Chapter 9: Um, Oliver?

Bree's POV:

I really hope Kaz doesn't make a big deal about this. I was trying to get his 2 second attention span to focus on what I was saying. I wasn't trying to hit on him or anything. Was I? No, no of course not. I roll my eyes, and try to look unbothered by what he just pointed out. "Just, don't look into it too much, okay?", I breathe out. Kaz can be so oblivious most of the time, yet he chooses now to be observant. Kaz quirks his brow at me. "I wasn't, not really. It's not like I care anyway.", Kaz nonchalantly says. Now it's my turn to quirk my brow at him. I never said he cared in the 1st place. I'm about to respond, but Oliver suddenly appears, exiting the hyperlift. When did he even go down to HQ? Chase and I were just down there not even that long ago. How in the Hell did he even manage to sneak past everyone? "Hey Oliver!", I quickly exclaim. I take a step away from Kaz when he turns around to greet Oliver. "Oh, hey Bree.", Oliver says in a monotone voice. Yeesh, did it really go THAT badly? Kaz gives Oliver a bro hug. "Hey man, how're you feeling?", Kaz asks. Seriously?! Skylar gets a 'hi', while Oliver get a sympathetic 'how're you feeling?'? Oliver shrugs his shoulders in response. "I think some time apart would do you both some good.", I softly say. Oliver shifts his glance from Kaz to me, and he LOOKS at me. Before when I said hi his eyes almost looked glazed over, and he seemed pretty distance. Now his stare seems more, focused.

Chase's POV:

Skylar proceeds to rest her head on my shoulder for approximately 5 minutes. Afterwards, she shifts from her current position to make eye contact with me. "So, have you heard yet?", Skylar softly asks me. I assume she's referring to the fact that Oliver and her are currently on a break, so I nod my head. She slightly smirks at this. "Of course you have. Who told you?", she asks me. I wonder if she'll be annoyed or amused that Kaz is so openly sharing information about her love life. This information isn't secret of course, and as concerned friends we were bound to ask anyway. Yet I feel that I would be fairly annoyed if I were in Skylar's shoes. "Kaz told us as soon as well saw him.", I answer honestly. Skylar lets out an amused snort while rolling her eyes. I try to hide my amusement, but fail. "Why am I not surprised?", Skylar jokes. I softly chuckle along with her. Kaz is an amazing friend, but he's also probably the biggest gossip that I know. He has the hardest time keeping information to himself. He's almost as bad as Adam in that sense. "Well you seem to be in high spirits.", I muse. Was their time apart her idea, or did she want to take things even further by breaking up? She nonchalantly shrugs her shoulders. It appears she's finally admitting that she wasn't as interested in Oliver as she lead on. "I don't really see the point of moping around about it. We're just on a short break, just until we can figure out what we both want.", Skylar replies.

Bree's POV:

Oliver breaks off our unsaid staring contest, which means I won, HA! This victory was short lived as soon as he raked his eyes over my outfit several times. His quirks his brow in slight confusion. What the fuck is so confusing about clothes? I glance around the room, waiting for him to respond to me. "When did you start dressing like that?", he asks me. Excuse me, but, what? That catches me completely off guard. I just thought he was going to make a jab at my fashion sense. What does he mean by 'like that'? Then I feel Kaz's gaze on me, so I turn my attention towards him. He's eyeing me up and down like Oliver did. Oh come on! Don't tell me he just now noticed my clothes. Which honestly, what's the big deal? I'm just wearing normal clothes. "Dressing like what?", I ask. Oliver just quirks his brow again as Kaz states, "You're showing more skin than you normally do." WHAT THE FUCK? I scoff while quickly glancing down at myself. I mean, yeah, my shirt is cropped and my shorts happen to be booty shorts, but so what? What do my clothes have to do with anything? Okay so, I may have decided to show more skin today to gauge Chase's reaction to my body. I didn't think Fire and Ice cared enough to notice or comment though. "So what if I am? It's just clothes. Why do you both care?", I question. Kaz makes a face of indifference, while Oliver slightly blushes. I roll my eyes at their reaction. Guys are so weird.

Chase's POV:

I know that Oliver seemed fairly confused about the situation, but I assumed that Skylar had already sorted her feelings out. Seeing as she apparently strode over to Oliver with determination earlier. "So what do you want?", I ask. Skylar takes a deep breathe, and looks down. Perhaps she's not comfortable discussing this kind of thing with me? She'd probably be more open with Bree, or maybe even Kaz, about all of this. I had hoped that our friendship was starting to, or hopefully already had, reached that level of trust. It appears not though, judging by her hesitance. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't feel comfortable talking about it. I won't push you on the subject.", I say. Skylar's head quickly snaps back up after she hears my statement. She starts to shake her head, then takes one of my hands in hers. "It's not that I don't feel uncomfortable talking to you, you've always been pretty easy to talk to actually. Even about this kind of stuff. I'm just, trying to figure out how to word this.", Skylar replies. I let out a sigh of relief, she looks amused. "Okay, well, feel free to take your time. Tell me when you're ready, and word it however you'd like.", I state. She lightly giggles. Well this is new. Skylar's never really giggled per say at anything I've ever said, but she's giggled at my statements and responses at least twice today. Females are fairly strange.

Bree's POV:

"I don't, it was just an observation.", Kaz says. "Since when are you so observant?", I immediately fire back. Kaz rolls his eyes, and he looks kinda annoyed/pissed. I scoff. Why is he pissed? If anyone should be annoyed or pissed right now, it should be me. I sat out here and waited for Oliver so I could be a good friend and see how he was doing. Not so I could be analyzed by him and Kaz. "I always have been, I just usually don't voice my observations about dumb shit like this. Sorry if I'm not as dumb as you thought I was.", Kaz says. I gape at him. "W-what? I didn't- I wasn't trying to say-", I stumble. Failing to find the right words. I've never once thought that Kaz was dumb. Sure he can be really slow and oblivious at times, but he's also actually pretty clever and decently smart at times. Kaz shoulders past me, quickly scaling the stairs. I quickly turn to Oliver. "YOU know that's not what I meant, right?!", I quickly ask him. It's bad enough that Kaz thinks I just called him stupid, I don't need Oliver thinking the same thing. "Shouldn't you be telling that to Kaz?", Oliver quips. I loudly groan while raking my fingers through my hair. This WOULD'VE been an excellent time to talk to Oliver alone, regarding his off time from Skylar, but now I have to go apologize to Kaz. "Um, Oliver?", I ask. "Go ahead and go after him, I'll be here when you get back. And don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to console me later.", Oliver encourages.

Chase's POV:

Skylar deeply inhales before starting her monologue. "So you know that Oliver and I are currently on a break. We decided, to take a break for a few different reasons. One of them being that I might not be dating Oliver for the right reasons. When Scarlet kidnapped me and took me back to Caldera, Bree and Oliver came to rescue me. After I gave up my portal creation power, I thought for sure I'd never see any of you guys again. I wasn't really sure about my feelings towards Oliver, but I just thought, if this was going to be my last time ever seeing him... I better make it count. He was so happy when I told him that I liked him too. There was no way I could take back what I had said, it would've crushed him. I figured that if we took things slow, my feelings for him would grow. But lately I've just been more and more confused about things. I NEVER wanted to hurt him, but I know I would've hurt him even more in the end if we would've gotten back together today. I, told him that I needed some time apart from him, and I needed to explore some other feelings that have developed over time. And I told him that he should do the same.", Skylar says. I slowly blink and try to absorb all of this information. I already knew whatever she claimed to have felt for Oliver wasn't genuine, courtesy of my eavesdropping last night. I understand her reasoning behind it all, but the execution and repercussions of her actions have currently made Oliver emotionally unstable.

Bree's POV:

I give Oliver a grateful smile, then super speed up the stairs. I zoom past Skylar and me's room. I wonder if Chase is still talking to her. Either that or he finished talking to her a minute ago, then decided to be a hermit again and went into his room. If the latter's the case, he's probably dealing with a pretty annoyed Kaz right about now. I stop right at the door of the boys' room. What if I knock and he doesn't want to talk to me? I really don't want to go back downstairs and tell Oliver I didn't get to apologize to Kaz. Oliver would probably be even more pissed at me then he already was to begin with. I take a deep breath, and knock on the door. "What do you want Bree?", Kaz snaps. Jesus Christ, I didn't even call you stupid. Also, how does everyone always know it's me? "I wanted to apologize. Can I come in?", I ask. Apologize for the way you apparently decided to interpret things. "Fine, I guess.", Kaz sighs. Well, at least he didn't try to make me apologize from the door. So that's something. I slowly creak open the door, and step inside. Hmmm. The boys' room looks cleaner than when I last saw it. Chase or Oliver, it was probably Chase, must have cleaned it. "Did you guys hire a maid or something?", I joke while walking over to him. He was sitting on his bed, facing away from me. "I think Chase cleaned it.", he states. What, no witty reply or bit to add to the joke? This must be pretty serious then.

Chase's POV:

It was a wise decision on her part to suggest putting the relationship on hold for the time being. That leaves hope that they might reunite in the future, but also gives Oliver a chance to slowly let his feelings towards Skylar dissipate. This was a much better opinion than a jarring, and seemingly final, break up. Their is one thing I'm confused about though. Skylar said that she wanted to explore some other feelings, assumingly the romantic type, that had developed over time. My first guess would've been the guy that flirted with her at the restaurant they were at yesterday, but she'd just met that guy. 'Developed over time' would refer to someone she has already known for a little while. So it couldn't possibly be that guy. I can immediately rule Bree out of this list since Skylar obviously sees her as a sister, and nothing more. Which would make Kaz the most likely candidate. She's known him for a while, and they seem to be really close. I can see why she wouldn't have pursued anything beforehand of course if that's the case. Kaz is Oliver's best friend, it would've been an absolute slap in the face. It also would've been a stab in the back if Kaz reciprocated. Encouraging Oliver to do the same could be a tactic to get him interested in someone else, or at the very least, entertain the idea of seeing other people. Or perhaps Oliver has had his sights set on someone else as well?

Bree's POV:

"Well that's not surprising, Chase IS a bit of a neat freak.", I joke. Kaz sits up straight, which is a rare sight all in itself, then quickly glances over in my direction. "Just say what you came here to say, then get out.", Kaz snaps. I visibly flinch. Kaz is usually very relaxed and sporting a goofy smile. He's always joking, and his tone of voice is usually light hearted and bright. He's never snapped at me like this before. "Kaz.", I say in attempts to get him to look at me. I'm not actually sure if I want to see his hard stare and blank expression, but I can't stand him acting like he can't even look at me. He doesn't respond. "Kaz, please look at me.", I plead. I see his arm muscles flex as he clenches his fists. "Why? I can hear you just fine like this.", he states. Great, now he's being even more stubborn than Skylar was. "I can't stand you acting like you can't even bare to look at me.", I honestly reply. He lets out a loud exhale, then he quickly snaps around to face me. It actually slightly startles me. I was expecting him to put up more of a fight than that. Except, he doesn't even look mad at me. I don't even know WHAT he looks like. I've never seen him like this before. "Okay, now I'm looking at you, so talk.", he snaps. Now I'm not even sure I can look at him at this point. I feel nervous for some reason. "I'm sorry for, what happened downstairs. That's not what I meant, I wasn't trying to call you stupid. I'd never say that to you. You can be really goofy and oblivious sometimes, but you're really smart and clever. I'm sorry if I hurt you, and I hope we can still be friends.", I say.

Chase's POV:

I find the latter option highly unlikely. Oliver has only ever been interested Skylar ever since we arrived at Centium City, and for decently long amount of time before that. Who would he even be interested in? Assuming the way she described her feelings for someone else applies to Oliver as well, that would mean it would have to be someone he's known for a decent amount of time. I'd like to rule out Bree, Oliver's shown absolutely zero interest in her since Elite Force was formed. Yet their history makes me question if he was just hiding his interest. Kaz and him are probably even closer than Skylar and him were, and I don't really think I could rule out Kaz either. I'm not exactly sure how they view each other, besides long time best friends. "Were you planning on acting upon said developed feelings towards said person?", I ask. I'm not sure how far I should pry into this. Bree will surely ask me how things went, and I'm not sure if I could keep this from her. I'm not sure how much Oliver currently knows about this, and he should probably here all this from her. I'd hate to tell Bree, for her in turn to tell Kaz or Oliver. Telling Kaz would be just as good as telling Oliver of course. They don't keep secrets from each other. Skylar leans forward slightly. I don't know why though, I have super hearing. It's not like I wouldn't be able to make out what she's trying to say. Perhaps she's afraid someone might stroll by and hear?

Bree's POV:

Kaz snorts before leaping to his feet. "If anyone's oblivious around here, it's you.", he says. I quirk my brow at him. How am I even oblivious in the slightest way? Oblivious about what? "What're you talking about?", I ask. Kaz runs his hair through his hands in frustration. I'd be hella frustrated right about now too if I wasn't confused as Hell. He starts to pace around his side of the room for some reason. "Do I really have to spell it out for you?!", Kaz exclaims. Clearly if I have to ask you, what the fuck are you talking about, it has to be 'spelled out for me'. I cross my arms over my chest. "I wouldn't be asking you otherwise.", I snap. He narrows his eyes at me. "Maybe you're the stupid one then.", he muses. EXCUSE ME? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY? I CHASED AFTER YOU, EVEN THOUGH I DIDN'T HAVE TO, IN ORDER TO APOLOGIZE FOR SOMETHING I DIDN'T EVEN SAY. BECAUSE YOUR MIND SOMEHOW TWISTED IT INTO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. THEN YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO CALL ME STUPID!? "I didn't even call you stupid earlier, you just jumped to that conclusion.", I say through gritted teeth. Kaz stalks towards me, until we're just inches apart. "You implied it, but fine, you didn't call me stupid. But I sure as Hell called you stupid I second ago.", Kaz retorts. I move to slap him, cause the mother fucker deserved it. He catches my wrist before I can do it though. Damn him and his fast reflexes. I should've used my super speed to slap him. I gasp at the tightness of his grip. Are you TRYING to break my wrist?

Chase's POV:

"I've been trying to figure out how to go about doing that. Any suggestions?", Skylar asks. I'm touched that she would confide in me, and even go as far as to ask for my help in the matter. "Well, I suppose it does slightly depend upon the person. Just be honest and straightforward with them, that way there's no misinterpretation as to what you meant.", I answer. She smiles at me. "When do you think I should talk to them about it?", Skylar asks. Hmm. She definitely shouldn't wait too long, or else she risks missing her chance to be with this person. By either this person developing feelings for someone else, or this person losing feelings for Skylar. Yet she shouldn't rush things either. She just halted a relationship earlier today because of her unsure feelings. It wouldn't be wise to put herself into another similar situation. "I think you should talk to them when you're ready, and absolutely sure of your feelings." , I reply. Skylar shifts herself so her face is right next to my ear. "I AM absolutely sure of my feelings.", Skylar whispers. I feel her hot breath against my ear. I slightly stiffen. I'm starting to feel a tad bit uncomfortable at the moment. "Then you should go tell that person if you're certain.", I reply as I try to discreetly shift away from her. "Or maybe I should just show him instead.", she says. I stiffly nod in agreement. Wait, so it is a him. "Who is this mystery man anyway?", I joke. Skylar giggles yet again. "Oh Chase, for being the smartest man in the world, you sure can be pretty oblivious sometimes.", Skylar says. I quirk my brow at her. What does she mean by that exactly?

Bree's POV:

He loosens his grip a tiny bit, then he grabs my other wrist. What the fuck are you even DOING, Kaz? He yanks me towards him, and our faces are merely inches apart. My breathing becomes shallow, and my eyes slightly widen. Kaz is seriously invading my personal space right now. I yank my wrists free if I didn't think that'd enrage him further. "You still don't get it, do you?", he whispers. I shake my head no, which was a big mistake since I accidently bumped his nose with mine. I audibly swallow as his eyes travel down towards my lips. You've got to be fucking shitting me. There's no way in HELL, that Kaz is actually thinking about kissing me right now. He's never even shown the slightest bit of romantic interest in me, since the entire time we've known each other! BELIEVE ME, I would've noticed if he did. "Well, I guess I'll just have to show you then.", he says while smirking. I'd roll my eyes at that smug mother fucker if I wasn't so fucking shook right now. He quickly leans in, capturing my lips in his. I stand there, frozen in shock, and the tiniest bit of arousal. Well, I did want a boyfriend, didn't I? I kiss him back, and he groans into my mouth. His lips feel so good against mine, but unfortunately, I can't help but feel slightly guilty about it. I wonder how Chase would feel if he could see me right now... Snap out of it Bree! You wanted to get over Chase, well here's your chance. Besides, Kaz is a great guy, and he's pretty cute. Ugh, why does life have to be so complicated!?