Who We Once Were - A Jolivia Story

Chapter 9

"I know dad." She laughed. "Yup, we'll talk soon. Love you too!" She said smiling over the phone. It had only been a couple days away from home but she missed her dad and he was eager to know how her filming was going. She put the phone down on her desk next to her laptop and took a deep breath. Her new room was still covered in unpacked boxes but she was procrastinating getting it done. It was 6pm and her mom was making dinner while she worked on some of her school work. That was the thing about being a child actor, you still had to be a child meaning you still had to do school. She was on her senior year of online high school and the workload had definitely been piling up this school year. She decided to give herself a small break from her workload and do some work unpacking. 

She'd already done her main things like clothes, toiletries and bedding but she still had a bunch of personal items to unload. She picked a box that was laying by her closet and got to work. She grabbed a pair of scissors and slit the packing tape, pulling open the cardboard flaps. A smile covered her face when she saw the contents of the box in front of her. Reaching in she pulled out a framed photograph that lay wrapped in a layer of bubble wrap. As she unwrapped the picture, she saw the black frame surrounding the picture of a grinning 6 year-old Olivia sandwiched between her two proud parents after one of her very first big theatre productions.

She placed the framed photograph down to her right and went back to the box. There were some fairy lights and a stack of her polaroids that she like using to decorate her walls back home. She took the pictures with her to give her a sense of home in her apartment for the next 6 or so months. Pulling out the pile she started flipping through them and smiling at the memories. There were ones from the set of her old show "Bizardvark", pictures of Maddie and herself, one with her mom and some other pictures with close friends from a couple years ago. 

The second pile of polaroids had some more recent and new ones, lot's with her new friends and cast-mates from filming in 2019. She pulled them out and started looking through them. There were some with Julia, Dara and Sophia, there were a couple with Matt, Frankie and Seb and a couple group pictures and full cast ones and yet, the vast majority of those pictures were with Josh. Selfies, press events and candid photos taken by friends, all of her and Josh littered the floor in front of her. She was holding one of her favourite ones in her right hand and smiling nostalgically, she remember that day very clearly.

-

May 16, 2019

Olivia was having a particularly long day and Josh had been trying to convince her to take a short nap into between takes. They were going into late night shoots and it was almost 1 am. The two kids had been taking their breaks in Josh's trailer and were sitting on opposite seats, Josh on the couch and Liv on the chair. 

"Livvy come on, I promise I'll wake you up as soon as they call you!" Josh exclaimed smiling and laughing . 

"Not happening Josh, I'm not taking a nap on set." She said shaking her head with a smile while scrolling through her instagram.

"It's 1 am and plus we're in my trailer so technically speaking we're not on set!" He mock-argued with her.

"What about you then huh?" She said looking up and he furrowed his brow.

"What about me?" He questioned her with a slightly suspicious and slightly amused expression on his face.

"Well I'm not the only one who's been working since 6 am, so I'll take a nap if you take a nap." She said leaning forward and looking him in the eyes with a challenge.

"Well one of us has to stay awake to get us back to set on time." He told her smirking.

"Fine then at least lay down for a bit?" He was about to argue back but she cut him off. "And before you say no, that's the only way I'm falling asleep!" She said with an accusatory finger towards him.

"Fine you got me." He said smiling raising his hands in the air in acceptance. "Okay here, take the couch and I can grab the floor." Said Josh but as he was about to get up, Olivia had already made her way over. 

"Don't be ridiculous Joshy." She said laughing and nudged him back onto the couch, taking a seat next to him and snugging her head onto his shoulder. He seemed a little off-put at first and she was about to pull back and apologize for invading his space when he threw an arm around her and pulled her into his chest. It felt nice, really nice. 

"Sleep tight Liv." She heard him whisper before she drifted off to a deep sleep. She woke up to giggling and a bright flash, quickly regaining awareness she saw Julia and Sofia standing by the trailer door with phones in hand. She scrambled up and saw Josh fast asleep next to her, they'd been cuddling. 

"Real graceful Liv." Laughed Sofia.

"Guys I -" she started nervously.

"Relax babe, we'll send you the photos and also Tim sent us to find you two because you were supposed to be on set like 10 minutes ago." Said Julia while they opened the trailer door and called out goodbyes. She felt her phone ping with a text and opened it up to see the pictures of them that Julia sent. Her cheeks were a rosy red as Josh was stirring awake. 

"Hey um, we gotta head to set we're late!" Olivia exclaimed as Josh scrambled to his feet and the two jogged to set about two minutes later. Later that night she printed the picture as a polaroid and hung it on her wall next to the others.

-

She didn't notice her tears had been pooling until she felt the wetness on her cheek and wiped it away with the back of her hand. She put the pictures down and reached for the last thing in the box, it was her old song journal, one that she'd filled up back in 2019. She flipped through the pages and her eye caught on one set of scribbled down lyrics.  

When you look me in the eyes
My heart's no longer broken
For a moment,
Just for a moment

Olivia took a deep breath, it was the first time version of the chorus lyrics they scrambled down in her notebook late in the night when they found out they were possibly writing a song for the show. Her heart ached with the thought of old memories. A knock on her door interrupted her racing mind.

"Olivia honey, dinner!" Her mom called.

"Coming mom!" She yelled throwing the notebook to the other side of the room.

A/N - I'm sorry guys! I know I promised the confrontation about the text in this chapter but I got carried away with the memories idea!!! I guarantee the next chapter will have the text conversation though so look forward to that :) I'm so thankful for all the recent support and as always please comment and vote ILY!!!