the penthouse? I can give you a tour and all that fun stuff."

An enormous smile spread across his face. "Hell yeah! I've never been inside a real penthouse."

"Language!" I scolded him.

When we got back to the penthouse, Damon rushed up to me angrily. "Liv where were you? I texted you so many times! You can't just leave like that."

I hated arguing. I put a fake smile on my face. "Sorry Damon, I shouldn't have left without telling you where I was going. I'll keep you in the loop next time."

He gritted his teeth. We both knew my apology was bull, but he ignored it and turned to Matt. The two bro'd up or did whatever it is that bros do. As angry as I was at Damon, it made me happy to see Matt excitedly talk to him.

Over the next two weeks, they both got impossibly close in such a short period of time. They genuinely liked each other and Damon treated Matt like a little brother. It was nice of him, but I worried about what would happen after the year was up. I didn't want him to get too close.

Of course, I acted completely indifferent to Damon this entire time. I could see him grit his teeth and narrow his eyes at my aloofness, but I refused to talk to him. He needed to know he couldn't just get away with saying whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

And maybe a tiny little part of me was also scared of falling in love with him.

I would wake up in the night multiple times to find his arms around me. Even if it was comfortable, I would force myself to move to the other side and place a pillow in between us. I woke up at 6 every morning, about a half an hour earlier than him. I would make him and Matt breakfast and lunch. Apparently, he never ate breakfast before I came.

Then, I would eat my own breakfast. I would be out of sight before he came down. During the day, I would do my work for my online classes and then cook dinner. Matt would go to school, and Damon to work. Dinner was usually a pretty awkward occurrence, with me and Damon ignoring each other and talking to Matt.

This is what happened everyday for almost two weeks. It wasn't the most pleasant way to live, but I'd lived with so much worse. I could deal with a little awkwardness.

Damon and I finally came to an impasse. We both sort of moved on from what had happened. I didn't ask for an apology because I knew I probably wouldn't get one. If there was one thing I'd learned about Damon over the past couple of weeks, it was that he never apologized.

We sort of just moved past it. We became friends, in a sense. As long as I ignored my attraction for him, I should be fine. But it was hard when he was everywhere.

Every night, we would just hang out in the living room. Sometimes with Matt, sometimes without. Damon would look over company stuff, while I would do college work. We would just sit together and talk at the same time. It was so nice. I would make stupid jokes just to see him smile. His smile was everything.

Another few weeks went by and I soon began to consider him one of my closest friends. I genuinely loved being around him. But I still had to keep reminding myself that this was a one year thing, not a lifetime thing.

Despite my feelings for him, I never let any of them surface. It was pretty easy - until the night of our big debut.