CHAPTER 34

DING! DONG! DING! DONG!

Clara was starting to prepare dinner when she heard the door bell, she quickly left what she was doing and headed to the door. She was certain it must be a guest cause the boss lady won't be back so early, at least for now since she was very occupied by the company. On getting to the door, Clara looked through the peep hole and saw Alice folding her arms.

'Isn't that Oliver's close friend. Oh well, at least he doesn't despise this one.'

Clearing and thoughts not wanting to keep the innocent girl waiting she opened the door.

"Good evening Miss Clara."

Alice greeted Clara politely immediately the door was opened. Clara seemed to love the girls politeness and couldn't help but compare her to Veronica a bit. To her, Alice seemed to lack confidence.

"Good evening. Oliver is upstairs in his room, you can go and see him there." She said mischievously

Clara was clearly trying to tease the girl, but to her surprise the girl didn't react the way she expected. She had expected Alice cheeks to flush bright red but nothing had happened. It didn't seem like she knew she was being teased either. Clara decided to not push further, not like there was anything she could do cause the girl had already said thank you and walked past her heading to Oliver's room like she was told.

Alice found the lady weird and didn't want to spend a minute there again. She wandered why she was appearing so often these days. Where was Aunt Evelyn? Taking the stairs to Oliver's room, she still felt like something was off about Clara. Little did she know that she was the one who wasn't okay. She was too oblivious. On getting to Oliver's room, the door was closed, without wasting any much time she knocked.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

'Dinner couldn't be ready yet.'

Oliver wondered, then he asked;

"Who's there?"

"Al..."

Before she could finish saying her name the door was opened immediately. Actually, Oliver had already stood up when he asked but he was just being sluggish. The moment he heard her voice, he ran and opened the door. He looked at Alice face that looked a bit flustered, he wondered why she looking at him like that, he had never seen her so red before, only with Vic... he scrambled his thoughts not wanting to think about the bastard that put him in this state.

"You..." she spoke not able to complete her sentence. Then she realized she was supposed to turn around. The moment she turned around he realized she had turned around because she didn't want to look at him, he immediately remembered that he was shirtless. He laughed at her cuteness.

'So that's what got the sixteen year old flustered?' He thought.

Not wanting her to be anymore uncomfortable, he went in to pick a shirt and put it on. He looked at the door and noticed she was still in the same position, he couldn't resist and just facepalmed.

"Are you gonna remain there forever?" He asked making Alice slowly turn around. She glared at him and he glared back, well maybe harder making him win the unplanned staring contest.

"I didn't..." He was about to say he didn't know she was coming but then he remembered that he had abruptly opened the door on hearing her voice.

"So...what have you been up to."

Making her way to sit on his bed and make herself comfortable she asked, clearly wanting to move past the awkward situation.

"Do I look like I have been up to anything?"

He replied her question with a question clearly frustrated. He had a reason to be since his mother won't even let him out of the house, until he's fully healed up that is. His wounds were mostly healed up already anyways since Victor didn't really give him obvious wounds, just his mother being so paranoid about it.

"Sorry. It's just a matter of time and you are free. Just tomorrow left right?"

Oliver seemed to notice that Alice had forgotten that she agreed to go out with him this weekend. He smiled which he was doing more often these days. He mischievously walked to his bed and stood in front of her. (Chill guys, there's no PDA yet. Hahaha!!!)

"Don't you think you are forgetting something?" He smirked.

"No...what is it?" She asked clueless. She had completely forgotten.

"Oh! so you forgot!"

He wasn't so happy about it but he couldn't be upset, she was occupied. She had been studying really hard anyways and a lot had happened this week.

She raised her hand taking it to the side of her head scratching it, an habit she had cultivated and had gotten used to when she was thinking so hard or trying to remember something.

"Don't stress. I'll let it slide this time, Alice. Now, you seem to have forgotten that we are going out together this weekend, which is Saturday, where we are going is none of your business all you have to do is BE available."

His tone was sharp and a bit cold when he spoke. He had intentionally stressed 'be' cause he didn't want her to come up with an excuse for not going out with him.

"Oh I remember now. Sorry I forgot." She knew he was only making efforts to create happy memories for her, so she wasn't offended by his tone at all. Oliver was usually cold anyways.

Happy with the result, he decided to ask what has been bothering him since;

"So what's been going on in school these days?"

———————————————-

Usually Veronica and Rachel never left school early or immediately the bell was rung, they would stay back for an hour at least before going home. This time, it was just Rachel, and she had no reason to stay back but something else kept her waiting this time.

Rachel had originally planned to head to Veronica's home after school, they hadn't gotten the chance to talk and she really wanted to school her friend not on phone but physically. While she was packing her stuff from her locker and picturing how she was gonna rip her friends head apart, someone decided to meet her.

"Seems like you are in a bit of a rush." Mark said seeing as she was not properly arranging her things. She took a quick glance at the person who suddenly appeared beside her and spoke.

"Yeah. What brings you here?" She asked. Now she was curious, why would Mark want to go out with her? He couldn't possibly like her, there were hotter girls in the senior class who she didn't hold a candle to.

"You of course."

There wasn't any hesitation in his voice, and he didn't seem as unsettled as he was in the morning seeing as she had already accepted to go out with him.

His answer had come as a surprise for Rachel, she hadn't expected it at all. She was stunned for a bit and didn't know what to say but it didn't take long for her to regain her composure.

"I am confused. Why would you want to see me?"

Rachel spoke out exactly what was on her mind, they weren't friends, they don't mingle much, they only meet each other a few times at the club and she was even his junior.

"Because I wanted to get to get to know you better. I have a feeling you are someone i could REALLY connect with."

Rachel was once again left speechless, totally speechless. He made it clear he liked her, she would be dumb to not understand.

'So that's why he asked me out.' She thought.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" He asked with a smirk. He felt a sudden desire to be mischievous, seeing as he had this girl totally speechless. Before she could understand what was going on, Mark slammed her locker close and pinned her to the locker. His right hand was resting on the locker next to her head, obviously she was shorter that him so he had to bend his head lower. He used his left to raise her chin up so she could meet his gaze.

"What...are you doing?"

Rachel's face had gone completely red. She blushed hard. Their closeness was affecting her brain, never had the thought of pushing him away come to mind.

"Relax...I am not gonna bite." He teased her making her flush even more. Rachel couldn't not think straight, seems like this tough girl wasn't so tough after all.

"So Saturday, I'll pick you up at 11. Dress casual." He smiled and left the dumbfounded girl speechless.