Write Me A Letter

42 | intertwine

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO | I N T E R T W I N E

         BRIE WISHED THAT THE ROMANCE NOVELS she read came with manuals and warnings. As a hopeless romantic who had been greatly influenced by heart-pounding stories that made any dreamer digest the idea of a cotton-candy romance as if it was their lifeline, she always thought that it should feel exactly how they were in books and movies. She believed that idea with every bit of her being and fought for that belief. Anything that didn't resemble it wasn't considered romance or good enough to produce the butterflies she was chasing after.

Young, immature, and gullible, she thought that loving someone should feel only two ways. One: When you feel like your heart's gonna explode from so much happiness that you couldn't breathe. Or, two: When your entire body hurt from crying so much because of the pain and you also couldn't breathe. That was how romance was supposed to be like in her head. Love came with pain, and if it didn't hurt like there was no tomorrow and if you didn't giggle like you never knew happiness, then it wasn't love.

Stupid. If only romance novels came in with disclaimers; a handful of warnings, maybe, then she probably stopped chasing after Xander with the illusion that if she loved him harder, it'd be okay; that rejection wasn't exactly rejection, but rather, just a hurdle that a determined heart could get past by if she tried hard enough.

As she and Ollie leisurely walked the path behind the pool building to his car with their arms swinging together and pinkies intertwined, she finally understood that liking someone should make you breathe again. When the whole world feels like falling apart, he should feel like your anchor instead of the current that was pushing you along. That should be her job and hers alone. She should be her own force and the source of her own energy.

Liking someone... it should make you want to wake up everyday just because, and not for the purpose of chasing that rushing feeling once again. Instead of cutting your air-supply, or feeling as if it was your first time to be alive, liking someone should make you like and appreciate being alive. And god, did it feel amazing.

A tug on her pinky jolted her out of her thoughts. She looked up and rolled her eyes to see Ollie grinning at her. "Where did your thoughts go? You've been awfully quiet."

If only he knew. She sighed and Ollie immediately tugged at their locked pinkies again. "Please tell me that wasn't a bad sigh."

"It was not," she laughed. This guy... how could he manage to be so cute without even trying? "I was just feeling the moment."

"Oh, you mean this?" He raised their pinkies that were still wrapped around each other and waved it in front of her face. The motion made her feel as if all the blood left her arm, but she still laughed anyway. "You like this cheesy stuff, don't you?"

"You're one to talk! You're cheesier than I am."

He had the nerve to look offended. "Am not!"

"Excuse me, Ollie, you're the one who instigates all this fluffy stuff."

"Because you look at me with those sad-looking blue eyes and I can't help but think that you need some cheesy, sweet, tender loving."

She didn't think twice in bumping his arm with hers. His immediate "ow" brought her nothing but satisfaction. "You're such a dick."

Rubbing his arm with his free hand, Ollie clicked his tongue. He looked so young like that, with his nose and brows crinkled and his lips pursed as if was genuinely hurt. "There we go. Apparently, you like dicks as well."

"Oh, shut up."

Comfortable silence fell over them after a quick laugh and Brie's heart warmed at how their shadows looked in the afternoon's sunlight. Two figures, one tall and one short with a huge backpack, pinkies wrapped around together tightly and arms swinging. Their bodies weren't pressed close to each other, but somehow, that small connection made it feel so much more intimate than all the hugs the had.

Ollie pulled the passenger door open for her, and in a very comical way, motioned for her to get in. "Hop right in, madame. I shall drive you home after I feed you."

Rolling her eyes and holding back a grin, Brie slid right into the seat and snapped in her seatbelt.

"Where do you wanna eat?" Ollie asked as he made a smooth turn to exit the school's parking lot. "I'm thinking Chipotle or do you wanna have sushi?"

"Sushi sounds nice." She gasped, suddenly remembering something. "Actually, Paula told me about this new sushi bar twenty minutes away. Let me just find the name of the place real quick in our threads."

The snort that Ollie made was both amused and disbelieving. "Good luck with that. You and Paula text each other so much that I bet it'll take two hours before you find it."

She threw him a quick glare then looked back at her phone just in time for a text to come in. It wasn't an exaggeration if she'd say that her heart stopped as she blinked at the glaring words in a bright green bubble in her screen.

I warned you but you wouldn't listen. You'll regret this. Bitch.

"Did you find—Brie? What's wrong?"

No. No. Why was Izzy sending her messages again? Did she find out that Xander sent her another letter? Brie thought that their talk would've ended these threats. She gasped as a memory struck her. The last time they talked, Izzy appeared to be confused. Could it be...?

She whipped around to face Ollie. "Do you know who owns this number?" With shaking hands, she tilted her phone for him to see. Brie watched Ollie carefully, taking in every twitch in his face, any change in his breathing... anything. "Is this Izzy? Wes? Who? I—"

Ollie made a swift turn and parked the car at the side of the road. Then, he turned to grab her hands, wrapping them tightly around in his. They weren't cold. She should be assured by the fact that he wasn't nervous, right? "How long have you been receiving these texts?"

"Last month? Two months ago? I don't know. Ollie, is this Izzy? She already... she already..."

"Brie, listen to me." He leaned in close to her, blue eyes begging her to listen. "Don't be scared, okay? I'll make sure this stops."

"Do you know who it is?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, and even if she tried to hide it, she knew that the fear was thickly evident in every shaking syllable of her words. "Do you?"

Ollie tightened his hold on hers, and she anticipated with a pounding heart and cold hands for his next words.

"No," he finally said and the relief came in the same time with her tears. He quickly wiped them away with his thumb, gentle and careful not to startle her. "No, I don't."

Relieved, Brie pulled him down for a tight hug. Deep inside she knew that there was a chance that it was Yuki, but knowing that Ollie didn't know who the sender was brought her a sense of peace. She trusted him, and god did she like him so much. She wouldn't have been able to handle the implications if it was Yuki.

She wouldn't be able to take it if it meant that the boy she liked was yet again was with someone else.

She couldn't. No.